[techtalk] Tech-Talk: VIDEO - Eliminating Ugly Black Borders

Tue May 23 15:34:13 PDT 2017

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[Tech-Talk Video]<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0013eKT3SdTjGEqNkaAIrSWdUZsvx-FpueNdrK6EY5jZST-w6UETA2EO8NTkPWjDK4Q59_HkxMcHT9OhxZLytqGU60ti1FO8fR1K1iqHUycelh-kbRc8NBNghtm7deugBWP3aPnLIfRz9-40v0SIJlvs1hivjml_hVQypphtEfX5us4uEhxByAtEeb7oFwTFWNMjhEr0db5ciwRTE9GQd_X5b4W6I6dX5nyFSM0JwG17h4=&c=dB45LTtvrSJkFaKh3lsf4zsL3sio9ZRfPH7lK8Pn2ypnP4cifthC6w==&ch=BHSDlZhNuK2-Txi6fPpMuEtDE65iERqOlTMcxIeWUdK2r4OuxOCJJQ==>
This Week's Tech-Talk:  WEBSITE
1. VIDEO ... Eliminating Ugly Black Borders in Videos
2. ARTICLE ... Eliminating Ugly Black Borders in Videos
3. COMMUNICATING ... Could This Be Your Definition of Success?

NOTE: To view the VIDEO, click here<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0013eKT3SdTjGEqNkaAIrSWdUZsvx-FpueNdrK6EY5jZST-w6UETA2EO8NTkPWjDK4Q59_HkxMcHT9OhxZLytqGU60ti1FO8fR1K1iqHUycelh-kbRc8NBNghtm7deugBWP3aPnLIfRz9-40v0SIJlvs1hivjml_hVQypphtEfX5us4uEhxByAtEeb7oFwTFWNMjhEr0db5ciwRTE9GQd_X5b4W6I6dX5nyFSM0JwG17h4=&c=dB45LTtvrSJkFaKh3lsf4zsL3sio9ZRfPH7lK8Pn2ypnP4cifthC6w==&ch=BHSDlZhNuK2-Txi6fPpMuEtDE65iERqOlTMcxIeWUdK2r4OuxOCJJQ==>. Enter the User Name and Password!

Tech-Talk: VIDEO - Eliminating Ugly Black Borders in Videos Intermediate

Have you ever been creating a live video and wanted to add some still images to it? Like an intro slide at the beginning, or one at the end that has your website or contact information?

Or maybe you want to switch from live video to a still image picture someplace in the middle of your video to emphasize a point.

Programs like Camtasia or Movie Maker make it easy to drop images into separate tracks within your production so that you can use different types of media.

However, the problem is that most pictures are not sized right for "video". If you just add an image, you may end up with those ugly black bars on the left and right of the screen.

What's worse is that those lines don't show up until you play the video.  That makes everything appear a bit amateurish.  All your hard work diminished by a couple of black borders appearing out of no-where ... all because  your image was not sized correctly.
[black bars]

So how do you easily fix the picture to fill the screen?

Most pictures don't have the same size ratio as that of a video screen. They are typically a 4:3 ratio, where you need a longer rectangle, 16:9.

You could play around with your graphics editing tools, do a little math, and shave some of the top or bottom off of the picture, but that takes time... and can be frustrating!

We have two quick methods to make your images the perfect size to insert into a video. You can also use either of these tricks to create a custom thumbnail image to upload to video hosting sites like YouTube.

How to Size Images Perfectly for Videos

Method 1: Use PowerPoint Crop
The first technique uses software that you most likely already have... PowerPoint. This program has a cool option in the Cropping section that will automatically resize your image to the right 16:9 ratio.

  *   First, go to the Insert tab and choose Pictures. Add the image to the slide that you want to re-scale.

  *   On the Format tab, go to the Size section and click on Crop, go down to Aspect Ratio, and under the Landscape section click on 16:9.
[crop to 16-9 aspect ratio]

PowerPoint will select a portion of the image in a 16:9 ratio size. Part of the picture will be grayed out (see below). You can slide the highlighted section up, down, left or right to be sure that the portion of the image you want is selected.

[crop image]

  *    Once you are satisfied with the image, click the Crop button again.

  *   IMPORTANT: Next, enlarge the image to fit the full height and width of the slide. It will fill it completely.  Be sure your picture is large enough to begin with that it doesn't become poor quality when enlarging.

  *   Now you have a Slide that is the right size for your video. To make it an image, when you are viewing the slide, go to File, Save As, give the slide a name, and instead of saving it as a .pptx file, use the Save as Type drop-down window and choose and image file like .jpg, .png or gif.

  *   It will prompt you to save All Slides, or just that one. Select Just This One.

  *   This image can now be inserted into your video.
NOTE: PowerPoint 2013 and more recent versions have the default slide size set to 16:9 (widescreen). So if you have older software it may be set to 4:3. To check, go to the View tab and make sure you are set to Normal. Then click the Design tab click Slide Size and make sure it's set to Widescreen.

Method 2: Croppola.com

We found a website that will make this process even easier! Croppola.com<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0013eKT3SdTjGEqNkaAIrSWdUZsvx-FpueNdrK6EY5jZST-w6UETA2EO8NTkPWjDK4QG6HsdmrMpRVSYjMkTbFazaA5FNASvqWpjDJPnnAFtSWduKKDe6H14LdpeoAsq7ApKr2ve-1J6dW34_kV6iRLOZYmhh0MnCqHZFBQut-E48Y=&c=dB45LTtvrSJkFaKh3lsf4zsL3sio9ZRfPH7lK8Pn2ypnP4cifthC6w==&ch=BHSDlZhNuK2-Txi6fPpMuEtDE65iERqOlTMcxIeWUdK2r4OuxOCJJQ==> is a free web tool designed for one purpose: to help you "crop" images.

  *   Go to https://croppola.com<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0013eKT3SdTjGEqNkaAIrSWdUZsvx-FpueNdrK6EY5jZST-w6UETA2EO8NTkPWjDK4QkWK1MlWLNjGTKlmCP9jMNsXxVVVNq_y80PXvTjkyeMusT1JVKOtLQ7w4iHLMRgEIhO9_Iqtz04EGyZtZ5t8E6R47Yu8pwUavFay8brakVFc=&c=dB45LTtvrSJkFaKh3lsf4zsL3sio9ZRfPH7lK8Pn2ypnP4cifthC6w==&ch=BHSDlZhNuK2-Txi6fPpMuEtDE65iERqOlTMcxIeWUdK2r4OuxOCJJQ==>
  *   Click on the link to upload your photo.
  *   Click on the Aspect Ratio 16:9.
  *   You can choose the crop size: small, medium or big - to get more or less of the image.
  *   When you're satisfied, click the Download this crop button.
[http://www.tech-talk.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/TT788-blackbars4.png]

Communicating:  With Yourself
Could This Be Your Definition of Success?
How do you determine if you are successful?  That is a thought that frequently runs through people's minds.
We ran across a rather powerful definition recently in a YouTube of Earl Nightingale.

Who is Earl Nightingale?

[http://www.tech-talk.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Earl-Nightingale.png]According to Wikipedia, Earl Nightingale is an American radio personality, writer, speaker, and author, dealing mostly on the subjects of human character development, motivation, excellence and meaningful existence, so named as the "Dean of Personal Development."
Definition of A Successful Person

One of the most lasting quotes from the legacy of Earl Nightingale is his definition of success.

Success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal.

Think about how powerful this could be for you.  If you are working each day at
progressively realizing the ultimate goal you want in life, you are a success.

For instance, if your worthy ideal is to be the best parent you can be, then success is
progressively realizing that.  It's not an end point.  It's not a measurement.  It IS the path ... if that journey is towards a lofty ideal.

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