Photograph upload problems and cures

Every so often, we'll receive an enquiry from a customer who is trying to personalise their photo gift online, but their photograph or image isn't uploading.

We've provided a quick run down of the most common causes and ways you can use to get around the problem. We'll refer to photographs or images as files:

File name.
Sometimes, a file's name is the problem. e.g: my photo 120109 .jpg
The problem here is probably spaces in the file name. Just occasionally, a computer doesn't like spaces when it comes to file transfer over the internet.
Solution - rename the file - do a 'save as' and save it on your desktop with a filename of jigsaw.jpg - we don't record the file name so its of little relevancy for your order.

If you must use spaces, then use an _ (underscore instead of a space) e.g: my_photo_120109_.jpg

Other file name problems can include non-conforming characters e.g an @ symbol in the file name. Treatment as above.

File size.
We state we can accept file sizes of up to 10Mb but that doesn't mean your internet service providor will allow you to transfer files that large.
The solution is to either crop your file to the size its being reproduced or to reduce the DPI in steps of 10dpi down from a starting point of 300dpi until it falls below the 10Mb file size.

Connection timeout.
It's possible that if you're uploading a particularly large file, that your internet connection is timing out before the upload is complete. Try again or contact us for further advice as it may be possible to receive your file by email or even via the post.

File extension.
We can only receive uploaded files of a jpeg file type (or extension - the bit after the dot of a file name e.g myphoto.jpg). The online upload facility won't work with pdf, photoshop or publisher file extensions. Either re-save your file as a .jpg or contact us for more help.

Ordering from Fabulous Photo Gifts online is really easy and fuss free, and for 99% of our customers really is straightforward, but if you do have difficulties getting your photo to upload, then the above should help. Remember you can always contact us for advice.

When you are personalising an item in your basket, when you click on upload, you'll know when your upload has been successful because the product picture to the left of the gift you were personalising will change to a small picture of your uploaded photo and a small 'upload successful' message will appear in the very top LH corner of your screen.

You'll find more answers to the most common questions we're asked on our website by clicking here.

Problems getting your image to upload - try these tips

Problems getting your image to upload?

Well I'm writing this post not because we get a lot of failed photo uploads or a lot of customers querying that their image didn't upload, but very occasionally we do get a phone call from a customer that's been pulling their hair out before calling us. Hopefully these few tips and tricks may help you (and save your hair).

(They're also good web / file husbandry as well).

When an image won't upload try:

1) Opening your image and re-saving it. Sometimes, that's all it takes. Perhaps a file corrupted or the path to it was faulty.

2) Check for upper case letters in your file name. It's good practice to save all files in lower case (little letters).

3) Check for spaces in your file name. Again, it's good practice to not use spaces in your file names e.g my dog.jpg. Instead use my_dog.jpg - use the underscore (usually shift+ the 'dash' button - next to the +/= button).

4) If you work in other file extensions, particularly those that support layers (like photoshop files .psd), even though you saved your image as a .jpg at maximum quality, sometimes, the layers still get saved so it isn't a true flat image .jpg. Try flattening your photoshop file first and then save as .jpg. This should solve the problem.

Just a few tips there that might get you out of trouble and not just when you're ordering a Fabulous Photo Gift. Spaces in file names or a mixture of upper case and lower case characters are not best practice. In our experience, file corruption on your hard drive is rarely an issue and would need a lot of bad segments for it to become a real problem.

Also check your remote/back up discs or hard drives are not suffering from poor storage or constant copying and moving of files. Disk defragment is a clever and useful utility on windows' computers for solving such issues.
Jonathan - Fabulous Photo Gifts.

Image upload FAQ's from Fabulous Photo Gifts

Q) My photograph won't upload.

On very rare occasions, customers may experience difficulty in personalising the gifts in their shopping basket on Fabulous Photo Gifts. If your upload isn't working, try our handy tips below or just contact us for help and advice.

From our experience of those customers, we've put together the following tips to help make your image upload successful.

When personalising your gift during the checkout process at Fabulous Photo Gifts, when your image upload is successful, you'll see a little confirmation “Upload Successful” in the top left hand of your screen, the product picture will change to a small version of your own photo and the status will change from personalise (in purple) to personalised (in green). If you've personalised all the items in your basket, you'll then be shown the checkout button so you can enter your card details and complete your order.

If you don't see the confirmation message, change of product image etc or you get an “upload failed” message, then it's usually due to one of the following 4 reasons:-

Your Internet connection speed may mean a large file takes a long time to upload. Have patience.

Your connection to our image server 'times out' before the upload has completed. A slow connection speed in conjunction with a large image file may cause this – try again or try making your file size smaller.

Your image file is too big. We can accept file sizes up to 10Mb, however, many Internet Service Providers may cap your outgoing file upload size to smaller sizes than this. Try resizing your image.

The most common reason for a failed upload is when your file name has corrupted. This usually happens when a file name has a space or non-conforming character (e.g a slash /) in it. We usually recommend opening your image and SAVING AS giving your file a title like jigsaw1 and saving as a .jpg format. This usually resolves most uploading issues. Don't worry about the file name – we don't receive the file name so it won't affect how your order is processed. Our uploading program assigns its own 10 digit unique number to each image.

If you still struggle to get your image upload to go through, we can try one of two things.

Either email us your intended image and we'll email back a small thumbnail of the image that you can then use to process your order and payment. We'll tie up the original image visually from the small upload and process as normal.

Alternatively, print off our postal order form and send your order, together with your print or CD to us for prompt attention. If you're intending to scan your own photo and then send it, make sure you scan at 300dpi and check your scan at full print size. You'd be amazed how often 'home scans' show dust and other marks on the image that we cannot remove.

We offer a free scanning service using the latest scanning equipment and software and would rather scan your photograph for you then receive a poor quality scan we can do little to adjust. (Maximum scanning size is A4)

We suggest if you are sending prints or CD's that you send them by recorded delivery as Fabulous Photo Gifts cannot be responsible for any lost or damaged material until it's in our signed for possession. We return all photographs and CD (if required) by recorded delivery. (We charge a £1 extra for this postal service but this just goes towards covering your return recorded delivery cost. If you do not require your print or CD returning, just omit the £1 extra postage cost).

Make sure your photograph is packaged well in stiff backed envelope or similar to avoid damage.

Please don't be tempted to print off your own copy from a scan – very often we receive 2nd generation prints printed on normal paper (not photo glossy etc) and this again will affect the overall quality of your finished photo gift.

If you are having difficulties getting your image to upload, or you require any other information or help, please do not hesitate to contact us, either by email: enquiry@fabulousphotogifts.co.uk or by telephone: 0845 003 4118.

We're friendly, knowledgeable and have many years experience in image manipulation and digital photography. We want your photo gift to exceed your expectations to the point where we always try to remove any red-eye or other obvious blemishes, tonal corrections, contrast and colour etc as part of the service.

Q) Another question we're often asked is “How can I check the file size of my photograph?”.

This is a bit easier. Navigate to the folder where your digital photo file is stored. Then right click on the photograph file itself and select properties. This will tell you how many Kb or Mb your file size is. Remember, there's a 1000 Kb's to 1 Mb.

You can check out more frequently asked questions – real questions from real customers – on our helpful FAQ's page. Click here to visit it.

You'll also find helpful product specifications including printable area etc on our product specifications page.

We're shortly be adding a whole new range of photo gifts including mugs, mousemats, coasters, tea trays, chopping boards etc and we'll be updating the specification page with these new products also.