The Junction

Things have a habit of creeping up on you, as our friends at Seldex have reminded us by sending an email to their clients reminding them that come July they won’t be able to use Photojunction’s cover design and Send Order functions.

(We announced as much here back in February.)

We’ve counted Seldex as friends for years – in fact they sold Queensberry albums in Australia back in the day! – so this is a rather sad time, the culmination of a process that started to unfold a couple of years ago when we realised that most suppliers weren’t going to support PJ as a universal album design tool, which was our original goal.

Since then we have been trying, and failing, to reach agreement with Seldex and a couple of other suppliers (who to be fair did buy into our original goal) that would make it commercially sensible for Queensberry to continue allowing them to use our intellectual property in Photojunction.

The features in question are of no use to the vast majority of non-Queensberry PJ users – photographers who use the software pretty much entirely to design digital albums and press books and create their layout files for printing. They are, however, as we see it, a key part of Queensberry’s competitive advantage.

Here are two posts on The Junction that will help explain the thinking behind this.

The first is a survey we did in January to see what users do with Photojunction, which functions they value and which suppliers they use etc. There were a lot of surprises!

The second explains the decisions we took as a consequence, which included turning off the functions that Seldex has been using.

Seldex users, like everyone else, will still be able to use Photojunction to design their albums. No change there. As I said at the time, “…the vast majority of people use PJ primarily to design and export page layouts. Rest assured that we’ll still be supporting all page types (matted, digital etc) and you’ll be able to export your page layouts for uploading and printing as now.”

The vast majority of users will notice no change, and rest assured we are still committed to making Photojunction the most productive, creative, intuitive page design program out there for ALL professional photographers.

Please contact support if you have any concerns or questions.

Cheers, Ian

All software evolves as new features are added and new versions released.

Photojunction and Photoshop are no exception, and, as PJ takes advantage of more, often newer, features of Photoshop, its “backwards compatibility” with older versions is lessened.

That’s why we recommend that you use Photoshop CS3 or later with Photojunction.

If you use CS2 or even earlier, chances are that it will work fine, but you may occasionally find that some PSD files don’t import correctly as images or templates, or that you get error messages when exporting with PS scripting.

If that happens, all Support can do is offer one of two options:

• Upgrade to the latest release of Photoshop (v3 at least!), or

• In Photojunction, use the new Export, Print and Assemble service for Queensberry, so we can do the exporting at our end.

Cheers,
Ian

PS In certain circumstances using the Photojunction Direct export option will do the trick, but PJ Direct produces a flattened file, unsuitable for Queensberry Full Colour service. It also won’t work for Queensberry press books.

Here’s my second handy hint about file management.

Don’t muck about with your hi res files outside Photojunction after they’ve been imported.

The key words there are outside Photojunction. If you want to keep the software smiling, they’re important. It means you need to think about when and how you copy image files, and when you are going to do your artwork. Here are three alternative scenarios, which all keep PJ happy if used properly:

1. Do art work on your images before importing them. This is so you can import one set of finished files without lots of extra images, sub-folders etc to confuse you. But it probably means you need to choose the images before you import them, and that may not be a good thing since PJ has so many good client interaction tools built-in.

2. Do the art while you’re working in Photojunction. You do this using the tools in Photojunction, and not necessarily just the built-in effects or borders. The Open In Editor button at the bottom of the tools window could be one of my favourite buttons in PJ. This allows you to open up the image of your choice in Photoshop, do the art work that you require and then save it back into Photojunction. You can decide if you want the artwork on the original image, a copy of the original image or the cropped version you’ve used in the album layout. The changes and copies get saved back to your hi res files. Great if you want to preserve the original or use it for other projects. Photojunction is still happy and still knows where to look for the file when it comes time to export. And, unless you turn it off in Preferences, Photojunction now automatically replaces the image in your album design with the new copy.

3. Do your art work after the album layouts are exported. This tends to be a common option, and for certain things I can understand why. However the drawback for me is that you still have a high res file that is not art-worked. Remember, the exported layout becomes an entity in its own right. This means that if you go back into your album in Photojunction, the ex-girlfriend that you removed from the group shot on the exported layout will still be in the original hi-res and the proxy image in Photojunction.

“So what?” you may say, but this means the reports PJ generates (which we use as a guide when assembling the album) now won’t look like the exported layouts, which could mean a query back to you to make sure we are using the correct files. After all, we want it right just as much as you do, and things like adding text or swapping out images after exporting causes confusion. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t edit the layouts by doing things like adjusting colours or replacing PJ’s border effects with your own secret recipe.

Simple stuff again!

Cheers,
Pete

Hi Guys, I have been having a few “GoToMeeting” video calls with clients recently and if I was going to comment about anything it would be how we manage files.

There is a wide variety of ways people set up and work with their files, and sometimes they lead to confusion and frustration.
Here’s the first of a couple of posts that will help.

Place your files somewhere safe.

Your desktop may not be the best place to save files, because you may have a tidy up and delete something that you may want to retain, at least until you get your album back.

On the flip side you don’t want to bury them deep in a pile of sub folders. Photojunction is very much like the average Kiwi. We’re simple folks who can get led astray. So keep it simple, or Photojunction (or you) could end up getting lost and confused.

Kind of like me on St Patricks Day in London 1999.

Simple stuff, but it works wonders.

And we’re here to help if you need it at info@photojunction.com.

Cheers,
Pete

PS We have a saying. A PJ support member doesn’t let a PJ user drive Photojunction while angry … an innocent album could get hurt.

What better way to welcome back Angelique than to publish another of her Photojunction posts? – Ed.

I don’t think Image Collections and Groups get enough credit from Photojunction users. What better way to speed up your album design than not waiting for all 1100+ images in your Event to load every time you switch back from viewing templates?!

Sorting them into Groups and Collections will stop that…

There are Image Groups and there are Image Collections.

Image Groups can be great for narrowing down your groups of images. They keep your images separated. You could sort by the time of day, making it easy to only look at portraits when you are building a portrait layout, or you could reject images and not have to look at them at all. Once you put an image into a Group it is removed from the default group “unsorted”. This is sort of like keeping your images in folders, they can only be in one place.

Image Collections are a bit more creative. Danny used to always explain that they were a bit like playlists in iTunes.
Not wanting to insult anyone, they are also like playlists on a Zune.

Your images can be in multiple collections, and they will always stay in the All Images Collection. Here you could sort out favorites, maybes, client picks etc. My favorite image collection of all is the Images Used Collection.

Try them out, experiment with what works best for you. I guarantee you’ll like it better than always looking through ALL your images throughout your entire design process.

Can’t wait to hear what works best for you!

Angelique

Having worked on the Photojunction help desk for the last six weeks I have had a very good chance to look more closely at this great piece of software.

I have seen the problems people have with it.

The problems fall into three categories … The software, the user, the computer.

The software is good. Actually it is really good. It’s not perfect, but with every iteration it gets better, and if it was ever perfect the developers would be out of a job. It has weaknesses but they are outweighed by its strengths. It could never be perfect because it is constantly evolving to meet the needs of a changing market. It’s now on its 48th iteration in its current form. There are still people insisting on using the original Photojunction (Retro).

The users are a mixed bag of experience, stubbornness, understanding, creativity and pending deadlines.

The computers are a mixed bag of operating systems, software, technology and faulty broadband connections.

Combining all three can be hell!

In a perfect world all software would work with all people on all computers. This is not the world we live in.

In the not perfect world it is the combinations of these things that creates most of my (and the other helpdeskers’) work. Each of these things functions very well independently.

Some very clever people have problems with Photojunction … sometimes because they don’t read instructions, sometimes because their expectations of functionality are greater than the scope of the product, or sometimes because they expect it to behave like other similar but very different products. We pass on their requests for functionality to the development team, or we advise where needed.

Some people just don’t know where to begin. Some people don’t use it very often, and some people don’t know where to end.

If we add into the mix a pending deadline things can really start to fall apart.

For every computer there is an operating system and for every operating system there is a variation on how things happen. This is where the crap can hit the fan. Even though the developers test extensively over multiple platforms it is sometimes not until the software is out in the wild that problems surface.

We can fix problems with the software, we can set boundaries for the compatibility of the software with computers and operating systems, but we cannot change who the user is.

For this reason Photojunction will never be perfect. For all of the fixing in the world there will always be a user with a different way of doing things.

I titled this post ‘Thanks’ for a reason.

I just wanted to say thanks to the people who make Photojunction tick. The thinkers, the developers, the testers, the creators, the designers, and also the users. You all have an important part in making the software happen. I just wanted to say something as a reminder that it’s more than a piece of software, it’s a community.

Thanks

Johannes van Kan

Thank you Johannes, and thanks for your help with support.
You can start sleeping in again now – Ed.

Hello dears

It was a busy day at the office getting out v1.49, which fixes a few problems that surfaced in v1.48. But the most exciting thing is that we also published the resources for the Queensberry Press v2.0. The new books are gorgeous.

Oh dear, I nearly forgot – Queensberry is offering half price on all Press Books until the 6th of May 2011. Click here for more!

Wrap up well!
Love, Nanny

PS You can check out the list of fixes on the Photojunction software update notification screen.

By default Photojunction keeps its main database and your template and project files in a folder called “Photojunction” on your computer. You can move the folder to a new location, but by default you’ll find it here:

Windows Vista and Windows 7: C:\Program Data\Photojunction\

Windows XP: C:\Document and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Photojunction\

Mac: Macintosh HD:Users:Shared:Photojunction:

If you’re shifting to a new computer, just move the ENTIRE FOLDER to the equivalent location on the new machine.

Some people may have moved their PJ Project files (client/event/album data) to a different location. If that’s the case you’ll need to move them separately. The same applies to your Preferences and of course all your output files, such as page layout files and movies.

You’ll find the paths to your own “Project Folder” and “Saving Folder” (output files) in your PJ Preferences.

We have a classroom movie about portable projects here.

HTH, Ian

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

I was sitting at my desk eating Mini Dinosaurs (from the Natural Confectionery Company).

I was wondering about the scope of Photojunction as a tool in our business … the list of opportunities to make money from this (very free) software.

I could increase the album sale with…

More pages – fancy covers – extras like flips and wings – cases – digital copies, duplicates and parent albums – press book versions.

I can show some of these (like extra pages, flips and wings) in the software. Others, like fancy covers, may need help from Queensberry’s swatch book.

Actually press books are a huge opportunity because they are affordable and look great, but different enough to be a unique purchase.

What I am thinking about, as I chew on a purple dinosaur, is making a brag book. It’s a book of favorites with one or two images on a page. It’s not the whole story – that is what the big fat Duo is for – it’s a book that is simple in design, has some great shots, and is affordable enough to merit a couple of copies. Think like a photographic book you might get from a bookshop (remember them – bookshops?). It doesn’t need to be big, just attractively priced.

The purple dinosaur is history and I am eyeing up the yellow one.

But wait, there’s more. I could do a slideshow. Nothing too flash, but flash enough to be worth a couple of bucks at least. And it’s so easy, and I could do an album slideshow too, to help sell extra pages to clients who can’t come to the studio.

If I wanted to get all flashpants on the slide show I could make proof layouts and turn the album into quite a hot little presentation using third party slideshow software to reveal the images on the pages one by one.

The yellow dinosaur is toast (I was having an intense thinking moment and needed the extra sugars).

It’s too easy to ignore these opportunities because of habit, or a lack of knowing.

There are no green dinosaurs!

For some people this is a weird concept (making money from something you didn’t pay for) but why not think about Photojunction as more than just an album planner?

Cheers, Johannes