Software and Hardware Functions and Limitations

Scanner

What is a scanner?

A scanner is a device that can capture an image from posters, magazine pages, and images that are hand drawn on a piece of paper. A scanner can take the raw material of an image and capture the image on your computer screen. We can see how a scanner is useful in digital graphics as it helps to get images to the computer to let you manipulate your image

Limitations

A limitation of a scanner can be that it isn’t portable and cannot capture an image. Scanners tend to be slow at scanning in, due to high resolution images such as 600 dots per inch (DPI). Scanners can cost a lot of money and the lamps needs to be maintained on a regular basis. Another limitation is the file size outcome which may be very large if you have chosen a large file to start of with, the minimum for graphic output is 300dpi.

Key tools and functions

A scanner is used to scan in an image from a sheet of paper which is then converted and displayed on a computer screen. A key tool of a scanner may be the fact that it can scan in your image with very little input from the user. Scanners can be useful as designs drawn by hand are difficult to upload to a computer. A graphics tablet can allow users to do so.

Digital Camera

What is a digital camera?

A digital camera is a camera that is used to stores images digitally instead of putting them on film and sending off the film to receive your photographs. Once a picture has been taken, it can be saved onto a flash memory card and transferred to a computer, then you can manipulate the image with an editing program and printed off.


Limitations

Digital camera’s can be limiting due to the megapixel that the camera has. Shutter Delay is too long on low end models making the focus of some photos very bad. The battery life can be very low and this can be a problem as you need to charge it on a more regular basis and not be able to use it. Another limitation may be that not every camera has a tripod stand available to use with it making some photos blurry. Images may also be lost via transporting the image with a flash card.

Key tools and functions

Key tools of a camera for example could be the fact that the camera is portable and can run off batteries or a charge. You can insert a flash card into the camera, when taking photographs the image is saved to the camera, this then allows you to upload the photos to editing programs such as Photoshop, to edit your photo. A digital camera also allows you to view the photographs that you have taken, this allows you to delete which photos you do not want to keep. Some digital camera's also allow you to edit photos on the camera which means that you can crop out parts of the photographs you do not need or even increase the brightness and contrast.

Summary of Hardware

These two different types of hardware have their own limitations, for example the limitation of a digital camera may be the mega pixel and the portability whilst a scanners limitation may be the size of paper it can scan in. Overall these limitations aren't major and will not affect your work drastically, if they do you should simply upgrade your hardware

Photoshop

What is Photoshop?

Photoshop is one of the most popular digital image editing software. It is used by millions of graphic artists, print designers, visual communicators, and regular people for there own use. Many posters on streets that you may see today have a high chance of being edited with some use of effects and plug-ins to make them more appealing.

 

Limitations

For some users Photoshop's cost may be a limitation to some users as Photoshop is rather expensive. Limitations may also be from the user’s computer as it may not have a high enough specification to allow Photoshop to run smoothly. Photoshop is also  a software which is difficult to understand and needs experience to be able to use it to its full potential. Another limitation of Photoshop is that you need to save your image if you do not want to destroy the original image which you have started with.

Key tools and functions

Some key tools of Photoshop for example could be the tool bar with all the different move tools and the eraser tool which allows you to remove some work you may have added. Another example may be the gradient tool which allows you to blend a foreground and background color. The sharpen tool allows you to sharpen up an image to make it more clear. As adobe is a professional software package it has  more advanced tools than most ordinary software package, such as soften and invert.

The link below helps explain some more of the basic tools.

http://www.photoshoplab.com/photoshop-tool-basics.html

Sumo Paint

What is Sumo Paint?

Sumo paint is a free online graphic editing package and features many of the same tools of Photoshop. Sumo Paint is geared towards illustration, where other software such as Photoshop are more suited for heavy image editing

Limitations

Sumo paint is not as advanced as Adobe Photoshop and therefore you cannot get a professional touch to your work as easily as Sumo paint. File export is not as advanced as Adobe Photoshop and that affects the finished image. With Photoshop you can add brush packages and fonts and this is limited on Sumo paint. Another disadvantage to Sumo paint is the fact that you need an internet connection to use this software package.

Key tools and functions

Sumo paint is a well known software package that is free online which you can  experiment with photos to manipulate images. To access sumo paint you can sign up or simply open the package. Sumo paint is simple to use and not as complicated as Adobe Photoshop and novice users will pick up the basics in no time. Sumo paint has got the basic tools such as cropping and resizing for example.

Summary of Software

These two types of software have their own limitations as the users needs to understand what they are doing to their image and what layers they should be adding at specific time. Sumo paint and Adobe Photoshop have limitations as the image output can affect the final image because the higher resolution  varies from software package