Epson STORYTELLER Creating a Photo Book

Creating a Photo Book

Copyright Notice

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Epson America, Inc.

Trademarks

Epson and Epson Stylus are registered trademarks of Seiko Epson Corporation.

Epson StoryTeller is a trademark, and Epson Store is a service mark of Epson America, Inc.

General Notice: Other product names used herein are for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners. Epson disclaims any and all rights in those marks.

Welcome! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Your StoryTeller Kit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Installing the Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Start Your Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Starting StoryTeller Publisher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Selecting Your Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Fixing Your Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Saving Your Photo Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Create Your Photo Book Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Adding Photos to Your Page Layouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Making Changes to Your Page Layouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Replacing One Photo with Another . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Resizing, Repositioning, or Rotating a Photo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Adding, Deleting, and Locking Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Adding Captions to Your Page Layouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Saving Your Photo Book to Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Print Your Photo Book Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Printing a Draft of Your Photo Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Printing Your Final Photo Book Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Epson Printers: Printing Your Final Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

HP Printers: Printing Your Final Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Canon, Lexmark, or Other Printers: Printing Your Final Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Create Your Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Adding Photos to the Front and Back Covers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Adding Photos and Text to the Flaps and Spine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Saving Your Cover Pages to Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

E-Mailing Your Front Cover Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Print Your Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Printing a Reduced Size Color Draft of Your Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Printing Your Final Cover Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Epson Printers: Printing the Final Cover Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

HP Printers: Printing Your Final Cover Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Canon, Lexmark, and Other Printers: Printing Your Final Cover Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

4 Contents

Assemble Your Photo Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Attaching Pages to the Photo Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Attaching the Cover to Your Photo Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

If You Printed a Full-Length Cover Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

If You Printed Two 8 × 10-Inch or 5 × 7-Inch Cover Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Problems? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Uninstalling the StoryTeller Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Where To Get Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Contents 5

Welcome!

Ever wonder what to do with all those photos you took with your digital camera? Instead of storing them on your computer or on a CD-ROM, you can create a personalized photo book that captures the family vacation, graduation day, or a child’s birthday. And photo books make a great gift for everyone, for any occasion.

The Epson StoryTeller™ kit includes everything you need to make your own photo book. It comes with a hardbound book, special glossy photo paper, panoramic sheets for your cover, and easy-to-use software. You can choose from six different book styles (themes), each with up to 20 pre-designed page layouts that make arranging your photos a breeze. And you can add your own captions and titles to make sure your photos tell your story.

This guide walks you through selecting and enhancing your photos, building and printing your photo book, and creating and printing a cover page. Finally, it shows you how to put your book together.

System Requirements

To use the StoryTeller Publisher software, your system should have:

● Microsoft Windows

● Pentium

● At least 2.3GB available hard disk space

● 256MB RAM (512MB RAM recommended)

● 16-bit color display, 800 × 600 pixels (higher resolution recommended)

III processor, 750 MHz or faster (Pentium IV processor, 1.3 GHz or faster recommended)

98SE, Me, 2000, or XP operating system

Your StoryTeller Kit

Check your StoryTeller kit to make sure it includes the following:

Hardbound book Glossy photo paper Two long cover sheets

Clear plastic cover

CD-ROMAdhesive strips

Your StoryTeller Kit 7

Installing the Software

Follow these steps to install the StoryTeller Publisher software:

1 Insert the StoryTeller CD-ROM in your drive. You see the following screen:

Note: If the screen doesn’t appear, click Start > My Computer (Windows XP) or double-click the My Computer icon on your desktop (other Windows systems). Then double-click the

2 Click Install and follow the on-screen directions to install the software.

Note: Installation may take several minutes. Don’t cancel the installation or start other programs.

Epson icon.

8 Welcome!

3 If you see a message asking if you want to restart your computer, click Restart Later.

4 When installation is complete, click Finish.

5 When you see the product registration screen, register your software as instructed. When you’re done, close

your browser.

6 Remove the CD-ROM and restart your computer.

Now you’re ready to begin creating your book. Go to “Start Your Book” on page 10.

Installing the Software 9

Start Your Book

This chapter explains how to start the StoryTeller Publisher software, choose your book format, and select the photos you want to include in your photo book.

Starting StoryTeller Publisher

Follow these steps to start StoryTeller Publisher and choose your book style:

1 Double-click the EPSON StoryTeller Publisher icon on your desktop. You see this screen:

2 Click Get Started. You see this screen:

3 Select your photo book by size and page count. Then

click OK.

For example, if you have an 8 × 10-inch photo book that is 10 pages long, select the middle icon.

Selecting Your Photos

StoryTeller lets you browse the computer for your photos and view them in a preview area before you select them.

1 Use the minibrowser on the left to locate your photos on your computer:

Use the minibrowser to locate your photos

Selecting Your Photos 11

2 Double-click the folder where your photos are located. Thumbnails of your photos appear in the preview area

on the right.

Use this slider to enlarge selected photos; move it all the way to the right to view one photo at a time

Thumbnails appear in the preview area

Click this tab to enlarge the preview area; click it again to view the minibrowser

12 Start Your Book

3 To select a photo, double-click its thumbnail or drag the thumbnail from the preview area to the photo bin at

the bottom of the screen. (A red border appears around selected thumbnails.)

If you want to select several photos, do one of the following:

● Hold down the Shift key and click the first thumbnail in the group, then click the last thumbnail. Then drag

the entire group to the photo bin.

● Drag your mouse over the images you want to select, then drag all the selected images to the photo bin.

● To select images out of order, hold down the Ctrl key as you click the images you want, then drag the

selected images to the photo bin.

Drag and drop your photos to the photo bin

Photo bin

Selecting Your Photos 13

4 If you decide you don’t want to use a photo, select its thumbnail in the photo bin and click the Remove

icon.

To remove a series of photos from the photo bin, select the first thumbnail in the series. Hold down the Shift key and select the last thumbnail in the series. Then click the Remove icon.

Tip: You can also drag your mouse over several images to select them, or hold down the Ctrl key to select several images out of order. After you’ve selected the images, click the

To remove all photos from the photo bin, click the Remove All icon.

Remove icon.

To remove a photo from the photo bin, select it and click here

14 Start Your Book

5 Optionally, you can rearrange the thumbnails in the photo bin in the order you want them to appear in your

photo book. Just drag and drop each thumbnail to its new place in the line-up.

Note: A blue bar appears to indicate where the thumbnail will be placed.

Selecting Your Photos 15

Fixing Your Photos

You can fix red eye in your photos, apply special color effects like a sepia tone, sharpen the image, or enhance brightness and contrast. Any modifications immediately appear in the preview image on the right side of the screen.

1 Click the Fix Pictures tab. The photo selected in the photo bin appears in the preview area.

Enhance brightness and contrast automatically

Or use these controls to change these settings manually

Your first photo appears in the preview area

2 To automatically enhance the photo’s brightness and contrast, click the Auto Enhance button.

To change these values manually, select a new setting in the Brightness or Contrast controls:

16 Start Your Book

3 To automatically fix red eye, click Fix Red Eye.

4 To sharpen the image, click Sharpen. Then select a new setting in the Sharpen control.

5 To add a special color effect, click Color Effects. Then select one of the color effects

settings.

6 To rotate the image 90° to the right or left, click one of the rotation icons at the top of the screen.

7 If you change your mind about any of the changes you made, click the undo icon at the top of the screen.

Click the redo icon if you change your mind again!

Now you’re ready to add photos to your photo book. Continue with the instructions in “Create Your Photo Book Pages” on page 18, or go to the next section to save your photo changes.

Saving Your Photo Changes

Once you’ve fixed a photo, you can save it to your computer or a disk and use it at a later date. Just click the icon at the top of the screen. When you see the Save As dialog box, navigate to the location where you want to save it and click Save.

Saving Your Photo Changes 17

Create Your Photo Book Pages

You can add your own distinctive touch by arranging the photos yourself in StoryTeller’s pre-designed layouts. If you want to change the way your page looks, you can replace the photos, switch them, or reposition them to better fit their frames. If you don’t like a particular page layout, you can replace it with a different one.

Tip: The official Epson StoryTeller Internet site has more information about StoryTeller, including special offers and links to troubleshooting information and the Epson Store , where you can buy additional StoryTeller paper. To go directly to the website, click the

Create Book tab, then click the icon to the right of the Book Style menu.

Adding Photos to Your Page Layouts

1 Click the Create Book tab.

2 Click Customize Book.

Click Customize Book

3 Select your Book Style in the drop-down menu. The page layouts associated with this Book Style appear in the

Page Layout section. You’ll also see page layouts in the preview area.

Select your Book Style here

Layouts for your Book Style appear here

Click here to switch to single page view in the preview area

Preview area shows page layouts as they will appear in your book

Tip: If you want to view the page layouts in the preview area one at a time, click the icon in the upper right corner. To return to viewing several page layouts at a time, click the icon.

Adding Photos to Your Page Layouts 19

4 Drag the page layouts you want to use from the Page Layout area over each of the 10 or 20 pages in the

preview area. Use the slider on the right of the preview area to move through all the pages in your book, and the slider on the right of the Page Layout area to move through all the available layouts for your Book Style.

Tip: You can mix page layouts from different Book Styles. Once you’ve selected all the page layouts you want from one Book Style, select a new Book Style in the drop-down menu. A new set of page layouts appears in the Page Layout area. You can choose layouts from as many Book Styles as you want.

Drag the page layout you want over one of the layouts in the preview area

Use this slider to scroll through page layouts

Use this slider to scroll through all the page layouts in your book

20 Create Your Photo Book Pages

5 Drag your photos one at a time from the photo bin to their places on each page.

A checkmark appears on the image in the photo bin to indicate it has been used. Images can be used multiple times.

Note: To automatically fill your page layouts with photos, click Auto Book at the top of the screen, then click the Auto Book button at the bottom of the screen. StoryTeller places photos in the order they appear in the photo bin.

6 Use the slider on the right side of the screen to move to the next page layouts and drag photos from the photo

bins onto these pages. Repeat this step until you’ve filled all the pages in your book.

Adding Photos to Your Page Layouts 21

Making Changes to Your Page Layouts

You can replace one photo on a page layout with another, resize or reposition a photo in its frame, or add or delete page layouts. You can even replace one page layout with another.

Replacing One Photo with Another

If you change your mind about where you placed a photo, do one of the following:

● Select it on the page and click the icon that appears. The photo is removed from the page but remains in the

photo bin.

Note: If the toolbar with the icon doesn’t appear beside the page, make sure you’ve selected a photo. (A green border appears around a selected photo.)

● Drag a different photo from the photo bin over the one you want to replace.

● Switch the positions of two photos on a page by dragging one over the other.

● Switch the positions of two photos in two different page layouts by dragging one over the other.

22 Create Your Photo Book Pages

Resizing, Repositioning, or Rotating a Photo

You can double-click a photo on a page to resize or reposition it in the frame. You see this window:

● Reposition the photo in the frame

by moving the pointer over it. When the shape of the pointer turns into a hand, drag the photo up, down, left or right.

● Click the icon to enlarge the

photo.

● Click the icon to reduce it.

● Click the icon to rotate it 90° to

the right.

When you’re done, click OK to close the window.

Indicates overlap of another photo in the page layout

Reposition the photo

Resizing, Repositioning, or Rotating a Photo 23

Adding, Deleting, and Locking Pages

You can add or delete a page, lock it to prevent changes, or replace it with a different page layout.

● To delete a page, select it in the preview area; a red border appears to indicate the page is selected. Then click

the icon beneath the preview area to delete it.

● To add a page, select the page layout you want in the Page Layout section, then click the icon beneath the

preview area. (The icon is grayed out if you already have as many pages in the preview area as your book allows.)

● To lock a page, select it and click the icon that appears to the left of the page. (Click the icon again to

unlock it.)

Select a page and click this icon to lock it

24 Create Your Photo Book Pages

Click this icon to

add a page in the preview area

Click this icon to delete a page

Adding Captions to Your Page Layouts

1 Click the icon above the preview area to view your pages one at a time.

2 Double-click the text you want to change in the preview area. A green border appears around the selected text,

and a text box appears.

Tip: If you’re having trouble selecting the text, make sure your pointer is positioned directly over the text before you double-click.

3 Enter your caption or title in the text box.

Note: If you don’t enter a caption or title, the page prints without text since the sample text is automatically deleted.

Select the

Use these tools to modify your text

Enter your text in the text box

text area

Adding Captions to Your Page Layouts 25

4 Use the editing tools in the text box to make any modifications to the text, such as a different typeface, color, or

text alignment. Then click OK to close the text box.

5 Enter your own text on all the pages. Use the scrollbar to the right of the preview area to move through the

pages.

Now you’re ready to print your pages. Continue with the instructions in “Print Your Photo Book Pages” on page 27. Or go to the next section to save your photo book to your computer.

Saving Your Photo Book to Your Computer

Once you’ve created your photo book, you can save it to your computer or a disk. Just click the icon at the top of the screen. When you see the Save As dialog box, navigate to the location where you want to save it and click Save.

26 Create Your Photo Book Pages

Print Your Photo Book Pages

The steps you use to print your photo book pages depend on the type of printer you have. Be sure to print a draft of your photo book on plain letter-size paper to see how it looks before you print the final book.

Printing a Draft of Your Photo Book

Your draft prints in portrait mode, with one book page on each printed sheet. However, you can change the layout to print two pages per sheet or four pages per sheet.

1 Click Print Book on the Create Book tab. You see this window:

Click Draft Color

You can select a different page layout for your draft here

2 Click Draft Color.

3 If you don’t want to print one page per sheet, select either

2 pages/sheet or 4 pages/sheet in the Layout menu.

Print window

4 Click the Printer Setup button. You see the Print

window:

5 Make sure your printer is selected in the Name box, then click

OK.

Note: If you decide to make any changes to the Print Settings, be sure to select Portrait orientation when you print 2 pages/sheet or, Landscape orientation when you print 4 pages/sheet.

6 Click the Print button.

Printing Your Final Photo Book Pages

Those Epson® printers that support the Epson Easy Print interface automatically choose the right settings, which makes printing fast and simple. Printers made by other manufacturers and some Epson printers require you to make the settings yourself in your printer software.

This section includes the following:

● “Epson Printers: Printing Your Final Pages” on page 29

● “HP Printers: Printing Your Final Pages” on page 33

● “Canon, Lexmark, or Other Printers: Printing Your Final Pages” on page 36

28 Print Your Photo Book Pages

Epson Printers: Printing Your Final Pages

1 Unwrap the 8 × 10-inch or 5 × 7-inch glossy photo paper that came with StoryTeller.

Note: Avoid touching the glossy surface of the StoryTeller paper as much as possible to avoid fingerprints.

2 Load the stack glossy side up against the right side of your printer’s feeder.

Left edge guide

Load the paper against the right side of your feeder

Lower the output tray and slide out any extensions

3 Slide the left edge guide up against the paper, but not too tightly.

4 Lower the output tray and pull out the output tray extensions, if your printer has them.

Epson Printers: Printing Your Final Pages 29

5 Click Print Book on the Create Book tab. You see this window:

6 Click Full Size Color Prints.

7 If you have one of the following Epson printers, click the

PRINT button. Your pages begin to print.

Note: Depending on the size of your digital files, it may take several minutes for your book to start printing. Wait for the progress meter to disappear, and don’t cancel printing or start another task.

Click Full Size Color Prints

Epson Stylus

C64 Epson Stylus Photo R800

Epson Stylus C84 Epson Stylus Photo RX500

Epson Stylus Photo 900 Epson Stylus Photo RX620

Epson Stylus Photo 1280 Epson Stylus Photo 2200

Epson Stylus Photo R200 Epson Stylus CX4600

Epson Stylus Photo R300 Epson Stylus CX6400

Epson Stylus Photo R320 Epson Stylus CX6600

If you have an Epson printer that is not listed above, continue with step 8.

30 Print Your Photo Book Pages

+ 68 hidden pages