Special

Cyber Monday 2011

Digital Essentials at special price of $27.00 to anywhere in the continental US!! (excluding shipping) and a Free copy of one of the titles in the Free Stuff on the Internet series!

This special includes a free copy of one of the titles in the Free Stuff on the Internet series. Please be sure to note the copy of the Free Stuff title in the PayPal comments box so that I can include the title you select. Otherwise, I'll include a random title.

For those living outside of the US, contact me. I will calculate the postage and send you a PayPal invoice.

Select a title from the group below:

Free Chapter!

Image Protection — Can it Be Done?
How can I protect my images to prevent someone from downloading them from my Web site?

In short, you can't. There is nothing you can do to absolutely protect against internet image theft. Once something is published on a Web site, it is fair game. If someone really wants an image, they will find a way to get it. But I'll suggest some ways to protect your images.

Click here to display or download a PDF of the complete Image Protection chapter.

Free Video tutorial!

Resampling an Image. In this video I explain how to resize a digital image by changing the number of pixels in it.
Click here to view

Table of Contents

** Click here to download a free PDF of the Table of Contents.**

USA BOOK NEWS ANNOUNCES WINNERS AND FINALISTS OF THE NATIONAL “BEST BOOKS 2009” AWARDS

LOS ANGELES – USA Book News, the premiere online magazine and review website for mainstream and independent publishing houses, announced the winners and finalists of THE NATIONAL “BEST BOOKS 2009″ AWARDS (NBBA). Digital Essentials: The Quilt Maker’s Must-Have Guide to Images, Files, and More! by Gloria Hansen was the 2009 Finalist in the Technology/Computers/Internet business category.

Question from reader:

What about color? I am trying to sell hand dyed fabrics. My potential customers are worried that the colors won't be the same when they receive the fabric. I was thinking of adding a swatch of white to each photo?

Answer:

It won't hurt, and it may give a point of reference knowing that the swatch should read white. Thus if the white fabric reads darker than it should, chance are the hand-dyed fabric would also be darker.

The main question is can you match what your customer sees on his/her monitor to the actual fabric they receive. The answer is you generally cannot guarantee what your customer sees. Why? There are several factors that are outside of your control. They include:

how the person's monitor is calibrated (if it's even calibrated);
what the age of the monitor is;
where the person views the monitor -- is it in direct sunlight? shade? a room with brightly colored wall? and so on;
is there is a busy, colorful background pattern surrounding the displayed website;
even the person's vision and color perception will come into play.

To alert your customers, consider including a statement on your fabric page that the color being displayed may vary from the actual color of the fabric. If color is critical, the person should contact you for more information. Something like ..

"I have made every effort to photographically represent that fabric as best as possible. However, because of the wide variations in monitor quality and color settings, I cannot guarantee that what you see on your monitor will exactly match the actual fabric color. If color is critical and you have any questions about the fabric, please contact me and I will be happy to help."

Reviews:

Editors Pick in Quilting Arts Mazagine - Sept. Holiday issue 2009!
"At last, a primer on digital design for the artist! Written in plain English with easy-to-follow steps, Digital Essentials demystifies digital imaging software, whether you have a MAC or PC, whether you just want to resize pictures and print them out or design a whole quilt on the computer. Because Gloria knows both computers and quilting, she can tell you what you need to know and why. Working with this book is like having a kindly expert sitting right beside you, guiding you through the digital maze."|

Martha Sielman, Executive Director, Studio Art Quilt Associates
"If you have Photoshop, Photoshop Elements or Paint Shop Pro and are having trouble learning how to work with your images, buy this book. ... She explains everything clearly and gives plenty of additional resources for information once you've mastered these basics."

Virginia A. Spiegel
"I’m very seldom so effusive about a book, but a book has so very seldom seen a need and met it in such a cogent and useful way."

Planet Patchwork, www.planetpatchwork.com
"Everybody who has been awake the last ten years knows that computers have profoundly influenced every aspect of modern life, and quilting is no exception. People design blocks and quilts on computers, they scan photos and fabrics into their quilt designs, and they print out templates and patterns. Even sewing machines are computerized. Computer graphics is a complicated subject of its own, however, and most of us do not have the time to master all the finer points of sophisticated photo editing software. We need the essentials, and that's just what Gloria Hansen offers in this book. ... The information is here."

Machine Quilting Unlimited
"Gloria explains how to enlarge, straighten, adjust the color or even change or eliminate the background of your digital quilt photos. She gives explicit instructions for working with each software program, and illustrations include computer screen shots and drop down menus as she walks you through each task in a direct, step-by-step, fashion. Side by side photos showing the results of adjusting such settings as saturation, sharpen and brightness are found throughout the book.

Whether you want to use your images to simply print, print on fabric, combine images, prepare a Power Point presentation, upload you quilt photos to a website or create image sizes which conform to the requirements for quilt show entries, Digital Essentials has the answer."

Gerrie Congdon, GeriConDesigns
"Digital Essentials will be a very handy resource, residing next to my computer. Gloria covers every thing from the tiny pixel to the big picture and everything in between. For those who are saving money by doing their own photography and submitting digital images for juried quilts shows, this book is a must. From calibrating the color management on your computer to removing the background from a quilt, it is all in this handy manual. She covers a variety of software and PC and Mac environments. Want to know how to print better images on fabric? It’s in there."

Trial versions of software:

Free trial version of Corel's Paint Shop Pro. This is a PC-only program. The program sells for under $100 and offers an excellent array of tools for photo-editing.
Free trial of Adobe Photoshop Elements for the Mac
This program sells for under a $100 and is often considered a baby Photoshop. However, most users will not need anything more than Elements.
Adobe Photoshop Elements for the PC
There will be a new version of Elements released for the PC within the coming months. As a result, there curerntly is not a free trial but rather a "notify me" button when the program is available. This program will also sell for under $100.
Adobe Photoshop CS5
PC and Mac trials are available.