F.A.Q.

Frequently Asked Questions for Picture Packages version 5.0.0

If you do not see your question answered here please call:

1-800-974-8323

Please be sure you are using
Picture Packages version 6.0.0

Please note that Picture Packages orders are kept in the lab for 48 hours. For instance, if your order is received Monday morning it would be due to ship out Wednesday afternoon (if it is just straight prints). An order uploaded after 5pm on Monday would be counted as uploaded on Tuesday, and would thus be due out on Thursday.
 

The following services add 1 additional day each:

How Do I configure my firewalls to work with PicturePackages or Proof and Reprint?

1. What is PicturePackages.com? It’s a free program for professional photographers designed to make the ordering of packages from digital camera files quick, easy and inexpensive. The program is a creation of Capitol Filmworks Inc. a national, family owned professional lab started in 1973.

2. What do I need to know to use PicturePackages.com? Well first of all you need have basic computer skills and be familiar with the Windows operating system. You need to understand files, directories, and how to download your images from your digital camera. The program itself is designed to be, as the logo states, “As Easy as ABC”. The best way to learn the program is to load it and follow the step-by-step prompts.

3. Is there a minimum order charge? Yes, $25.

4. What Windows versions are supported? Windows 2000, Windows XP Home and Windows XP Professional are supported. Windows ME and Windows 98 is NOT  supported.

5. How can I name my files?  You can name your files using any combination of alphanumeric characters as long as you do not use any illegal windows characters in the file name.

(~ ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) -} { [ ]+ = / \ |)

 It is usually best to keep names short. The default order screen will display 12 characters plus the 3-character extension under the images. If the above characters are used in your file names the illegal characters will be removed from your file names. Longer names will appear, when the image is selected, under the menu bar regardless of length, but this is a bit of a pain. Setting your camera to continuous number files is smart because you will avoid the problem of two files ever having the same name. Each file must obviously have a unique name or number. 

6. Can I order individual pictures?  Yes and no. PicturePackages.com is designed for ordering packages. A package can consist of a single unit (i.e. 1- 8x10), a half unit (i.e. 2 4x5’s) or a combination of any number of half and whole units. A whole unit is a single 8x10 or 7x10 sheet regardless of the number of pictures on the sheet. Likewise a half unit is ½ of a whole unit regardless of the number of pictures on a sheet. 2 5x7’s is a whole unit while a single 5x7 is a half unit. You cannot order a single 4x5 because a full unit of 4x5 would be 4 and a half unit would be 2 4x5’s. All products in the program, which are available for selection, are large, whole, half units or specialty products.

7. Do I need to color correct my images? No. We color correct your images as part of our service. The most important thing you must do is send us a file that has been exposed correctly. All your exposures within an order need to be relatively consistent in color and density. Our staff has great experience in fine-tuning customer files to make a high quality print.

8. What if my exposures are a mess, will you still print my order? Our goal is to help you provide us with acceptable images, which we can turn into a quality product. If we have a problem with your order we will do our best to contact you via email and ask for print regardless permission. Part of our service is to tweak your images but we cannot custom correct files that are out of reasonable tolerances.

9. What color profile should I apply to my files? We need an SRGB file which can be produced my most of the current models of digital cameras.

10. How big a file do we need? Our experience tells us for 8x10 units a file of approximately 5 Mb when open is fine. If you compress a 5 Mb file to a level 10 .jpg file of approximately 500kb your fine. Anything bigger is overkill. Bigger files don’t translate into better images after the printer output resolution of 300DPI is exceeded.

11. Can I save my package definitions so I won’t have to redefine them for the next job?  You bet. First define your packages. On the define packages screen under the Package Definitions Functions window click on the “Save” button and give them a name. The next time you need these definitions go to this section and click on the “Recall” button then click on the name you saved your definitions under and you have recalled your package definitions.

12. How is payment handled? PicturePackages.com is a credit card only service.

13. Is it safe to send my credit card info with my order? Yes, the data file with your card info and number is encrypted and can only be read at our location.

14. What happens to my registration data?   Your information is used exclusively by our company to facilitate the completion of your order. No information is ever exchanged or sold.

15. Why do I have to register my software if it’s free? We need you to register so we can assign you a unique customer code and password. This information is used to allow you to log onto our FTP site and to handle your orders internally if you submit the order by CD.

16. If I have a standard modem can I send you an order via FTP? No. You need to have a DSL, TI or cable modem to send files electronically. Regular dial up modems are just too slow. If you don’t have a high-speed service simply write your order to CD.

17. Where do I send my CD orders?                                PicturePackages.com

                909 Forest Ave.

                                                                                              Montgomery AL 36106

18. What if I have a problem with automatically uploading orders? Please give us a call, we have a work around. 1-800-974-8323.

19. What type of work is PicturePackages.com designed for? Proms, sports shoots, underclass pictures, dance studios and any other events that are generally shot under similar lighting and exposure conditions. Weddings and Seniors are not suitable subjects for this program because they require additional color and density corrections and retouch services outside the scope of this service. We do handle such orders through our parent company, Capitol Filmworks Inc.

20. Does PicturePackages.com work with film orders? No, the program is designed for images that originate from digital cameras.

21. Is there a Mac version of PicturePackages.com?  No. The program is only designed to run on the Windows operating system.

22. How do I need to organize my files before I import them?  All files for your event should be in a single directory with no sub directories.  For instance you if you have 43 images, which you shot at the Lanier High School prom, you could place all 43 images in a new folder named LHSPROM.

23. Can I add on units to images after I have defined my packages? Yes, simply click on the image and go to the Add Units block on the order screen, make your selection from the pull down list, choose the quantity and color of the add-on unit and click on the Add button. The unit is added to the print list for the selected image(s).

24. Can I request Sepia or Black and White units within a package? Yes. On the define packages screen select the package which contains the unit you wish to be either Sepia or Black and White, highlight that unit and select Sepia or Black and White. The default for all units is Color.

25. How do I add more than one of the same units to a package? On the define packages screen in the Package Window select the package which contains the unit you wish change the quantity on, highlight the unit and change the quantity. The default is 1. You could also simply select the unit multiple times from the unit selection list, but changing the quantity is probably easier.

26. Can I check the status of FTP orders on the FTP site? Yes go to www.totalimage.com and click on "Professional Entrance", then click on the green button with "Click Here for Order Status" underneath it. Type in your Customer Code and Password and browse through your open and invoiced orders. An order only shows up in the "Invoiced" catagory if they have been scanned by shipping, which means it has been boxed up to ship.

27. Can I cancel an order after it has been sent via FTP? You can if you communicate with us before we have begun processing the order. In most cases orders are placed in the Queue in a very short time frame so it’s important you make sure that your order is correct before sending it.

28. How do I need to shoot/crop my images? It’s important that you shoot your images center cropped. Remember that most packages contain a mixture of units which use both 8x10 and 5x7 cropping ratios. If you center crop your image top to bottom and left to right to produce an 8x10 ratio, most 5x7 crop sizes will be fine. Most Digital cameras shoot images in the same ratio of a 35mm negative (2 to3) so you should frame subjects the same way you would frame a 35mm negative to produce an 8x10 without cropping any of the desired subject out of the frame.

29. Do you have templates available? Yes you'll find a vast assortment of templates based on different themes such as: Baseball, Karate, Dance, Volleyball.

30. What if I send an order twice via FTP? Well, the last order wins and overwrites the previous file with the same name. If the first order is already in progress both orders will be printed. If you make a mistake on an order contact us immediately, and we will do our best to help you.

31. What are the shipping charges for my order? We charge a $3.50 packing fee per order plus the actual freight charges. UPS ground is the most inexpensive method and UPS Next Day Saver (if available in your area) is the best expedited shipping service because we have negotiated a large discount with the carrier. Please note that if you want to change how an order is shipped, you must change the info in the studio/billing section of the program before submitting the order.

32. Can you special pack my order? Yes we have a number of packing choices that are available for reasonable cost. Please call us with you needs and pricing.

33. Can you die cut my Wallet units? Yes. Simply select “8-Die Cut Wallets” from the product list instead of “8-Wallets” You cannot order ½ wallet units for die cutting.

34. What type of files can be imported into PicturePackages.com? You can import 8 bits per pixel .tif or .jpg files. LWZ compression is not supported. When saving files using Photoshop 6.0 or greater and you wish to save your files as .jpg images please choose a level 9 jpg standard baseline ( Not Progressive).

35. What Special Products are available?  We will be adding products as the demand for them becomes apparent. Please e-mail us your ideas.
    Currently we have:

                        8 Trader Cards                                     $4.25

                        Magazine Cover                                   $1.25

                        Memory Mate                                      $1.75

                        Pro Team                                             $1.75

                        Calendar                                              $4.75

                        Photo Button                                        $1.55

                        Keychain, 1 sided                                 $2.25

                        Keychain, 2 sided                                 $3.00

                        Photo Magnet                                       $3.05

                        Mouse Pad                                           $6.75

                        T-Shirt                                                 $8.00

                        Mug                                                     $5.00

                        Photo Button Magnet                            $2.05

                        Overlay                                                $25.00

                        Canvas Tote Bag                                  $9.35

36. What are the minimum computer requirements for the program? The more ram and processor speed the better. This is a fast program but if you are in the image business you need some horsepower.  A machine with 128 Ram, a 20 gig hard drive and a PIII 500 GHz processor will work fine but faster and bigger is always better. This program flies on a P4 1.6 GHz machine with 384 Ram. A 1024x768 monitor is a minimum requirement to view the program full screen. Lesser resolution monitors are not supported.

37. Can I enlarge an image on the order screen?  Yes. Double-click on the image on the order screen or you can also double click on the image in the Ordered Items box at the bottom of the order screen.

38. Can I color correct or change the density of images once I have imported them into PicturePackages.com? No. If your images need work you should do this using third party software before you import the images. Remember that we are going to tweak your images before printing so they don’t have to be perfect, just close.

39. How many bits per pixels images should we supply? 8 bits per pixel. Most cameras generate this type of file or the extraction software will allow you to create this file on download so it should not be a problem unless for some reason you adjust an image in third party software and change the specs when you save it. 8 bits is seriously good enough for package work and all but the largest print sizes. (Translate “Billboard”).

40. Can I change the number of images that can be viewed on the order screen? Yes. Go to the menu bar at the top of the order screen, select “Preferences”, then “Thumbnail Size Preferences” and make your selection from the list. There is also a small weird looking icon right below the menu bar on the right hand side which will do the same thing.

41. When I click on “Select All” on the order screen does the program only select those images on the screen? No, it selects every image in the order regardless of whether it appears on the screen.

42. What if my image name is too long to appear under the image on the order screen? You can go “View Advanced Thumbnail Setting” under “Preferences”, “Thumbnail Size Preferences” on the task bar and adjust the size of the thumbnail box. The best thing to do is not to use extremely long image names.

43. How many images can I place in one order?  3 Million. Just kidding. The only real limit is the number of images you can place on a CD, but practically speaking, orders with hundreds of images become unmanageable quickly. Our suggestion is that you break up large events into manageable divisions of say no more than 200 images. You can divide them by class, or group or team or whatever makes logical sense and submit them as separate orders.

44. My hard drive is filling up, how can I delete orders which I have already submitted and clear some space? First, after you have imported your images into PicturePackages.com you can delete your source images if they are on your hard drive (assuming you will not need them again to create a new order). All images you import into the program are stored in C:\ProgramFiles\PicturePackages\PicPkgImages in a sub directory with your order name. You will also find a .zip file, which contains the images you ordered from and the order file which is created when you submit an order or write it to CD. If you are certain that you no longer need the order then you can delete both the .zip file and the subdirectory with the same name. If you want to keep the images, and the order - just in case - save the images subdirectory. The order file is saved in the directory along with your images. Version 3.0 will have a file manager to make this process easier.

45. How do I reload a job that I backed up? You will need to drag the order sub-directory back into the following directory:

C:\Program Files\PicturePackages\PicPkgImages

46. Are my files renamed when they are imported? Yes and no. Each file keeps its original name but is preceded by your unique 6-digit customer code, order sequence #, and an underscore. Say your file was named BobbyBright.jpg, and your customer code is “tonyst”, and this is the 4^th order you have created using PicturePackages.com; the imported file name would be   “tonyst4_ BobbyBright.jpg”.

47. In what order are my files imported into the program? The same order they appear in the directory before you imported them.

48. How is my order number generated and can I change the starting number sequence?  When you install and register the program the first order you create is named with your 6 character customer code and the sequence # 1, the next order is # 2 etc.

Example:        tonyst1

                        tonyst2

 This assures that you don’t create duplicate order #’s. If you want to use PicturePackages.com on more than one computer you can change the beginning order sequence number in a new install easily. Say your 1^st install is OK starting with 0001 but if you install on a second machine it by default will also start at 0001 leaving the sure possibility that you would have duplicate order numbers. On your second machine go to “Step1” Find Your Images and at the top of the screen click on “File” and select a new starting order number from the pull down list. If you pick 1000 your first order on your second machine will be 1000. Now no orders that you generate will have duplicate numbers until your first machine reaches 1000. When this happens call us and we will send you a nice gift, a very nice gift.   

  Picture Packages

909 Forest Ave.
Montgomery Alabama, 36106

1-800-974-8323