Web images with snazz

The below tips are adapted from "5 Simple Things You Can Do to Make Your Web Images Pop". Note that sharpening should be last on your list of actions you take on any image.

1. Try a subtle slightly darker edged vignette around the image.
2. Convert the image to black and white (or grayscale). The right way: check colors and adjust before conversion. Skin tones may need an increase in luminosity of oranges and yellows.
3. Check and adjust tones as needed.
• -- Histogram adjustment (especially check the mid-tones)
• -- Skin tones (color balance)
4. Selectively sharpen areas of the image. Use a mask layer to make this easier and easier to "recover from".
5. Last before saving (or uploading): Sharpen. ... Or Unsharp mask, if you can experiment with settings until the photo is "just right". Nearly all images from digital cameras need some sharpening.

In some of the portfolio sample photos at SharkPixel, I noticed something I like to check and often do -- skin smoothing. Check their portfolio for some dramatic changes after skin retouching and smoothing in general. Holding your mouse over a photo shows a photo prior to some retouching.

Related links:

• 5 Simple Things You Can Do to Make Your Web Images Pop
• SharkPixel

Blogs influence traditional web sites

"Increasingly, web users also expect ordinary websites to have blog-like fresh comment and news too."
- Christian Blog Evangelism

A church with a small web site may do well to use a Blog plus a few static pages.  The free Google Blogger now lets you add up to 10 static pages to a blog.

If your church has bought a hosting package that includes RSS feeds , consider adding a teasers to them on the home page to blogs (pastor, youth director, ..)

If you have static web pages for your main site, consider adding home page links to any dynamic content you may have -- such as blogs or photos.

Desktop publishing basics

Putting out an appealing newsletter, brochure or other print publication for your church is often not simple or easy.  Most people need some level of training on how to do it well.

Your information needs to be in an easy-to-read, eye-catching format. Good publication design delivers news and messages effectively. Take the time to understand and follow simple fundamentals of design. The end result will be a publication that is easy to quickly understand and easy on the eyes.

Layout basics

It may be fun to use the variety of colors, graphics and fonts offered with many design tools, but remember tha readability is the most important aspect of your piece. Due to the web, more people now "scan" even written text rather trhan read it.  So we need to adopt new techniques to help people find what they want and read it easily.

Easy-to-read pubs use

• A serif font for text and a sans serif font for headlines and subheads. Serif fonts have extra strokes at the end of the lines that form the letters; sans serif fonts have no extra strokes.
• A type size of 11 points or larger.
• Left-aligned margins, not justified.
• Text in columns and boxes -- not spread wide across a page.
• Grouping of related stories on a page.
• Graphics or photos that visually describe the story and draw interest. It's OK to use up to three fonts in your publication — one for text, one for headlines and one for your banner or nameplate. But suing more than three can cause clutter and look "circusy".

Headlines

Headlines (and even subheads) need to quickly tell tyhe reader what the text is about.  Avoid "cute" headlines or ones that allude to the text but don't rteally describe what's important. Articles at the top of a page normally should be larger than those lower on the page. Size and placement relates to importance.

White space

White space — the space not occupied by text or graphics — makes the page easier to read. Don't avoid it -- treat is as your friend. Cramming a page full makes it look like a tough read.  Some people avoiud tough reads. Use white space on all four margins, between columns and within text itself.

Simplify text

A rule of thumb when writing for the web is to try to delete 50% or more of the existing text. After boiling down the text to the essentials, look for "lists" of things and change them to bullets. Then break up the longer articles with subheads.
[reference: Technology for Ministry, UMCom]

Picasa 3

Picasa 3 is fresh out of beta. Google says that key goals were a faster and more stable photo organizer/editor/sharing software.

If you use Picasa, update now. If you have not tried it, check out the new and improved features of Picasa 3. It's free software from Google.

• Picasa downbload
• Picasa 3 feature review
• Google Photos Blog
• Known issues and recent fixes for Picasa

Photography money saving tips

An example of a Google Knol is "Money-saving tips for photography enthusiasts". Google defines a Knol as "an authoritative article about a specific topic."

• Knol search results for "photography"
• Knol search results for "digital camera"

Church PR using Flickr

If your church uses Flickr or some similar sites for photo albums, you also have easy access to a unique avenue for identity products.

• Zazzle
  Zazzle site lets you design produce custom stamps, T-shirts, mugs, and more. Custom stamps come in varied sizes using photos of your choice and sizing. They are more expensive than USPS stamps, but it's a unique way of promoting your church. Flickr offers a cross-site link to Zazzle.
• QOOP
  QOOP uses your photos to create custom cards (myCards) of different sizes, calendars, Posters, an more. You can create picture-based business cards, for example. Or mini-cards with a photo on one side and printing on the other. You might want to purchase some for special seasons or to promote select events.
• Moo
  Make notecards or mini-cards

Search for free stock photos

The PicFindr site lets you search for free stock photos. It even lets you customize what restrictions you are willing to live with (give credit, not alter, ask permission). The default is no restrictions.

You can also use the Advanced drop-down to match any term (the default is all terms) or show partial match sites.

The PicFindr site describes itself as "not alpha - not beta - just not done yet", but it works well.

Have a Picnik with your photos

So you want to do some nice photo editing and maybe even a few fancy effects. But you don't want the hassle of learning some graphics program. Go to Picnik and use the free tools there.

All the photo adjustments are easy to access and very easy to use. Yet the results are great!

To make this app even sweeter, you can work on a photo from your computer, from Flickr, from a Picasa Web Album, from the web, from a webcam, or even from a Yahoo! image search result.

I did find that if I played around for several minutes with all sorts of adjustments to a large photo (1600x1200, 1+MB) Internet Explorer 7 crashed. It may have to do with temporary files in use, a bug in the beta Picnic software, or possibly an MSIE issue. I will stress-test FireFox similarly soon. But even though IE 7 crashed, after accessing the site again, the original adjusted image I'd made appeared. Cool.

With this online Flash-based application, you can:

• Resize
• Crop
• Rotate
• Adjust "exposure", including using a histogram, if you prefer
• Adjust color saturation and hue
• Adjust red-eye
• Add Sepia effects
• Add Black and White effects
• Boost color saturation
• Soften the image
• Sharpen the image (though the controls seemed to sharpen too much even at a low setting)
• Add a frame ("border") and matte
• Create a vignette

Most of these effects use a slider bar to control degree of effect applied. Instant on-screen results show. I found the operation fast (I use a cable modem), effective, and the results good looking. I was able to apply more effects than I normally use in much less time than with my graphics program.

The Picnik people promise even more effects are coming. An enhanced (paid) version will give you even more options, but the basic version offers much more than I expected and yet is very easy to use. Even in Beta, I recommend you give Picnik a whirl. Grab a photo, edit, use some creative tools, then save and share. It's easy and fun.

Keep up with Picnik happenings via their Picnik blog.

Tips for great photos

Tips for taking great photos are usually of two types -- composition and camera settings. The Kodak page, Top 10 Tips for Great Pictures emphasizes composition and lighting, but also has some camera settings tips.

Another resource is the Church Communications: Photography Tips page. It's loaded with tips and links.

Review: Picasa Web Albums

Google's free photo organizing and editing tool Picasa, also integrates well with Picasa Web Albums. Both Google (Picasa) and Flickr offer free and subscription photo storage. Here's my fast take on the two:

Picasa Web Albums vs. Flickr (free version)

• Picasa Web Albums offers 250MB storage space vs. only 20MB at Flickr
• Uploader: Picasa is more "fun" and attractive vs. Flickr Uploader. But Flick has tag-oriented input fields at upload time.
• Photo editing: Decent, free photo editing using Picasa. Flickr doesn't offer a photo editor.
• Slideshow: Picasa Web Albums gives a significantly larger photo view than Flickr's slideshow.
• Flickr lets you add rectangular hotspot "Notes" to any photos. I don't use this feature, but it is a difference between the two services.

Overall: I am using a paid Flickr account for my church, but will definitely give Picasa a try soon. Picasa Web Albums may become my preferred site for church galleries and slideshows.

But ... you knew there was a "but", didn't you! Picasa Web Albums is in beta testing (like a lot of the current Google projects). You must request an invitation and wait until Google gives you the "OK".

If you are just starting Web photo albums, want a free photo album site, and don't feel the need for blogging-related tags and such, Picasa may be perfect for your needs.

Look more professional

Want to make your design to look more professional? Here's a few tips:

• Use a good color scheme.
  Avoid wild colors. Avoid distracting background images or ones that do not help a "professional" appearance. Match the color scheme to the intended audience, not to your own tastes.
• Use safe fonts.
  Avoid weird or wild ones. Also remember that fonts carry emotions with them. Do you really want your church to come off as "Comic"? Is that professional?
• Develop a clear, logical layout.
  A simple, clean design looks professional. Avoid a cluttered or cramped look. Navigation should be easy to understand. Minimize multiple navigation menus on the same page. Use bulleted lists logically. Use headings and white space to visually show which elements are related and which are not in the text area. Test your pages in multiple browsers -- they won't all look the same.
• Keep any graphics simple and fast.
  Images slow down display of a web page. The larger the total image file size, the slower the page displays. Sprinkling in images can also distract the visitor's eyes and create an unprofessional appearance. Animated images are very distracting and often give an unprofessional look. Always question their use.

Learn more ...

• 5 steps to a great home page (NetMechanic)
• Top 10 reasons visitors leave your site (NetMechanic)
• Web Design Tips
• Design tips (link collection at UseableWeb.com)

Improve photos with HDR

Sometimes you take (or are given) a few shots of the same image, but with different exposure values (EV), different speeds, etc.. This may have been accidental or done deliberately using an exposure bracket. In any case, you may end up with a better photo if you use a High Dynamic Range (HDR) imaging technique. You always want the photos you post to the web to look their best.

You can get a free copy of Photomatrix Basic at MultiMedia Photo's HDR site. This software lets you merge two photos of the same scene. Their Pro version has more features.