Tweaking photos

I've been thinking too much about how to prepare photos for userpics, 'rogues gallery' framing, or to use in tributes or invitations for milestone birthdays, anniversaries, awards, funerals, etc.  Here's my primer of things to consider.



Choosing a pleasant 'happy snap' of the subject is the beginning, not the end of the process.

By the way, the subject limits the use of her image to this post only.

Some judicious cropping will help keep the focus on the subject.

Head and shoulders is often more flattering than waist up or three quarter. Especially if you are cutting someone out of a larger photo.

A head shot will usually look better than a torso shot. Its about capturing the essence of the person, not every detail.

Less detail makes for a more timeless image - you notice the person, not the unfortunate mid-noughties fashion choices, or the incriminating evidence of where the photo was taken.







You can choose an oval, which keeps the visual focus even tighter.

An oval can create a classic, traditional or retro feel. It depends on the original photo.

There are other frame shapes but oval/circle or rectangle/square are classic for a reason. A star-shaped cut out, for example, can look too-cute very easily.

An 'average' photo - wrong exposure, wrong light, etc. - may look better in black & white. You may want to increase the contrast.

If you're feeling brave, tinker with the mid-tones to get the right amount of detail. You don't want to emphasise every spot or wrinkle, but neither do you want the face to lose definition or character.

Some photos look good in sepia. In this case the subject looks somehow 'happier' in the golden tones, which pick up the sunshine effect. There's more depth too.

The Gentle Art of Constructive criticism

Now that we've defined how criticism differs from complaint, how do we give feedback so we minimise fallout and maximise results? I call it the Gentle Art of Constructive Criticism...

1. Make sure your proposed criticism is constructive: "you'll never make it as a writer, so stop wasting your time" is judgement, not constructive criticism. Be kind - sometimes that will mean keep your mouth shut, and sometimes that will mean telling the truth even though you'll suffer for it.
2. Ask if the person would like your feedback. Unless it's part of your job to critique other people's performance. If so, don't be coy but do give the recipient a choice about when the criticism will happen. (If someone is coming down with the flu, has been chewed out by Joe Public, or has suffered a bereavement now may not be the best time.)
3. In private. Nobody likes to be criticised in public.
4. Offer both praise and blame. Surely this person is doing something right?! Scrupulous fairness usually makes criticism harder to dismiss and easier to accept. As a minimum it makes the giver of unpalatable feedback feel better about the task.
5. Be specific and direct. Don't hint: "there are things you could be doing better... now I'll just leave you to think about that, eh?"
6. Try to offer a solution, not just a problem. "You suck," doesn't give people much room to improve.
7. If you're not offering 'drive-by criticism' (and why would you?), be alert to and encouraging of improvement. Or even steps toward progress. Again, keep it private between you and the person you criticised. 

This is post 14 of 43 posts.

The mojo of the sandwich - part 2

So many sandwiches, so little time... further random musings on what makes a great sandwich.

Part of proportion is getting the layering right. The order of the ingredients matters. So does the format of the ingredients: is the ham shredded or in slices - and are they thick slices or thin? Is the avocado sliced or puréed? Sliced avocado will need an extra 'glue' ingredient to hold it in the sandwich, whereas avocado mash will act as a glue (the Goldilocks principle applies here - neither too much and too little will work). I encourage you to experiment in the privacy of your home: tomato and avocado and spinach is a delicious sandwich, but a very different beast made in different layers. For example if the tomato goes straight on the bread, even buffered by butter, it makes the bread wet and sloppy.

Did you realise that a great sandwich, more than just cuisine, is a significant feat of engineering?

A salad sandwich may just be the great test of the sandwichier's art - getting a salad bowl to stay between two slices of bread (or slabs of ciabatta, as the case may be) is not for the faint-hearted. For this reason, I'm inclined to call the genuine salad sandwich more of a private than a public sandwich. By the time you have tomato, greens (iceberg, mignonette, cos or radichio lettuce, rocket [aka arugula] or spinach leaves, bean sprouts or watercress to name but a few), cucumber (or celery, or zuchini, or radish - they occupy roughly the same niche), avocado, spanish onion [or its more pungent brethren] and grated carrot, you have a lot going on, and all of it slippery, even if you're obsessive-compulsive enough to actually dry the greens after washing them.

A word about mayonnaise: basic 'salad cream' is a mostly regrettable necessity, which seldom adds to the flavour. A good 'real' mayonnaise (hint: it contains actual egg product) is far superior. Taste your mayonnaise or 'salad cream' and if you don't like the taste straight, don't add it to your sandwich. Similar rules apply to mustard and other condiments. Just because a chutney is 'home made' doesn't mean it is nice.

Butter or margarine? Please, always offer both.  Spreadable butter by all means - I don't like my sandwich with holes ripped it in from ice-cold, rock-hard butter either, but given no choice but margarine I'll usually choose bare bread. I'd rather have the delicious cholesterol* than the chemicals, any day. If you include cheese and/or avocado, you may not need spread at all. It is possible to have too much of a good thing.

Toasted or fresh? Here in Australia, I feel we need to Stop the Toasting Madness.  Once, toasted was an extra to be requested. Now I have to remember to beg the sandwichier not to toast. Call me opinionated, but salad - featuring iceberg lettuce! - in a flatbread wrap was never meant to be toasted. (Or not unless you're prepared to disassemble the wrap, remove the greens, lightly toast the open flatbread under a grill, then put the fresh greens back and re-wrap it. No, I didn't think so.) Some cafes even force toasting on me by chilling the pre-made sandwiches so they're nasty eaten 'fresh'.

A focaccia too far? I love bread in most of its manifestations, but novelty in breads leads to regrettable results.  As with mayonnaise, the bread needs to be good to eat. I've attempted to eat many so-called focaccias, ciabattas and turkish breads that in texture and taste could be the bastard offspring of concrete and cardboard. They looked wonderful, lying there all golden and seductive... to tempt you from the path of sandwich righteousness. Always try a new form of bread 'solo' before you commit to a sandwich together.

A sandwich should satisfy various senses: taste is about smell and 'mouth feel' (aka texture), and a public sandwich should look good and (when it gets close enough) smell good too. So there is it is: even the humble sandwich can be elevated by the care, attention and sheer relentless search for perfection we apply to it.

* In the public sandwich, one should always have bread with butter: butter with a side of bread is for private sandwiches, where it goes very well with a glass of good champagne (or is that just me?)

This is post 9 of 43 posts.