Q16: Preparing images for publication and other Photoshop do's and don'ts

Today's post is all about images: how to best use that indispensable tool, Photoshop, without making the kind of errors that degrade your image or make them ineligible for publication. Our questions and answers were provided by Chris Zink, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVP, [website: canine sports ], who has extensive experience in preparing publication-quality images.

1. When making a new file, you should set the resolution to: (select one)

a) 72 dpi

b) 240 dpi

c) 300 dpi

d) 600 dpi

Layers menu

2. When working on an image in Photoshop, every time you add something to your image (lines, letters, new images to make composites, etc.) you should open a new layer and perform that action on the new layer. The main reason for doing this is so that:_____________________________________

3. True or false: Photoshop works on a vector system, in which the program memorizes the directions of various lines that are drawn when an image is being made. This prevents the problem of pixellation.

4. Which of the following Photoshop modifications can you ethically make to a photographic image of data that you plan to publish in a scientific journal?

a) Selective cropping

b) Whole-image brightening

c) Cloning

d) Changing resolution without resampling

e) White balancing

f) Changing tint

g) Whole-image sharpening

h) Changing resolution with resampling

5. True or False: Photoshop is an excellent program for creating and editing images

6. The best tool to white balance an image is:

a) Brightness Contrast tool;

b) Levels tool

c) Curves tool

d) Color balance tool

7. When adding text to label images in Photoshop, you should generally use:
A                                                             B

 

A) A serif font

B) A sans serif font

8. True or false? When modifying photographs in Photoshop that you plan to submit to a journal for publication, you should change your image to its final resolution first, so that all of your changes are performed in that resolution.

9. True or false: When modifying images in Photoshop, always record all of the steps you are taking, 

10. True or false:  When you want to save an image that you have been modifying in Photoshop, it doesn’t matter whether you save it as a .tiff or a .psd file – in both cases the image will be saved in layers.

As always, check back next week for the answers!  (Link was temporarily down due to an html near-disaster, but it's back up again now :))