Payton Place

The prevalence of stupid marketing images on the internet is nothing new. But for the past year or so, I’ve noticed an upswing in the use of images depicting photos of people using their computers while lying flat on their stomach, feet held high, and having a great experience all at the same time. A perfect example of this approach is an image I snagged from Dish Network’s online account access page.

Who in their right mind lays prone, in business casual wear, with their laptop computer on an airport waiting bench? This is so ludicrous that I just cannot fathom an advertising agency that would ever consider this as a realistic scenario. But unrealistic scenarios are everywhere on the internet. The following image is a perfect example of this lack of realism.

Which responsible individual exposes their laptop computer to a harsh marine environment rife with wind, sea spray, and moist sand? Honestly, how good is the WiFi signal likely to be this close to the coast anyway? Of course, if this gent has a cellular data adapter then he’ll probably be just fine. But since when do computers and water go well together?

OK, let’s just leave the environmental conditions out of the equation for now. What about comfort? Have you ever spent a considerable amount of time working on a computer in a prone position? Take a look at this comfortable setup depicted by yet another stupid marketing photo.

This place looks like it has up-tempo decorating with lots of windows (rarely good for computer use) and open plan construction. The room colors are inviting and the subject is wearing contemporary clothing. Check out the operating position of the user. Once again, she is laying prone. But this time she is positioned on a hard wood floor with her computer, the epitome of comfort, right? Doing this frequently would probably build some serious callouses on your elbows!

Will someone please tell me from whence the motivation for developing photography like this comes? I suppose it is simply a way to show a computer used in familiar environments, and in a way that seems casual and inviting. From my perspective though, none of these images depict either a casual or comfortable computer experience. Heaven forbid we’d show machines used in situations that are even remotely realistic.

In conclusion to this morning’s marketing rant, I think it makes sense to show an image of a condition that actually makes sense to a guy like me. Here we have a maybe not-so-average-joe; considering the furniture, the environment, and the view. But the concept of a dude in a recliner with a laptop holds promise. Granted, this isn’t your average every day La-Z-Boy recliner, but at least this computing position is facing the right direction (laptop screen away from windows). This and the possibility of a mountain view from a reclining computer position, conjures all manner of good feelings in my mind. How about you?

~SP

When plagued with original photos, images, or graphics which contain jagged pixels (jaggies), you can quite often clean-up the appearance of that file if you simply reduce it’s overall size without resampling it at the same time. Granted, most garden-variety image editors provide no control over this resampling step. But if your editor has a field to specify resolution, which is a number indicating pixels per inch (ppi) or dots per inch (dpi), then you’re one step closer to improving image quality.

The concept behind this issue is called effective resolution. An excellent description of what this signifies is located at Digital Expert.

Raster images have a specific resolution (i.e., a specific number of pixels per inch), scaling a raster image involves the distribution of available pixels across the designated space.

Image resolution subsequent to scaling is referred to as effective resolution. If an image is enlarged, unless additional pixels have been added by means of interpolation (resampling), then accordingly the size of each pixel must be increased?consequently, the enlarged image will have fewer pixels per inch (lower resolution). Conversely, if an image is reduced, unless existing pixels have been discarded (downsampling), the size of each pixel must be decreased (higher resolution). Although scaling reduction generally is less problematic regarding visible defects, unnecessary resolution can contribute to excessive physical file size.

Cropping the scanned image to the size intended for print also will benefit toward the reduction of physical file size. If an image will require scaling, scanning resolution should be adjusted accordingly. When placing and scaling images, you are changing what is known as the image effective resolution.

Effective resolution is a calculation of the actual resolution factored for the scaling performed in the page layout application. The math works out so that if you reduce the scale of an image in the page layout, you increase the effective resolution. As you increase the amount of scaling, you will decrease the effective resolution. The equation is:

(Actual Image Resolution) / (scale) = Effective Resolution

So if you have an image that is 640×480 @ 72 dpi and looks jagged, you can improve it’s look by reducing it’s size by 50% which yields a greater resolution of 144 dpi. Try it on some of your own images and let me know what you think!

~SP