What’s Wrong With This Picture?

By Cifuentes, L., McIntosh, K., & Douglas, J. (1997). Derived from Learning and Leading with Technology 25 (2), 58-61.

Photo manipulation and alteration have crept into advertising and business. Sometimes journalists use photo enhancement to portray untruths. But why might educators or instructional designers want to manipulate photos? Although educators do not want to tell lies, sometimes we want to provide nonexamples that help learners remember new concepts. Here we will describe procedures for enhancing and combining images using Adobe Photoshop to create nonexamples for concept learning. Nonexamples show things that are not true to make a point. In the exercise described in this article, we will create a nonexample showing two images that do not belong together; you can start the discussion in your classroom by showing the nonexatnple and asking, "What's wrong with this picture?"

Prior knowledge of Photoshop is not necessary for this activity. The instructions start with the basic tools and concepts and move on to more advanced skills. Students can use Photoshop, also. You can modify the instructions and allow them to create their own nonexamples.

Although learning graphics applications requires a time commitment, the benefits to both teachers and students justify the investment. As teachers create visuals to support their instruction, they expand their libraries of resources over the years. When students use computer graphics during learning, the visualization process helps them construct new meaning and create personal cues for recall. In addition, students' literacy expands beyond the printed word. They acquire visual literacy and technical skills. Photoshop and other graphics-manipulation software have made the advanced manipulation of graphics easy for even the basic computer user.

Images created in Photoshop can be used in conjunction with ClarisWorks or Adobe Illustrator to design and create original graphics, tides, and illustrations. In addition, such images can be imported into multimedia programs such as Macromedia Director, Authorware, or Microsoft PowerPoint.

Using Nonexamples in the Classrooms

By combining separate, images, educators can create new images to provide nonexamples during instruction. For example, in a third-grade classroom unit on the Arctic, we might want students to understand the sun's movement around the Earth and the effects of that movement on Arctic climate. We could provide a picture of Fairbanks, Alaska, decorated for Christmas with a blue sky and ask, "What's wrong with this picture?" Through lively discussion about the relationship of the earth and sun, students would realize that the sky is not blue in Fairbanks in December.

We might want the same students to be able to see how animals adapt to the environment by providing them with a picture of a polar bear on its back. The polar bear could have solid black pads on the bottoms of its paws. However, polar bears have fur on the pads of their paws, so we could ask, “What’s wrong with this picture?” The furless pads on the polar bear’s paws could elicit discussion regarding to the effects of climate on traits in species that survive in the Arctic.

We will use the example of combining a picture of a penguin with a picture of a polar bear in the zoon (see Fingure1 and 2). The combination image exemplifies the common misconception among children that penguins and polar bears live in the same part of the world. For our Arctic unit we will need to use the Rubber Stamp tool to enhance the zoo pictures so that the polar bear looks like he is the Arctic and use Paths to select the penguin and transfer it to the polar bear picture. If you have Photoshop and wish to follow the procedures in this guide, scan Figure 1 and Figure 2, naming them “polar bear” and “penguin”, respectively.

By following this guide you will learn to use the Rubber Stamp tool to clone sections of a picture to paste into another section. You will also learn to use the Paths Palette to define a path around the complicated outline of an image, pull that image out of the original picture, and paste it into another to create a completely new picture.

Cloning

Examining the Photoshop toolbox and locate the Rubber Stamp tool (see Figure 3). The rubber stamp tool is used to clone, or duplicate, an image. In this section we are going to use the rubber stamp tool to full in a section of the picture that we want to change in order to make the bear look like he is in the Arctic. First, open the file “polar bear” in Photoshop. Now we want to fill the pit behind the bear with some snow that we select from the picture. Here’s how to do it.

1. Select the Rubber Stamp tool.

2. Hold down the option key on the keyboard while you click on the pixels of the graphic that you wish to duplicate--- which in this case will be the snow. Be careful when you select the snow. If you come too close to the edge of the picture, that edge will show up in your clone.

3. Release the option key and the mouse button.

4. Place the Rubber Stamp tool in the new location where you want the duplicate pixels to be cloned, in this case the pit behind the bear.

5. Click, drag over the area that you want to fill, and watch as the stamp tool duplicates the area pixel by pixel with soft edges.

6. Once you have covered the pit with snow, the bear has been transported visually from the zoon to the Artic.

7. Leaving the polar bear picture open, you can move on to the next sul-using paths to move an image from one picture to another.

Using Paths and Combining Pictures

Paths can be used to take a part or sec- tion of one picture and combine it with another picture. Here's how to do it:

1. Open the paths palette (see Figure 4) using Windows ® Palettes ® Show Paths.

2. Use File ® Open to open the scanned file "penguin."
3. Tile (arrange on the computer screen) the windows so that the po- far bear and the penguin windows are side by side.
4. Using the Pen tool (see Figure 5), create a path around the figure of the penguin by clicking at various points around the penguin's outline (see Figure 6).
5. Once you have created the path, save and name the path using the Paths Palette menu (See Figure 7).
6. To select the outlined image, choose the Make Selection command from the Paths Palette menu.

7. Once the path is selected use Edit ® Copy to copy the image.
8. Now click on the polar bear file to activate the window.

9. Use Edit - Paste to paste the penguin into the polar bear picture. Do not click off the selected picture!
10. A dialog box will open asking for feathering settings. Feathering by 3 to 4 pixels helps the image blend in with the background.

11. The next things you need to consider are where the penguin is going to be placed in the polar bear picture and the appropriate size for the imported picture. Do not click off the selected penguin! The penguin is obviously too big (See Figure 8) so the image needs to be scaled down. Use Image ® Effects ® Scale to get the scaling box to appear around the penguin.
12. Click and drag one of the comers of the box to reduce the size of the penguin.
13. When the penguin is appropriately sized, click inside the box one more time with the hammer cursor in order to lock in the new size. Do not click off the selected penguin yet!
14. Select the Move tool from the tools box (See Figure 9). Click and drag the penguin to position it.
15. The last step is to save this new picture you have created as a separate file (See Figure I 0). Do this by using File ® Save As "combined picture" to your hard disk.

Conclusion

We have shown you how to create a nonexample that can be used to elicit discussion among students for concept learning. Such computer graphics might be used in history or English classes to show impossible combinations such as a Gothic cathedral in a Roman forum in the days of Caesar Augustus or in a physics class to show phenomena that defy physical laws.

When providing nonexamples for concept learning, follow the nonexample with memorable positive examples such as an image of a penguin on the South pole and a polar bear on the North pole (See Figure I 1). Ending the lesson with a positive example can help students remember the concepts learned. Or, better yet, after discussion of a nonexample, ask students to create a visual to represent the truth. They will learn both computer graphics and the new concept, and, more than likely, they won’t forget the lesson. g

Lauren Cifuentes (laurenc@tamu.edu), Department of Educational Curriculum and instruction, College of Education, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843-4232; Kristine McIntosh (bigmac@tamu.edu), Department of Educational Human Resource Development, College of Education, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843- 4232; Jason Douglas (doug@benge.com), TCI Cable, 4100 E Dry Creek Road, Littleton, CO

Resources:

ClarisWorks is available from Claris Educational Software, 5201 Patrick Henry Drive, Santa Clara, CA 95052; 408/987-7000 or 800/747-7483; fax 408/987-7563.

Macromedia products, including Director and Authorware, are available from your favorite educational resellers. Call Macromedia Education Sales at 800/288-8108 for more information.

Photoshop, Illustrator, and other Adobe products are available at local soft- ware retailers. Call 800/279-2795 or fax to 608/221-5217 for retailer referral.

PowerPoint and other Microsoft products are available from your favorite educational reseller.

Fred D'Ignazio is the editor of the Multimedia Sandbox column. You can reach him at Multi-Media Classrooms, Inc. 1773 Heights Drive, East Lansing, MI 48823-2485, Walnut Heights Drive, East Lansing, MI 48823-2485; http://www.tcimet.net/mmclass.