Do you have to flatten layouts?
 

I haven't been. Do I need to?

Thanks!
Nancy

They're super huge if you don't.

It depends on how you store and what you do with your layouts.

In order to upload them to galleries, you should flatten the layout, size appropriately and save that copy for a webversion that can be deleted once you've uploaded it. If you print, you should also flatten it, make appropriate adjustments in size and sharpness, and save that until you've printed.

If you're talking about just storage of the layout, itself, I save the layered version until it's printed, then delete, but I always save a high resolution flattened version of the full-sized layout to store in case I need it in the future.

Is this what you meant?

Yes, that's exactly what I was wondering about. I've been making photo books, but I have not flattened anything yet. I guess I need to start. I don't upload to any galleries.

Thanks!

don't replace your layered files...just save a flattened one to upload to your photobook site - it'll probably help the upload go much more quickly!

I don't mess with my layered files. :p Faster would be better! Thank you!

I keep all my scrapbooking files on a 500 GB external drive. I flatten and save a high res copy for printing and a low res copy for gallery upload, BUT I also save the layered file. Believe it or not, I've gone back to the layered files months after I've finished layouts, usually because I notice a typo that I failed to see when I printed the layout. Even with saving all these copies, I only have 95 GB used on my drive. That includes all my layouts (layered, high res flattened, low res flattened) as well as all my supplies. And we're talking thousands and thousands of files because I started scrapping digi four years ago! So, if you have a large drive, saving the layered files couldn't hurt, because you never know when you just might need to make a change. :D

I uploaded my layouts to my son's blog and they look fuzzy. I didn't do it correctly apparently.

When you saved a low res file to upload, how did you do it? Oh, and which software are you using?

So glad this question was asked!! I need to get more of a process to my scrapbooking, and that includes what to keep and where!! Thanks 'iteach3rdgrade'!!!

I saved them as jpg and uploaded to flickr. That's it. :blink: I noticed it one other time and I thought I just over-sharpened it.

What do I need to do when I go to save to web? I'm using PCS3.

On my classroom web page I realized I needed to save to web, so pictures would load on the screen more quickly.

Here's a link to a post by Jessica Sprague. It has screenshots and she uses CS3 I believe.
http://spraguelab.squarespace.com/bl...r-the-web.html

It's a little different since she updated it. I do the following:
Flatten
Sharpen
Image Size 600x600
Save for Web
Optimize to 150kb or smaller (for the galleries - I don't optimize it if it's not going into a gallery with a size limit).

I don't change my resolution because save for web does that automatically.

Rather than using the Photoshop save to web feature, which gives you little control, resize your images manually. Since I save my layered PSD file, I make two duplicate copies so that I'm not working with the original. I flatten and save one of the copies as a JPG file without changing the size or DPI. This is my hi res image for printing. The other copy gets flattened, then I change the size. Go to Image>Image Size. When the window opens, under Document Size change the resolution from 300 to 72. At the top where it says Pixel Dimensions, make it around 600 x 600. Then save it as a JPG. You can adjust the quality using the slider that comes up. Lower quality will mean a lower file size, but it will also not be as clear. If you can keep the file size around 200 or 250 kb it will upload quickly and should still be a high enough quality to look great on screen. :) If you are uploading to galleries, check their file size limits and adjust accordingly. For example, SSD has a limit of 150 kb. That usually means my quality slider ends up somewhere in the medium range.