image skills tests

Image skills tests

The aim of this brief was to be able to crop images to specific dimensions in order to serve different purposes online. Below, I have included the various sizes of cropped images and why I cropped them in such a way. The photograph I chose to take was of the University of Central Lancashire. I photographed the Media Factory building, as it felt this represented UCLan the best. It's modern design and colourful exterior, together with the large UCLan logo, means the iconic building really represents the university. Below are the images, and a brief description of the rationale I applied when cropping these.

Media Factory (100px by 100px)

The small thumbnail image of the Media Factory was cropped in this way so that it included most of the image (cropped out unnecessary parts like the sign post) whilst remaining small enough to be a thumbnail. The image here retains most of its information and still represents the building, while still being small enough to fulfil its purpose of being a thumbnail image.

Media Factory (400px by 300px)

This larger image would be the size of image I would use if it were to accompany an image in an online article laid out in a traditional way. The dimensions represent those of the building itself and are the truest representation. I cropped it in this way to omit less attractive areas of the photos and to frame the image in an attractive way.

Media Factory (200px by 500px)

The above image would be the ideal format to use on a facebook profile page as its length represents the whole building and its logo, while fulfilling the dimensions of a social media page. I cropped it in this way to keep the logo in view and the colourful blocks of the buildings. This image also makes the best use of the fact that it was (not unsurprisingly) a cloudy day in Preston!

Media Factory (original size)

This is the original image that I took of the media factory. The brief outlined that this must be included, regardless of its large nature! The sheer size of this image proves why cropping is very important for online. Although large images of high quality are important for print publications, often online can cope with smaller images of lesser (but still good) quality.

The above photographs are of the Media Factory, on UCLan's campus in Preston. The photographs were taken by Hannah Breeze on Friday 14th October using a Blackberry Pearl, and edited on Photoshop Elements 8.0