Photo
Everyday pictures can
be improved by adjusting simple settings with photo editing software.
Applications such as Adobe Photoshop are very popular both among professionals
and home users. However, not all features included in a professional suite are
needed to improve the great majority of pictures. Very simple and often freely available
applications allow cropping, resizing, color adjustment, brightness and
contrast control. Apple iPhoto is available by default on Apple computers. More
advanced skills are required to retouch and alter photographs with
proficiency.
Some photo sharing
sites such as Google's Picasa offer basic image editing (resizing, color
blance, orientation, brightness, contrast adjustment etc.). Services such as phixr.com, picnik.com,
pixenate.com snipshot.com, do not offer hosting, but allow users to edit their
photos online with basic photo improvement tools. Picnik offers an open API,
which has allowed its integration to Flickr, Picasa and Facebook.
Many image hosting
services obtain part of their revenues by offering printing services. Printing
can be usually ordered and customized from the user account. Most services offer standard print photo
sizes such as 4x6 or 5x8 and bigger sizes for about $0.12-$0.15. Different companies also offer product
options such as calendars, business cards, posters, brochures, books, t-shirts
and other merchandise with the user's pictures.
As any other material published on the web, images are easy to copy and re-distribute. Professional photographers and stock photo services have found ways for making their photos available to customers without loosing revenue, for example, including watermarks on the images or offering low-resolution images for free, personal use. In general, users retain copyright of their photos, but other options (Open Content licenses) make it easier to share, modify and profit from the collective pool of online imaging. Flickr offers an option to license photos under a Creative Commons License.
Photo basics. Taking
good pictures depends less on equipment and more on angle, composition,
illumination, subject and distance. Learning some basic tips can improve the quality of photos to a great
extent. Choose your subjects carefully, find open illuminated spaces, take both
“posed” pictures and “action” shots. Try to be original and take pictures of
unlikely elements and faces closeups, individuals, etc. There are many websites that offer basic tips
to improve everyday photography.
Computer transfer and
editing. Once the pictures are transferred to the computer, it is advisable to
label them correctly (otherwise they'll have generic names assigned by the
camera) and organize them on the hard-drive. Digital photography often generates too many images: make sure you
discard all images that are blurry or useless in general. Select the photos
that really matter. Most pictures can be
improved by adjusting color levels, brightness, exposure and other basic
settings with photo editing software.
Uploading and
organizing. Most photo sharing services offer a “bulk” upload option or a
desktop application to upload multiple pictures at the same time. The higher
resolution of the images, the longer it will take to upload them. This also
depends on your Internet connection speed. Uploading also involves writing
titles, captions, descriptive tags and organizing the photos in albums or
categories.
Sharing. Your online gallery will have a distinctive URL. Make sure you link your gallery from your website. Some services such as Flickr and Picasa offer badges and other tools to integrate your photo sets easily into a blog or web page. Promote your gallery between friends and allies, and make sure you add them as “contacts if you have the option. Most photo sharing sites also have a “user profile” that can be modified to reflect your interests and other data.
Video
The difficulty of production, cost and quality of equipment and other technical details varies widely according to budget and how elaborate or professional the video intends to be.
Web video, as more traditional formats, also involves preproduction, production and post-production. Pre-production refers to planning, scripting, finding locations, setting up all equipment, arranging for sound and props. Production often involves shooting on different locations, setting lighting, doing interviews, directing actors, camera angles and takes. Post-production includes editing, adding titles, credits, opening and closing screens, mixing the sound, compressing and uploading the video files. A great source for information on how to produce web video is: http://makeinternettv.org/
The minimal equipment involved in video production is a camera, a microphone (often included in the camera), and video editing software. Depending on budget and production objectives, it is recommended at least to use a tripod for the camera, adequate lighting and a higher quality microphone. Video editing software usually requires a computer with good processor speed and ample RAM memory to run smoothly.
For video uploading and downloading it is recommended to have a high speed Internet connection. Dial-up connections and those that charge for the minute may not be cost effective.
Different video services such as YouTube, Blip.tv and others offer different conditions for hosting online video. When considering free services it is important to understand the terms of service, limits to file size or duration, formats, advertising, copyright and privacy considerations. Hosting videos on a web server can also be done with the appropriate software, taking in consideration that most hosting companies charge extra for the use of excessive bandwidth.
It is important to consider that users will play video in different applications (on a web browser, on a media player, even on a mobile device or an iPod). This will determine in part what formats and encoding is chosen for an online video. Lately, most video services and websites convert other formats to Flash video (FLV) because it allows rapid downloads by relatively lowering the quality of images, and Flash player is available for most web browsers, but may not work with iTunes/iPod.
When producing a series of videos, or when planning to upload video periodically, it is a good idea to either use a video service or setup a video blog that generates RSS to allow users to subscribe to video postings. In Youtube, users subscribe to a channel and see new videos on the web browser. In the case of a video blog, software such as Miro (formerly Democracy Player) and iTunes allow the easy downloading and viewing RSS video channels.
Some types of video may require the inclusion of subtitles, voice overs and other measures for internationalization. This is important to include from the planning stage, since it requires special software, translation and additional voice recordings. For quick, easy subtitling on the web, consider a service such as http://www.bubbleply.com/ or http://mojiti.com/
Video hosting services such as YouTube allow users to upload video directly from mobile devices and phones. Different services support different carriers and options, but in general video is uploaded as a Multimedia SMS, and multimedia charges apply depending on the mobile carrier. There may also be limitations on video size and quality.
Video hosting services provide basic stats and measurements, normally indicated how many times a video has been viewed, and how users have “ranked” the video on a simple scale. Video blogs and videos hosted in your web server can be monitored more closely using web statistics applications.
Getting started
Define your objectives and the audience you are trying to reach. Define also what is your budget and how much time, staff and resources can your organization dedicate to producing web video. Define a clear message and find a creative and unique way to communicate it. Find if what you want to do has been done already, and learn from what others have posted on sites such as Youtube and Blip.tv.
Make a plan. Find the equipment, software and skills necessary to produce web video. Be aware of new roles that this task could demand inside the organization: someone with acting or presentation skills, someone with editing knowledge, etc.
Craft a good story. Even very simple videos can benefit from previous scripting and story building. Write down the ideas you want to communicate and find the most natural and comfortable way to express them. Make sure to keep the video short so its easy to download or quick to load on a browser. Decide if you want to create serialized content (with different episodes) and adjust your script to create expectation for the next video post.
Shooting and editing. It is a good idea to learn about camera angles and basic notions on light and sound for video production. Make sure the environment for the action you are trying to record is appropriate (noise level, light or shadow, distractions etc.). In some types of video it is necessary to repeat shots several times. Use creative editing and incorporate appropriate transitions, background shots, titles and still photographs when appropriate. Make sure your organization's logo or name is visible.
Licensing your content. Many non-profits decide to use Open Content licenses for their web content, including videos. Open content licenses such as Creative Commons licenses allow the public to make a limited creative use of your video material. Assume that online video is dynamic content and it will get reproduced and modified without your permission. You can benefit from Open Content by using other people's materials in your production process, complying with the terms of the license.
Publishing your video. Find a web server to upload your video. You could start by uploading your videos to a service such as YouTube and then deciding you want more control or different features, in which case you will want to setup your own video blog or channel. Over time you may find appropriate to publish different versions of your video to adjust to user's players and Internet connections.
Promoting your video. Videos posted on popular sites do not necessarily get thousands of views automatically. You will need to promote your video among your supporters and try to locate bloggers that will find them interesting and post or link to them. If you're planning to send email promoting your video, send a small written summary or teaser and include a link to the video location on the web. When posting in a web video community it helps to try to build a subscriber set, comment other people's videos and make “friends” with others. Make sure it's easy to view and subscribe to your videos from the organization's website.
Getting feedback form your audience. Try to go beyond the number of views or user ratings in favor of more qualitative data. Read the comments carefully and try to extract lessons from the audience. Make note of positive and negative aspects of the video. If there are no comments, your statement or presentation may not be controversial or stimulating. Try to follow up on your video posted in blogs and other sites. You can even choose people from your audience and survey the group briefly on your video content, quality and effect.
Editing
Web 2.0 services are offering more possibilities to create and edit video directly on the web. Although performance is still limited and depends largely on the user's connection speed, several services such as http://eyespot.com/ and http://jumpcut.com/ allow to easily cut-off desired scenes, add background music, integrate animations, etc (see http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/free-video-editing-tools/). The service http://www.viddler.com/l allows to tag specific moments inside a video, discuss specific scenes and control access to videos.
Mobile phone companies are increasingly adding the capacity not only for shooting high quality video, but also basic editing and enhancing directly on the phone. The Nokia N95 is a notable example of a “smartphone” that includes this feature. Other mobile devices such as handheld computers can also run basic video editing software with limited capacities.
Many popular video blogs and videocast are staring to incorporate the user feedback and submitted video material to create a conversation and engage viewers in a more interactive way. For example, serialized storytelling could include the audience's ideas on plot development, dialog bits or contextual details.
Independent web video shows that were generated by users or groups of amateur videographers and producers are starting to be picked up by mainstream TV channels.
You might want to consider dotSub.com for crowdsourcing subtitle translations on videos. A great free tool.
Posted by: Angus Parker | October 29, 2008 at 05:21 PM