Made With Adobe Firefly

Searching and Saving the Right Images

We are making an animated slideshow with images of things you like from the internet. To find images that are large enough, you need to keep out all the small ones and open the big ones in their own tab. You don't just save the image - you have to keep track of where it came from. We are going to save the URL (image address) at the bottom of your Word document, as well as in the Comments field in the Details Pane for each picture (if possible).

It is easy to forget to do one of the critical steps you will learn this week; it takes practice and attention to detail. You may have to delete some or all of the pictures you have saved if you aren't very careful. Try not to get too frustrated by this - it's just going to take some practice and patience!

We'll follow our Word outline to use Google Images to find at least one picture for each of our favorite things. We will also be relying on the Details view of our project folder and the columns we added for Dimensions and Comments to verify they will be useable. You may need to make the columns visible again, and the Details pane must be visible on the right as well, so you can have a place to paste the image address for the image.

NOTE: If Comments is not one of the details you can change, you may be able to open the file with Paint, save the image as a JPG and then delete the one that you saved first. There is a helpful video below.

Step 1

ADVANCED SEARCH SETTINGS

We will be doing more than just a "regular" image search. Google provides tools to fine-tune our selection so that only results for very large images are returned. We have to remember that the page of thumbnails Google shows us represent original pictures that it knows about out on the internet - they are not the actual pictures. In fact, the pictures may not even be there anymore.

Where Are Advanced Settings?

Before you actually search for an image using the Google Images page, you can find the Advanced Search option by clicking on "Settings" in the lower right hand corner of the screen.

After Searching the 1st Time

If you already on the Images tab after you executed a search and see results, you have to click on "Tools" to find the Advanced Search option.

Week 3 Step 1 - Advanced Search Options.mp4

Tuning the Search

To make sure we aren't shown results of images that are too small to use in our video, we tell Google to only show us thumbnails of pictures it knows about that are 8 megapixels or larger, to start with. If 8 MP restricts too many of the images and we don't find what we need, we can lower that to 6 MP, but you have to be very aware of the width and height of the image to make sure it will work.

Step 2

SELECT A GOOD IMAGE

Week 3 Step 2 - Locating an Image.mp4

Choosing a Good Candidate

You will have many thumbnails to look through to find one you like. Getting the picture open on its own tab takes a few steps and is not always successful. When you succeed, there can still be problems with an image like blurriness, "noise" in the image or even things that are not appropriate for school. Learn what to look for!

Steps to Finding a Suitable Image:

Go to Google, click on "Images" and locate the settings menu. Choose Advanced Search Settings.
Enter your search word(s) - simpler is better, and no numbers for sizes there
Change the size to 8MP or larger to start. 6MP can still work, if you are careful about the resolution values.
Click on thumbnails and hover over the new, larger thumbnail that appears on the right.
- Compare the resolution to 2560 x 1440. If they are both larger, it is worth continuing. There are few exceptions.
- If the larger thumbnail stays blurry instead of getting sharp and clear, the actual image may be blocked.
- The new thumbnails underneath the large one are NOT filtered to 8MP or larger. Don't click them.
Your next search may forget the 8MP filter. Check at the top of the screen to see if it is still in effect.

Step 3

By the Numbers

We are making a video the size of the red box. We are therefore looking for pictures that are the size of the blue box or bigger. If images are too small, we don't have any room to zoom in, zoom out or move the view around. The one exception is if the picture has to be very narrow, like a book cover. We may only be able to move up and down, but at least cover the full width of the screen.

SAVING THE IMAGE... AND ITS ADDRESS

BEFORE saving the picture, we must copy the image address so we can paste at the bottom of our Word document.

- Right-click on the image and choose "Copy Image Address" - it's the best way to get it.
- Right-click on the image again, choose "Save Image As", and navigate to your Project Folder to save it. Make sure your picture is the full-screen version, NOT the thumbnail.

NOW switch over to your Word document, go to the bottom of the last page and Ctrl-V "Paste" the image address.

NOTE: Make sure the address doesn't have the word "Google" in it - sometimes we accidentally get the search term address instead of the one for the extra large image by itself.

Week 3 Step 3 - Saving the Image.mp4

Saving the Image

Getting the picture into your project folder is only the first step. Before saving, you must copy the image address of the actual image (not the website). THEN you save the image and switch to File Explorer to find the "Comments" field in the Details pane. Pasting and saving the URL (image address) is essential, and images without them will be deleted.

Week 3 Step 5 - Avoiding Mistakes.mp4

Overcoming Obstacles

Week 3 Step 4 - Overcoming Obstacles.mp4

Avoiding Mistakes

Page updated

Report abuse