Most blog posts or videos on-line have a small image that gives a preview of the video. We call these small images “thumbnails” and they are the easiest way to promote the content of your video. To make a thumbnail, you’ll need an image file (JPEG, TIFF, GIF, etc.), an image processing program, a webhost (you can use CCTV to host one thumbnail per blog post) and a couple minutes.

1. Process Your Image for the Web

There are a few software applications suited for making thumbnail images. For Mac OSX, I recommend Xtralean’s ImageWell. This free program is well-suited make great looking thumbnail images. For advanced users, use Adobe’s Photoshop “Save for Web” functionality.

Inkwell for MacOSX: http://xtralean.com/IWDownload.html
Photoshop for Mac or PC: http://www.adobe.com/go/tryphotoshop

2. Size & Type Does Matter

Smaller file sizes (not necessarily smaller images) work best on webpages. Here are the specifications I recommend:

Photos
JPEG – 200 pixels wide x 150 pixels tall, 72dpi

Graphics - logos and icons
GIF – 200 pixels wide x 150 pixels tall, 72dpi

3. Post Your Image to the Web

If you create a blog post on CCTV’s website, you can host the image there. Also, if you are posting video to blip.tv or YouTube.com you can upload the thumbnail image through their on-line form. To get your own blog on CCTV’s website, just sign up for an account by clicking on the register link on the left hand side of this page.

To post the image in your CCTV blog post, just log-in, click "create content," click "blog entry," and scroll down until you see "Choose File" button. Select this button and find your file you made with Inkwell or Photoshop.

Stay tuned for a more in depth tutorial on using Inkwell and Photoshop in the near future.