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Sometimes, you just have to use stock images. I know it’s not ideal, but budgets and time restraints are what they are. But if you find an image you really like, how can you be sure that it isn’t being used by everyone else? You don’t want your website or brochure to look like it uses stock images, you just want it to look good.

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If you want to give your brand some personality and broadcast your expertise to a busy audience, recording your own podcast is an often overlooked and easy-to-do medium.

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No, I’m not shooting myself in the foot. There are times when people need a logo for a new startup or a side venture, but don’t want to spend the money paying someone to do it. Fair enough. The problem with this is that they want to do it themselves. » Read the rest of this entry «

Adding a LIKE button to your website is a great way for people to respond to your content. I suppose a better way would be for people to actually click on the call to action button and contact you directly, but in lieu of a real response, a LIKE can help circulate your web page to other people on the visitor’s Facebook page.
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One of the ways Google and other search engines rank your site is using backlinks, or links from other sites to yours. These links say what your site is about and when enough other sites say the same thing about you, Google adds that to your reputation, or ranking.

The question then is, how are you going to get those links to your site ?
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When you think of people searching for your site, you usually think of search terms that match your content. But what about search terms that match your images?
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Camcorders are great for recording video for blogs and online use.

Posting video on YouTube and adding appropriate tags is not only a great way to add value to your own site or blog, but also to attract traffic. In one bold step, you can impress your audience, educate clients, show off your new wares AND draw traffic to your website. Optimizing the video with the right keywords (the ones you are already using in your copy) is always a good idea too. Adding Multimedia to your site doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. This time around, I’ll show you how to record and light video.

Lighting

Standard 3-point lighting. Use for blog videos and interviews.

First and foremost is lighting. Lighting is the most important aspect of any multimedia project, but more so with video. Photographers may be used to using one flash (maybe with a reflector) or available light, particularly sunlight. But video requires some extra attention when it comes to lighting. Thankfully there are some budget methods for lighting, for those of us without unlimited budgets. Remember to look at the scene before shooting. Examine where the light is strong and where the shadows lie. Lighting is not something you are going to correct later very easily, if at all. You will need to get this right first.
Start with a key light and add a lower powered fill light if possible. If you have a third light, add the backing light. A fourth light can also be used to light the background.

Halogen Work Lamp

Like all good ingredients of a budget DIY solution, these are available at any hardware store. They are rated between 150-500 and can be used as a key flood light for lighting large areas. For example, Rona have halogen work lamps for about $15 without a stand; $50 with a stand. The light from these can be rather yellow, so to make it more pleasing (ie closer to white), either purchase a 32K white bulb (ask the friendly people at Rona) or place a blue gel or clear plastic in front of the bulb. Your camera’s white balance will help too,but it’s always best to get things right at the source instead of correcting them later.

Reflectors

To fill in shadows, particularly on the opposite side of a key light, in place of the fill light (see diagram). Almost anything that is white or silver can be used. A quick tour around the house/office/garage/neighbour’s house/neighbour’s garage will probably yield all you need. Some suggestions:

• Windshield sunshade – used to reflect sun in the summer, if you’re lucky enough to live in an area that gets that much sun. If you live in England, try something else.
• Polystyrene sheet or tiles. You may find these in your ceiling. Put them back when you’re done. Don’t say you weren’t reminded.
• Foamcore – available at stationery stores (and some stationary stores too).
• Cardboard with aluminium foil coated on one side.  Baking foil can be easily applied with stick glue or white glue.

The Camera

Most laptops come with webcams built-in, which can be surprisingly high in quality. There is also a large number of after-market, external webcams available. Each will have the resolution stated and the compatibility with operating systems. Stay away from budget models as the frame rate can often be lower. HD video at 7fps (frames per second) is impossible to watch; if you’re posting online, lower resolutions at higher frame rates are preferred. Aim for between 15 and 30fps.
You can also use a camcorder with either a USB 2.0 or Firewire (IEEE1394) connection. Simply plugging it in, switching it to record mode and starting your software will be all you need to do. Naturally, refer to the manual to iron this step out, but once it’s connected it will be able to record straight to your computer. I have had great success with a Sony camcorder, even though it is a few years old. True plug-n-play, for once!

Audio

One of the biggest complaints I’ve heard about poor quality video is the standard of the audio. Microphones come in a variety of styles for different applications, but for video you will want to stick to one or two.

Lapel mic

Radioshack sell inexpensive solutions like this tie clip mic. Wireless options will be more pricey, but will make the experience much smoother.

Boom mic

While most handheld mics will be cardioids, a boom mic is usually a condenser attached to a boom. You may see these in DVD outtakes, where the operator has accidentally waved the thing into the shot. Positioned above the actor, these will stay (usually) out of the way and provide high quality audio. This may not exactly be a budget method, but if you have access to one, by all means make use of it.

Copy

Perhaps you don’t have time to memorize your entire script. An easy option is to put it all in a Powerpoint presentation on a laptop positioned near the camera. A remote control held out of camera shot will allow you to switch pages.

Renting Equipment

Alternatively, if you are particularly interested in higher quality video, renting equipment from time to time is an option. For roughly the same price as buying all this lower budget equipment, you could rent a professional rig for a day. Plan the day, get the location and other equipment ready ahead of time, and you’ll be able to shoot a number of short videos that you can then release periodically online.

Software

The most efficient way to record video (on either Windows or Mac platforms) is to use one of the best and easiest to use multimedia applications Quicktime Pro. For $29.99, you will be able to record, edit, encode and upload your video. It also has options for rerecording audio and embedding the finished product into your website or exporting in a format to upload to your blog. If you are a Mac OS X user, Photobooth is a very easy way to record video. For Windows, any software store will have an array of products that will do the job. Remember to look for ease of use and editing capabilites. Forget the list of effects – you won’t need them. And hopefully you won’t use them!
You’re not creating a Lord of the Rings sequel here, simply giving your business some motion, excitement, and a way to spread the word about what you do more efficiently to a wider audience.

Questions

If you have any questions about how to set up your lights, or camera, please ask away. I would be glad to help or at least point you in the right direction. I may be a multimedia expert, but remember that equipment and operating systems vary, as will your mileage.

COMING SOON

How to embed that video using Quicktime, YouTube and maybe some Ductape (keep it handy anyway, you never know when you’ll need it.)

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Screenshot

When it comes to problem solving, particularly with websites that don’t look like they ought to, proving what your screen looks like can be a problem.
The easiest way to show what your brand new website really looks like (on your computer, that is!) is to take a picture of your screen, also called a screenshot.
To do this under Mac OS X, use the following keystrokes:

• SHIFT-COMMAND-3 This will take a shot of your entire screen (or screens) and save it to a file on your desktop. If you have two monitors, you will get two files.
• SHIFT-COMMAND-4 This turns your cursor into a crosshair which you can use to drag between opposite corners of the area you want to capture.
• SHIFT-COMMAND-CTRL-3 Takes a shot of the entire screen and copies to the clipboard.
• SHIFT-COMMAND-CTRL-4 The crosshair method, which then copies to the clipboard.
• SHIFT-COMMAND-4, then SPACE.  Turns your cursor into a camera. Click on the frame you want captured.

defaults write com.apple.screencapture type pdf

Logout or restart your Mac, and when you login again, all screenshots will be in a PDF format, which you can email more happily than a PNG.

Ok, so you can’t actually take real X-ray photographs with a regular camera, but this method seems to be very effective. It certainly gives the illusion of an x-ray, and that’s all you really need.

I haven’t tried this, but if someone has the time to take 200 photos and layer them in PS, then be my guest. And please share your results!

Photoshop Tutorial: X-Ray Imaging

If I had a nickel for every password I have to memorize, I would have a pile of nickels this (holds out hand) high. That’s a lot of nickels. I also get asked regularly for good ideas for passwords. Something easy to remember, but hard for other people to figure out. Ahh, therein lies the secret. How is that done?While everyone has a different method for remembering obscure codes, there are some pointers that can help you secure your digital world.First of all, let’s cover the password itself. How do you balance the secret / secure dichotomy that is ‘password’?

1. DO NOT use names of anyone you know. That includes children, pets, your car, middle names, nicknames, maiden names, addresses, or the title of the poster hanging right behind your monitor.
2. DO NOT use words in the dictionary unless they are accompanied by numbers and characters.
3. DO NOT use your login name as your password. Some systems systematically restrict this anyhow.
4. DO use a password that is constructed rather than remembered.
5. DO use characters like ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) _ + – = as long as they are allowed with the system.
6. DO use numbers, especially ones that don’t mean anything.
7. DO slice up words so they no longer look like real words. Interject the gaps with characters or numbers.
8. When it comes to password reminders, DO NOT use the real answer. How many people know the town you were born in, or your mother’s maiden name? As long as you can remember the silly answer you gave, you don’t have to answer the password reminder question truthfully!

Constructing your password:

1. Have a theme. Depending on your interests, you have mountains of resources to draw from. Having a theme for all your passwords can help you restrict the avenues for recall. Here are a few that may prompt you to think up your own ‘theme’: Sports teams / players, Favourite movies, Favourite actors, Foods, Industry Terms, Beverages. Let’s say you picked Favourite movies, and for the password in question, your favourite movie is Great Expectations .
2. Pick a number. At this point, you can be something obvious like your age, your spouses age, the numbers in your postal code, your house number or something similar. Let’s say it’s 34.
3. Pick some characters. You can surround the number with parentheses, such as (34) or [34], or quotes "34" or make it an amount, like 34% or $34. I’m going with (34)
4. Now, chop the name you picked from #1 in two and rearrange it. In our example, it might look like tationsExpec (drop the Great, the password might be too long).
5. Now, put the number in the middle – tations(34)Expec
6. Not only do you have a password that would be hard to guess, it can’t be calculated by any algorithm or constructed from words in the dictionary.

Now you have to try to remember this password! The above system helps, but what if you need a number of passwords for different things? How do you remember WHICH password goes where?I happen to have a Blackberry which has a fantastic Password Keeper in it. Not only would someone have to get hold of my Blackberry ("cold dead fingers", and all that) but they would have to guess the password for my Password Keeper. Mwahaha!If you are Blackberry-less, there are a number of programs that will secure your passwords for you. Searching www.versiontracker.com for ‘password’ will turn up some.This may seem like a long way to go just to secure a password, but remember that in many cases, you are securing a lot more than your daily collection of spam from your college pals. Passwords you use may be securing your banking information, online shopping login, business website, ecommerce software, or the hardware itself on your network.While passwords alone are not enough for complete network security, having a secure password is a good place to start.