Uhh.... What's up with your face?
Jul 10 '01 (Updated Jul 25 '01)
The Bottom Line If you don't have a profile picture yet, I hope this helps you get one. If you have one already, I hope this helps you optimize it.
This article deals with three issues related to profile pictures. If you already have a profile picture, Section 2 of this article will be most relevant to you. If you don't have a profile picture yet, I hope all three sections of this article will be useful.
1. How to get an electronic image for your profile
2. How to optimize that image for Epinions
3. How to save that image so that Epinions can access it
Introduction
Psychologically (as a psychologist, I am legally qualified to use that term) it helps other members for you to have something in your profile picture. Whether it is a photo of yourself, your cat, or your cat's scratching post, we want to have a visual image to associate with your member ID. Now I do understand the difficulty of adding a profile picture. Some members think they don't have a means of obtaining an electronic image (this article will dispel that myth), some members have an electronic image and have tried to use it, but it looks bad when shown at Epinions or takes forever to load, and some members have an electronic image but don't have a way to get the image online. Each of these obstacles will be dealt with in this article. I hope you are able to use the information to "save face" and eradicate that grey question-mark from your profile and reviews.
Please note that I have nothing against using a drawn graphic instead of a photo for your profile picture. This article is intended for those who would like a photo as their profile picture.
Section 1 - How to get an electronic image for your profile
I'm going to assume that you don't have a digital camera. Most digital cameras are capable of taking pictures that you would feel comfortable using here. What I instead want to deal with here are my suggestion for using a web cam, a scanner, or a 35mm camera to obtain an electronic image.
Web Cams
I had a web cam a long time before I had a profile picture. Why didn't I use my web cam to create a profile pic? Because web cams (including mine) generally produce a very poor quality image. Not only did I look grey and blurry, but you could also see in the background how messy my house is. My wife insisted that I clean the room before taking any pictures that would appear on the Internet. Since I would much rather spend all day playing with the web cam than cleaning the room, I tried a couple of different things that I will share here. If you are reluctant to use your web cam to create your profile pic, maybe these ideas will help.
Create a studio around your computer
Web cams generally need a lot of light. To create a better picture, I brought in three lamps from other rooms ("Sure, make a bigger mess" says the wife) and put them on/by my computer desk. I tilted the shades toward the white wall which reflected the light onto the target spot, the chair. To improve the quality further I hung a solid blue bed sheet behind the chair to hide the mess and provide a background. Finally, I called my wife (who was by then packing her bags to leave me) and asked her to assist in taking the photo. After I promised to restore the house to order and cook dinner, she agreed to help me. She held the web cam at various distances from me and clicked the mouse to take the photo while I sat in the chair and tried to look intelligent.
Surprisingly, everything worked (except the looking intelligent part). By increasing the lighting, setting up a backdrop, and getting someone to help you, you should be able to take a decent photo of yourself with a web cam. I recommend taking a lot of shots under these conditions from different distances. It took us probably around 20 to 30 shots before we got one that I wasn't totally embarrassed to use. I think you will be surprised by the improvement in quality you can achieve with these simple measures.
Important Note: To those of you who have used a web cam to take your profile picture and didn't go to this much trouble, please remember that I am writing the above advice to people who tried your method and weren't pleased with the results. I do not mean to suggest in any way that your picture is lacking. I am just trying to help those who have a web cam that doesn't produce useable pictures under standard conditions.
Now that I had obtained an acceptable face-shot with my web cam, I decided I wanted my kids in the picture too. At that my wife said "You're on your own" and calmly, but quickly, left the room. So, I had to try another trick and see if I could get a kid or too in the picture. The trick was to use the web cam to take a picture of a picture.
Take a picture of a picture
I got out some of our 4 X 6 photos and looked for shots of me and my children. I found one of me and my daughter on the beach that I liked because the photo had some tie-in with my member ID, DrDad. I placed the photo on the desk and set a lamp near it. I had to shade the lamp with a white cloth to reduce the glare on the photo. I held the web cam a few inches above the photo and took several shots adjusting the focus and distance with each shot. I ended up getting a decent quality picture and have used that for my profile pic until just recently.
The advantage of using an existing photo is that almost everyone can find a photo of themselves that they like. Because you will be working on a desktop at close range, lighting and focus are less problematic than when the web cam has to capture your face from six feet away in a dimly lit room. If you have a web cam, but don't have a profile picture yet, try this method and see if you come up with something you can use.
Scanners
Believe it or not, some members have scanners and yet do not have a profile picture. One reason may be that they are experiencing difficulty using one of their scanned photos. If not done right, scanned photos can result in huge files that take forever to display over the web and in an image of the photo takes up the entire computer screen or more. These events usually occur because people incorrectly scan at extremely high resolutions. Here are some tips for using a scanner to scan a photo for Epinions profile picture.
Resolution
For the reasons mentioned above, you should scan your photo at a resolution between 75dpi and 150dpi. Generally, the larger the print photo you're scanning, the smaller you should set the resolution. For example, you could do a 4 X 6 at 150 dpi, but an 8 X 10 should be scanned at 75 dpi. When you optimize the image for web display, the resolution will be reduced anyway, so there is little benefit to scanning at higher resolutions. The one exception to this is if you scan a smaller cropped section of a print for enlargement (see below).
Cropping
You can use your scanner to crop prints before you scan them. My current profile picture is an enlargement of a cropped portion of a 4 X 6 photo. I set the scanner to scan only a small section of the print (my face) and scanned at a higher resolution (200 dpi). This produced an enlarged close-up that I later resized for Epinions. I have found that scanners can do a much better job of enlarging a portion of an image than a photo-editor can. When I scanned the whole 4 X 6 and used a photo-editor to crop my face and enlarge it, the result was not good at all.
By manipulating the resolution and by scanning only the portion of the print that you want to use, you should be able to obtain a manageable image that you can use for a profile picture. However, I must admit I had to repeat the scan several times at different resolutions and with different size crops before I got the one I am using. As I worked at it I did learn how to use my scanner more effectively, so it was a good experience. If you have a scanner but don't have a profile picture, I hope this motivates you to give it another try.
DrDad, so far you have been DrNot-So-Helpful because I don't have a web cam or a scanner. How am I supposed to get a profile picture?
Thank you! You have asked the perfect question at the perfect time. My guess is that many people who don't have a profile picture don't have a means of obtaining an electronic image they can use. However, your basic camera (the one where you drop off film and pick up prints) is capable of providing electronic images.
35mm Cameras
When you drop off your film at Wal-mart or Walgreens or almost anywhere, the form you fill out for developing will probably have the option of getting your photos on disk or CD for a cost of $5 to $10. What I recommend is that you get out your regular camera and have someone take some pictures of you indoors and outdoors, and at close range and from a distance. When you have the film developed, request both prints and photos on disk. In addition to containing your photos, the disk will also have software that you can use to view them and possibly edit them as well.
OK, so now you have no excuses. Anyone who has a camera and a computer should be able to get a decent electronic image that can be used for his or her profile picture. Once you get the image you want, there is something that you should do before you update your profile though, and that is optimize the picture for Epinions display.
Section 2 - How to optimize that image for Epinions
Have you ever noticed how some member's photos seem to take longer to load than others? That is usually because the image has not been sized properly for Epinions, and/or has not been optimized.
At Epinions, size does matter
No matter what size your photo is, Epinions will display it at 100 pixels wide. They do this so that the page width of all reviews will be constant throughout the site. If the actual image that you point Epinions to is wider than 100 pixels, then your image file is larger than it needs to be. The first step in optimizing your picture is to resize it to 100 pixels wide. By resizing the image to 100 pixels wide, and saving it at this new size, you will reduce the file size and the load time of your picture. It will also let you see what the picture will look like when shown at Epinions. When you resize it, make sure whatever photo editor you are using is set to "Maintain Aspect Ratio" so that the height of the image will adjust accordingly. Profile pictures that currently take several seconds to load on a dial-up modem could load almost instantly if resized and optimized.
Resolution, Color, and Format
The next thing to do is to adjust the resolution, the number of colors used, and the format of the picture in such a way that display quality is maintained, but file size is reduced. You can use your image editor to modify these things, but I prefer on online tool that does it for you.
Whether you have the image on your hard drive or already on the Internet, here are step-by-step instructions on how to quickly test the optimization of your picture.
Everyone with a profile picture should do this:
1. Visit http://www.netmechanic.com/GIFBot/optimize-graphic.htm
2. On that page, scroll down until you see "GIFBot Free Sample" and under (1) enter either the URL of your profile picture at Epinions, or browse to the location of the picture on your hard drive.
3. Enter your e-mail address (you can use a fake one if you like)
4. On the "Select Output Format" box, choose "Both GIF and JPEG"
5. Click "Test Now"
You will then be taken to a page that shows your original image with several optimized samples below it. Next to each optimized image you will see the file size, the download time, and the percent savings. What is most useful is that if you move your cursor over one of the optimized images, it will temporarily show you the original image. This makes comparing the optimized and the original image very easy. If you don't see any difference in quality between your original image and an optimized one, but you do see an improvement in download time, you should save the new optimized image and use it as your profile picture. Once you save the new optimized image to your hard drive, you will need to upload it to the Internet so that Epinions can access it.
Section 3 -- How to save that image so that Epinions can access it
The last step in getting a profile picture is to find a host for your image. You can do a Google search for "free web hosts browser upload" or "free image hosts browser upload" and you will get several options. I suggest using the term "browser upload" in the search so that you will be directed to hosts that will upload files directly from your browser. To give you an example of how easy it is to set up an account with a web host and upload your photo, I've provided step-by-step instructions on how to do this at Homestead.com, which is one of your free hosting options. I am not "endorsing" Homestead as much as I am trying to show how quickly this can be done.
How to set-up an account with Homestead.com and then upload your image. Following these steps will take about 10 minutes.
1. Go to http://www.homestead.com/personalsplash.html
2. Click on the "Sign Up" link on the left.
3. Choose a name for your Homestead personal web site. For ease, you might try your Epinions ID. After you enter your name in the box, click "Next".
4. Fill in the short form and click "Next". You must use a valid e-mail address as you will be sent an account authorization message.
5. Choose a login name and password. This can be the same as or different than your web page name. Click "Next".
6. Now you are asked to choose a payment plan. If all you want is to host your profile picture for free, locate the large box on this payment page that starts with the text "Still not sure? Click here to sign up for Homestead Personal Preview -- our free, limited service". Click on the "Click here" link.
7. You are now on the "Service Confirmation page". Enter the code you are shown on that page into the box and click "Submit".
8. Now check your e-mail (it may take a few minutes to receive the e-mail) and click on the link provided in the confirmation e-mail. This will resume the sign-up process by taking you to "Sign up for offers" page. Click "Next".
9. On the "Congratulations" page, click on the "Click here" button in the second sentence.
You are now at the "Choose a Category" page. Instead of continuing with their directions, do the following:
10. Go to http://www.homestead.com/~site/Login/Login.ffhtml and enter your member name and password.
A pop-up window will appear that asks you to upgrade your account. Close the pop-up window and continue below.
11. Click on the "Work on my site" link.
12. Click on the "Work on my Pages and Files" link.
13. Click on the "Import" icon near the bottom of the page (looks like a folder with an up arrow).
14. Another pop-up window will appear. This is not an ad or announcement. It is the file importer. Within this window, click on the "browse" button, and navigate to the photo you have saved on your hard drive. When you find it, click on it once and click "Open".
15. When the file finishes uploading, you should be taken to a page with the heading "Pages and Files". On this page, you will see a box called "Imported files" that shows the file you just uploaded. Click the check box next to the file and then click "View".
16. If you've followed my instructions on how to optimize your photo before you use it at Epinions, then you should see a photo that is the same size as the photos you see here at Epinions (100 pixels wide).
17. Copy the URL of the photo, surf to your Epinions profile page and click "Edit public profile". On the update page, paste the URL of the photo into the appropriate box. Save your changes and you're done!
Other web hosts will have a slightly different process, but the steps are basically (1) create a free account, (2) within your account locate the online file manager, and (3) use it to locate the image on your hard drive and upload the image to the server.
If, for any reason, you do not wish to go to this trouble but do have a image on your hard drive you would like to use, e-mail the image to me and I will upload it for you and e-mail you back the URL to use.
Conclusion
The point of this article was to encourage "faceless" members to show their colors and to encourage all members to check if their profile picture is optimized for Epinions. If after reading this article even just a few members put up profile pictures or optimize the pictures they already use then it will have been worth my time. I believe that non-members will appreciate seeing fewer grey-faced-question-mark reviewers, and will definitely appreciate it when pages load more quickly.
Thanks for reading, and I look forward to "seeing" you soon.
Bret
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
DrDad
|
 - Top 500 |
|
Location: Oklahoma
Reviews written: 53
Trusted by: 192 members
|
|
|
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.