11 Creating an Ancestor Book (A Multi-Generation Photographic History) Frank Comprelli SIR Area 2 Computer and Technology Group September 17, 2009

22 WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO?  What story will the book tell?  Do you have the photos and historical data to support the story?  Make this a fun project, not work.

3 WHAT IS YOUR PAGE BUDGET?  How many ancestral lines?  How many generations?  Build an ancestor tree(s)?  How many non-ancestor family?  Both individuals and couples?  How many pages per person or couple?  Prepare a detailed list of each page and its planned content.

44 WHAT IS YOUR COST BUDGET?  For 8.5” x 11” book, ~$30 for 20 pages.  ~$1 per additional page.  Discounts are common.  Cost budget per book sets the total number of pages available.  Total cost = f (# of recipients)

55 RECONCILIATION  Conflicting forces  Use pages needed to tell story?  Constrain pages to limit cost?  Compromise?  Adjust listing of pages and the description of their image & text content accordingly.

66 BUILDING AN ANCESTOR TREE  Not required, but recommended.  Use Family Tree Maker or similar software.  Print tree on one page.  Scan with PSE, saving image as jpg.

77 IMAGE PREPARATION  All images must be jpg format.  Resolutions should be 300ppi minimum.  Resolutions as low as 200ppi may be OK, especially at larger image sizes.  If you can, scan photos at ppi to provide sizing flexibility later.

88 PREPARING THE BOOK  Go to website  If a member, sign in.  If not, sign up.  There is no cost to become a member.

99 PREPARING THE BOOK  After signing in or joining, select “photo books” and this page opens.  For illustration, we will choose 8.5X11 Classic.

10 PREPARING THE BOOK  This is the entry page for your project.  Take the tutorial and watch the demo. They are both helpful.  Then select Get Started button.

11 PREPARING THE BOOK  Initial page of your project.  Select a background pattern.  Select text choices.  Select “Save” and give your project a name.  Select “Next” to move to Page Setup.

12 PREPARING THE BOOK  The title page has a predetermined layout.  Import the images for your project.  Select “Get pictures”.

13 IMPORTING PICTURES  Select “Upload”.

14 IMPORTING PICTURES  “Choose files” and go to your hard drive.  Select the images to be uploaded.  Select the “Open” button on the image folder window.  List of selected images appears here.  Name your project’s new album.  Select “Start”.

IMPORTING PICTURES  Select “View pictures”

IMPORTING PICTURES  In album, select “Return to Photobook”.

17 PAGE LAYOUTS  Select page layouts for each page of the book.  Either use layouts offered by Shutterfly or create your own custom pages (see APPENDIX) in PSE.

18 PAGE LAYOUTS  Starting with page 2-3, select a layout for each page as per your outline plan.  Choose from available layout options.  Select the desired layout and drag it to the page.

19 PAGE LAYOUTS  The layout required for custom pages is found under “1 image per page”, seventh row.  Drag this layout to every page for which you plan to create a custom page.  When every page has a layout, click on the Title Page and then select “Get pictures”.

20 GETTING IMAGES TO PAGES  The project’s album opens with the uploaded images.  After page layout is determined, select the image(s) for the page.  Select “Add to Photobook”

21 PREPARING THE BOOK  The image(s) selected for the page now appear on the screen containing the layout.

22 PREPARING THE BOOK  Select an image.  Drag it to the designated location where it snaps into place.  Add text as desired.  Repeat on every page.

SAMPLE LAYOUTS

APPENDIX CREATING A CUSTOM PAGE IN PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS

26 CREATING A CUSTOM PAGE IN PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS  Based on an 11X8.5 page, landscape, the “working dimensions” for images & text must account for a 0.5” allowance on the top, bottom and non-binding side of the page. For the side of the page that is close to the binding, the allowance should be 7/8”.  The larger allowance is on the right for even- numbered pages and on the left for odd-numbered pages.  When determining the final “vertical working dimension” for images, remember to account for any page title that may be desired.

27 CREATING A CUSTOM PAGE IN PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS  For a selected page, determine the number of images to be used & their desired orientation.  By trial & error, and by tradeoffs of image size and location, determine the desired layout of the images within the available “working space”.  If the images fit, have you left yourself enough space for the text you have in mind?  If not, go back to square one and keep trying until you have reached an acceptable compromise.  Draw a working sketch of sizes and locations of images, text boxes and page titles for use when creating the page in PSE.

28 CREATING A CUSTOM PAGE IN PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS  In PSE, open all images required for the desired page.  Make any color and lighting adjustments, etc.  Crop each image to the dimensions and orientation on the working sketch.  After cropping, while each image is still selected, pull down the “image” menu, select “resize” and then select “image size”. Make a note of the resolution (ppi) of the image.  Make a list of the images and their resolutions.  Identify the image with the lowest resolution.  The resolution of all images for this page must be adjusted to the lowest value identified so that they can be placed on a common custom page without changing their desired dimensions.

29 CREATING A CUSTOM PAGE IN PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS  While an image is selected, pull down the “image” menu, select “resize” and then select “image size”.  The IMAGE SIZE window opens and shows the width, height and resolution of the image.  Check the “resample image” box and assure that the “constrain proportions” box is also checked.  Change the image resolution to the lowest value on your list of images and select “OK”.  Repeat for all images to be placed on this new page.

30 CREATING A CUSTOM PAGE IN PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS  In PSE, pull down the “File” menu, select “New”, and then “Blank file”. The NEW window will open.  Assign a name to the page, e.g., page 6.  In the “Preset” box, select “Custom”.  Set the width at 11 inches.  Set the height at 8.5 inches.  Set the resolution at the “lowest” value used for the images.  In the “Color mode” box, select “RGB Color”.  In the “Background Contents” box, select “Transparent”  Select “OK” and the new page will appear, ready to accept images and text.

31 CREATING A CUSTOM PAGE IN PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS  Place the images on the new blank page, consistent with the working sketch and mindful of the overall working dimensions. Remember to leave room for a page title, if one is planned.  When the images are in place, create a text box in the space which was reserved for this purpose in the working sketch.  Select a font style, size, color, etc. and enter text in the text box. Enter Page Title, if planned, in allocated space.  If there is a possibility that you will want to modify this PSE file/page for another book, do not flatten the image. Save the image as a psd file.  When ready to finalize page, flatten the page image.  The custom page can then be saved as a jpg image, ready for uploading to the project’s album in Shutterfly.