LATEST NEWS FLASHES!--No.252
DO/TS
12/96
--By WS Pubs Team
Scanning and Sending in Photos by E-mail
Dear Family,
We want to say a special thanks to all of you who have taken the time to send pictures along with your testimonies. It's so inspiring to see pictures of you and your work for the Lord. As Dad often said, "One picture is worth a thousand words."
We would like to start publishing more photos in our pubs, especially in the new Free Zine. Now that we have an e-mail address available for you to send your articles to, we would like to pass on some tips and suggestions for those who would like, or are able to, send in photos via e-mail.
Apart from the speed at which your photos will be received, and consequently published, one other major advantage of sending in your photos along with your testimony via e-mail is that we will receive both testimony and photos at the same time. What has happened in the past is that we have received testimonies or reactions and went ahead and published them only to receive the photos for the articles a few weeks after the pub had been sent out. This is because the testimonies were sent in via modem or with the TRF, while the pictures were sent via mail.
It is still fine to send in your photos by mail. We would like to request, however, that if you do mail us photos by post that are to be published with an article which you are sending in via modem (or with your TRF, which will get passed on to us via modem by your CRO), to please mention this at the top of your article. A simple, one-line, "Pictures for this article coming in the mail" statement would be sufficient. This way we will be able to hold the article until your photos arrive and they can be published all together. Also, please write on the back of your photos, "Photo for article from So-and-so" (along with the usual names, location, date and other info), so we don't publish them with the wrong testimony!
In order to be able to send photos via e-mail, the pictures first need to be "scanned" and converted to a computer file using a scanner. Below is a list of points and tips in question-and-answer format, explaining more information about scanners and scanning.
* * *
QUESTION: What is a scanner?
ANSWER: A scanner is a piece of computer equipment that lets you "scan" pictures (similar to taking a photo of them) and store them in your computer as picture files.
QUESTION: But that sounds super expensive; is it?
ANSWER: Although some desktop, high-quality color scanners can be quite expensive, simple hand-held, grayscale (copies photos as black and white images) scanners can be quite inexpensive (US $80-100) in countries that don't have heavy taxes on electronic goods.
QUESTION: Does this mean you are recommending that we go out and provision or buy scanners in order to be able to scan our photos?
ANSWER: No, we are not necessarily suggesting that you do so. However, if you feel it would be a useful tool to have, it would be up to you and your Home to decide if you should get one -- or maybe your City Council could get the Homes in the city to come up with a hundred dollars for a "communal" scanner that all could benefit from. If you do buy a hand-held scanner, though, be careful! Although some hand-held scanners are cheap, some brands can be flimsy and easily malfunction. So be sure that you get a reliable brand (like Logitech, for example) and know the store that you bought it from. Be sure to get a guarantee, so you can have it serviced or replaced should it malfunction.
QUESTION: I don't know much about computers, so how do I use this information?
ANSWER: Well, you don't have to understand all of the fine points yourself; just find someone who does, and get him/her to help you.
QUESTION: I don't have a scanner. How do I scan my photographs?
ANSWER: You can take them to a service bureau or computer shop, and have your photos scanned there and save them onto a floppy disk. If you do this, you might want to request that they delete the original files once the copy is made, so that you do not leave the picture files of yourself or your Home members on the shop's computer.
Maybe you have a friend who has such a computer shop, or an office with a scanner that you could use, or provision the use of. Often print shops have scanners, so perhaps your printing contact has a scanner as well.
QUESTION: How big are picture files? Will they fit on a floppy disk?
ANSWER: Picture files are quite big. However if they are saved as "grayscale" pictures -- which is how they will appear in print anyway -- and if they are saved at the right size (i.e. 4" x 6", or the size of an actual printed photograph), with the right resolution (200 dpi or less), and then saved as JPEG (pronounced jay-peg) files, they compress quite small, and you can probably fit over 20 on one 3.5" double density disk. If the pictures are scanned at a shop, you can later adjust the resolution and save the files in JPEG format on your computer, if you know how and have the software to do so. But the easiest is probably to just ask the computer shop to save the pictures for you in JPEG format at 150-200 dpi resolution, so that you don't have to worry about having to fiddle with them at home yourself and you can just send the files to us as they are.
QUESTION: If I have a scanner, obviously I would have the program to go with it to scan the pictures, and adjust them, etc. However, if I don't have a scanner, but I still want to be able to look at the picture, and adjust the contrast or brightness at home before sending it off, what type of software do I need?
ANSWER: There are a number of widely available graphic editing programs which run under Windows 3.1/3.11 or Windows 95. The main features you want to look for in a program are: The ability to change the picture resolution and size, then save it as a JPEG. These are all standard features of most graphic editing programs. If the picture needs some further fine-tuning, we can always take care of it on our end if the scanned picture is relatively clear to begin with. The main thing you want to do is get that file size down. If you're getting them scanned at a shop, then ask them to scan it with a 150-200 dpi resolution, and save it as a JPEG file for you, and then you won't have to do anything more with it at home--save yourself time and possible headache!
* * *
Summary:
1. Take the picture.
2. Develop the picture.
3. Scan the picture and save it as a grayscale JPEG file at no higher than 200 dpi (dots per inch) resolution.
4. Send it to us via modem along with your testimony so that the pictures don't get separated from your testimony. If you are using e-mail, you can send it to our e-mail address; if not, send it through your CRO office, via your ABM, or send it along with your TRF.
JPEG files on computer vary in size depending on picture resolution and size. In many cases, if you are sending us a clear, close-up shot, 150 dpi resolution may be fine. However, in pictures with more detail, such as group shots with small faces, which may end up being blown up on our page, a higher resolution may be necessary. However, please do not send us any files over 200 dpi, as the file size becomes quite large and expensive to send via modem, and for all practical purposes it doesn't need to be higher than 200 dpi.
In most cases, if the picture is no wider or higher (depending on whether it is landscape [horizontal] or portrait [vertical]) than 12 centimeters, and it's saved with no higher than 150-200 dpi resolution, and depending on the amount of JPEG compression you specify (the higher the compression, the more picture quality you lose), the picture file should come to anywhere from 25-50K, which is generally a manageable size when it comes to sending via modem.
God bless you! We're sorry if this is all a bit technical and hard to follow. If you can't figure it out, that's fine--just send your pictures by mail, and we'll be just as happy to receive them! Or if you make a contact at a computer service bureau or shop, hopefully they can handle these technicalities for you so you don't have to worry about them and can just send us the files they provide you with. We really love you and are looking forward to receiving your pictures.
NOTE: In this LNF we are covering the subject of scanning and saving photos from the perspective of what can be sent in via modem. In the above question-and-answer points, as well as the summary, we've outlined how to send in photos to be used in DO pubs only. However, there is also a great need for high quality, high resolution, color pictures to be used for color activity brochures, book projects and for our WEB site as well as our Family archives.
We would like to request that if you have exceptionally good pictures which you think could be useful for the above-mentioned purposes, and if you are able to, please scan those pictures with the following settings:
full color (not grayscale)
300 DPI
Pictures in full color are much larger than grayscale pictures, (if saved in JPEG format they will probably come to about 100-200K) and for that reason it may not be practical for you to send these files via modem. If you are not able to send these larger files in via modem -- which will probably be the case in most situations -- we'd like to request that these files be put on floppy disk and sent via mail. Thanks! WLYSM!
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family