Potential legal implications of using and editing graphical images

Explain the potential legal implications of using and editing graphical images

                                                   

The creators of an image or piece of work are given a form of protection called Copyright. This is to prevent that someone copies a piece work and then say that it is theirs. This Copyright form of protection means that no one can take work or images without the owner's permission. There are copyright free images that can be find in internet under web pages that are identified as copyright free, these images can be taken and freely used by anyone.

The copyright law's main purpose is to protect the images and work that have been created by people and to protect them from unfair use of their work. When downloading a song from the internet without having pay for it means that the user is breaking the copyright law, if this person is caught he/she will have to face serious consequences for doing such a small but important thing. Cheating and plagiarism are just problems that are caused because the creator's work is not protected by copyright, so anyone can state work as their own. 

If someone breaks the copyright law, the holder of it is able to sue that person, that will force the person to pay a fine. Of course it is not always the same for every single case (sometimes people could even have to face a prison sentence of a maximum of 10 years, or an enormous fine) as this depends on the amount of damage that has been caused by that person. 

When the user wants to edit images, the first step is to find the ownership of that graphic and whether it can be used or not. This can be done so easily as most owners print their names or copyright on or close to the image. When there is no name printed on the image, the ownership is most probably with the webpage or book where the image can be found. 

Explaining and discussing:

Explain how different types of graphic images relate to file formats: 

There are two main types of graphic images: bitmap (it stores an image as groups of pixels, each one with a certain colour) and vector (it stores an image as a collection of objects, each with coordinate points to define size and position as well as mathematical formulae defining line curvatures, thickness, fills and other properties). Each of these two types can be saved in many different formats to the disk.

Looking at graphic images we can say that vector graphics follow mathematical rules. Shapes are understood as coordinate points joined by lines with a defined fill. A line (straight or curved) that joins points has properties such as thickness, colour, solid or dashed. There could be no fill by making the shape transparent, or it could contain a certain colour or texture more than once. Vector images are stored and manipulated in a mathematical way by software packages, this makes them easy to edit and re size providing small file sizes. The editing that bitmap images allow is much more complex than the one with vector images. 

File format is the way the graphics are internally structured, every one of them uses a different structure. Programs that use a certain type of format must be able to show graphics on the screen, print them and edit them. Vector file formats are usually copyrighted with a few open or common standards to share between vector software applications. There are various file formats commonly used for bitmap files, bitmap applications usually open, edit and save many of them. Ownership is less use here than with vector images. 

For me, as an IT and Art student when I come up with the perfect edit I choose the .jpeg file format. I choose it because it is viewable by all and can be used for print and for the web, and in Photoshop I can even decide the quality I desire whether is level 1 or 12 which is the highest quality.

Discuss the impact that file format, compression techniques, image resolution and colour depth have on file size and image quality: 

Image file formats are resources of organising and storing all images. They are composed of either pixel or vector data. The pixels that constitute an image are ordered as a grid; each pixel consists of numbers representing magnitudes of brightness and colour. 

Raster formats:

Raster formats store images as bitmaps, .jpeg is a lossy compression method and its images are usually stored in the .jfif file format; also this format is used as the image compression algorithm in many Adobe .pdf files. Almost all digital cameras can store images in the .jpeg/ .jfif file format that supports 8 bits per colour: red, blue and green. There are 24 bits in total, which means small files. After the compression the quality is not really weaken from the original, however .jpeg files suffer generational generational degradation when repeatedly edited and saved. If photographic images are going to be re-edited they might be suitable for storing in a lossless non-.jpeg format.

The .exif (Exchangeable image file format) format is similar to the .jfif format with .tiff extensions; it is included in the .jpeg writing software used in most cameras. The purpose of this file fomrat is to record and standardise the exchange of images with image meta data between digital cameras as well as editing and viewing software. Things like camera settings, time and date, shutter speed, exposure, image size, compression, colour information, name of camera and lots more; are metadata that is recorded for individual images. All of this image information can be displayed when these images are viewed or edited by image editing software.

The .tiff format is a flexible format that stores 8 bits or 16 bits per colour: red, blue and green for 24 bit and 48 bit totals. Optional Character Recognition (.ocr) software packages commonly genarate some form of .tiff image for scanned text pages. When using .tiff or .tif file extensions we can notice that that .tiffs are lossy and lossless, and well for some black and white images the lossless compressions is relatively good. Some digital cameras use the LZM compression algorithm for lossless storage to save in .tiff formats. However .tiff image format is not widely supported by web browsers but it remains widely accepted as photograph file standard in printing business. It can handle device-specific colour spaces like the CMYK defined by a particular set of printing press links.

Vector formats:

As opposed to the raster image formats, vector image formats contain a geometric description that can be rendered smoothly at any desired display size; they can contain bitmap data as well. 3D graphic file formats are technically vector formats with pixel data texture mapping on the surface of a vector virtual object, warped to match the angle of the viewing perspective.

Eventually all vector graphics must be rasterised in order to be displayed on digital monitors but vector images can be displayed with analog CRT technology such as that used in some electronic test equipment. Plotters are printers that use vector data to draw graphics. (.cgm) is a file format for 2D vector graphics, raster graphics and text,. It is defined by ISO/IEC 8632. All graphical elements can be specified in a textual source file that can be compiled into a binary file or one of two text representations. This .cgm type of file format provides graphics data interchange for computer representation of 2D graphical information independent from any particular application, system, platform or device. For areas such as technical illustration and professional design there has been some updates to some extent but it has largely been superseded by formats such as .svg and .dxf

Scalable Vector Graphics (.svg) is an open standard created and developed by the World Wide Web Consortium to address the need for a versatile, scriptable and all-purpose vector format for the web. This format doesn't have a compression scheme of its own; however due to the textual nature of .xml an .svg graphic can be compressed using a program such as .gzip. Because of its scripting potential, .svg is a key component in web applications.

Hardware and software for graphical images

Being an employer of the PC's4u  newly formed computer company I am going to create a new graphics department for the company. So we will start looking at suitable hardware and software that will produce the best results when working with graphical images.

Hardware

This hardware is important and has a grant impact when the user is working with graphical images. There will be large amounts of data that will be moved between components like the hard disk and RAM and video display. If the components are not ideal, the result will be a frustrating slow system. So we will need the following components at good performance levels:

1. Graphics cards: It is a hardware component that generates the images we see in a monitor or a screen.  they produce a display at a resolution and colour depth meeting the user's need taking in consideration the limitations of the monitor. 
2. Internal memory: to hold the running the software and graphic images. You will get a faster start up speed and also it allows an easier interaction with larger files.
3. Processor: it runs the software and works our the calculations that are needed to manipulate digital graphics.
4. Digital card reader: if we are using a digital camera this helps to accept graphic images easily and quickly.
5. File storage: to save the graphic images. This can be a hard drive, that  can hold a great amount of images, allowing the user to have images in one place.
6. USB devices: they are plugged in pen drivers to input or move graphic images to other devices. It allows the user to backup his images and to transfer
7. Monitor, mouse and printer: these are hardware components that allow the user to edit graphic images easily as they allow the user to interact with the Operating System that is modifying them. The printer however allow the user to print out high quality graphic images obviously it depends on the printer; but nowadays these are maded with interesting features for the user that sometimes provide the posibility to print out directly from phones.  
8. Input devices: they capture graphical images and transfer to the computer system. (Cameras,  scanners, and graphic tables) One of the best cameras out ther is the Cannon EOS 500D. All these features allow the user to have a maximised experience.

• megapixel CMOS sensor Type APS-C, 22.3 x 14.9mm CMOS
• Type – TTL-CT-SIR with a CMOS sensor
• DIGIC 4 image processor
• 14-bit analog to digital signal conversion
• 3.0-inch (76 mm) LCD monitor
• sRGB and AdobeRGB colour spaces
• ISO Sensitivity (8) – AUTO(100–1600), 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200 Expandable to 6400 + H (approx 12800) in 1-stop increments
• Continuous drive up to 3.4 frame/s (170 images (JPEG), 9 images (RAW))(up to 4.1 frame/s with Sandisk Extreme SDHC Class 10
• Canon EF/EF-S lenses
• PAL/NTSC video output
• SD and SDHC memory card file storage
• RAW and large JPEG simultaneous recording
• USB 2.0 and HDMI interfaces.

Software

It is the group of several programs that run on a computer. To help people produce work, there is application software available in the market. They allow the user to create, manipulate and view digital graphics.

There are several types of software:

1. Vector-based graphics software: they are different from bitmap graphics; the amin features of these are small file size when saving, no loss of image quality when printing, as they are made of circles and rectangles each object has an outline and/or fill and fuinally objects can be grouped together. A good example of this kind of sofware is CoralDraw as it allows the user to create videos and images at the same time, with multiple layers.
2. Bitmap software: They have a larger file size when saved. And the print quality might be very poor when enlarged or reduced. They can be created using a scanner or a digital camera. They are good for screenshots and web page illustrations. For example Microsoft Paint allows the user to work on the surface, like covering, colouring and other features.
3. Photo manipulation software: this kind of software is a specialist bitmap program with specialised tools to manipulate photographs. For example Photoshop offers a wide variety of tools, like video editing, retouching, move, duplicate; these are just a few features but also the user is able to upload and share the work with compoanies and friends.

(Hey miss I did record myself, but when I was trying to transfer the file it didnt work somehow, I will show you on monday because I need some help)

Comparing the different limitations of different hardaware and software packages used in graphics work

There are two main software packages out in the market, generally users use either Photoshop or Paint, there are more complicated or simple variations of both software packages. However these are some advantages of using one or the other: 

                

- With Photoshop the use has the ability to create both bitmap and vector images, allowing to have two different types of software in one. Files can be used in most programs, and the user can import images directly from scanned images or external memories. When it comes to screen shooting, graphics are really good, Photoshop is reliable and fast. 

- In the other hand with Paint in addition to be free, this software package is easy to use for user. Any file can be turned into an image once placed into Paint; shapes can be created and coloured in, text can be added over images without affecting the image...

As any other aspect in IT these software packages have disadvantages and limitations, here are some of them: 

- With Photoshop the user is required to have a really good understanding of all the complicated tools and extensions for the software. Image will lose quality when enlarged and the file size is very big; unless the user has a very large internal memory, images take up a lot of memory which doesn't allow the use to create many different files. And one important aspect is that this software package is quite expensive. 

In terms of hardware there are two main devices that are important for the user when working with graphic images. These two main devices are printer, let's see what limitations they have: 

               

There are several limitations when we talk about printer that can cause problems to the user. One of them is that is printers constantly need ink and paper replacements to print out, this can be very expensive for normal printers and for laser printer too. There are a number of limitations to a printer that can be a problem. One problem is that a printer constantly needs an ink cartridge to print out. Replacing ink cartridges and paper trays can be very expensive.

Now, USB sticks. Even though they are very useful for storing and transferring images and documents from one computer to another; they have limitations such as the product size, they are really small what makes them an easy thing to lose. Some computers do not take all USB sticks and they can only store a little amount of data, this might be a really annoying problem if the user wants to transfer large amounts of files. 

Evaluate the impact of evolving output mediums on the design and creation of graphic images

                   

Throughout time, the way media is being produced has changed quite a lot. For example, long ago most media and images were produced all by hand. Computers developed and became more sophisticated as time passed, when software was introduced users started to depend on computers to produced media and graphic images easily. Nowadays there are specific programs that are specialised in creating maps, this makes the job a lot more straightforward for designers and creators. As time is passing designers have changed the way they work because different ways to display their creations have been introduced. We can find maps are still on paper, however in the present we can find maps in computers; these maps have many more attachments such as directions, journey's duration, nearby attractions, altitude measurements and most of them allow the user to use navigation. When businesses and companies use this new technology, they are more advanced and this allows them to achieve aims and to gain a valuable place in the labour market.