DR. K's WRITING MANUAL

CHAPTER 5: Kodak Photoenhancer

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This is the program that will allow you to connect to the Kodak Digital Camera 40 and download the photographs. It can then be used for a minimal amount of photo manipulation. However, since the Department has Adobe Photoshop, it is best to use this program simply for downloading the photos into the computer.

A. Connecting to the Camera

The standard Apple Macintosh printer cable is used to connect the camera to the computer via the outlet on the left side of the camera as seen in figure 4. The other end of the cable is connected to the printer port on the back of the computer.

The Kodak PhotoEnhancer program is opened as with any other Mac program, by opening the Kodak PhotoEnhancer folder and clicking on the icon. Once it is running, seven menu items will be seen across the top, as illustrated in figure 6,: "File", "Edit", "Image", "Camera", and "Enhance", "SmartPix" and "Windows".

Once the camera is connected to the computer, the first thing to do is to go to the "Camera" menu shown below and either view an individual photograph or move all the photos to the computer. To do the first item, simply select "View Slides in Camera". After a few minutes all photos will show up with simple titles. Any photo whose name is highlighted will appear in a thumbnail shot to the side. By clicking on the name, a full scale photo will appear in the main window. This is a useful way to do it if you do not think all the images are worth keeping. If, after viewing the photo, it is worth saving, select "Save" under the "File" menu.

To move all the photos to the computer, simply select "Move All Camera Images to Disk" and the program will allow you to select where you want to download the photos. It is best to create a new folder on the computer hard drive, under your name, and save the photos to that as they take up a large amount of disk space. When you click "Done" it will take ten to fifteen minutes to download the photos if the camera is full.

B. Opening Photos

Once the photos have been saved to the hard drive it is easy to open them by using the "Open Selected Slides" under the "File" menu. All slides will show up by name and by clicking on the name you will open the photo.

Individual photos can be viewed directly from the camera as was mentioned previously using the "View Slides in Camera" item under the "Camera" menu. After a few minutes all photos will show up with simple titles. Any photo whose name is highlighted will appear in a thumbnail shot to the side. By clicking on the name, a full scale photo will appear in the main window. This is a useful way to do it if you do not think all the images are worth keeping. If, after viewing the photo, it is worth saving, select "Save" under the "File" menu.

C. Correcting Photos

While the correcting and editing tools contained within the Kodak PhotoEnhancer program are not as powerful as those in Photoshop, it is possible to manipulate the images with this program.

This manipulation can be done to the entire photo or to just portions of it. The portions can be selected through the use of the "Tool Palette" shown here which appears to the left of the window. Starting at the top left and working clockwise, the tools are for moving selected items, zooming in on a specific area, selecting a polygon shaped area, smoothing the selected area, darkening it, lightening it, sharpening it, and lassoing or selecting one portion of the photo. The final icon allows the creation of a rectangular area.

The three menu items "Image", "Enhance" and "SmartPix" provide options for changing the photos.

"Image": items in this menu allow you to view the photo, flip it, rotate it, resize it and crop it at a click of the mouse. The color can also be changed through the "Change Color Depth" item and, at a more advanced level, the photos can be turned into "slides" which can be used to create your own slide show on the computer.

"Enhance": allows you to adjust, soften, sharpen, intensity and lighten shadows. By clicking and holding on any of these items, a variety of degrees will be offered for you to choose. The "By Example" will give you a variety of methods to change focus, exposure, brightness/contrast, and color balance. Nine versions of the photo will appear with variations of whichever of the above characteristics you have selected. Your photo will always appear in the center. If you see a different version that you like, simply click on it and it will become the center image. If you like it, click done and your photo will be changed.

"SmartPix": This option is used if the photo has been taken under unusual conditions such as bright daylight, cloudy daylight, light shadow, heavy shadow, inside, inside with flash, inside under fluorescent lighting. When selected the program will automatically adjust the photo to compensate for these conditions.

D. Saving Photos

Under the "File" menu, "Save" is used anytime you are ready to save the original or a variation photo over the original while "Save as" is used to save any variations you have created under a different name.

Either method will allow you to select the "File Format" you wish to save, either TIFF or PICT on the Mac, and the amount of compression. By compressing a photo you will decrease the quality a bit, the greater the compression the greater the quality reduction, but you will be able to save more of them on one disk.

When you click on it the "Save" window will begin saving the image to the location specified.