Remember the very first time you sent a letter? (Or for those who have never posted a letter – sent an email?)

There were doubts – would it get there? Would strangers look at it in transit? Did I have enough postage? Did I have the right address? Do I trust the postie to take great care of my efforts?

The same goes with sending orders to Queensberry through Photojunction for the first time.

We need assurances that I know, as a very regular user, become less relevant with experience.

Photojunction has many ‘safety’ features to prevent people from mucking up their orders.

These safety features exist to streamline the manufacturing process, and to ensure that the order gets through in a usable form.

The tricky thing can be terminology and the fear of ‘finality’, the latter being the fear that when you press the ‘go button’ there is no turning back.

The beauty of Photojunction is that even with all of the automation of process once you have sent your order you get confirmation that it has been received and there are ways to check on its progress via the secure website.

Or if you need more help there are representatives and tech people to assist … not to mention an extensive set of videos on this vimeo link.

But most importantly, behind it all is a human face (or two).

From the very beginning Photojunction wants to assure you that things are right and you can proceed with confidence. Regardless of all this it still feels like a leap of faith.

Take the leap and know that it is not a void at all, it is a place filled with people who care about, and wish for,  your success.

Cheers, Johannes

Options, options, options.

Right-click anywhere, on anything, and Photojunction’s likely to give you options.

A few examples:

Right-click on an image Group, Collection or Folder in the Event Window and you’ll get options like Delete the Group, Create a slideshow and Create Proof Sheets.

Right-click on an image in the Event window and you’ll get all these options:

Right-click on on Image Folder and you’ll get a Show in Finder option (to locate the original folder of images on your system).

Want more? Ok, right-click on an image on a layout, and you’ll be given all sorts of quick image editing options.

Cheers, Nigel

Another handy hint from the drafts folder (thanks again Nigel) – Ed.

You’ll know all about EXIF data… That information your camera stores about your images.

Well it’s especially important when comparing images. And since you probably do a lot of ‘comparing’ in Photojunction, your image’s EXIF data is available to view from within the Event window.

Simply select an image, and click the EXIF Data tab in the navigation bar on the left to display its information (they must be linked to the high-res originals).

You can also sort images in the Event window using EXIF tags. Very handy.

Cheers, Nigel

Discovered this handy hint buried in the drafts (thanks Nigel, gone but not forgotten!) – Ed.

Further to Anna’s emotional cry to ‘save people in photographs from random and thoughtless amputations’…

I was trying to think of a way to ‘stop the suffering’.

It occurred to me that we could specifically shoot for the panoramic opportunity.

Shoot what you might call ‘the subject image’ and then move slightly to get the ‘rest of the scene’ photograph. Use the spine as the aligned join for these images to create a panoramic effect.

This has two advantages.

The enlargement required is less, keeping the quality up.

You plan more for the placement of your subject so that nobody has to lose an arm.

Important tips for this to work:

-be wary of barrel distortions from wider lenses.

-do not adjust the exposures.

-doesn’t work for crowd scenes unless you can put a deliberate break between the two images.

-be aware of the image alignment vertically and horizontally.

Cheers, Johannes

Forget animal sacrifice, this is about image sacrifice, and why it is – quite frankly – morally and photographically unethical!

What I’m talking about here is panoramic layouts and when to ‘cut’ an image (and when not to). Queensberry doesn’t make leaves with prints continuous across the spine of the book, as some manufacturers do. Instead, the prints on our digital pages are split at the centreline, leaving a gap of about 2mm (about 1/16”). The reason for this is because if the print is folded – it almost invariably discolours and/or cracks. Our albums are all about protecting images rather than mistreating them.

So when it comes to using a panoramic spread and splitting a print in two over the centre spine – it should be purposeful and only an occasional feature. I often see designs where an image is sacrificed at the expense of a ‘cool’ layout design – and a person, arm or leg is literally cut down the centre because of image placement over the centreline of the album. This isn’t Chainsaw Massacre 5, people!

In the image above the layout is completely symmetrical – which is nice – but the couple’s hands are being cut in half with the centre spine (and aren’t their hands part of the story of this image?) Below is an alternative layout that works just as well – but doesn’t cut anyone’s limbs in half.

When designing it’s a good idea to think about a layout not just as a spread, but also as two pages (left and right). A good design should be about enhancing the images themselves, not so much about creating intricate patterns that can get in the way of visual flow and story telling.

Above is a layout of apertures that looks quite good on the screen, but when it’s made the spine will be cutting right through those small apertures – and you’ll end up with a little slither of photo on the right hand layout. A large panoramic image (image below) can look spectacular, but cutting an aperture that is smaller than a 7×5 doesn’t do the image any favours.

The best way to lay out a montage is to use a standard layout and work with the spine rather than against it – see image below.

Large group photos can be really tricky because you’ll often want them to be as big as possible – but it’s probably a better solution to use a full page on one side rather than cut Aunt Mildred’s head in two! (see my example of the massacre below).

Happy selective slicing.
Anna

Disclaimer: No images were harmed in the making of this blog post.

PS I think this is good advice even if your album manufacturer doesn’t split prints at the spine.

It’s amazing how often we see people talking online about fixing a problem by “reinstalling the software”.

I just did a quick double-check round the guys and we don’t normally recommend “reinstalling” as a strategy for fixing software issues.

In fact, if you reinstall, the problem you’re trying to fix is likely to remain or even get worse. That’s because your user database will still be there and that’s where a problem could lurk and cause trouble even after the cause has been dealt with via a bug fix. BTW don’t delete your user database unless you want to lose all your past work!

If you have persistent problems that a quick reboot won’t fix please email us or contact us on Facebook if you prefer.

Cheers,
Ian

PS Installing updates is another matter. We definitely recommend that.

Hello Dears!

I saw this on Twitter recently:

If Photojunction was a human I’d punch it in the face!

Danny wrote back, Actually we are human – how can we help?

The nice man apologised – because he was a nice man, and because we don’t often abuse real people (unless they’re partying outside our bedroom window, that is, or cutting us off at the lights).

I’ve told my lovely boys and girls not to take this too personally…but if I could give you a wee bit of advice:

If you’re frustrated, getting twitchy on Twitter makes you feel better but it doesn’t solve the problem.

I bet you won’t believe me, but today I got the spinning wheel of death from both Excel and Safari. (Very annoying: I’m planning a Seniors outing to Waiheke Island and time’s getting short.)

All I could do was use a few bad words and hope no-one heard me. Because no-one believes that complaining to Apple or Microsoft will do any good.

But Queensberry isn’t a big corporate and they do offer personal support for Photojunction. So please use it.

I know time zones can be a problem and you might not be able to get an instant response, but you will be talking to people who call the developers by their first names – sometimes to someone who is a developer. They’re as good at diagnosis as my darling doctor – and if they can’t fix your problem they do know a specialist.

Wrap up well dears,
Nanny

PS Christine, one of our support people, says this:

“It’s always helpful if we’re able to know whereabouts in the program you were and what you were trying to do when the program had difficulties. Any error messages you see help us diagnose the problem and screenshots make things so much clearer. And if Photojunction asks you to send a bug report please do!

“Also, we do keep an eye out on Twitter and Facebook, but emailing info@photojunction.com is easily the best thing to do.”

Yesterday Johannes asked if you could send PJ Support some interesting design questions, and I think you’d better. Methinks his mind’s started wandering – Ed.

The first time you have sex there are so many things that could go wrong.

The second time you know a bit more about what happens, but that doesn’t mean that things are any easier.

If, the first time you had sex, you focused on having fun over getting it right, the experience would probably be 100 times more enjoyable. 100 times more enjoyable because you would be free to get it wrong, or right, without the judgement.

If you watched all the instructional videos you would get points for execution but your creativity would be hindered by the rules of play and the examples you had seen.

Although I am certainly no authority, in having sex there are some fundamentals you must follow (I won’t go into details) but the rest is personal expression.

Making your first album (losing your album maker virginity) can be a traumatic experience too. There are instructional videos, certainly many opinions, and so many ways that things could go wrong.

The lovely people at Photojunction have worked hard to make sure you have a positive experience, and they hope you will embrace and enjoy your first time. It is a time before you have become habitual in your design …. this naiveté is a wonderful freedom to explore.

If it’s your first time, just play. Enjoy, embrace, and be proud … losing your virginity only happens once.

Cheers, Johannes

If you do need a video to get you started (with PJ that is) there’s one here.

I have taken up a temporary position helping out with the Photojunction support team.

One thing that I have noticed is that people seem to have more problems with the mechanics of Photojunction not fitting into their own experience or habits.

Hardly ever does anybody ask for design advice.

I wonder if it is the same with photography. People will ask about technical things like lighting and composition but much less often about content and emotion.

ARE WE TOO SHY?

I don’t think so!

As photographers we are called upon to be the creative voice for our clients. Is it that we don’t like to ask for help?

I just wanted to say we are here to help you in whatever way we can, and in fact a few design questions would make our lives a bit less technical and more visual.

To quote Clint Eastwood, “Go on, make my day…[more interesting].”

Just  a thought.

All the best,
Johannes

Here in Shakey Town (Christchurch) things won’t be ‘normal’ for a long time.

In Queensland they are still drying out the carpets.

In Japan they haven’t even started.

These are all timely reminders of our vulnerability, and a very good reason for having an offsite backup.

The unforgiving nature of these disasters made us think about ways to store information securely and safely.

Our problem is the volume of data we generate every time we head out to shoot.

I just wanted to prompt people to think about it, because for us, one of the first thoughts for our business, after the big quakes, was access to data.

Cheers, Johannes