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How to make (sexy) pictures for the Internet
By Joe Johnson, February 2003, revised March 2003
Copyright 2003, Cindy Manlove, www.CindyAndJoe.com
Introduction
Cindy Manlove and I run an MSN Groups web site called "Cindy and Joe (Public)" where we encourage couples to post their private erotic pictures, at least if they are on-topic. "On-topic" for our web site implies that the majority of the pictures should show the woman engaging in vaginal fisting and/or pussy stretching.
Since the winter of 2002/2003 we've been happy to see an increase in the number of couples who have posted their intimate pictures. This is probably partly due to the increased popularity of digital cameras, as well as the increased popularity of our web sites.
We think this increase in picture posting is great, and we hope that the couples who have posted these pictures get an exhibitionistic kick out of having done it. In some cases the pictures have been very good, both in terms of subject matter and technical quality. Sometimes the pictures have even resulted in praise and encouragement from other members of the "Cindy and Joe" group, despite the fact that the Internet is a notoriously poor place for getting feedback.
I've been taking erotic pictures of Cindy for some five years now, and I've learned a lot along the way about how to make pictures for the Internet. I won't claim that my pictures are up to professional standards, but I think I've learned some of the basic techniques for making good pictures, and how to avoid some of the pitfalls.
The purpose of this article is to pass on the things I've learned along the way so that others can make better pictures without having to go through the same trial-and-error process I've been through. I hope this will encourage more couples to take pictures and to post them at "Cindy and Joe", and will improve the quality of the pictures that are being posted.
Note that most of the advice I have written in this article is applicable to all kinds of picture taking for the Internet, not just erotic pictures. On the other hand, a lot of this advice is oriented towards taking pictures for the Internet, i.e., for posting on Web sites, and isn't applicable to taking high-resolution pictures for printing purposes.
Ensuring that the sexy model is willing to be the sexy model
I'm assuming that the reader of this article is the potential photographer, and that your partner is going to be the sexy model. I'm also assuming that you do have a sexy partner who is suitable for the kind of pictures we're talking about here. (Finding a suitable partner is beyond the scope of this article. You can find some tips here: http://cindyandjoearchive.com/Messages/Cat07/index.htm.)
It's very important that the two of you are in agreement about what you intend to do, and that your partner is willing and interested in being a part of the project. Otherwise you'll end up with serious problems with your relationship.
The primary purpose for posting erotic pictures should be that the two of you consider it to be fun. It should satisfy some exhibitionistic urges that one or both of you have. For example, in our case I'm the one who is exhibitionistic on Cindy's behalf: I like to show off my wonderful Cindy to the world. Cindy isn't exhibitionistic, but she does think that it's OK making the pictures (and videos) for my sake and because she does appreciate the positive feedback that she gets from time to time.
Most women will demand that the pictures must not allow them to be identified. In other words their face must not be in the picture, nor any distinguishing marks, special jewelry, or identifiable things in the background such as special furniture or pictures on the wall. You, the photographer, must be willing and able to ensure that this demand will be honored. Techniques for modifying pictures to blur faces, etc., are discussed below.
Be aware that your pictures may get copied
One thing that you should be aware of is that if you post your pictures at "Cindy and Joe" (or anywhere else on the Internet), then they may very well be copied by unscrupulous webmasters and turn up on unexpected web servers. So don't post any pictures if you are not willing to accept this possibility.
You can reduce the chances of this happening by placing a copyright notice on your pictures. But even with a copyright notice you risk having your pictures copied, especially if the pictures are very good ones. I've seen Cindy pictures where the caption and copyright notice were removed and instead the URL of a pay web site was added to the picture!
If your pictures do get misused, and if you want to stop the misuse, you usually can succeed by filing a complaint with the web site's ISP (Internet Service Provider). I've done this several times when I've become aware of the misuse of Cindy pictures, and so far it has always worked.
Placing a copyright notice on your pictures makes it easier to complain, as it makes it fairly obvious that you are the rightful owner of the pictures. From the legal standpoint, however, a copyright notice is not strictly necessary - you own the copyright on your pictures even if you don't place a copyright notice on them, as explained here: http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html.
Deciding the size of the pictures you want to produce
One of the very first things you need to do is to decide what "size" pictures you intend to produce.
The size of a digital picture is measured in "pixels" (picture elements). Pictures suitable for display on the Internet can be, for example, 400 x 300 pixels, 640 x 480 pixels, 800 x 600, or maybe even larger. The size in pixels determines how large the picture will be when displayed on the computer monitor by the web browser program, for example Internet Explorer.
The size of a picture also involves the question of "aspect ratio". The aspect ratio of a picture (or monitor) is the ratio between the width and the height. For example, standard digital cameras and computer monitors (and standard TV's) have an aspect ratio of 4:3. Film cameras typically produce pictures with an aspect ratio of 3:2, and wide screen television sets have an aspect ratio of 16:9.
Some people (including yours truly) prefer that all of the pictures in a series have the same size and aspect ratio. However, there are many people who consider this to be unnecessary, and make series of pictures where each picture is a different size and maybe without having a consistent aspect ratio.
Another thing which affects the size of your pictures is whether captions and/or a copyright notices are to be added to an area below the pictures. This will make the final image larger and change the overall aspect ratio. (Placing captions and/or copyright notices on the pictures themselves doesn't affect the size or aspect ratio, obviously.)
The average size of pictures posted on the Internet tends to increase from year to year because bandwidth and disk space becomes cheaper and because people get better and larger monitors. For example, when I started posting Cindy pictures in 1997 I made them 440 x 540 and later 500 x 512. By the end of 2002 I was making Cindy pictures 720 x 625, and many erotic pictures are being posted as 1024 x 768 or even larger.
Note that in this article that I only talk about the size of digital pictures in terms of pixels. The size of a digital picture is defined in a more complicated way if one wants to know how big the picture will be when printed. For printing purposes the "resolution" (normally defined in terms of dots per inch) of the picture is also important, but that is not relevant if a picture is only being placed on the Internet for on-line viewing.
To make things more complicated, the word "resolution" is often used instead of the word "size" when talking about a digital picture. For example, a picture that is 640 x 480 pixels is often referred to as having a resolution of 640 x 480, and it is common to talk about "high-resolution" vs. "low-resolution" pictures when comparing pictures with many pixels vs. pictures with fewer pixels.
Choosing a digital camera
This section includes some general recommendations about buying a digital camera. Note that digital camera technology is improving greatly from day to day, practically, so some of these recommendations may be dated by the time you read this.
The following advice assumes that the camera you are buying is primarily for making pictures for the Internet. If you intend to use the camera for general picture taking then you will probably prefer to get a camera with better specifications than I'm recommending here.
The most important specification is the number of mega-pixels that the image sensor captures and delivers in the digital picture file. This is related to the size of the pictures you want to produce, as discussed in the previous section.
My recommendation is that if your final pictures are going to be 800 x 600 pixels or smaller then a 2 mega-pixel camera is good enough, or even 1 mega-pixel if you are on a tight budget. If you want to make pictures that are 1024 x 768 or larger then a 3 mega-pixel camera will give you some extra flexibility that may be an advantage occasionally. This implies, of course, that I'm suggesting that all of your pictures will be resized down to the final size before posting on the Internet.
You may be wondering why I'm recommending so many mega-pixels when simple arithmetic tells you that a 1024 x 768 image only requires 0.75 mega-pixels, i.e., not even 1 mega-pixel. The reason is that having the additional mega-pixels allows you to crop the original picture significantly while still maintaining full quality.
For example, a 2 mega-pixel camera typically produces a 1600 x 1200 image. But suppose that you decide that you want to blow up the central 25% of the picture, i.e., a section about 800 x 600. This is no problem if your final output size is 800 x 600 or smaller, since cropping in to the part of the picture that you want to present does not result in having to resize up to the final size, which is what causes loss of quality.
In other words, resizing down (or no resizing at all) maintains high quality, while resizing up should be avoided. By having the extra mega-pixels in the raw picture you have the flexibility to crop in quite far without losing quality. (Actually, resizing up is also OK as long as it is not by a significant amount.)
After mega-pixels, the next thing to look for in a digital camera is optical zoom. My recommendation is that an optical zoom of 2 times or 3 times (2x or 3x) is nice to have, although optical zoom can be omitted altogether if you are on a tight budget. Optical zoom greater than 3 times is not needed for the kind of pictures we are talking about in this article. Digital zoom (as opposed to optical) is practically useless, and should be ignored, as it's primarily a marketing trick, not a viable tool.
If you want to be able to take real close-up pictures then check the camera's minimum focus distance and/or if the camera has a macro mode for close-ups.
Other less important things to look for are built-in flash (not necessary with extra lighting, see later), a USB connection to the PC, manual focus and manual white balance, and good battery life. For some kinds of pictures, where the photographer's hand or hands are in the picture, the camera should have a timer release facility or a remote control release gadget, which may be an extra-cost option.
For more information about digital cameras, including reviews of newer models, I can recommend these web sites:
DPReview: http://www.dpreview.com/
MegaPixel: http://www.megapixel.net/
Imaging Resource: http://www.imaging-resource.com/
Steve's DigiCams: http://www.steves-digicams.com/
Accessories for your digital camera
Getting a digital camera is, unfortunately, not the end of your expenses. Here's a list of recommended accessories.
You should get a tripod to mount the camera on. This is obviously necessary if you are going to be in the pictures yourself and will be using the timer release or a remote control release. But even if you will be behind the camera it is a good idea to have the camera on a tripod, as this will make the pictures sharper. Pictures taken with a hand-held camera are often fuzzy because the camera was shaking slightly.
The next most important accessory you need are a couple of (cheap) floodlights on stands. This is because good lighting is extremely important for getting good pictures. If you look at most of the amateur erotic pictures available on the Internet (including the early Cindy pictures) the one biggest single problem is poor lighting. My recommendation is that you pick up a couple of cheap halogen 200-300 watt floodlights (and a couple of extra bulbs) at your local hardware or do-it-yourself store. You also need some cheesecloth or other material that can diffuse the light from the floodlights.
As an alternative to a couple of floodlights you may be able to use natural lighting if you have a bedroom (or other room) with a couple of large windows and if you're willing to take pictures when the sun is up and the room is well illuminated. But don't take pictures with direct sunlight on your model as that produces too much contrast. Indirect sunlight or sunlight diffused by clouds or flimsy curtains is fine.
Another alternative to a couple of floodlights is the use of the built-in flash on the camera. But light from an on-camera flash is not good for pictures because it doesn't show the contours or textures very well. (See below for information on how the floodlights should be placed when taking pictures.)
Depending on the size of the memory card delivered with the camera you may want to buy one or two additional memory cards. Your sexy model will not appreciate it if you suddenly say, "Sorry honey, I have to copy the memory card over to the PC! I'll be back in 10 minutes!" A break like that spoils the flow of the photo session and makes your sexy model irritated.
Depending on whether you already have a photo-editing program or not (one may have come with the digital camera or with the PC/Mac software), and whether or not you are satisfied with this program, you should perhaps invest in some photo editing software for your PC or Mac. This is discussed in more detail later.
Another "accessory" that I can recommend if you have the money for it is a device to "calibrate" the screen on your PC or Mac. Monitors do not necessarily show colors completely correctly, and you may have noticed that the same picture looks different on different PC's. By calibrating your monitor you can be sure that the pictures that you produce will have the correct colors once the colors look OK on your monitor. Unfortunately, the ColorVision Spyder, the device I recommend for calibrating your monitor, costs around $160 (CRT version), so it's not for everyone.
http://www.colorvision.com/home.html
Planning for the photo session
The amount of planning you do is partly a matter of personal preference and partly depends on what you intend to do during the photo session.
For example, Cindy prefers to have a clear plan set up ahead of time, with the date and time of the photo shoot agreed upon at least a week in advance. Other couples prefer to be more spontaneous, and a "hey, honey, let's take some pictures!" may be all the planning that is needed.
If you have seen some of the "Cindy and Joe" photo stories you know that some kinds of photo sessions simply require a certain amount of planning. For example, the "Cindy Visits Joe's Dungeon" photo/video story involved a lot of props and a couple of costumes and was actually shot on three separate occasions over the space of a week or so. This required quite a bit of planning, and the props had to be obtained ahead of time, of course.
Another thing that can be considered when talking about planning for a photo session is the "style" or atmosphere that you hope to capture in your pictures. For example, with the Cindy pictures we try to aim for a relaxed, humorous and/or loving style, despite the "extreme" nature of some of the activities we show Cindy doing. Others may prefer to try for a more highly charged erotic style or a more elegant style, or whatever suits your preferences best.
In any case, my recommendation is that you and your partner talk about the photo session ahead of time and agree on what you intend to do. The fewer misunderstandings the better if you and your sexy model are going to succeed in making some great pictures that you'll both be proud of.
Preparing for the photo session
I'm assuming that you and your sexy model have done some planning and that the time is approaching for the photo session. Here are some things that can be done ahead of time to reduce the number of problems that will occur during the photo session itself.
Make sure you have extra batteries for your camera, or make sure the batteries are recharged if your camera uses rechargeable batteries. A camera that dies in the middle of a photo session is another thing that sexy models (and anxious photographers) find very distracting.
If applicable, make sure the bedroom (or studio, or whatever) is well heated. Taking sexy pictures usually implies that the sexy model has to take her clothes off, and you don't want her to start complaining about freezing to death just when the picture-taking starts heating up.
Similarly, if your sexy model is going to be showing off her abilities with certain sex toys, then it may be a good idea to pre-warm these toys, for example by placing them in a bowl of warm water.
On the subject of sex toys, it is our experience that black dildos, while looking very impressive, do not photograph very well - they are so black that it's hard to see the shape or surface texture. Flesh-colored or off-white sex toys look better in pictures.
If you're worried about your "studio" being recognizable then you may need to remove some of the identifiable pieces of furniture. Pictures on the walls may need to be taken down, and your sexy model may need to remember to remove her jewelry. These things can also be removed from the pictures in post-processing, but the pictures will look more natural if the problematic objects simply aren't there to start with.
You may also want to change the bedclothes before the start of the photo session. Our experience is that light-colored or off-white sheets provide the best setting. White sheets are OK, but are too white, and can't be seen. Dark-colored sheets soak up too much light and should definitely be avoided.
You should decide where the sexy model is going to do her thing and where you want to place the camera and the lights. It will be easiest if you shoot all of the pictures from the same place, so if you want different angles it should be the sexy model who turns around, not the photographer who moves around her.
Set up the tripod and the camera, keeping in mind that you probably want the camera to be at a lower level than for normal photography. If your sexy model will be lying down on a bed then the camera should be above the level of the bed, but not by too much. If your sexy model will be standing up or kneeling on a bed then you probably want the camera to be even lower. For example, for the photo session "Cindy Mounts the Super Duper Dong" I had the camera right down on the floor!
Finally, set up the two floodlights if that is what you are using for light. Remember that good lighting is the most important technical prerequisite for taking good pictures. The following paragraphs assume that you are using floodlights, so this information can be skipped if you are using natural light or the on-camera flash.
One thing to avoid is mixing natural light (sunlight) and electrical light, as this will cause significant color (white-balance) problems. This means that if you are using floodlights and if there is natural light coming in through the windows then you should ensure that the windows are heavily curtained so the natural light is kept out. You should also avoid using fluorescent lights as these provide very unnatural color, something the eye partially compensates for but which is picked up by the camera and is almost impossible to fix in post-processing.
This diagram shows how the camera and floodlights should be set up:
In other words, the two floodlights should be placed on each side of the camera, such that the angle formed by the two lights at the subject is about 70 - 100 degrees. The two floodlights do not need to be the same strength or the same distance from the subject - it is often better to have one light somewhat stronger than the other or closer to the subject than the other.
The floodlights need to have some kind of cheesecloth or other diffusion material placed on them, otherwise the shadows will be too sharp. But be careful to attach this material such that it is suspended away from the surface of the light, or else it may catch fire! Halogen floodlights can become very hot.
Lighting for photography is a complicated and interesting subject - there are whole books written about it. Here's a link that explains things in much more detail, and also discusses the advantages of having a third light behind the subject:
http://www.videoccasions-nw.com/volitbas.html
Your best bet is to experiment with the lighting to try to get the effect that you want. It can also be an advantage to combine the two floodlights with the camera's flash in some situations.
Taking the pictures
The first rule to be observed while doing a photo session is to remember that the whole idea is to have fun. I know from experience that various things almost always go wrong during a photo session, and nerves get frazzled and it's easy to get irritated with each other. If that happens then take a break or cancel the session and try again some other time. Don't let the photo session become a major problem.
Once your sexy model is in place and you are ready to start shooting there is one final bit of preparation, at least if you have a camera with a manual white balance feature. Turn on the lights and then get your partner to hold up a piece of white paper, zoom in on the paper and press the button or whatever to get the camera to do a manual white balance. Doing this should ensure that the colors in the pictures are as correct as possible, and reduces the need to do color correction during post-processing.
Now it's time to start shooting. Don't be afraid to take lots of pictures, unless you lack memory card space. Having too many pictures to work with is always much better than having too few. I'm not suggesting that all of the pictures that you take should be used. In fact, I'm recommending that you discard most of the pictures that you take! If you've ever seen a professional photographer at work you know that they shoot roll after roll of film and typically only keep one picture out of 20 or 50.
It's usually a good idea to use manual focus, at least if you feel comfortable using this feature. Automatic focus is nice but too often it doesn't work quite as well as doing a manual focus.
If you are using floodlights, and if your camera has a built-in flash, then take each picture both with and without the built-in flash. This involves turning the flash feature off and on.
If your camera has a zoom lens then shoot each picture zoomed in/out to several different amounts. If you don't have a zoom lens then move the camera (and tripod) closer and farther away to get various views.
Here's a link to Kodak's web site, where you can find a lot of good information about taking pictures:
http://www.kodak.com/global/en/consumer/pictureTaking/index.shtml
It's usually a good idea to start a series of pictures with a couple of "establishing shots", i.e. pictures that shows the sexy model full figure. Even if most of the pictures will be close ups of a certain part of the sexy model's anatomy we all like to start with a general view. If the sexy model's face is to be hidden then she can wear a mask or her face can be blurred during post processing. (Next time you watch a movie take note of how each scene starts with an establishing shot that shows the general situation and then the camera zooms in for the close-ups of the important stuff.)
If you are going to be in the pictures yourself then you need to use the timer release feature or else have a remote control release gadget. In some of the Cindy pictures you can see my hands (or at least see where they are), and for most of these it was actually Cindy who took the picture by pressing the shutter release button on the remote control.
My final recommendation about the photo session is that after you're done you should reward the sexy model for being so sexy and cooperative by making love to her in the best way you can, even though you have an urge to rush to the PC to see if the pictures are as good as you hope they are. :-)
Post-processing (the digital darkroom)
Some people think that once a picture is taken then the work is all over. Not so! You should process your digital pictures using a photo-editing program on your PC or Mac so that you get the best out of them. In fact, you should consider the raw picture that you get out of the camera to be a "digital negative" that has to be processed in your "digital darkroom" before you produce the final picture.
A photo-editing program may have been included when you bought your digital camera. Alternatively, most new versions of Windows or the Macintosh operating systems include a basic photo-editing program.
If you are not satisfied with whatever photo-editing program you already have then there are a lot of alternatives available, from free ones
(The Gimp, http://www.gimp.org/) to very expensive ones
(Adobe Photoshop, $609, http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/main.html).
The two programs that are the most popular for amateur digital photographers are
Corel Paint Shop Pro ($99, http://www.jasc.com/products/psp/) and
Adobe Photoshop Elements ($99, http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshopel/main.html). These programs can usually be purchased at a discount from Amazon.com and elsewhere on the Internet.
I prefer to use JASC (now Corel) Paint Shop Pro, and in the following notes I'll indicate how to do post-processing on a picture using that program. But the same things can be done in almost any photo-editing program, although the individual processes may have different names. (These notes are for JASC Paint Shop Pro version 8, which is now obsolete. The procedures may not correspond with the current Corel version.)
Incidentally, one suggestion is to involve the sexy model in the post-processing, even if you would otherwise prefer to do it all yourself. She may well have some good ideas about how pictures should be cropped and she may have demands concerning "cosmetic changes" (see below). Involving her in this part of the process may also make her more willing to participate in future projects since she'll feel that the whole project is a team effort.
Rotation
Was the camera not horizontal when the picture was taken, or do you want to rotate the picture to create a special effect? Use Image > Rotate. Note that the rotation amount does not need to be an integer, i.e., you can rotate a picture by 1.5 degrees.
Cropping
Decide how much of the picture you want to keep and how much can be discarded from the sides and top/bottom. Use Image > Canvas Size, or else use the selection tool to select what you want to keep and then use Image > Crop to Selection.
If you have decided to make all of the pictures in the series the same aspect ratio then remember to maintain this aspect ratio. For example, if you are going to make all pictures 4:3 then if you crop 600 pixels horizontally you have to crop 450 pixels vertically. If you use the selection tool then it shows the aspect ratio of the selection on the status bar as you do the selection, 4:3 being shown as 1.250. If you've decided that you don't want to maintain any particular aspect ratio then just crop to whatever you want to keep in the picture.
Improve contrast and fix exposure problems
Use Colors > Histogram Functions > Histogram Adjustment, and select Luminosity as the data to be edited.
First see if the contrast should be improved by sliding the "Low" marker to the right until it is under the place where the histogram shows data, and sliding the "High" marker to the left until it too is under the place where the histogram shows data. This makes the darkest part of the picture black and the lightest part white, thus giving the picture more contrast, which makes it look clearer. You may have to back off the controls, especially the "High" one, if the picture gets too much contrast.
Now see if the picture is too dark (under exposed) or too bright (over exposed). If so, move the "Gamma" marker right or left, respectively. Alternatively, or in addition, you can try to play with the "Midtones compress/expand" slider. This second alternative is especially good in cases where some detail has been lost in the shadows.
You should do both of these functions as a single step, i.e., don't first improve the contrast and click OK, and then re-invoke the function and fix the exposure problems. When you are satisfied that you've fixed these two problems as best as possible then click OK.
Fix problems with the colors
This step should not be necessary if you performed a manual white balance when you started to take pictures. But if you do need to fix the colors there are several possibilities. (If your pictures look like they need color correction, and if you haven't calibrated your monitor, then take into account the possibility that it's your monitor that is at fault, not the picture. Check by viewing the picture on another computer with another monitor and see if it shows consistent results.)
One technique for color correction is to use Colors > Histogram Functions > Histogram Adjustment, but instead of selecting Luminosity as the data to be edited you select the three primary colors, Red, Green and Blue, and modify each of them individually.
Alternative techniques are to use Colors > Adjust > Color Balance or to use Colors > Adjust > Red/Green/Blue.
Increase color saturation
This is an optional step, and should only be done if you like your pictures to be more "colorful" than the images provided by your camera. Use Colors > Adjust > Hue/Saturation/Lightness and push the Saturation up by a couple of points.
Cosmetic changes, removing identifiable things
Does the sexy model have a pimple in an unfortunate place? Remove it with the "Clone tool". Is there a picture on the wall that should be removed? Copy a nearby section of the wall on top of the picture. Are there other things that need to be censored, for example the sexy model's face? Select the area to be censored and use the Gaussian Blur effect on it. If the sexy model's face is in the picture and the picture was taken with a flash then there may be a "red eye" problem - this can be fixed using the "Red eye removal tool".
Blurring the background
This step is definitely optional, and I hardly ever do it myself. But if you want to emphasize the sexy model and if the background is distracting then the thing to do is to blur the background. You do this by selecting the sexy model with the freehand selection tool, inverting the selection so the background is selected, and then using the Gaussian Blur effect. Finally, use the retouch tool with the soften effect to soften the boundary between the sexy model and the blurred background.
Resizing
We're almost done, and it's now time to resize the picture to the size you want to post to the Internet. Use Image > Resize.
Maybe you have chosen a standard size for all of your pictures, or maybe you are making different pictures in the series different sizes. Irrespective, remember to maintain the picture's aspect ratio (whether it's a standard aspect ratio or not) so you don't accidentally make everything (including the sexy model) skinnier or fatter.
Sharpening
This is another optional step, and should only be done if you think your pictures should be made "crisper" than they are otherwise. Use Effects > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask, and adjust the "Strength" to provide the amount of sharpening you like.
Adding a border and/or a caption/copyright area
Some people like to place a black (or non-black) border around their pictures. This can be done with Image > Add Borders. By making the border non-symmetric you can add a black area below the picture where you can place a copyright notice and maybe even a caption.
Placing the copyright notice
Use the text tool to place a copyright notice if you want to. This can be done either on the picture itself, or, if you created an area for it in the previous step, in the black area below the picture. If you place your copyright notice on the picture itself then you should consider using a two-color text style so the text is of one color but has a contrasting outline. This makes the text legible even when placed in areas of the picture that match one of the text's colors.
Saving the picture as a JPG
This is the final step. There are two things to be noted here.
You have to decide what filenames to use. You could stick with the filenames produced by the digital camera, but that will cause confusion as to which is the raw file and which is the processed file. I recommend that you decide once and for all on a consistent set of filenames for all of the erotic pictures that you and your partner produce. For example, all of the Cindy pictures have file names that consist of "cindy" followed by a 3-digit number.
The other thing to take into consideration is the amount of JPEG compression to use. You can start out by experimenting and saving a picture with different amounts of compression. Take a look at the sizes of the various files and compare them for quality, and then make your decision as to how much storage you are willing to spend per picture vs. the quality loss if you apply too much compression.
Post post-processing
The following two steps are not absolutely necessary, but can be useful, especially if you take the job of making and posting your pictures really seriously.
Using the JPG Cleaner program
This step is especially useful if you use Adobe Photoshop to make your pictures. Photoshop has the bad habit of saving a lot of "meta data" to the JPG file. This data is only useful to Photoshop itself if you later re-edit the JPG file. It is of no use the web browsers or other programs, and just makes the JPG file larger and slower to download.
Fortunately, there is a freeware program called "JPG Cleaner" that can remove this meta data, as well as other kinds of unnecessary data that can be included in JPG files, such as EXIF data from your digital camera or a thumbnail of the picture. You can download this program here:
http://www.pppr.sk/rainbow/
I can definitely recommend this program, and recommend using it on your JPG files before uploading them to the Internet. Running this program on the Cindy pictures I discovered, much to my embarrassment, that almost all of the Cindy pictures were about 10% larger than they should have been.
Making a backup
Remember to make backup copies of your pictures. "Real men don't make backups - but they cry a lot!"
Posting your pictures on the Internet
Congratulations! You have now created some beautiful sexy pictures, and all that's left to do is to post them on the Internet and show the world how sexy your partner is and how good a photographer you are! :-)
If you are going to post your pictures at "Cindy and Joe (Public)", or on most other MSN groups, it is preferred that you create a photo album of your own instead of posting your pictures in an existing album. When you create the photo album you should select the "Only the album creator and managers may add and delete photos" option.
If your pictures are larger than 600 pixels in width or height then it is important that when you use the photo upload tool that you click on "Optional: Resize Photo" at the bottom of the screen, and then select "Don't resize".
That's it! Now you can experience the thrill of knowing that you are famous world wide, even if in a limited and anonymous way. All over the world there will be men who will look at your pictures and think, "that's one sexy lady, and one lucky photographer".
One thing I would like to warn about is that you should not be disappointed if you don't get any feedback. The Internet is like that; most of the people who surf the Internet regard it as a one-way communications channel, just like TV, and never provide any feedback.
Once you have a set of nice pictures you may decide to post them to several MSN groups, or to post them to other web sites that are oriented to amateur erotic pictures, for example ones at Yahoo Groups. Another place where you can post your pictures is on the Internet News Groups, which is a media quite unlike Internet web sites, and beyond the scope of this article.
Another possibility is that you may decide to start your own MSN group. It's actually quite easy to start an MSN group, and one advantage of doing that is that you can put a counter on your welcome page and in that way get proof that people do visit your site and look at your pictures, even if they never provide feedback. (There used to be a counter on the welcome page of "Cindy and Joe", but I removed it because I found the huge discrepancy between the number of hits and the number of messages rather depressing.)
Conclusion
I hope you found this article useful, and that you now feel inspired to make some sexy pictures together with your partner, or to try to improve the quality of the pictures you are already taking.
I'd appreciate receiving comments, corrections, suggestions, etc. You can e-mail me at the address below.
Joe Johnson
joe_cindyandjoe@hotmail.com.