Damien Symonds

This practice is based on the assumption that Graphic Designers, unlike regular members of the public, know how to handle photos for themselves. They can accurately crop and resize them for their exact needs. As it happens, this is largely a false assumption - most graphic designers are complete incompetent nincompoops; however there's a fundamental professional courtesy that requires us to pretend they are competent. Members of the public are, of course, also incompetent nincompoops in matters of digital photo files, but they generally don't pretend to be anything else, and certainly don't try to run graphic design businesses in spite of their incompetence. So no professional courtesy is required - we can wisely provide files that provide the most safety for their needs.

For ALL photos: Never crop or resize during editing. (Or sharpen - you must NEVER sharpening during your editing workflow, ever.) Then, for MOST photos (which are going to members of the public): Crop to 11:15 shape with no resolution when saving the digital files. But, for a FEW photos (which are likely to be used by a graphic designer, like this one is) make the resolution 300ppi, but don't crop or resize in any way. (To change the PPI without resizing, use the Image Size function, and make sure the "Resample Image" checkbox is not checked.)

Again, this does not apply when the file is going to a graphic designer. DO NOT CROP OR RESIZE in any way if the file is going to a graphic designer. Which this one probably is. Confused yet?

The PPI is completely irrelevant for digitals. Completely. The only time it matters is if it's a commercial job, and you are providing the files to a graphic designer. For regular people, it matters not a damn. Correct. Never resize. However, you MUST crop before handing off the digital files. The 11:15 shape is vital. https://www.damiensymonds.net/2011/02/selling-digital-images.html

Oh God no. You must NEVER do that. Never sacrifice a single precious pixel that your camera captured. https://www.damiensymonds.net/2011/09/cropping-tutorial.html https://www.damiensymonds.net/2010/02/trash-those-jpegs.html

Oh shit! Oh shit shit shit shit shit shit shit! You must NEVER do this. NEVER resize or crop in ANY way before or during (or after) editing.

What happened to the other pixels????

That's about nineteen and a half megapixels. Is that correct for your camera?

Terrific. And what are its pixel dimensions?

Have you seen this thread? Remember that you only need to blacken immediately adjacent to the hair with the Levels layer.

Right.

https://www.damiensymonds.net/2010/06/faq-help-my-raw-files-wont-open.html

Ok, great! So everything's fine now?

That eye seems ok. May I see the other eye?

I found I had to change the levels layer's blend mode to Luminosity - did you try that too?

The starburst things have got to go. Cheesy is for pizza, not photos.

When you were browsing, did you see this one? Not the same scene by any means, but might give you ideas.

Great. In that case, you don't need to do anything. Just provide the photo at the exact size your camera captured it. No cropping, no resizing. Have you finished editing the photo?

If the lamp really was the light source, two things would happen. His legs would be very dark, because they'd be in the shadow of the book His shirt and face would be very golden, from the lamplight, you know?

Sorry, I don't understand this question. Isn't black what you want? That's what the eyedropper does, it changes the colour of the point at which you click, forcing it to be black.

When you say "file" ... do you mean a photo? Or have they asked you to actually design a banner?

I figure so, yes.

Yes, I know!!!!! It's a finger. And with your swap, it's not connected to anything any more, so it has to go.