3. Our Procedures: The rules of the road Lesson 1Lesson 1 Writing Your Articles - General philosophy of article composition and preparing your articles Writing Your Articles - General philosophy of article composition and preparing your articles Lesson 2Lesson 2 Article Manager – Text Prep - Preparing your text for Article Manager, our online content management system Article Manager – Text Prep - Preparing your text for Article Manager, our online content management system Lessons 3Lessons 3 Article Manager – Text Uploading - How to upload the text portion of your article to Article Manager Article Manager – Text Uploading - How to upload the text portion of your article to Article Manager Lessons 4Lessons 4 Photoshop Basics - How to prepare photographs for your articles Photoshop Basics - How to prepare photographs for your articles Lessons 5Lessons 5 Article Manager – Photos Article Manager – Photos How to import your photos into Article ManagerHow to import your photos into Article Manager How to place your photos into the article.How to place your photos into the article. Finishing up for an Editor to review.Finishing up for an Editor to review. Lesson 6 (optional but very useful)Lesson 6 (optional but very useful) Photoshop – Advanced Photo Techniques - Making Macros Procedures Photoshop – Advanced Photo Techniques - Making Macros Procedures Lesson 7 (optional but very useful)Lesson 7 (optional but very useful) Photoshop -Advanced Photo Techniques - Side-by-side photo Procedures Photoshop -Advanced Photo Techniques - Side-by-side photo Procedures (You should already be signed up with a username and password. If you are not, go to Lesson 1, page 2 and follow the instructions.) The following lessons are designed to teach you how to navigate the online publishing world. The rules are many and all are important to keep your articles from crashing and burning.

4. TOOLS REQUIRED:  A computer  Photoshop software*  Digital photos in.JPG format *If you have other photograph manipulation software that you know how to use, that’s fine. Here, we will be talking about Photoshop 7. Read it and adjust the information to produce the same results.

5. Lesson 4 Photoshop Basics How to prepare photographs for your articles How to prepare photographs for your articles One picture is worth a thousand words. - Fred R. Barnard

6. Ready…Set…Click  Downloads The PR people for an event or product will often have photos posted on the web and a URL where you can download them. Request that the Splash office ask the PR contact for your event to provide photos.  Taking photos - If you have a digital camera, the best option is to take the pictures yourself - where permitted! (Don’t snap photos during a performance, for example.) You are a photo-journalist. The number and quality of your pictures is almost as important as your words. Good pictures are essential. There are 2 ways to get pictures for your articles. You can get them from the PR folks or you can take them yourself.

7. Setting Up Your Files  Prepare your workspace. Start by making new folders for your article in your computer. Make one for the article. Then make a sub-folder called “saved for the web.” Example: Example: Make a new folder called Kelly Nishimoto and a sub folder under that folder called saved for the webMake a new folder called Kelly Nishimoto and a sub folder under that folder called saved for the web That way you will not misplace your photos or download the wrong ones!That way you will not misplace your photos or download the wrong ones!  ALL articles require at least four (4) different photos per article. One picture must be duplicated and made smaller to be used as the article summary image. That makes a minimum total of five (5) images you will need to prepare but we like lots of photos so don’t hold back but do make sure your photos are good quality, no blurred or poor quality photos. More photos are preferred - more like 8-12 per article, up to 100. It makes the reader feel more a part of the experience.  Remember the article is not about you. Don’t put lots of photos of yourself in the article. If necessary limit a personal photo to only one.  All photos MUST be original photos you took or that you have permission to use! DO NOT just download photos from Google, Yahoo, etc. Many of these photos are copyrighted.  Give credit to the photographer at the end of the article or if different photos from different sources, give photo credit in the captions.

8. Photo Preparation - the rest of this lesson will cover the following:  Resolution of images should be 72 dpi.  Landscape orientation photos (wide) should ideally be 500 pixels wide Horizontal photos must all be centered.  Portrait orientation photos (tall) should be 400 pixels wide unless it is a very tall photo then it can be 350 pixels wide. Levels of light and dark in the photo should be checked and set for optimal web display.  Sharpness should be sweetened but not overdone to produce artifacts.  Photos should be Saved for the Web as.JPGs and graphics should be.GIFs.  All photo filenames must share key words with the article title using underscores e.g. File_Name-1.jpg. The aim is to link together the words that you want to be searched for together with an underscore and the others with a dash.  An Underscore essentially glues those words together as far as the search engine is concerned, whereas a Dash differentiates between the glued parts of the Filename  Save your Summary Image with the extension -s for summary and then start the numbers at 1 after the Filename, with increasing numbers for all successive images. For example: For Sue Wong Fall 2011 Collection you would name the photosFor Sue Wong Fall 2011 Collection you would name the photos Sue_Wong_Fall-s.jpg Sue_Wong_Fall-s.jpg Sue_Wong_Fall-1.jpg Sue_Wong_Fall-1.jpg Sue_Wong_Fall-2.jpg, Sue_Wong_Fall-2.jpg, etc. etc.

9. Retrieving Photos  You will need to store your photos in a folder named for the event or item you are writing your article about so you can easily find them. (Example: Calvin Klein Fall 2011) As a sub-folder for that folder you must create a folder with the main folders title and with Saved for Web after e.g. (Calvin Klein Fall 2011 Saved for Web) so you do not upload the original photos vs. the ones you have SAVED FOR THE WEB As a sub-folder for that folder you must create a folder with the main folders title and with Saved for Web after e.g. (Calvin Klein Fall 2011 Saved for Web) so you do not upload the original photos vs. the ones you have SAVED FOR THE WEB  To download your files go to File/Open and choose the photos you want to open in Photoshop. There is a way to use a Macro to not only open several photos but open them all in the same size. Go to Lessons 6 - Photoshop – Making Macros to learn how. There is a way to use a Macro to not only open several photos but open them all in the same size. Go to Lessons 6 - Photoshop – Making Macros to learn how.  Once you have your photos opened, you will need to make them look as good as possible by following the steps in the following pages.

10. Remember if possible have faces pointing into the body of the article, not looking to the margins. Pictures that you specify as center are the easiest to work with since they force the text above and below the photo. You may however want to mix up the photos by inserting photos right, then left, then right and so on, maybe with a center picture throw in if you feel it looks best. A Few Tips

11. Cropping Photos If you need to crop (reduce the visible portion) of a photo: choose the CROP icon in the icon menu on the tool box. Click and drag your mouse over the portion of the photo that you want to keep. Anything outside the dotted box will be cropped off. Then double click and the photo will be cropped, if you change your mind use Ctrl-Z, which will undo the last action, or go to the edit pull down menu and choose undo or you can undo last to go back and undo several steps. If you need to crop (reduce the visible portion) of a photo: choose the CROP icon in the icon menu on the tool box. Click and drag your mouse over the portion of the photo that you want to keep. Anything outside the dotted box will be cropped off. Then double click and the photo will be cropped, if you change your mind use Ctrl-Z, which will undo the last action, or go to the edit pull down menu and choose undo or you can undo last to go back and undo several steps.

12. If your photo is blurry then: choose from the TOOLBAR - FILTER. On the drop-down menu, click UNSHARPEN MASK

13. When choosing Unsharp Mask, there are percentages that can be chosen. Usually 35% is a nice choice but you can go to 100% which is the same as the sharpen command also found in the same pull down menu, or even more than 100%, but usually this will make the photo too pixilated. This will make an out-of-focus photo sharper, you should have the preview box checked which will show you the preview on the actual photo itself how the photo will appear, (note that you can move your mouse over the photo in the Unsharp Mask box and move the photo so that the portion of the photo showing in the restricted box is what is most important for you to see) keep adjusting your photo until you are happy with it and click OK. Again as always, if you want to undo what you have just done, choose undo by holding down Ctrl and hitting Z or choose edit/undo from the drop down menu. is a nice choice but you can go to 100% which is the same as the sharpen command also found in the same pull down menu, or even more than 100%, but usually this will make the photo too pixilated. This will make an out-of-focus photo sharper, you should have the preview box checked which will show you the preview on the actual photo itself how the photo will appear, (note that you can move your mouse over the photo in the Unsharp Mask box and move the photo so that the portion of the photo showing in the restricted box is what is most important for you to see) keep adjusting your photo until you are happy with it and click OK. Again as always, if you want to undo what you have just done, choose undo by holding down Ctrl and hitting Z or choose edit/undo from the drop down menu.

14. c. If your photo needs some adjustments (many times the photos are muddy) for contrast or lightness or darkness: go to the top TOOLBAR, click IMAGE to access the drop-down menu. Find and click ADJUSTMENTS, then select LEVELS This will bring up a histogram chart,

15.  which measures the ratio of dark to light in the photo. Drag the markers at the bottom of the chart to lighten or darken and change the contrast of the composition of the photo. There are three triangles on the bottom of the chart: The left is black, The left is black, The middle is grey The middle is grey The right is white. The right is white.  To move the black triangle to the right will darken the photo, and as you do move the black triangle, the grey triangle will also move. To move the white triangle to the left, the photo will get lighter, and when you do so, the grey triangle will also move. Once you have made your adjustments with the black or white triangle, it is a good idea to then just move the grey triangle to enhance the contrast.

16. A nice tip is when you find a photo with a flat line (see photo below) from the right or left side before the start of a histogram is to automatically move the appropriate black or white triangle to the start of the histogram and that will usually be a good start for your adjustment Note the large gap to the right in the light area of the histogram in this example. This means the photo is too dark and needs lighting. Note how dull this photo is before we adjust it

17. You need to move the right triangle to the left, to the start of the histogram. You can click on Preview button to see before & after views. Note how much better it looks with so little effort

18. Note - if all your photos on the desktop are similarly dull or similarly blurred or whatever (which often happens since the same camera under the same conditions usually took the photos). You could make a Macro to adjust the most average of the photos. Go to Lessons 6 Photoshop – Making Macros & you might like Lessons 7 Photoshop – Making side-by- side photos Photoshop – Making side-by- side photos

19. The IMAGE SIZE window contains information about and controls the size (pixels per inch) of your photo. Starting at the bottom of this window, verify that the box 'constrain proportions' is checked. Next, (moving up the box) enter 72 in the RESOLUTION section. This tells Photoshop to set the resolution to 72 pixels per inch. This is the optimum resolution size for web photos and graphics. PIXEL DIMENSIONS: because you are uploading to the web, you want to define pixel dimensions of the photo rather than a print size. The pixel width is the critical number. The pixel height can vary. Size constraints are as follows:

20. SUMMARY PHOTO100 Pixels Wide (Physical Size Wise) and Must Be Less Than 4KB (4000 Bytes) Large (File Size Wise) duplicated full size in the article. HORIZONTAL IMAGES500 pixels wide. Once you have chosen your horizontal photo size BE CONSISTANT BE CONSISTANT throughout the article! VERTICAL IMAGES400 pixels wide. Keep in mind that vertical photos look and are larger since there is more area to them so if you have a particularly tall vertical photo, make it less than 400, i.e. 350 pixels wide Once you have chosen your vertical photo size BE CONSISTANT BE CONSISTANT throughout the article!

21. The last step in optimizing your photos is to SAVE FOR WEB. Drop down the File menu; find and select save for the web

22. 'Save for Web' will bring up another menu, which offers you a choice to view this photo in one of three ways: 1 version of the photo, 2 versions of the photo or 4 versions of the photo. Select the option to view 4 versions of the photo.

23.  Make sure that only Progressive box is checked, no other boxes are to be checked!  You will need to change the quality number to get the photo to the smallest quality size that still looks good. This will allow your page to load much faster  Just lower the number in the Quality box and click your mouse outside that box to see how the photo looks. 30 - 40 usually works well. At 35, the photo is 65% smaller than the original!  For the Summary Image, you will need to keep lowering the Quality number until you have a K size of less than 4. That way you will know that the summary image is less than 4,000 bytes (4k). Don’t forget the width must be 100 pixels and the height does not matter. Tip: if you are having trouble getting the summary photo below 4k, you might need to crop it to be a smaller photo but it must always be 100 pixels wide!

24. Graphic File Formats - Remember: GIF for Graphics/ JPG for Photos Save photos as a jpg not a gif. Gifs are used for graphics Save photos as a jpg not a gif. Gifs are used for graphics Remember that a larger picture can be made smaller, BUT A SMALL PICTURE CAN NOT BE MADE LARGER. Remember that a larger picture can be made smaller, BUT A SMALL PICTURE CAN NOT BE MADE LARGER. All articles require a SUMMARY PHOTO which will be 100 Pixels Wide and must be Less Than 4KB (4000 Bytes) Large All articles require a SUMMARY PHOTO which will be 100 Pixels Wide and must be Less Than 4KB (4000 Bytes) Large

25. Size Matters A digital photo is not like a paper print where 5x7 is all your need to know. The dimensions of a picture are how big it looks, but the file size (KB) of a picture is how sharp it looks. So just setting the pixels to 500 wide solves only part of the problem of file size on the web. You must also choose how sharp the image will be. The bigger the image, the longer the loading time. Smaller image files mean quicker load times. We want a blend of the two, a photo that looks good and loads fast. If you photos take too long to load, the reader will leave your article and never read it! That being said, you want to select the smallest sized photo with the most acceptable visual quality. Remember you can move your mouse over a photo and the cursor will change to a hand and you can move the photo so you are able to see the most important part of the photo. Look at the numbers (provided by Photoshop) in the lower portion of each of the four photos, a 35 quality will mean 35% of the size of the original photograph and 65% smaller, etc. and a lower number means a smaller sized photo which we prefer to allow your article to load faster. Therefore, select the smallest size with acceptable quality and click save. See screen shot on next page. TIP: It is a very good idea to create another new file folder that you have created just for holding your adjusted photos called “Saved for web”. So you do not get confused when uploading the photos and mistakenly upload the non-adjusted larger original photos!

27. Size Tips 2 To size, using Photoshop, open the picture. ALWAYS proceed first to the FILE TAB on the top toolbar and drop down the menu. Select SAVE AS to save an additional copy of the photo onto your hard drive. This is to protect you from accidentally permanently deleting or altering the original photo or graphic. Use a naming system that corresponds to the Title of your article with underscores connecting the words and then a dash which separates the photos i.e. For an article titled 'Sue Wong Fall 2011' the photos should have the pictures titled Sue_Wong_Fall_2011-1, Sue_Wong_Fall_2011-2, Sue_Wong_Fall_2011-3, etc with the summary photo titled Sue_Wong_Fall_2011-s This will help with the search engine placements. Save these images in a folder you create on your hard drive under My Photos with the name of the article as the folder name. Make sure to make a folder called saved for the web where you will save the final photos so as not to confuse them with the original photos. Touch up the photo to improve its aesthetic appeal if necessary (more later) ALWAYS proceed first to the FILE TAB on the top toolbar and drop down the menu. Select SAVE AS to save an additional copy of the photo onto your hard drive. This is to protect you from accidentally permanently deleting or altering the original photo or graphic. Use a naming system that corresponds to the Title of your article with underscores connecting the words and then a dash which separates the photos i.e. For an article titled 'Sue Wong Fall 2011' the photos should have the pictures titled Sue_Wong_Fall_2011-1, Sue_Wong_Fall_2011-2, Sue_Wong_Fall_2011-3, etc with the summary photo titled Sue_Wong_Fall_2011-s This will help with the search engine placements. Save these images in a folder you create on your hard drive under My Photos with the name of the article as the folder name. Make sure to make a folder called saved for the web where you will save the final photos so as not to confuse them with the original photos. Touch up the photo to improve its aesthetic appeal if necessary (more later) TIP: When sizing pictures, make use the proper pixel size (500 wide for horizontal photos and 400 wide for vertical photos.) Also keep in mind the focus of the article - a few pictures may be more along the lines of filler or fluffy pictures, and those should never be bigger than the pictures more directly related to the product/event/etc. Try to make the sizing of the photos consistent throughout the article TIP: When sizing pictures, make use the proper pixel size (500 wide for horizontal photos and 400 wide for vertical photos.) Also keep in mind the focus of the article - a few pictures may be more along the lines of filler or fluffy pictures, and those should never be bigger than the pictures more directly related to the product/event/etc. Try to make the sizing of the photos consistent throughout the article

28. Congratulations!  You are now done with Lesson #4  Please move on to Lesson #5 If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please email them to ld@lasplash.com If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please email them to ld@lasplash.com ld@lasplash.com ThanksLawrence