Searching for Images
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When you search on Google, you can narrow your search to Images by clicking the Images Tab. |
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Once the search results are displayed, you can further narrow your search by using the controls at the left side of the page to select picture size and type (news, face, clip art, line drawing, photo). The line drawing setting is very useful for finding pictures, diagrams, or maps for colouring or labelling. |
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Just be aware that many of these images will be copyrighted. To restrict your search to public domain or Creative Commons images, click the Advanced Tab and choose labeled for reuse in the Usage Rights drop down menu. |
Downloading Images and Clip Art
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In general, you can download media such as photos, sounds, and video by right-clicking and choosing Copy or Save Target As. Or, select the image and choose Copy from the Edit menu. |
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Be careful to observe copyright when downloading media or make it a policy only to use Creative Commons or Public Domain media. If the media is too large to download or copyright is an issue, consider just linking to it instead.
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Common File Formats
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For most classroom uses, you will want to shoot or download photos in the JPEG format. Photos of this type will be identified by the .jpg extension following the file name. If you hover the cursor over a photo in Windows, you will see the photo's dimensions (e.g. 1600x1200) and its size (e.g. 1.7 MB). On a Mac, the photo's dimensions are given below its name, and you can find its size by selecting it and choosing Get Info under the File Menu.
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The most common file formats used for photos are explained in this entry by Rick Matthews. The most common types are:
| File Type |
Description of File Type |
| TIFF |
a very large and high quality uncompressed format |
| PNG |
a very large and high quality format that uses compression but recovers quality exactly |
| JPEG, JPG |
a compressed format that maintains good quality and reasonably-sized files
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| GIF |
a compressed format that suffers great loss of quality if you are using more than 256 colours
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| BMP |
a format used by Microsoft, e.g. in the Paint Program |
Converting Images from one Format to Another
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The free online utility Zamzar can also be used to convert from one file type to another. For example, if you convert a TIFF file to a JPG file, you will reduce some of its quality but you will also greatly reduce its size.
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Reducing the Size of Images
There is a 12 MB file size limit for files you upload to the BC UDL LOR. For example, if you want to upload a PowerPoint Presentation that contains 10 pictures, and each picture is 2 MB, the file will be too large to upload. You will need to reduce the size of the pictures (perhaps to 640x480) to reduce the size of the PPT.
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If you need the high quality, you can maintain the same format but crop out a smaller area of the photo to use. You can also resize the photo to reduce the size. The free online Picresize 2.0 is very handy for quickly cropping or reducing picture size, and the downloadable Pixresizer (Windows) works well too.
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With a free photo editing program such as Picasa (Mac and Windows) you can convert a photo from one format to another to reduce its size. In general, you do this by opening the photo and using the Save As or Export option.
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Using Clip Art and Photos in Word
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Word contains a large selection of clip art both off and online. To insert a picture or clip art in MS Word, go to the Insert Tab (Mac and Windows). |
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If you want to move the picture anywhere on the page, right-click and select Text-Wrapping/Tight.
To resize a picture, select it and drag the edges or lower right-hand corner to the correct size. You can also right-click on a picture and choose Size. (This is handy if you are trying to make two pics exactly the same size.)
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Using Clip Art and Photos in Notebook Software
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The Notebook software Gallery contains a large assortment of visual and auditory media. Drag an image from the Gallery onto a page or copy and paste a picture from another location, including the Internet.
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To resize the picture, select it and drag it by the lower right-hand corner. To remove unwanted background, right click and choose picture transparency. Click the background with the eyedropper tool to remove it. Here's a demo (win version) or (mac version).
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Related Topics
Using Public Domain and Creative Commons Media
Sending and Sharing Large Files
Buying a Camera
Creating Slide Shows
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