Aoraki Macintosh User Group Home Page Snippets from Previous Meetings

February Meeting 2004 For Sale Sheryl Roberts has a variety of models of computers, mostly Internet-capable, including earlier models of iBook. Contact: or Phone 03 689 4824. APPLECARE EXTENDED WARRANTY Barry and Sheryl gave us some information on the topic of AppleCare Warranty: Apple computers have a 1-year warranty when purchased, but members may consider purchasing Extended Warranty , which gives a further 2-year coverage on maintenance and repairs. Whether or not to purchase this cover is always a question of risk, but Sheryl suggested that if a computer has needed to be repaired during its first year, it may be worth considering extending its warranty. AMUG WEBSITE The hosting of our AMUG website was discussed, as Dworld (the Timaru-based server which has kindly hosted the site) has been having problems recently. Lea suggested using Orcon, an Auckland-based server, as an alternative. Orcon provides a variety of web services, including free website hosting and e-mail addresses [visit www.orcon.co.nz ]. Lea will make arrangements in the near future to have our website hosted with Orcon, and when it's operational members will be advised of the new URL (website address). Thank you to Lea for organising this. Sessions MacBASICS: Keyboard Shortcuts Robin Linder gave an outline of some handy keyboard shortcuts which speed up a variety of operations and save having to go through menus. Many of the command key-combinations are found on the right of menu windows, and many are common to the operating system and a number of applications, eg. those in this image of an Edit Menu are 'generic' shortcuts, and are found in a variety of programs: Robin then gave a demonstration of how AppleWorks Assistants can be used, and showed us how to format and save templates for addressing envelopes, making use of the AppleWorks Button bars to do this. He concluded with a brief look at some basic aspects of formatting AppleWorks Spreadsheets. Having mentioned Shortcuts, worth remembering are MacOS X shortcuts for taking screen-shots (not to be confused with the application Grab, which performs similar functions, but needs to be opened separately): Command-Shift-3 takes an entire screen-shot (as a PDF to the Desktop) Command-Shift-4 gives cross-hairs to select a specfic area to capture. Command-Shift-4, then hold control as you let the mouse button go, puts the image directly on the clipboard, ready for pasting. Command-Shift-4, then hit space-bar, to capture a whole window . PRINTING PHOTOGRAPHS FROM COMPUTER Les Lamb gave a detailed talk on photo printing, which covered a number of aspects for both those who are beginners or experienced in this subject. His talk included explanations of: acquiring digital images for printing (from cameras, scanning, attachments, etc), preparing images for printing (aspect ratios, image editing, etc), printing papers, costs, types, sizes and orientation, iPhoto's many and varied uses, ColorSync usage to capture, display and print accurate colour. CRT and LCD monitors Les recommended the 'Next' Handbook Photoshop for Beginners ($14.95) as a guide to re-touching and enhancing digital photos. It includes a Win/Mac CD containing (among other items) a trial version of Adobe Photoshop 7.0. Les packed a considerable amount of information into his talk, and showed a variety of examples of printed images. These illustrated his explanations of aspects such as orientation, resolution, image editing and photo restoration. Members are very aware of the time that it took Les to prepare his talk, and are appreciative of the considerable effort that he made to share his knowledge of this specialised topic with us. Thank you Les. [For those interested, the complete text of Les's talk is appended to the end of these minutes.] PANTHER - MacOS 10.3 Further to his talk last month, Barry Robinson explained some more new features in PANTHER, the current Macintosh Operating System 10.3, including its facility to resume software updates from the point at which they were left off, if an interruption should occur while downloading. Panther also enables fast switching between users Š in Barry's household the iMac is shared between family members who each have their own settings, and whereas previous systems required multiple users to close files, quit applications and log out before switching to another user, Panther enables speedy switching requiring none of these, and when switching back to a former user the files and applications are found in exactly the state in which they were left. A final feature which Barry has found handy is found in the new version on MacOS X's e-mail application 'Mail', which enables an unwanted (and unopened) e-mail message to 'Bounce to Sender' - being unopened, this gives the sender the impression that you are unable to receive it (and hopefully you'll be removed from their mailing list). REMINDER Next AMUG Evening meeting will be on Friday MARCH 26, 2004 Next AMUG Daytime Meeting will be in Monday February 15 [Committee Meeting on Mactropolis:  Tuesday February 16 at 9:00pm Regards to all.... Secretary: Tony Climo, Aoraki MacIntosh Users Group

PRINTING PHOTOGRAPHS FROM A COMPUTER

by Les Lamb

I have prepared this talk assuming that some here tonight have done very little printing of photos. I don't doubt however that many of you have done a lot and are more experienced at printing photos than I am. As I have a Hewlett Packard scanner and printer I will be referring to the software for them in this talk. While your software may be from a different manufacturer, the operations will be similar.

Older printers did not provide for printing photos in their Page Setup Menu, just two sizes of Index Card (4 x 6 in & 5 x 8 in) which did not produce even borders on the photo. Then printers came in with Photo 4 x 6 in which gave rather wide but even borders on three sides. More about that later. Today some printers now provide for improved photo printing with the following in the Page Setup Menu :-

4 x 6 in. Photo - 4 x 6 in. Photo (with tab) - 4 x 6 in. Photo (borderless) - 4 x 6 in. Photo (with tab, borderless).

A printer will only print to within about 12 mm of the trailing edge of a page, because it requires this amount to run the paper through. This then leaves a wide border on one side of the paper when printing with 4 x 6 papers. To overcome this 4 x 6 in. Photo papers with a 12 mm tear off tab have been introduced, but it requires a printer with the following Page Setup menu - 4 x 6 Photo (with tab) or 4 x 6 Photo (with tab, borderless) to use them properly. Some printers now have a 4 x 6 photo paper tray built-in.

1. From a digital camera.
2. By opening existing photo files or PDF files.
3. By scanning photographs.
4. By scanning slides or film strips.
5. From e-mail attachments or from the Internet.
6. From still frames created in iMovie.

1. From a digital camera.

Images can be imported by using the software that comes with a digital camera to download the images to your computer. Some digital cameras come with a memory stick or memory card reader that allows you to download images very easily into iPhoto in OS X or by using the Photoshop 7.0 file browser. In OS 9.2 digital images can be downloaded by the following method. Once the camera or reader is connected (via USB) it comes up on the desktop as another drive. Some cameras require their own software to be installed. Double-click it and you will see the DCIM folder which in turn holds a file of your images. Open it and double-click on an image file and Quick Time Picture Viewer launches to let you view your pictures. There are a limited number editing options available in Picture Viewer that can be used before printing the image. Or you can drag an image file to a document folder for editing at a later date in another program before printing. To put the camera or reader away, just dragging the drive to the trash will disconnect it from the computer. Another way of getting image files into OS X is by using Image Capture, which doesnÕt have the editing capabilities of iPhoto, but has a much simpler filing system. You have to connect your camera or reader first to open this program.

2. By opening existing photo files.

Existing files can be opened in Quick Time Picture Viewer, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Photoshop Elements, J PegView or Graphic Converter for more precise editing before printing. Or perhaps in some other editing program that you may have installed.

3. By scanning photographs.

Prints of photos should be scanned using the software that came with the scanner, edited and saved as a file or printed from the scanner program. If you have Adobe Photoshop or Photoshop Elements the files can be opened in either program for further editing should you desire to carryout more refined editing. A second method involves actually acquiring the image directly from within Photoshop by selecting File Import and then select the name of the scanner. The resolution of 300 dpi when scanning an image for printing is satisfactory. This is the same resolution as most inkjet printers.

4. By scanning slides or film strips.

Some flatbed scanners have a slide & film strip scanning capability also. Or one can purchase a scanner designed solely to scan slide & film strip. The software will usually include Photoshop for scanning and editing. These scanners are capable of scanning at very high resolutions when required.

5. From e-mail attachments or from the Internet.

E-mail attachments and Internet images can be saved as a file by going to File SaveAs or dragged to the desktop and then edited and printing as required.

6. From still frames created in iMovie.

Frames selected in iMovie can be saved by going to File AND Save Frame As. A frame saved in iMovie is quite large, 10.667 x 8 inches so it will require re-sizing before being printed.

PHOTOSHOP FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS. Your complete guide to re-touching and enhancing your photographs. $14.95 incl GST. It includes a CD that has a trial version of ADOBE PHOTOSHOP 7.0, WIN. & MAC., plus two other programs and some tools.