Re: How to impose small-enough numbers on a photo?

[Robert Lauriston <robert -at- lauriston -dot- com>]

Reduce the dpi of the image (without resampling) until 6-point text is small
enough.

On Jul 26, 2009 8:28 PM, "Guy K. Haas" <guy -at- hiskeyboard -dot- com> wrote:

This is not directly about tech writing, but it touches on it a related
problem.  I have a 5-megapixel black-and-white photo (scanned to .jpg
but saved in .psd format) of a seventh grade dance circa 1955.  It shows
probably 40 people, from foreground (head about 1/10 the height of the
image) to background (heads less than half that tall).

For the class newsletter, we'd like to apply numbers to the image --
say, on people's chests -- and see who can identify the most people.

Now, the problem is that with my Photoshop CS2, I can't make the text
digits small enough.  The smallest font they offer is 6pt, and that
makes digits that are as tall as the smallest faces in the image.

I've thought of resizing the image LARGER, but that invents pixels,
reducing quality.

I considered doing it with a grid [A,B,C,... across and 1, 2, 3, ...
down the side], but that seemed cluttered.

I've thought of callout leader lines from people to the margin, but that
gets cluttery.

Would the GIMP or some other shareware/free tool be of any help?

It would be REALLY tricky to blow up the image, apply text numbers to an
overlay, then resize it downward and superimpose only that layer to the
original photo.

Any other bright ideas?

--Thanks,
    Guy K. Haas
    Software Exegete in Silicon Valley

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table of
Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as Doc-To-Help
2009 tips, tricks, and best practices.
http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/

Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control!
http://www.helpandmanual.com/

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as robert -at- lauriston -dot- com -dot- 

To unsubscribe send a blank email to
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit
http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/robert%40lauriston.com


To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info.

Please move off-topic discussions to the Chat list, at:
http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/listinfo/techwr-l-chat
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table of
Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as Doc-To-Help  
2009 tips, tricks, and best practices.
http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/

Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- 

To unsubscribe send a blank email to 
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/archive%40web.techwr-l.com


To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info. 

Please move off-topic discussions to the Chat list, at:
http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/listinfo/techwr-l-chat