When working with images, especially for print, it’s helpful to know about image resolution and DPI. Let us begin with the basics:

What is image resolution?
Resolution is the number of dots of ink or electronic pixels that make up an image, whether it’s in print or be viewed on the computer screen.

What is pixels and megapixels?
There are many ways to measure resolution. The most basic is the number of pixels the image consists of, which may be expressed in the number of megapixels. A picture of the 1 megapixel contains 1 million pixels, which refers to the number of columns (width) and rows (height) of the image, such as 1000 x 1000. An image of 2048 x 1536 has a total of 3,145,728 pixels, or 3.1 megapixels. The images in YAY have a resolution of respectively 0.3 megapixels (small), 3-megapixel (medium) and the original resolution of between 3.1 and 30 mega pixels (large).

What is DPI?
In addition to image resolution is expressed by showing the number of dots per inch. We got multiple units of measure based on what is appropriate (DPI, PPI, SPI, and LPI). The best known measure is the DPI (dots per inch) that says how many dots there are per inch. This expresses the resolution of a printer and should only be used in this context. It refers to the number of dots of ink or toner a printer can print a photo in. In general a higher number means a sharper image. DPI is unfortunately often used to express a scanner or a display resolution. It is misleading and should be avoided.

DPI, Resolution and Print size
When someone asks for “an image of 300 DPI” it is natural to believe that they want a picture with 300 pixels per printed inch, but if the print size is not given, this makes little sense. To better specify the desired resolution you should also state the size of the print – and make sure that the printer supports such a resolution. If the printer does not support more than 100 DPI, there is no reason to use a picture with higher resolution.

In conclusion we can say that a digital image does not have a specific number of DPI. An image of 1000 x 1000 pixels can be printed on 4 x 4 inches with a resolution of 250 DPI, or 10 x 10 inches at 100 DPI. Please also be aware that good imaging software easily allows you to change the DPI without compromising picture quality (just remember to avoid “resample image”, as it leads to loss of quality).

Linda

Ever created a presentation by opening powerpoint and started filling in the bullet-points that are there? Out of respect for your audience; NEVER do this again. We do this mostly because the software (mis)leads us to do so. It’s considered a «standard». But do a google search for «death by bullet points» and you will see how many people are trying to tell the world to stop this nasty habit.

Bullet-points include too much text, and the human brain is not made to read and listen at the same time. As soon as you start reading the text that is on the slide, you loose focus on what the presenter is saying. The other problem is that it’s really hard to remember bullet points. There is nothing for your brain to link the bullet points to. This is why experts have created the «rule of 7» which states that any one slide should never include more than 7 words. Use this as a rule of thumb, and ignore it when it feels just.

So what do we do instead? Lets look at an short example. In Norway we have our famous 9 rules for travelling in mountains. Lets create a powerpoint to explain these rules for you – first the wrong way, and then the right way.
The wrong way: First, we open powerpoint, and we create our list of 9 bullets. That’s how 95% of us would do it. It would look something like this.

Now, is this intriguing? How many of these rules would you remember? Is this remarkable? Or would this pretty much put you to sleep? If you are like most of us, the answer is the latter. Now the alternative approach. Do a search for «mountain backpack» (to illustrate point 5)

Find a suitable background, create a slide for each point instead of cramming it all in one slide and maybe you’ll end up with something like the image below.

This might not be what you are «used to» or what your colleagues do, but ask yourself this question; a week from now, which point on the list will I remember? I think you already know the answer!

Click here to read Powerpoint Presentation Tips (1/6)

This week we’ve added a couple of features we know many of our customers wants!

The first one is the first feature of our model/people search. You can now specify how many people you would like to have in your image, by minimum and maximum. If you put 0 in maximum you’ll get images without people in them.
Try the search at our search page!

The second feature is our category page. We now have 16 main categories, all of them with detailed sub-categories. Categories makes it easier to search and browse images, get inspiration and ideas for image use.  Did we miss a category? Leave us a comment, and we’ll try to add it asap!
You can take a look at the new category page here.

Cheers, Linda

Image by Yuri Arcurs Search: Min. people 12, keyword: happy

Some of you might have experienced images back in pending, and then either rejected or back in your portfolio.This is an ongoing process here at YAY. When we notice images lacking in either quality, keywords, description, or if we find there are too many similar images in your portfolio we’ll send the images back for re-evaluating.

These images are evaluated together with new uploads, and are not marked in any way. So, it’s as fair as we can make the process. I would advice all contributors to be careful with their keywords, as images appearing “out of place” are especially noticeable, and therefore more easily sent back for new evaluation. We are not going through the whole database; neither are we aiming this against any particular photographer. So it’s not an early spring cleaning, but a day to day process (as most cleaning is).

If you feel you’ve been faulty rejected, please e-mail me at linda@yaymicro.com, and I’ll be happy to look into it! Also feel free to e-mail us if you have any other questions at post@yaymicro.com.

Cheers, Linda

There have been a few inquiries on how sales are developing at YAY Micro. A few contributors have terminated their account with us, because they haven’t seen the anticapted growth in sales. Deleting accounts makes little sense for contributors and for us. It requires work both from our photographers and approvers before an image is added to the database. When that is done, however, the image is ready for sales and no more work is needed. Anyhow, we do agree that it is about time that we give a status update on how sales are going. We can’t give you too much detail; there are nosy competitors out there.

So, how are sales developing at YAY? The answer is very promising! The number of downloads since September 2008 (we opened for sales in June 2008) has increased with a whopping 28 % per month. In 2009 the average monthly increase was even higher, namely 32 %. There are seasonal variations in the number of download (f.ex. July 2009 had 67 % fewer downloads than June 2009).

Graph:

Number of downloads per month 2009

In regards to photographer’s payouts, the numbers are even better looking for our contributors. The total payout during 2009 grew by 67 % per month! That means that our contributors are starting to earn some good cash. Even when compared to the number of contributors (grows at an average of 5 %), both downloads and payouts are looking increasingly good.

That doesn’t mean that we are resting on our laurels. Quite the opposite: We’ve increased our staff and will now add more resources into sales. We will also start more aggressive marketing towards both contributors and customers in China. Keep those uploads coming and we will guarantee that you will earn money. YAY started from scratch two years ago – and building a site requires patience. As the chinese say: Even the tallest tower started from the ground.

Happy microstocking!

Jan

Most of us have experienced the pain of a bad presentation. You know, the one where you look at your watch every minute, hide your yawning, and wonder how long it will take before you loose your mind looking at a big screen with 18 bullet-points you have no clue what are about. You’re reading this because you DON’T want to be the person giving that presentation, so here is six tips to improve your presentation.

1. CREATE A STORY

The first thing you need to realize is that the powerpoint document (or keynote if you are on a mac) is not the presentation. The presentation is a story and the powerpoint is visual guides for this story. The object of a good powerpoint is to empathize meaning, create clarity and make people remember the story. Once your realize this, most of the other hints on this page will become clear, and feel natural. When you realize that your presentation is a story you realize that you don’t start creating it in powerpoint. You start creating it on a piece of paper. You create an opening, a middle part and an ending.

The beginning is where you engage your audience. You have about 30 seconds to create interest in any audience, if you loose that objective, the rest of the presentation won’t even matter, you’ve already lost.

The middle is where you’re story is laid out and the anticipations are fulfilled. The end summarizes, repeats and calls for action.

Bjørn

Finding and configuring a Twitter background image can be tricky. Here is a short guide on how to find and add a unique background to your Twitter-profile.

Twitter offers 20 background images you can choose from. All of these have pleasing colors, and nice clean design. They are, however, quite generic. Instead of using any of these, you can upload an image that better fits your Twitter page and/or personality.

How To Change the Twitter Background Image
Go to Settings -> Design , then either choose a theme or click change background image. Don’t be afraid to goof around; your profile won’t change until you press save.

Finding the Right Image
There are several pages offering free Twitter backgrounds. Thousands of Twits (easier to say than Twitterers) use these images, so if you want a personal, unique profile you should try to find other images. Think about an object/idea/concept/thought that you feel can represent you. You might find a photo you’ve taken yourself, or you could try a search at images agencies such as YAY. We have hundreds of thousands of images, illustrations and vector files at a small cost ($1.5 for a small image).

Click here to try a search for images at YAY

How Large Should a Twitter Background Image Be?
Twitter accepts images in GIF, JPG and PNG formats. The file can’t be larger than 800 Kb, but the smaller the better. The resolution should be quite high, but still be visible for users with lower resolution. Twitter supports screen resolutions down to 800×600 pixels. Most users today have screen resolution 1024×768 pixels or higher.

You should aim for an image that works for users having large screens with high resolution. Therefore the image you choose should be at least 1600×1200 pixels, and it is even better to have 2048×1600. An Twitter background image of 2048×1600 will fill the screen of 98 % of all Twitter users.

Adding a Bio
The 160 character biography Twitter limits you to, can be a bit too short. Instead you can add a short biography, logo or other additional information in an information box on one or both sides of the main Twitter window. You have to remember that if you want your bio to be visible in 1024×768, it should not be wider than 120 pixels.

Take a look at our Twitter-backgrounds:
YAY Micro
Jan
Linda
Bjorn

Here at YAY we believe that all of us can make a difference in our world. One way to do this is to support humanitarian organizations. As a company we have chosen to support Kiva. Kiva is “a person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend to unique entrepreneurs around the globe”. This is known as microfinance of entrepreneurs, and the aim is to fight poverty by empowering people. You can lend as little as $25 dollars, and when the money is re-paid you can withdraw it, or re-lend it. At YAY we always re-lend the money. If you don’t have any extra money to help other people, maybe you could donate some of your time to volunteer work or to promote important causes?

Linda

If you want to join Kiva – click here!

Other humanitarian organizations:

http://doctorswithoutborders.org/

http://www.oxfam.org

http://www.redcross.org/

http://www.savethechildren.org/

http://www.unicef.org/

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I highly recommen all of you to watch this TED talk by David Griffin!
“The photo director for National Geographic, David Griffin knows the power of photography to connect us to our world. In a talk filled with glorious images, he talks about how we all use photos to tell our stories.”

Linda

There is a saying that Norwegians are born with skis on our feet. In this blog you can see a picture of a 9 month old baby boy – skiing!

This image from leaf shows a grown-up Norwegian skiing