Delta Virtual Airlines Water Cooler

Delta Virtual Airlines Water Cooler | PC Support | Custom Signature

DVA10236
Captain, B747-400

Joined on October 02 2011
Century Club
DVA Ten-Year Anniversary

LaGrange, GA

107 legs, 433.3 hours
51 legs, 144.5 hours online
105 legs, 429.8 hours ACARS
3 legs, 3.9 hours event

Posted onPost created on October 22 2015 18:42 ET by Jacob Buchanan

Hi guys,

As you can see, my signature looks a bit..... off I guess I'm allowed to say. Here is the original image:

Untitled by Jacob Buchanan, on Flickr

It's mine to begin with, just to get that clear. Anyways, I've read the document from the library, and my version of paint.net and it don't seem to jive, obviously as time has gone on updates have been released, but I seem to be missing a key aspect as to how to create these. The main issue is that it's very distorted compared to other images from fellow pilots.

I understand I need to crop it a little, which is fine to make it work out, but it's stretching beyond recognition that it's even a 757. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Jacob

Jacob Buchanan (DVA10236)

DVA12216
Senior Captain, MD-88
OLP

Joined on July 25 2013
50 State Club
Globetrotter
Tin Dispatcher
White Knuckles Club
Online Triple Century Club
Million Mile Club
DVA Five-Year Anniversary
US Coastal Club
DVA Fleet Master
Everett 500 Club
Flying Colonel

"Speed is life, altitude is life insurance."
Alexandria, VA

1,798 legs, 4,339.1 hours
378 legs, 681.8 hours online
1,718 legs, 4,088.0 hours ACARS
14 legs, 36.8 hours event
311 legs dispatched, 224.4 hours

Posted onPost created on October 22 2015 22:04 ET by Matthew Murray

You will most likely want to crop out at least a bit at the top. Once you crop some of the background, you should resize the image/canvas to 540 by 180 pixels (IIRC.. been a while. Check on the profile page). I use Photoshop CS6 and therefore don't know anything about using Paint.net, but I'm sure there's a way to resize it somewhere. Getting the filesize within limits is about the hardest part, Photoshop had a "Save for Web" feature that lets you save a PNG with a much reduced filesize. The key component is to ensure that you're not stretching any portion of the image, just crop the extra space around the sides.

Matthew Murray (DVA12216)

Posted onPost created on October 23 2015 15:30 ET by Jacob Buchanan

Isnt that what ive already done though? Yours has no distortion at all.

Jacob Buchanan (DVA10236)

DVA11021
Captain, B757-200
OLP

Joined on September 13 2012
B757 100 Club
Everett 250 Club
Triple Century Club
Online Triple Century Club
DVA Five-Year Anniversary

Milford, NH

375 legs, 620.5 hours
365 legs, 604.5 hours online
374 legs, 618.9 hours ACARS
21 legs, 51.4 hours event

Posted onPost created on October 23 2015 15:32 ET by Sean Zarella

instead of croppng you could just resize the image to the sig size, if your going to crop, make sure you retain the correct ratio.

Sean Zarella (DVA11021)

DVA043
Senior Captain, MD-11
OLP

Joined on June 10 2001
Event Half Century Club
Online Double Century Club
50 State Club
DVA Twenty-Year Anniversary
Everett 1500 Club
Bi-Millennium Club
Four Million Mile Club

"Col. Panic"
Marietta, GA

2,307 legs, 9,292.6 hours
240 legs, 553.9 hours online
1,965 legs, 8,085.7 hours ACARS
75 legs, 196.3 hours event
2,343 legs, 9,427.5 hours total
91 legs dispatched, 66.4 hours
CURRENTLY LOGGED IN

Posted onPost created on October 23 2015 16:47 ET by Luke Kolin

The problem isn't the cropping, Jacob, it's that you've stretched the image. As Sean correctly points out, you need to keep the height/width ratio when you crop. Don't adjust the size after you crop.

Cheers!

Luke Kolin

Senior Captain, MD-11

Posted onPost created on October 23 2015 17:05 ET by Matthew Murray

Yes, you technically do not *have* to crop, but I find that normally a small crop allows the focus to center more on the aircraft rather than the scenery. If you'd like some help, feel free to email me (check my sidebar for the email) and I can assist.

Matthew Murray (DVA12216)

AFV826
Captain, B747-400
OLP

Joined on August 18 2009
GVA 5 Year Anniversary
Diplomatic Mission
Online Triple Century Club
50 State Club
Globetrotter Extraordinaire
The Penguins Of Madagascar
Historic Triple Century Club
Two Million Mile Club
Double Millenium Club

Midwestern United States

2,000 legs, 5,942.1 hours
386 legs, 901.5 hours online
1,876 legs, 5,594.9 hours ACARS
11 legs, 74.9 hours event
3,500 legs, 11,636.4 hours total

Posted onPost created on October 23 2015 22:00 ET by Jacob Miller

i know there's a way to do it in photoshop, but i believe there's a way to lock the cropping tool to keep the ration while you size the area to be cropped. once you crop it to the correct ratio you can edit it and do whatever, then before you upload it, resize it to the correct size so it'll fit the upload limit.

Jacob Miller (AFV826)

Posted onPost created on October 25 2015 15:40 ET by Jacob Buchanan

Alright, we'll see what I can manage to do. Thanks for the ideas.

Jacob Buchanan (DVA10236)

Posted onPost created on October 25 2015 20:13 ET by Jacob Buchanan

Well, I guess I did it.

Opened it up in Adobe Lightroom, chose the aspect ratio, then moved it over to paint.net to reduce the actual pixel size. Worked good that way.

I guess now I'll have to just shoot really wide shots or almost panorama and crop in post to get a full aircraft like you have Jacob.

Jacob Buchanan (DVA10236)

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