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.

Managing expectation

Every day, when dealing with our families, our romantic partners, our children, our friends, our work colleagues, and our 'customers', we must manage expectations. Most of us were raised to be nice people, so we are spectacularly bad at this.

It doesn't help that most people are also excellent manipulators - at a completely unconscious level most of the time. If someone says, "No", we cajole, entreat, bluster, blame, criticise and generally pile on as much blackmail as our power in the relationship and our good manners or conscious allow us to. Strangely, we never put it in such blunt terms. If we're passive aggressive - and most of us have at least a small streak of PA - we make sure that the nay-sayer will suffer enough to think twice before refusing us again.

We read a lot about dysfunctional families, but most workplaces also operate like one big, hopefully happy, but quite dysfunctional family too. If your workplace culture doesn't permit failure, then there is little incentive to give a definite answer. Whether 'yes' or 'no' or 'by next Wednesday', the risk of failure is too high. Or perhaps we don't have the power to enforce a definite agreement.

So its no wonder that most nice people have a host of vaguely agreeable nothing-says to suit any social interaction.

Disappointed lovers, children, parents, siblings, friends, colleagues and customers all think we agreed to X, but when X never eventuates, they get mad. Next, they review their assumptionss, realise the were promised precisely nothing, and wish we could say something concrete.

In a spectacularly bad customer service interaction with a large domestic telecom, I once complained to Mr O that the complaints resolution staff wouldn't be specific. I'd have felt better if they'd promised restitution, even if they later renegged - at least it would show they understood what the process should involve, ie. some sort of promise to the customer.

Most of us believe its better not to commit, then we can't be 'wrong'. I argue, and passionately believe, its less wrong to admit you over-reached than to be vague. In our current culture, vagueness is perilously close to sin by omission.

So be specific. Make promises concrete and time limited. Say when, where, how, who and - if necessary - why.

Don't say: We'll talk soon. Make a time and place, be there, and talk.

Don't say: Now is not a good time. Unless you'll say when IS a good time.

Don't say: Soon, unless you mean in the next couple of weeks. Do follow up.

Don't say: It'll be in next week, come pick it up on Tuesday. Say, "We usually get deliveries by Tuesday and I'll call you then to confirm whether (or not) it has come in, and chase it down if not."

Most of us don't expect perfection, we just want to know WHAT to expect.

This is post 87 of 100 posts in 100 days.

Small Things Speak Louder than You Think

A friend of mine recently ate at a rather glamourous restaurant. The food was pleasant, the ambience very nice indeed. The bill was commensurate with the ambience. Then she went to the bathroom.

No, I'm not about to "over share". The bathroom was clean and had the usual facilities. The toilet paper and dispenser of soap were... Coles homebrand.

There is nothing wrong with Coles home brand. But you expect something a bit more flash at that price point. There's a big dissonance or incongruity in a posh marble and chrome bathroom, with a little plastic Coles home-brand soap dispenser sitting on the vanity.

It's a simple - and probably sensible - attempt to reign in margins, something any successful restauranteur needs to do. Somehow it is easy to see this small thing as either "we didn't think" or "we don't care".

Inexpensive and attractive soap dispensers can be purchased from most homewares shops. All they had to do was buy one and decant the home brand into it. My friend's hands would probably have noticed that it was inexpensive soap, but she wouldn't have noted it as cheap soap.

As a result, this was the story my friend told about the restaurant. It sprang to mind today when I drove past the restaurant. I don't think that's what their Marketing Manager or Maitre d' wants me to be thinking.

On my last driving holiday in rural England, I found a way to get a good dinner was look for pubs covered with baskets of flowers. If the flowers were in good condition, the food was likely to be good. My theory was that any publican willing to climb a ladder to keep their flower baskets in good condition during high summer really cared - and that was the kitchen I wanted to eat out of.

Small things speak louder than you think.