Image manipulation

Image manipulation or Photograph manipulation refers to the alteration or transformation of a photograph using various techniques available through different software to obtain the required results. Image manipulation doesn’t necessarily apply to photographs only but can be applied to images created using the computer.

There are mainly two types of images:

  • Vector images: also called vector graphics are images created using mathematical statements or a sequence of commands. These are created using vector software and are not very commonly used, These images can be 2-D or 3-D and are most suitable for printing as they are made up of mathematical curves so upon printing, you get a crisp image that does not distort on enlarging.
  • Raster images: also called rater graphics are the most commonly used images. These images are captured by a camera or scanner and developed by pixel-based software. They come in the format of jpg, png and gif. These images are best described by an array of bits lying inside a rectangular grid of pixels. On zooming in, the edges may blur out and not appear very crisp as before

Softwares for editing these images:

  • Gimp software: It is open-source software that is freely available to edit raster images and graphics. It allows free-form drawing, image manipulation, and transcoding different image formats. Its license is available for Windows, macOS and Linux.
  • Inkspace software: This software is also an open-source software available freely for editing vector images. The primary goal of the application is to create vector graphics in the Scalable Vector Graphic (SVG) Format. It allows work in all primitive vector shapes such as polygons, ellipses, spirals, arcs, 3D boxes and stars. The other types of image formats can be exported or imported using the software.

Some other types of images:

  • Transparent images: When an image or a graphic is transparent, it means that the image can be transparent against any background. It contains some pixels as opaque and some as fully transparent that is giving it binary transparency. Microsoft Powerpoint is a good tool to enlarge images while minimizing pixelation, and removing background to make it transparent also is quite easy in it. You can also use it to make clip arts which have almost vector like effects.
  • Royalty-free images: These are a special type of images that comes with a unique license. One can use royalty-free images in perpetuity without worrying about renewing the license if one has licensed the image once. These images can be utilised by both businesses and individuals both.
  • Wikipedia images: The images that are used on the website of Wikipedia are of different types, they can be photos, drawings, graphs or logos. They can be in 2-D or 3-D too. There are different categories for free content and copyrighted ones, the free content comes under “commons” and the images that have copyright restrictions are stored under “fair use rationale” on Wikipedia.

Other helpful info for image manipulation:

  • Creative common license: It is a public copyright license that allows free distribution of copyrighted work. It is generally used by authors who want to give others access to their work and allow them to use it further. The CC license protects the buyer from copyright infringement and provides flexibility to the author. This license is not only limited to authors but can be used by any artist like musicians, singers and photographers.
  • Google images: This is categorised under a search engine owned by Google Inc. that allows users to search images across World Wide Web. Google lens is a new application provided by Google that allows users to scan or capture any picture, text or other stuff to search for similar results. Fun fact: Google Images was first introduced on July 12, 2001, due to the high demand for the Green Versace Jungle dress worn by Jennifer Lopez in Feb 2000.

References: