Photo Optimization and the Upload Process

Photos tell a large portion of the story. Yearbook Magic™ includes many different image gallery page templates to choose from, and will continue to add more. The only limit to the number of photos you can include is your page count. If you want to do a book of just photos, have at it. You can add captions to each photo but it is not required. Some photos need a little explanation, others speak for themselves.

Things regarding photos you should know to make using Yearbook Magic™ that much easier:

• All image placement boxes are in a 4-to-3 ratio (the smaller side is 75% of the larger side)
  
  
• The typical 35mm film camera takes photos in a 3-to-2 ratio (the smaller side is 67% of the larger side) – the standard 35mm print is 4” x 6”
  
  
• If using a film camera and you do not want to scan them in prior to uploading, in addition to developing the film, request a CD. Images can be uploaded directly from the CD to the Yearbook Magic™ system.
  
  
• Digital cameras can take photos in either 4-to-3 or 3-to-2 ratios. Check your digital camera to determine what the image output is.
  
  
• For any images uploaded that are NOT in a 4 x 3 ratio, Yearbook Magic™ will center the photo and clip the sides of a landscape or the top and bottom of portrait image. If your photo is centered and there is ample room on the top, bottom and sides, there is no reason to resize the photo prior to upload. Test it once to see if you lose any of the image subject matter during the upload process.
  
  
• The largest image supported on a Yearbook Magic™ page is 2880 x 2160 pixels (for full page portrait image). Any image larger than these dimensions will get scaled down to 2880 x 2160 during the upload. Images will NOT be enlarged to meet these dimensions.
  
  
• To increase upload speeds, if your images are larger than 2880 x 2160, we strongly recommend that you resize these images prior to uploading. A great tool that is free to use for this purpose is Irfanview. Go to http://www.irfanview.com for more details. It is one of the easiest to use image viewers with the best resizing tool available.
  
  
• If you wish to use a full page portrait or single portrait image page, be sure you choose a file that is close to 2880 x 2160 pixels. All images look good on screen but print quality and screen quality are very different. If you put an image that is too small in one of the larger photo placement boxes (Full & single portrait page , 2 landscape template, the book cover or the group photo page), it may look grainy after it is printed.
  
  
• To determine an image’s dimensions:
  1. Locate the folder that you stored the photo in
  2. Open the folder
  3. Click on the Views icon
  4. Select Details option
  5. Scroll to the right to see the image dimensions
  
  
• If you are scanning in photos, set the dpi scanning setting at a minimum of 150. We recommend 300 dpi but it results in a larger file size. It will however, in the larger image placement boxes, produce a clearer picture.
  
  

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