Shutterfly Size Help

[Jaycee]

I have downloaded (with help from some wonderful people at DD) one of my travel book. i downloaded in 8 x 8 size using katie's action. Having read all the threads I could find on Shutterfly books, I am now concerned that the 8x8 size may not be the best option. i used Anna's Fotoblendz albums for my layouts, so there are multiple photos. Also, it was fairly overcast while I was in Paris, and although i tweeked the lighting in PSE, I noticed that Merrilee said some of her smaller photos were a bit dark when printed. I am now wondering if i should go for the 12 x 12 size. That might mean resizing and re- downloading the 30 -40 pages in the book, but may be worth the effort(?). Your suggestions and experiences with Shutterfly books re sizes would be greatly appreciated! I also note that Katie says her 12 x12 shutterfly action is for Photoshop. The 8 x8 worked beautifully in PSE, so am unsure if I can use Katie's action in the larger format. Also read some interesting threads about batch resizing using PSE, and wondered if that might be safer. I think some people said they did not resize to 8 x 8 for Shutterfly books and that Shutterfly resized them automatically as they dragged them onto the page template at Shutterfly. Is this correct. Would this make it possible for me to drag my 8 x8 resized pages into a 12 x 12 shutterly template and have them resized also? Sounds improbable, but worth an ask. Hoping all you Shutterfly savvy ladies can help me through this maze of questions! AND, once again, thanks for all the wonderful support from people like Merrilee, Doris and Sarah on my last Shutterfly thread! What a wonderful support network this is!!!

[dugarner]

Ooh, yes, this is why I always scrap and upload in 12X12. Then if I change my mind, I don't have to do anything over again. I can print 8X8 or 12X12 and decide at the last minute.

You can't take an 8X8 and put it on a 12X12 in Shutterfly, it will lose a lot of quality. I'd say you need to go back to the beginning.

If you think the pages will be dark, you can lighten them 10-15% by adding a layer after you flatten the PSD and applying a screen layer style at about 10-20% opacity. If you do that, you may want to increase the saturation 10-15% as well to make up for the loss of contrast when you screen.

[echogirl]

Hi Jayce,
I've printed both 8x8 and 12 x12 and I do have to say I think the 12 x 12 books have more of a WOW factor. The 8x8 is still fine but for your first book I would say go for the wow effect. You've put so much effort into it already I know.

If you have 8x8 pages I don't think you should resize up but I don't know for certain. Do you have the original psd files that are not resized? It's pretty easy to do a batch conversion from psd to jpg. This is what I do in PS. My guess is you can do this in PSE.

Here's what I do to make the process easier.
What I do is put all the finished psd files into a folder. Open PS.
In File select Scriptsthen Image Processor
This opens a new window that asks you what images to open, where they are located, where to save them , what format to save them and what quality to save them as. Select what you want. Then hit Run.
Within a few minutes, the jpgs you've created are in a folder named jpgs in the psd folder.
Good luck. I promise it will get easier and the end product will be so worth it!

[Jaycee]

Thanks girls for this advice. I will have to explore the batch processing in PSE. Sounds a great time saver and I know some threads mention it for PSE. I think I have learned to upload in 12 x 12 size in future so I have the flexibility to change my mind. Doris, my books on Paris and French Riviera (separate books) I think will look more WOW in the larger format. I was thinking of storing the smaller books more easily. All the advice I have been given really is helping me clarify how I go about using Shutterfly books. I think for 'everyday' books the smaller size will be fine, but will take on board Merrilee's comment about darker images in the smaller size, and check the lighting. My main concern is that any book I make is going to have multiple photo layouts, and that means each photo will be relatively small. It is a learning curve for me, so all the advice is so helpful!