Web Gallery - Frequently Asked Questions

Below is a list of commonly asked questions about the TimeExposure's Web Gallery system. If you can't find the answer to your question here, please email - we will answer it and add it to the list!

TimeExposure's Web Gallery was designed to provide as much protection for a photographer's images as possible. This is how we manage it:

• Since all images are down sized before uploading, only low resolution images with a maximum size of 350x350 pixels are kept on the server and displayed. This is large enough for your clients to view the image but small enough to be of little use otherwise. Printing these at 250dpi would result in an print size of just 3.5 x 3.5cm (1.4 x 1.4 inches).

• All paths to the image location on the server are encrypted, so it is not possible to use utilities to download a copy of a client's images in bulk.

• Web Gallery prevents a visitor from easily saving the displayed image as a file on their disk.

• The Image Loader program allows you to automatically add a copyright stamp or watermark to all uploaded images.

For each uploaded image, the Image Loader program creates an 85x85 pixel thumbnail image and a 350x350 pixel "big" image. Any empty space in the big image is white filled.

Both these images are compressed to .jpg format prior to uploading giving a file size of about 4Kbyte for the thumbnail and 30-40 Kbytes for the big image.

This depends on the speed of your internet connection and how busy your ISP is at the time. With a good 56K modem connection, you can expect each image to take around 15 seconds to upload. This means that you can upload 100 images in about 30 minutes. Once you have started the upload, you can just leave it to finish by itself.

Faster internet connections will obviously be faster. An ADSL connection with a 128KB upload rate will reduce the upload time for 100 images to about 7 minutes.

The Image Loader keeps track of which files have been uploaded to the server. Simply reconnect to the internet and select "Upload Continue" from the Upload menu. The program will carry on from where it stopped.

The Image Loader uses Apple's QuickTime software to read the original images and to generate the .jpg file for uploading. Since QuickTime can understand most common formats, the Image Loader can do so also. At this stage, we have setup the Image Loader to accept .jpg, .tif and .psd (Photoshop) image files. This will be extended in the future as other formats become regularly used by photographers.

You can drop a mix of different file types into the Image Loader and it will automatically identify and convert them.

There is no limit to the size of the file that the Image loader can accept, subject to the available memory in your computer.

For best quality, it is recommended that your original images are at least twice as large as the final image images i.e. bigger than 700x700 pixels. The Image Loader will warn you if any images that it tries to convert are smaller than the output size.

No. The Image Loader software, just reads the original files and creates the web sized versions in a temporary folder on your hard disk. These temporary images are erased when they have been uploaded.

Yes. This is the best way to use TimeExposure's Web Gallery. Instructions how to setup the links can be found in the TimeExposure User Manual which you can get from the the downloads page.

Web Gallery supports up to six different index pages for each photographer so, if you wish, you can have different index pages for different types of jobs and/or portfolio categories. Since your web site can directly link to each index page, it is easy to display and offer a large collection of images in a structured fashion that you can maintain and update yourself. You can also give each index its own name and optionall cross-link each index pages on other index pages. This is covered in detail in the Web Gallery User Manual.

Yes. You can customzed your TimeExposure pages by providing your own custom graphics that will appear on the top of each page and by setting the text and shading colors to match those on your web site. How you do this is covered in detail in the Web Gallery User Manual. Some examples of customized pages can be seen here.

Alternatively, for a small fee, we can create the custom graphics and colours based on your web site for you (see Plans & Pricing for the cost of this service).

Clients and their images are automatically removed after the period that you specify. You can manually remove a client or extend their time by logging into the Member Admin Area on the TimeExposure web site, selecting that client and either deleting them or change the deletion date.

While your clients name will disappear from the album index page on the date that your nominate as the expiry date, they will not be erased from the the server for at least seven days after that. If you log into the member's admin area and your client's name is still included in the client list, you can simply change their expiry to a date in the future and they will re-appear in the album index page.

If they are not listed in the member's admin area client list then they have been deleted from the server and you will need to re-upload them again.

Yes. You can setup up to five different price lists and give each of them a name. When you enter your client information in the Image Loader, simply select the Price List applicable to that client.

You can log into the Member's Admin Area using your allocated account number and password. This area is used to control your account, setup your price lists, make changes to uploaded clients details and to collect details of any orders received.

You can also download the latest version of the Image Loader program and User Manual from within the Member's Admin Area

Once you have setup your account and price lists, you can create and upload new client Albums by using the Image Loader program.

You can log into the Member's Admin Area and change any of the information that you setup for the client in the Image Loader. This includes their name, password, price list, index page, expiry date etc.

If you have made a mistake with some of the images, you may have to re-upload them. Remember that you can re-upload just one group using the Upload Group command from the Upload Menu in the Image Loader program.

When you upload your images for a client, the following information is also saved to allow you to easily locate the each image ordered or selected:

• Client name
• Job Reference Number
• Job date (optional)
• Photographers' name (optional)
• Original file name
• The path on your computer to the original file (up two levels only)

This information is returned to you with each order or selection. Within the Member's Admin Area, you can also view the thumbnail of the ordered images (if the images are still on the server).

You can setup your prices in any currency that you want, though it is best to use your local currency so you can process orders through your regular credit card facility.

Web Gallery includes a currency convertor so your overseas clients can find out approximatelty what their order cost will be in their own currency.

Web Gallery requires Javascript 1.0 which has been in the major web browsers (Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator) since version 3.0.

To access password protected Client Albums, your clients need to have their browsers set to accept "Cookies".

On Internet Explorer for Windows, having the Security setting too high will disable javascript and having the Privacy setting too high will disable Cookies. Clients using this browser should use the Tools, Internet Options, Security Menu and adjust
the Internet Security level to MEDIUM and the Privacy Level to MEDIUM, then refresh the log-in page.

You certainly can, however, it is not recommended unless you know that your client (and their friends and family) have a broadband internet connection.

While the images that you upload to TimeExposure have already been optimized in size for web viewing they will still take 10-15 seconds each to download on a standard 56K dialup connection. A 700 image portfolio would require approximately 3.5 hours of download waiting time (not including viewing time) for people using a such a connection.

Since the majority of people do not have broadband connections, most photographers choose to upload between 150-200 images for a wedding usually comprising of the images from the album and some from the reception.

The Web Gallery Quick Start Guide will give you all the basics in four pages and can be downloaded from the Downloads Page.

You can also use our On-line Tutorials to quickly learn how to use the system.

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