| Writing Your First Entry |
| Photographica is much more then just the static pictures you'd find at other sites - it's a unique blend of story telling and photography. You can intertwine text, images and galleries to create a post that not only shows photographs, but tells a story.
While daunting at first, posting on Photographica is fairly straightforward once you get the hang of it. There are three steps needed in order to share your photography which are outlined below: Step 1: Modify your PhotosThe first step to posting is preparing your photography for photographica. This may mean converting from one image format (png, tiff or bmp) to a JPEG image format. You may also have to resize your image to be displayed as frequently the image from your camera is much to large to be displayed on Photographica. File Type: JPEG Only ThumbnailsThumbnails are an optional image you can upload along with your display image. These get used in search results, story pictures (or icons), and various other places throughout Photographica. If you choose not to upload your own thumbnail, one will be generated for you.Hi Resolution ImagesHi Resolution images get used when a print is made from your photography. These images should be very large, and contain no noticeable compression artifacts (i.e. a saved as a maximum quality JPEG). The larger your file, the larger the prints you can sell. You should not resize your image in Photoshop to make it larger, this would produce a very low quality print.Hi resolution pictures get used in one other place - in the store gallery where they are resized. Step 2: Upload Your PhotographsBefore you can post your story to Photographica, you need to upload your photos. This means transferring the pictures from your computer to Photographica. There are two ways to upload: FTP or through a web page. Both have their own pro's and cons that will be discussed later. You also need to assign a keyword to your photograph.KeywordsWhen you upload your image, you assign a unique keyword to that picture. Think of keywords as a filename. They are for your use only and are used when you want to post an include an image or use one in a gallery. Keep them short and easy to type.Web UploadsWeb Uploads are the most direct way of uploading your images. They are not nearly as reliable as FTP however. Using web uploads are simple - just browse for the file you wish to upload.Subscriber Only: FTP UploadsFTP uploads are the easiest, most reliable way to upload your images. You first need to get a FTP client. Some examples for Windows are Bullet Proof FTP, Cute FTP, and WS FTP. FTP Server: ftp.photographica.org In some cases, if you cannot get FTP to work, you may need to configure your FTP client to use a "passive" or "transparent" firewall. Look for words like "PASV" or "firewall". This will vary according to your FTP client. Step 3: Post your StoryPhotographica supports a modified version of HTML suitable for posting popups and galleries. Do not be alarmed if you do not know HTML -- there are only a few basic things you need to learn to start creating your stories. If you need help when you are posting your story - there is a "HTML Help" box on the right side of the story posting page. Simply copy the bit of HTML you wish to use and modify it to suit your purpose. Starting your post: Submit New StoryTo begin your adventures in posting, you need to submit a new story. This will present you with a page that will allow you to enter your text and photographs.Referring to an Image: The <Popup> TagThis is the most important tag, or HTML, you will need to learn. Popups look a standard link to a view, only when a reader clicks on it, a window pops up with your picture. To close the window, the reader clicks somewhere else.The popup tag looks like this: They "keyword" is whatever keyword you assigned to the image you wish to use. When you submit or preview your story - this is what you might get: If you are displaying a panorama, or some other largish image, you may want the popup window to contain a scroll bar. This is accomplished by adding "scrollbars=yes". For example: There is a shortcut to creating popup tags - right above the "text" entry box, there is a line that says "Popup" and "Text inside popup". Simply find the right keyword in the list and in the box that says "Text inside popup" type whatever you want to go inside the link (the example above used "Text inside the link"). Click on "Add Popup" and it will insert the popup tag at the end of your text. Extras: Story ThumbnailStory thumbnails are a way to spruce up your post. They are not a substitute for a full post, in other words don't use them and not have any popups. Use them as a preview, or a teaser. You may wish to upload a custom thumbnail that crops into a important part of one image.The Last Step: Preview!Before you post your story to Photographica - you should always preview. This will let you verify that you referred to the right pictures, crossed your t's and dotted your i's.A Word on GalleriesGalleries are basically a slideshow. You can assign multiple keywords, or images, to a single gallery. Much like popups, galleries are referred to using keywords as well.Before you try to upload images for use in a gallery - you need to know that there is a max height and width that you can use for a gallery. If your image is too large it will not show up in the list of images when you go to create your gallery. Largest Picture Size in a Gallery: 750 (width) x 560 (height) After uploading your images, you can create your gallery by following the "Create Gallery" link at the top right of the page. At that page, you will be able to give a title, keyword, and select the background and foreground color for the gallery page. To use your gallery - you use the <Gallery> tag. It looks much like the popup tag. |
