I'm no photoshop guru. How do you guys make your avatars look so clean when they're so small? Photoshop secrets?

anyones in particular?

It might be a resizing issue vs resolution? But that may just be the case for printing...

Tavaro, LASH, the Z, etc... the Avatars look slightly bigger and very clear - I lose too much detail when resizing mine. Again, stupid question that is barely worth responding to.

This is what I do

Start with the original pic in full size then crop the part you want. Resize it to 80x80 pixels. Just ask 50 cent...

And don't be down if your avatar doesn't look so sharp. Hell members like viagraonline and freelaptop don't even have avatars!

ok, that was funny

That was indeed funny...

Yeah, I basically just do what jocappy described...the thing that seems to make the most difference to me is starting off with a well lit photo originally.

Or if you got a bad photo photoshop it to hell like I did.... thats my avatar




If you don't have photoshop you can download Image Ready CS2 from the Adobe site for free, it doesn't have all the features of photoshop but it will let you do a lot of color changes, lighten/darken etc.

redhanded

photobucket has an avatar resizing option thats pretty cool.

Upload the photo on flickr. Under sizes, you can get the thumbnail option take the link provided and there's your avatar.

thanks guys...

Fiddle with "unsharp mask" as a sharpening method. Don't overdo it. There are plenty of tutorials online. Unfortunately my art computer is down right now or I'd be more specific. I usually use the "save for Web" option when creating avatars as you can control the filesize before saving. If I'm unhappy with compression artifacts, I use unsharp mask or a plugin that I think is called Sharpen Pro by Nik Tools. You might also try minor adjustments to contrast and saturation if you want a color avatar that "pops."

I've never had an avatar. and I've been here since the beginning.

hahaha oh man.

I've had problems with Photoshop and avatars. Something about the files just won't shrink enough even when I set them to the correct dimensions. Someone explained it all to me once, but its all computer jibberish to me. LOL
So I crop and size in photoshop and then open it in Paint and resave and it works fine.

u don't need to photoshop anything unless u want some special look.

just take a clear, focused picture that shows what your subject is. lol

Yep.

Oh and speaking of avatars, Lash can you ferking change yours?
Whenever I see a post by you, it looks like Mori wrote or approved it.

Just saying...