Tutorial

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/03/04/50-stunning-photoshop-text-effect-tutorials/

JPG - Joint Photographic Experts Group

• The JPG file is "perfectly small".
• It can be compressed to as small as 1/10 of the size of the original data.
• The aim of Jpeg compression is to take full-color (and gray-scale) "real-world" scenes and reduce the file size of images for storage and transmission.
• This format is used for images that must be small files
• websites
• emails 
• JPG uses lossy compression.
•  meaning, some image quality is lost when the JPG data is compressed and saved, in which the original quality can never be recovered.
• JPG modifies the image pixel data (color values) to be more convenient for its compression method.

     
The picture on the left, various grey-scales A to E, represent gradual changes in brightness and is in GIF format, as you can see the color changes are smooth. After several Jpeg compressions are applied, the image loses its smoothness and quality as seen in the right hand image.

SOURCES:

http://photo.net/learn/jpeg/ - "Visual Perception" and "History of Jpeg"

Photo Composition

This picture of The Great Wall of China is an example of framing beacuse it was captured looking through a window, as if the window were the frame. It is a jpg image, therefore it is a lossy image.

The dominate lines the pencils create catagorize this image as a leading line image. This is a good example because the lines create a backbone for the image. This is also a lossy jpg image.

This is a lossy jpg image and a great example of centering. The angle enhances the symetrical appearance of the image through the refection on the water.

Balance

Above, is a good example of balance. The images and text are evenly distributed across the layout, which is easy on the eyes.  Below, shows a bad example of balance, as the image on the right overpowers the entire layout. It could be fixed by evenly distributing the text throughout both the left and right side of the layout and by adding an image to scale to the adjacent side.