Before placing an order with Picaboo, it's always important to check your work for errors. Picaboo doesn't offer any proofing services, so reviewing your project prior to completing your order is the best way to ensure your project is perfect. Below are some tips to consider before ordering.
Image Quality
One common question is if a particular image is large enough for the page of a book. The simple answer is that unless you reduce the size of the image, or are using an economy setting on your camera, the images taken with most modern cameras should fill a page in a large book easily. For guides on image sizes appropriate for full pages in our various books, check our recommended resolution page.
In general, your images should be safe as long as you don't see the low resolution warning displayed on your image, which looks like a little orange triangle.
Dark Images
Images can take on a red or orange hue, or appear grainy when taken in a low-light setting. This happens specifically when the flash on the camera is not active, or the subject is beyond the range of the flash. Most built-in flash units on a camera are only good for about 6 feet. The internal light sensor in all digital cameras assign values based on what light sources are in the frame. From lowlight sources to strong backlighting, the camera will set the digital receptors to what is appropriate for the scene, sometimes neutralizing color or contrast.
These issues may not be immediately obvious when you view them on your computer monitor, as the brightness of the monitor is often set to a high level out of the box. If you want to adjust your monitor to better view print material, be sure your computer’s display properties are set to sRGB.
Often times the best thing to do when a red or orange image is found, is to adjust it in an outside program such as Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, or Photoshop Elements. This allows you to neutralize the unwanted color, and brighten the image.
If the red and orange image hue isn’t too bad, you can make the necessary changes with Picaboo's built-in Photo Adjustment Tools. Click the photo, click the "Edit Photo" option in the left toolbar and then click the Filter/Adjust Photo button to use the Adjust tools.
Layouts
When paging through the book, you will want to look for images too close to the edge, where the subject matter is in danger of being cropped, or parts of the page that don’t look complete. Each page will have dashed lines that indicate approximately where the page will be cropped during production. We would recommend keeping important details out of this area but to also have a background (or the background of an image) covering this area so that there isn't an unwanted white space at the edge of your page.
When setting up your project, be sure to select the style and size you want to order. The crop zone guides are specific to the size and book style of the book selected.
Size Cropping
Each book size and style has cropping specific to that style. Be sure that you re book style and size cropping options are set for the book you intend to order so that you will see the correct cropping guides. The dashed lines at the edges of the pages shows the area that may be lost to the production process. The best practice is to assume that anything in the Crop Zone will be cropped, and therefore keep the important details in your images out of that area, but to also make sure to have an image or background covering that portion as well in case some of that area is not cropped.
Grid Lines and Snap Guides
There may be cases where you want to line up text and images on your page. To assist with that, we have some a built in Grid Lines tool. To activate this option, click the Advanced Button once again, and from the Guides and Snapping menu, check the Grid Lines option. You'll be able to resize the grid that shows up on the page with the slider bar. You'll want to use both these tools (grid lines and the crop zone warning) together to check the cover of any books you create as well.
You can also choose to "Snap to" the grid lines which allows other photos to align more easily with the guides.
Text
Our program does have a built in Spell Check feature which will be activated when you put your item into the cart, but it may be best to have a third party check over your book for errors as well. The spell checker won't be able to tell if it's the "write" or "right" version of a word.
You also might want to make sure that your text stands out from the backgrounds. If you find you have some text that is hard to read, you can either change the color of the font, or you can make your text stand out by using a Caption Background.
When you click the Background checkbox in the Edit Text sidebar, a color will fill the caption box behind the text. You can also adjust the color and opacity of your text background. To change the color, click the Background Color chooser. A color palette will open up, allowing you to select from a rainbow of colors. The opacity of the text background can be adjusted using the Background Opacity slider.
These steps will help you in creating a better, more beautiful project. Please Contact Us if you have any questions during the book creation process. Our representatives will be happy to help.
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