Preparing Digital Slides

Examples

The two images below show what the combined images should look like depending on the aspect ratio of your images. If the height is greater than 800 pixels when the width is set to 1280 pixels, it will look like the portrait example. If width greater than 1280 pixels when the height is set to 800 pixels, it will look like the landscape example.

Portrait Example (if height is the limiting dimension)

Landscape Example (if width is the limiting dimension)

Procedure

The following procedure is the easiest way to prepare your images for projection with the club's twin DLP projectors.

1. Place your images side-by-side in one file using a program that will allow you to use layers to make sure that the images are place so that the left image is on the left and the right image is on the right. The images must be same number of pixels in height and width.
2. Do any sharpening or other operation to prepare the reduced resolution image for viewing. In addition, if your image width is not an even number, it is best to find some way to make it so, either by doing a width-only resize operation or by cropping out one column of pixels to make the left and right images the same size.
3. Flatten the layers into one image, and resize it so that it is 800 pixels high. If your resulting composite image is greater than 2560 pixels wide (1280 X 2), then resize it to be 2560 pixels wide, and continue with step four. Otherwise, skip to step 5.
4. For wide, short images, after your resize operation, do any sharpening or other adjustments you like, and then place your composite image on a black background sized to 2560W X 800H. This operation is to avoid confusing the projectors into thinking we are projecting a different aspect ratio image.
5. Rename the resulting image as described under naming digital slides, below. Save your image as a JPEG with RGB color space.

Download sizing template

Here is an image that is the correct size for your entries. Download it, and align your image in a vertical direction as shown in the example above.

2560by800pixelexample.jpg (32kb)

Naming Digital Slides

Properly naming your digital slides before submission ensures that they will be projected in the correct group in the right order.

The File naming tool in the right column of this page automates the naming process. Here are details about the naming convention.

The first character of the file name reflects where the image belongs: A for A group, B for B group, and S for special competitions. The second character of the file name reflects the number of the entry: 1 through 4. The third character in the file name is the letter of your last name that corresponds with the month that the competition is held. January would be the first letter, February is the second letter and so on. If your last name is shorter than 12 characters, just wrap around to the first letter after using the last. Thus, Mr. Smith's letter in June would be "S", July would be "M", and so on. The remaining characters in the file name would be the title of the image.

Submitting Digital Slides

Email your processed and named digital slides to John Ballou, the Oakland Camera Club's esteemed projectionist. Please submit your digital slides at least two days before the meeting.

File Naming Tool

Automatically generates a file name for your digital projection entries that follows the club's naming convention.

Last name

Photo title

Group Choose One Group A Group B Special Competition

Entry number 1 2 3 4