Need help in cropping

[jaysmoke]

Any info you guys can pass on to me to crop pics so they fit better in thumbnails ??????????????????????????
Any help would be great !
Many Thanks
Jay

[Hammer]

Yeah, use your eyes and crop the part that looks best. ;)

Since your question if vague, I guess it's possible that you mean to improve the results from using auto cropping software and there is no really good answer, especially in the case of horizontal photos. If you crop to the middle, you'll usually end up with the best results, although you'll often be cutting off heads. But, better that than showing nothing but feet.

[jaysmoke]

WOW- im a big fan of your blog, and yes i do use my eyes.
Just sites have clearer thumbnails than mine and i have heard that some crop.
Anyways i like your opinions and i hope to meet u some day in Canada at a conference.
PS- i love when u review sites-- LOL
Cheers
Jay

[Bro Media - BANNED FOR LIFE]

i'll hand crop images for $0.10 a image, hit me up if you're interested

[jaysmoke]

no thanks--- there must be a trade secret out there somewhere ??

[Sosa]

Are you using photoshop? paintshop? acdsee etc? can you crop the actual part of the picture that you want? Just having a hard time making them look really high quality? What site is this for so we can see some samples of what you have already did

[jaysmoke]

I gues what it is coming down to is im having a hard time making them look high quailty. Some are some are not.
sure check my site- in the sig

[Hammer]

Like Sosa asked, what program are you using to do your cropping? Photoshop would be your best options for sharpening, improving contrast, editing blemishes, etc. and then works quite well for batch sizing the thumbnails once you've cleaned up the images.

Sometimes you'll end up with a batched processed thumb that doesn't show the best part of the photo, in which case you will need to hand crop those images.

P.S. I'm glad you enjoy my blog.

[Hammer]

I gues what it is coming down to is im having a hard time making them look high quailty. Some are some are not.
sure check my site- in the sig

Ah, that's an easy fix. You're using html to reduce the size of the thumbs. Here's the original size of one of your thumbs.

http://www.loadtakers.com/7_19.jpg

You need to size the thumbs to the final size you intend to use them on your page. If you use html to reduce the size you end up with nasty looking thumbs.

[jaysmoke]

ok, ill try that- but in my webbuilder i just have 2 options
-use original size- (which blows it up on the page)
and
-fit to layout rectangle- (which squeezes it into the template)
Hey Hammer while i got u, any chance of getting your "HAMMER HAND STAMP OF APPROVAL) on loadtakers.com ????---
Cheers
Jay

[Hammer]

Using original size means the original size of the thumbnail. If you size the thumbnail to the size it will actually be when it appears on the page and use original size, it will stay at the original size.

If that doesn't work, you need some better TGP software.

Are you sure you want my opinion of Load Takers, because I'll warn you it won't involve a stamp of approval.

[jaysmoke]

Thanks- i just texted my buddy and hes laughing saying that he told me so.
But most tgp/mgp sites are boring i just wanted to give it some more action thats all. It's my first attempt not to really make money more like a hobby.
But just give me a direction on what a HAMMER style site should look like.
Not the 2257 shit, just the layout.
My IM's are going crazy from some of your blog fans, we are 30 somehting guys from canada who read your blog and share your opinions.
So help a northern brother out
Cheers-- i need that f***ing hand stamp
Jay

[jaysmoke]

my buddy just text me witht he best description we use for YOU

The Jim Rome of the Adult Webmaster World

[Hammer]

If I look at it too long I'm afraid I'm going to develop a twitch or have a drug flashback.

Here are some brief suggestions, anything more will cost you money. It appears to be a fake TGP so I can only make suggestions that will make it more surfer friendly, but if you want traffic it's going to be tough to get until you make it a real TGP and accept submissions and add a trade script.

If you want to keep it a fake TGP and not accept submissions from other webmasters, then you need to use your own galleries and not FHGs. Are you building and submitting your own galleries to other TGPs or are those all FHGs? If you aren't building your own, the number one suggestion I can give you to get traffic to a fake TGP/hub is to build and submit freesites to linklists. They allow you to add a link to your own TGP to the freesites, but TGPs won't. Take the galleries you build for the freesites and add them to Load Takers. They'll convert far better than FHG's anyway and the freesites will send a lot of traffic to your site.

1. Center the page
2. Get the apect ratio fo the thumbs corrected
3. Show the last few days of galleries
4. Add an archive section
5. Dump most of the banners, especially the fucking flashing ones
6. Add more text links to the sidebars with a few banners
7. Get rid of the banner farm at the bottom
8. Dump the 2257 bullshit. Since you live in Canada, add a 2257 link to the bottom that links to a separate page with your statement.

[jaysmoke]

Perfect and thanks for your time. Back to the drawing board as they say.
And by the way in the province of Ontario it is legal for women to go topless.
We are a little easier going here. Just following up to your blog poll today.
Thanks Hammer
Jay
PS- any one and everyone for a lighter side of the worlds bullshit
BOOKMARK - www.hammeruncut.com

[Hammer]

my buddy just text me witht he best description we use for YOU

The Jim Rome of the Adult Webmaster World

Must be the goattee.

[jaysmoke]

no just your frank opinions- ya the goattee- lol
Do u have any site examples so i can see a true tgp site and not a fake one.
Just as a reference point- a personal fav of yours

[Hammer]

My personal text based TGP is Shemp's. http://www.shemp.com/shemp004.htm

One of my favorite thumb TGPs is http://www.madthumbs.com/

[jaysmoke]

ok thats perfect thanks for your time today.
Ill be looking u up again for a follow up review. (yikes!)
Looking forward to continuing to read UNCUT !
Thanks Again
Jay

[Hammer]

I can't edit it now, but I obviously meant my personal favorite text based TGP. Shemp prolly wouldn't be too happy with me claiming it as my own.

[kulapu69]

hmmm if its in jpeg format and you want to crop it easily, try downloading jpegcrop - a little program that does cropping very well! Jut look it up at google and you'll find a DL link if you want to try it out. Goodluck!