Key Terms
Photographs- powerful visual images that can evoke strong emotional responses in people
Cropping- is the removal of some of the horizontal or vertical edges of a picture
Flopping- creates a mirror image of the original
Silhouetting- removes selected portions of a photo
Vignette- creates a funky, nostalgic, or dignified look to the image and your layout
Clip Art- pre-drawn art work
Brief Summary
Images have a large impact in getting the intended message to the reader. Aside from making a webpage more appealing, images add impact to the text when used properly. Used improperly, images distract readers from the intended message. For that reason it is important to look for photos that are in good quality and communicate the intended message.
Type as Image is an effective way to bring impact to text.
Photographs, Illustration, Clip Art, and Type as Images are images that can accomplish this feat. Don’t feel that you have to leave a these as are as many special effects can be used to make the image a better fit for the selected text. Some special effects are cropping, flopping, distorting, coloring , custom type, posterizing, drop shadow, and lightening. Just like the images themselves these special effects must be used properly to be effective. With Cropping for example make sure that the shrinking of the image effects its message.
Connections With Experience
Special effects with images are something I have used both improperly and properly. With flopping I once used it on a image of a head to make it seem like that image was facing another image I had on a power-point slide. It improved my message of the two images going head to head. The problem was that that the two images had names underneath the photos and by flopping one of the images the name was now backwards. To fix this problem I cropped out the name on the photo and flopped it. Afterwards I cropped out the image and left the text and created a new photo to place underneath the flopped image. In doing so I fixed the problem. This experience is a good example of the negatives and positives of using special effects to manipulate photos.
Works cited
Graham, L. (2005). Basics of Design. (2nd, Ed.) Canada: Thompson Delmar Learning. 306p. Print.