User Pictures

[kneeshooter]

So, we almost all have them - but what do they mean?

I seem to have, over time, developed a number of rules about what picture I use when - I think its a signal of my mood, or the type of post, or to affect the impression I want to make.

• Why/when do you use different icons?


• What do they mean?


• Why upload them in the first place?

Comments

[xullrae.livejournal.com]

Well I only have one at the moment, and I only really use it so that people can see who I am! I sometimes spend ages trying to work out who someone is, it can be frustrating when I know I should know them but they have a picture of an octopus or something instead of a photo!

[kneeshooter]

It doesn't always help with me. There's a fair number of people who've only seen me in particular kit. I had a conversation with someone the other week at a party who I'd RP'ed quite a lot with at the last GD - where it had been mostly dark and I'd had my veil and heavy make-up - they didn't have a clue who I was...

[sheepthief.livejournal.com]

A lot of women use cartoons or other images not of themselves for fear of stalkers. But yes, I find it rather annoying too, especially when two different people use a very similar image.

Iconography

[forbinproject.livejournal.com]

Orson Welles in 'The Third Man' is my default cos he's waaaay cool.
Simpsons/Costello when I am in a particularly good mood or often when listening to the man. Strangely I have an internal setting which is 'Being in a Costello Mood' but i'd be hard-pressed to explain it to anyone else.
The Esher/Gravity one is generally used when I am under stress of some sort.
Grodd is for comics/monkey-based musings.
Dr Fate... jury's still out on that one.

Re: Iconography

[pax-draconis.livejournal.com]

Orson Welles in 'The Third Man' is my default cos he's waaaay cool.

And also, from a certain perspective, that looks a little like I'd imagine you do without a beard.

[nyarbaggytep.livejournal.com]

I only had the one for ages, then got bored and put another couple up - for when I am in different moods - and also because I like those pictures of me, They are mostly so people will know who I am if they ahve actually met me in real life though.

[pax-draconis.livejournal.com]

Mostly I rotated through three for a while - the "default" William Blake painting, which is my mood-neutral icon; the "Colpetti" face, which I tend to use for serious posts that need a face to them, and the Yellow Sign, which was for whimsical or passionate posts. Since then I've expanded the list a little - experimenting with them to see which one fits moods best. Gojira, obviously, is for Tokyo-flattening. Squiddy and Do Not Taunt are for aquatic shenanigans and mockery respectively, though the latter goes for most of my "tongue in cheek" posts too. The one of me looking up is my "sense of wonder" icon because of where I was when it was taken (St Mark's Square, Venice). My Diogenes is for endings or big changes. And I have a Ben Browder icon for fanboy lunacy, though I've only used it once.

My "paid" time is up shortly, so I'll probably revert to three icons. One will be Red Dragon; I'm not sure what the other two will be.

piccies

[mfl.livejournal.com]

only thing i could find so far that had low enough pixels/ resolution or whatever.. help would be gratefully recieved

Re: piccies

[jfs.livejournal.com]

What sort of picture do you want? Knocking up icons is dead easy.

Re: piccies

[mfl.livejournal.com]

either a photo from some larp event, following the " so people can tell who I am " logic.. or a gif image that i found on the web that looks cool. simply put i need a bit of tutoring as to how to "fix" somthing i find so it will fit on the LJ .
As an aside is there any copyright problems with this sort of thing? Apologies if this is hopelessly stupid/naive but i felt i should ask

apologies if this is sucking eggs

[jfs.livejournal.com]

Okay - quick tutorial - I won't go into detail about particulars, because it completely depends on what graphics software you're using.

Images have 2 different sorts of dimensions - their size in pixels, and their size in cm (or inches, or whatever).

The two are related by something called the image resolution, which is the amount of information in the picture. The higher the resolution, the better quality the picture, but also the higher the byte (memory) size of it.

A 300 pixel wide picture at a resolution of 300 dpi (dots per inch) will be an inch wide. A 300 pixel wide picture at 150 dpi will be two inches wide and so on.

So, find a picture. Get the bit of it you want by cropping it. Then resize it so that it's 72 dpi and that it's biggest dimension (width or height) is 100 pixels. Check it's size is less than 40k and then you can upload it using the page http://www.livejournal.com/editpics.bml#upload

Or, if you'd rather, right click on the image displayed here, save it to disk and then upload that.

The copyright for that image lies with Dave Miller, by the way - whoever takes the photo owns the copyright.

Re: apologies if this is sucking eggs

[mfl.livejournal.com]

Thanks , not only for the advice but also the picture which i don't think i've seen before...I remember the ill advised use of red/brown face paint though... just looked as if he'd been too close to the camp fire. And with that photo the "camp" is certainly evident
cheers

Re: piccies

[kneeshooter]

Have a look at any of mine - there are certainly a load of you with flappy ears. When you find one you want email me the details and I'll get a 100x100 for you from the original rather than the reduced versions that are online.

http://www.darkstorm.org/simon/Omega/

Re: piccies

[mfl.livejournal.com]

thanks .. will mail you , much appreciated

Re: piccies

[pax-draconis.livejournal.com]

Let me get home and back at my PC rather than probablyscotty's steam-powered difference engine, and I'll do a couple for you.

Re: piccies

[mfl.livejournal.com]

again, much appreciated.. as long as as much of my RL face is covered, as RL photo's of me are notoriously bad, most of my official photo's ( degree, sarah's degree etc) have me sporting dogbitten lips ( i think thats the phrase)
cheers

[nattydreadi.livejournal.com]

I am a 'so peeps know who I am' I am afraid ... and it was the only picture of me small enough to fit. I can't be arsed with cutting down shennanigans

[sheepthief.livejournal.com]

There are some icons that I use for specific purposes - the cats, the car, and beaker (which I use for jokes). The others... as and when I feel like it really, but the punk for aggression, the clubbing one for boozed up, and the one of me as a youngster for when I'm feeling like an old fart. Fire kills children is for when I'm feeling bitter and twisted. Hmmm, been using that one a lot lately.

[jessie-pup.livejournal.com]

They're all of me (apart from the dogs) which shows people what I look like and they just reflect my mood mainly. There's no other deep meaning really.

[bewildebeest.livejournal.com]

I only have one, this charicature, since that was easily accessible when I set the account up. I tried to sort out one of my motorbike, and one of my guitar, as a sort of statement about me, rather than an individual mood, but COREL wouldn't give me the correct fil;e formats to save to. Might try again some time, if I can be bothered that is...