Tips and Tricks

Optimal photos

Information about file formats, resolutions, colour spaces, etc. is primarily useful for experienced image processors.
The average user of the "Müller foto svet" software will only really need to pay attention to the quality indicator on the photos and to activate Automatic Image Optimization.
But it may also be interesting as background information.

File formats for Photos

The "Müller foto svet" software supports the following file formats for photos/images:

The "Müller foto svet" software will not show image formats that are not supported.

Resolution for photos in the layout frame

The relative resolution of the photos should be at best 300 ppi (pixels per inch), but always in relation to the display size of the photo on the printed page.
If you change the size of the layout frame, the image detail or the zoom factor (the display size of the photo within the layout frame by clicking "Enlarge image" or "Reduce image"), the relative resolution will of course change too.
A helpful tool is the quality indicator (red, yellow, green).
As long as the quality indicator of the image stays green, there will not be any loss of quality when it comes to printing or developing.
Even if the quality indicator is yellow, the resolution is still sufficient for a good printing/developing result.

For photo canvases, the resolution can be slightly less because of the structured surface and the greater viewing distance.

Colour space of the photos

A colour space is a combination of all the colours in an image that can actually be shown.
The colour spaces differ depending on the image processing program and the image and output devices used.
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 (CMYK), into which images first have to be converted by the printer driver.

The standard and intersecting set of the colour spaces is the simple "sRGB" format (standard RGB).
All digital cameras, scanners, monitors and printer drivers support this colour space.

In production, the photos are always processed in "sRGB" colour format, and photos in other RGB formats are converted to "sRGB" format automatically and without any loss of quality. Most digital cameras take photos in sRGB format, so there should not be any problems in this respect.

Automatic Image Optimization (AIO)

The Automatic Image Optimization optimises the image quality of your photos.
It reduces any faulty exposure and colour tinge and also optimally adjusts contrast and colour saturation to the relevant output system.
This happens automatically and the level of correction is specified by prior image analysis.
The settings are optimised for a large average of all images, so that, as a rule, AIO leads to improved image quality.
We recommend you leave it switched on as default, if you have not already edited the colour, contrast and/or brightness of your images yourself.
Moreover, AIO should be switched off for artificial images such as computer graphics.

AIO can be switched on and off for each individual photo.
You can set a default setting that will apply to all images under Settings/Photos.

NB: If you are not currently working with a precisely calibrated monitor and your image processing does not support calibration, the printed result may be slightly different than expected.

Advice on calibrating your monitor

Graphics professionals calibrate their specially suited monitors using colour measuring equipment (colorimeter).
You can try the following settings (if supported by your monitor).

If ordering does not work (error code 1002)

Please check your address details and email address for invalid characters, e.g. whether there is a comma in the email address.

Error number 1002 can also be caused if the links to the images contain umlauts, and/or if the photobook has been saved with a location containing umlauts.

If this error continues to prevent you placing an order, please contact customer services. You will find the email address in "Settings" in the "About..." section.

Downloading and installing additional designs

For some products, there are additional backgrounds and designs that you can install later on.
If the "More..." button is visible in the product selection area, you can click on this to go straight to the corresponding internet download page (internet access necessary).

The contents of the download package will be displayed in a preview. Click on "Install" and the selected content will be downloaded and installed straight away.

Note:

Grid

The grid from the "Layout" toolbox is a tool to help you position elements precisely on a page layout.

You can use the superimposed grid to position elements on top of each other or next to each other.

In the Settings, it is possible to configure the settings so that the elements magnetically snap to the grid intersection points.

The grid will not affect the finished product: it is not printed or developed.

Third Grid

The third grid from the "Photos" toolbox superimposes two horizontal and two vertical reference lines onto the layout frame of the photo, splitting it into nine squares of equal size.

A photo is often more "exciting" if the motif is on the intersections of these reference lines rather than in the centre of the photo.

Example

The original photo is in the top left-hand corner.
The third grid has been activated in the top right-hand corner, the photo has been enlarged somewhat inside the layout frame and the main motif centred on a suitable intersection.

Below is the finished result. It looks better than the original in the top right-hand corner, don't you agree?

The grid is not printed or exposed and cannot be seen in the finished photo product.

Pop-up Menu

A pop-up menu is a menu window that is expanded when you right-click on an element. It contains commands in text form that you can apply to this element.

The content of the pop-up menu will change depending on the type of element.

Pop-up menus often contain more commands than toolbars.

Your own photo as an artistic background

Go to the selection area under "Photos", click on a photo and you will see a pop-up menu containing the command "Set as image background", among others. If you apply this command (right, left or both pages), this photo will be added to the page as a page background.

Unlike the other backgrounds, you can edit this background by double-clicking on it in the photo show.

Give the background photo a line drawing effect.

Try the various effects to see what you prefer or what could work well as a background to the other photos in the foreground.

A sepia effect produces a classic look. Make the photo a bit brighter and reduce the contrast slightly. The result will work very well as a background picture in a CEWE PHOTOBOOK or a calendar.

The new photo show (see the section entitled "The CEWE PHOTO SHOW") contains the photo effect "Background image", which you can use to produce perfectly good results for background images.

Original		Sephia		Lighter, less contrast		Photo Show Background image

Creating an "empty" CEWE PHOTOBOOK

Sometimes you might prefer not to use the CEWE PHOTOBOOK Assistant and to customise the CEWE PHOTOBOOK yourself from the beginning.
To do so, it is good to start with a completely empty photobook, but there are page layouts on every page.

For this reason, the selection area now contains a page layout called "0 photos per pages".
Go to the first page (not the cover) and select this page layout.
Right-click on the thumbnail to open up the pop-up menu, then click on the command "Layout is applied to all interior pages".

Now you have a CEWE PHOTOBOOK with clean, content-free inner pages, just waiting to be filled.

Creating a monochrome spine for the CEWE PHOTOBOOK

If you want to you use your own photos as a background on the front and back cover of a CEWE PHOTOBOOK, but you would prefer a monochrome spine, please follow the following steps:
1: Place the desired monochrome background for the spine across the whole double page. This completely colours the spine too.
2: Add your own photos on the left and right as backgrounds. If you add the photos first as backgrounds and then add the monochrome background, the background photos will be deleted and replaced by the new background, as there can only be one background. This also happens if at a later stage you want to add a different background in another colour to the spine. Then you will have to add your background photos to the book cover again.
3: Now you can continue to customise the cover of your CEWE PHOTOBOOK. The background of the text box on the spine should remain transparent so that the background colour of the spine shows through.
Note:
If you try to colour the spine of a CEWE PHOTOBOOK using only the background colour of the text box, there will be uncoloured areas above and below the text box (see right), which is not desirable. Cause: The text box is smaller than the spine and therefore does not colour it completely. Therefore it is better to use the method described above with a monochrome background.

Creating an image detail

You can create an image detail by combining the size of the layout frame, the zoom factor ("Reduce Image" / "Enlarge Image") of the added photo and the position of the photo within the layout frame.
Check the quality indicator in the toolbar (smiley icon).

Here is an example of the procedure:

Now the bird fills the picture nicely.

The layout frame does not necessarily need to be reduced. Here is an example of how the same photo can look if you zoom and pan:

Simply zoom and pan the result.

Highlighting elements

You can highlight an element by clicking on it once with the left mouse button and you can recognise a highlighted element because of the highlighted frame. Highlighted text is highlighted in colour or displayed inversely. So far so good.

But it is possible to highlight several elements at the same time so you can edit them at the same time. This is called a (highlighting) selection.

First possibility: If the elements are "in a line", and you would like to highlight several elements next to each other, highlight the first required element and then, holding down the Shift key, highlight the last required element. All elements in between are also highlighted and added to the selection. This also works for text within a text box.

Second possibility: Elements that are close to each other on the screen can be highlighted with a selection frame. You simply drag the selection frame from one corner to a diagonal corner whilst holding down the left mouse button. All elements that are at least partially within the frame are highlighted and included in the selection.

Third possibility: The key combination "Ctrl" + "a" highlights all elements in the current editing window. This also works for text within a text box.

Fourth possibility: If you highlight/click on an additional element while holding down the "Ctrl" key, this will also be highlighted. This way you can highlight several elements at the same time that are dispersed across the workspace and add them to the selection.
If you click on an element that is already highlighted while holding down the "Ctrl" key, it will be removed from the selection and "unhighlighted".

Combinations produce new highlighting options: For example, if you want to edit all elements except one, highlight them using "Ctrl" + "a" and remove the element that you do not want to edit from the selection by clicking on it whilst holding down the "Ctrl" key.

You can highlight text areas in a text box by rolling over them with the mouse while holding down the left mouse button. You can highlight a whole single word by double-clicking on it.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcuts make it easier to work with any software.
Once you have become used to them, you can save yourself a lot of time.

Here are the shortcuts that work in the "Müller foto svet" software: