Tips and Tricks

Optimum photos

Information on file formats, resolution, colour spaces etc. are mainly of interest to those who are practised in image editing.
As an average user of the real Fotolumea mea software, you only need to keep an eye on the quality indicator of the photos and activate the automatic image correction feature.
The following may, however, be of interest to you as background information.

File format for photos

The real Fotolumea mea software supports the following file formats for photos and images:

The real Fotolumea mea software does not show image formats which are not supported.

Photo resolution in the layout frame

The relative resolution of the photos should be in the best case 300 ppi (pixels per inch) but always in reference to the display size.
If the layout frame size, the cropped section or the zoom factor (the display of the photo in the layout frame achieved with "Scale up" or "Scale down") is changed, the relative resolution naturally also changes.
The quality indicator (red, yellow, green) is an important aid.
As long as the quality indicator of the image is in the green range, there will be no loss of quality in the print or exposure.
Even if the quality indicator is yellow, the resolution is sufficient for a good print/exposure result.

On canvases the resolution may be somewhat lower due to the structured surface and the greater viewing distance.

Optimum photo sizes for page backgrounds in CEWE PHOTO BOOKS

The optimum size in pixels for using your own photos as a background in a CEWE PHOTO BOOK obviously varies depending on the format and size of the photo book.

The following table shows the maximum background sizes for optimum printing results for the various CEWE PHOTO BOOK, depending on the cover and inside pages.

These are the maximum dimensions in pixels for the maximum number of pages (due to the spine of the book if it has a hard cover) and including the bleed which is cut off during production of the photo book.

The image size can be smaller as long as the quality indicator is still green. Photos with smaller dimensions remain unchanged.
If, however, the photos are larger than the maximum size, this does not have any noticeable effect on the printing quality
They are scaled down to the necessary size to keep the file as small as possible.
This speeds up file upload and saving of the images when you place your order.

The image size may be cut down to the size actually required by the software and the photos scaled down to the necessary resolution during ordering.

Colour space of the photos

A colour space is a summary of all colours which can actually be displayed in an image.
The colour spaces vary depending on the image editing program and the input and output devices.
Some Nikon cameras, for example, take photos in a special "Nikon sRGB" format, and Adobe Photoshop often uses its own "Adobe sRGB".
Printers even work in a completely different colour space (YMCK) into which the images first have to be converted by printer drivers.

The simple "sRGB" format (standard RGB) has become established  as a standard and greatest common subset.
All digital cameras, scanners, monitors and printer drivers can handle this colour space.

In CEWE PHOTO BOOK production the photos are processed in "sRGB" colour format and photos in "Adobe sRGB" format are automatically converted to "sRGB" format. Most digital cameras take photos in sRGB format so there should not be any problems.
If your photos are, however, in a different colour space than "sRGB" or "Adobe sRGB", please convert your photos to the "sRGB" format with an image processing program before using them.
Otherwise there could be shifts in colour (e.g. "Nikon sRGB" results in a slight red hue on the image during production.)

Automatic image correction (AIC)

The AIC optimises the image quality of the photo and minimises the effects of faulty exposure and incorrect white balance.
However, this does not always work flawlessly and a wonderful sunset may suddenly become an overcast sky.
You can also optimise the photo yourself with image processing software and may not want to change the brightness or colour.
For this reason the AIC can be activated and deactivated separately for each photo, or it can be switched off completely in the options.

However, please remember one thing; if you are not working on a calibrated display and your image processing software does not support calibration, the printed result can always be slightly different than expected.

Note on calibration of your computer monitor

If ordering does not work (error code 1002)

If an order is terminated with the error code 1002, this can have a number of reasons, but it often results from an incompatibility between the character sets of your operating system and the server.
Invalid characters can then be created.

Please check your address and e-mail address for any invalid characters, for example a comma in your e-mail address.

Error 1002 can also be caused if the links to the images contain special characters such as accents in different languages, or if the photo book is saved in a path with such special characters.

If this error still prevents you ordering, please contact our customer support team. The e-mail address is given in "Options" in the menu item "About...".

Downloading and installing additional designs/content

Additional backgrounds, designs and content are available for some products and can be installed at any time.
If a "Download more…" button appears in the object browser for a product, you can click the button to go to the download page for design templates on the Internet. (Internet connection required.)

The content of the download packages is shown in a preview. Click "Download" to download the selected package to your computer and install it straight away.

Important:

Please note:

Grid

The grid is used for more precise positioning of objects in a layout.

A grid is displayed which you can use as an orientation aid when positioning objects adjacently in a horizontal or vertical direction.

It can also be configured to allow the objects to snap to the grid intersections.

The grid is not part of the finished product and is not printed or exposed.

Context menu or pop-up menu

A pop-up menu is a menu window that appears when you click the right mouse button on an object. It contains format commands in plain text that you can apply to the object.

The context or pop-up menu content changes with the object type.

Very often, the context menu will offer more options than the object toolbar.

Using your own image as a background

The command "As background …" appears in the context menu for images in the "Images" tab. If you execute this command, the image is used as a page background for the right or left page, or both.

In contrast to other backgrounds, you can edit this background image by double clicking it in the photo viewer.

You can apply a line drawing effect to the background image.

Try out various effects to discover your preferences, or to find a background that matches the images in the foreground.

Sepia effects are also very attractive. In this case, make the image slightly lighter and use less contrast. The results are very useful as photo book backgrounds or calendar backgrounds.

In the new PHOTO VIEWER (refer to the respective section) there is a "Background" photo effect which you can use to create very attractive results for background images.

Original		Sepia effect		Light, less contrast		Photo viewer background

Creating an "empty" CEWE PHOTO BOOK

Sometimes you may not want to use the CEWE PHOTO BOOK Assistant and prefer to create your CEWE PHOTO BOOK from scratch.
It may then be advantageous to start with a completely empty photo book, which means that you will not need the layouts on each page.

To this purpose there is a page layout option with "0 photo(s) on each page" in the object browser.
Go to the first page (not the cover) and select this layout.
Right-click the preview image to open the context menu and click the command "On all inside pages".

You will then have a CEWE PHOTO BOOK with clear, empty inside pages which are waiting to be filled with content.

Create image section

The combination of the size of the layout frame, the zoom factor ("Scale down image" / "Scale up image") the inserted image and the position of the image within the layout frame lets you create an image section.
Pay attention to the quality display in the object toolbar (smiley).

Typical working steps:

Now the bird nicely fills the frame.

It is not always necessary to scale down the layout frame. The next example shows the effect of zooming in on and moving the same image:

Selecting objects

To select an object, left click on the object: selected objects are identified by a selection frame. Selected text is either colour highlighted or inverted.

There are various ways to select multiple objects at the same time to edit them simultaneously.

Option 1: If the objects are in a row, and you need to select multiple adjacent objects, start by selecting the first object, then hold down the Shift key and click the last object you wish to select. This selects all the objects between the two, or adds them to an existing selection. This also works with text inside a text box.

Option 2: Objects placed adjacently on the screen can be selected using a selection frame. Simply drag a selection frame from one corner to another by pressing the left mouse button. All the objects that are at least partially inside the frame are selected and added to the selection.

Option 3: The keyboard shortcut "Ctrl" + "a" selects all the objects in the current workspace. This also works for text inside a text box. 

Option 4: Select/click other objects and hold down the "Ctrl" button at the same time to additionally select these objects. This is the method for simultaneously selecting multiple objects that are distributed over the workspace and adding them to the selection.

If you hold down the "Ctrl" button and click an object that is selected, it is "deselected", that is, removed from the current selection.

Combining these methods gives you new selection options: For example, if you want to select all objects but one, start by pressing "Ctrl" + "a" and then, while still holding down the "Ctrl" button, click the object you do not wish to edit to deselect it. 

To select an area of text in a textbox, hold down the left mouse button and drag the mouse over the text. You can select a single word by double clicking the word.

Transparency tips

Images created in the "PNG" file format can contain transparencies and semi-transparencies.

You can use this format as a workaround for inserting any kind of clipart (from Internet-based clipart collections or from CDs) into a photo book or another photo product with a layout function.

Simply open the clipart with a suitable vector drawing or image editing program, export to PNG, or save as PNG.

Semi-transparent PNG graphics can be selected as normal images in the product selector and inserted into the photo product.

Semi-transparencies can even cast shadows that follow the contour of the object.
The results are shown here.

This even works with text written with an image editing program on a transparent background and then stored as PNG.
Example:

ShortCuts

Learning the keyboard shortcuts can save you some time when editing products.

Shortcuts for the real Fotolumea mea software are listed in the following table: