Screen Shots for Picture Upload

Our stake is making a major push to get member photos uploaded. It would be helpful if a document with screen shots were available that leadership in our wards could use to walk members through the process. I have seen similar tools for other aspects of lds.org, but cannot find one for this process. It would also be great if we had one for uploading via the LDS Tools mobile app. If anyone can point me to an existing resource, that would be great.

mlh78 wrote:It would also be great if we had one for uploading via the LDS Tools mobile app. If anyone can point me to an existing resource, that would be great.

This works now... anyone can upload pictures for anyone else (but pictures still have to be approved).

nathangg wrote:This works now... anyone can upload pictures for anyone else (but pictures still have to be approved).

Yes, I was aware of this. I was asking about whether there is a document to show how to upload via either lds.org or LDS Tools.

I found this on the Tech Wiki a couple of months ago but can't find it now. I think it will go a long way in answering your question.

MerrillDL wrote:I found this on the Tech Wiki a couple of months ago but can't find it now. I think it will go a long way in answering your question.

That is the Getting Started Guide for the Directory, found on the wiki under LDS.org getting started guides.

The process for uploading and approving photos is covered in considerable detail at Managing the directory (Directory).

aebrown wrote:The process for uploading and approving photos is covered in considerable detail at Managing the directory (Directory).

The wiki page is a great resource for clerks, unfortunately it would not be all that helpful as a document to give to members to assist them in putting up their own pictures. What I was hoping to discover was a document of similar style to the document posted by MerrillDL, but outlining the process for member photo uploads.

mlh78 wrote:What I was hoping to discover was a document of similar style to the document posted by MerrillDL, but outlining the process for member photo uploads.

I don't mean to sound terse or not kind (I wish tone could be conveyed better)... the thought that comes to mind is, "Maybe you could write one?"

I've used "Jing" to create screenshots with arrows (and appropriately placed text boxes to hide personal information). Maybe you could create a doc that showed the process?

I've been trying to find something like this too. has anyone written one yet?

A quick reference guide on uploading photos to the directory sounds like a good idea. Let me see what I can come up with this afternoon on this topic.

I plan to stress several points in the guide:

* If you have an iPhone, you can upload your picture to the directory directly from your mobile device.
* Uploading a photo does not mean anyone can see the uploaded photo, even if it appears fine to you. An admin must go in and approve it. (We're working on adding a watermark of some kind to photos that aren't yet approved.)
* Admins should not upload photos on behalf of members. This violates information privacy and is prohibited in many countries. So printing off a document that members can follow to upload pics for themselves would be best.

johnsonth wrote:* Admins should not upload photos on behalf of members. This violates information privacy and is prohibited in many countries. So printing off a document that members can follow to upload pics for themselves would be best.

Really? I understand that there are privacy laws in some countries that would apply, and of course we need to respect those. But in the US, there are no laws that absolutely prohibit this practice. If a member gives their permission, an admin can certainly upload the photo.

If the Church takes an absolute stand that admins should not upload photos on behalf of members, the result will be a small fraction of participation that we are seeing in many wards right now. I've seen wards try to encourage members to upload photos, and that may get 10-20% if you're lucky. I've also seen wards get someone with a camera to take pictures and (with members' permission of course) upload those to the directory. I've seen that approach get 60-70% of the members of a ward with photos.

Let's respect the laws, but creating policies that are more restrictive than the laws will greatly limit the chance of success.

I'd add that if admins uploading is prohibited, then why does the software allow that? (Or should I interpret "should" the same way I some Handbook readers see "should"?) If it is absolutely prohibited in some countries, then the software should reflect that.

That said, I understand that it would be preferable to have the members do their own. And certainly if an admin does it, that it be done with permission of the individual(s) involved.

Well, I probably worded that stronger than necessary. This is what the Member Data Privacy office allowed us to write in the Directory help (http://bit.ly/JN2EDm):

As an administrator for your directory, you can upload photos for any individual and household in your unit. Members, however, can upload photos for their household only.

When possible, members should be encouraged to upload their own photos to the directory. Outside the United States and Canada, unit leaders should not bulk upload photos to the directory unless they are helping a specific family upload photos for their household.

If you have obtained photos for members that you want to upload to the directory, and you have their informed, voluntary consent to add their photos to the directory, you can do so using the Upload Photos option. For minors, you will need the informed, voluntary consent of their parent or legal guardian.

I know this is a sensitive issue. Member Data Privacy feels strongly that members should upload their photos themselves rather than having others do it. Most likely if I create a guide, it will need review from their department before I distribute it.

By the way, if you missed this article -- LDS Tools version 2.0 for iOS Released-- check it out. You can upload to the directory straight from LDSTools on your iPhone. So if members do have iPhones, you can just ask them to take a picture of themselves right there and click upload. Of course, if someone else takes the picture for them, it creates additional issues because now you have a "photographer" and legally need a creative works release. (Sometimes legal lives in another world, you understand.)

johnsonth wrote:Of course, if someone else takes the picture for them, it creates additional issues because now you have a "photographer" and legally need a creative works release. (Sometimes legal lives in another world, you understand.)

Right. The most obvious situation is when the family wants to upload a professionally done portrait or family photo. I think Classic LUWS might have covered that at some point.

Another significant problem with members uploading their own photos is quality. When an admin takes photos, they are consistent in their resolution, cropping, etc. But when members upload their own photos, you get individual photos with multiple people in them, photos where the people are so small that you can't even see their faces, poor lighting, etc.

I probably won't be on the Data Privacy office's Christmas card list for saying this, but I always give the exact opposite advice from theirs: if there's any way that an admin can get the member's permission to take the photo, then do it that way; if members really want to upload their own photos, then that's okay. That results in better participation and better quality.

I have a template that we use in our singles ward for gimp if anyone wants that.

I added an article that explains how to update your directory photo. The article links to a one-page guide that you can distribute to members. Here's the link to the article: http://lds.org/go/222. The article provides the full details of updating your directory profile photo, while the one-page guides contains just a brief summary of each of the steps. Let me know what you think, and whether this meets your need.

johnsonth wrote:I added an article that explains how to update your directory photo. The article links to a one-page guide that you can distribute to members. Here's the link to the article: http://lds.org/go/222. The article provides the full details of updating your directory profile photo, while the one-page guides contains just a brief summary of each of the steps. Let me know what you think, and whether this meets your need.

The information in that article about resizing individual photos is incorrect, when it says "In contrast, individual photos will be re-sized to a 100x100px square, so you will get best results for individual photos if you upload a photo that has square proportions."

Explaining what happens to individual photos is a bit tricky, but the first step is that they are resized to a maximum of 500x375, just like family photos. Then when they are displayed in various places, a variety of rules are applied:

• In the leadership directories, they are displayed at 40x40; in this case they are cropped to the leftmost square (for landscape photos) or the topmost square (for portrait photos) and then shrunk to 40x40.
• From the leadership directory, clicking on an individual's name or photo pops up a modal that shows the photo in the full stored resolution (up to 500x375).
• In the Ward Organizations section, individual photos are displayed at up to 200x150.
• In the Household profile display, individual photos are displayed at up to 120x100.

Because of the first point, it is definitely good to suggest that individual photos be pre-cropped to be square. But it is certainly not the case that they are cropped to be square during the upload process, not are they resized to be a tiny 100x100. If a person were to believe that and resize it to 100x100 before uploading, they would end up with a tiny picture that would be suboptimal in all those other places where more pixels are displayed.


The above information is true for LDS.org. I don't have access to the new picture upload capability on LDS Tools for iOS, so I suppose it's possible that its upload enforces different limits.

Thanks Alan. I appreciate your eye for detail. Individual photos in the Ward Organizations and Photos sections display at 200x150. In the Household display section, it seems the default is 120x90, which is the same ratio as 200x150. However, the Leadership section displays at 40x40. So it seems my statement about the photos being cropped to the square is right only for the Leadership section. I think it might be best to upload a photo at 200x150px.

The image resizer never enlarges an image, so if you upload a photo that is 30x30px in size, that's how big it displays everywhere. But if you upload an image that is 1000x700, the image resizer will resize it down to the maximum dimensions, which are 500x375.

Okay, I updated the article with this statement:

Any photo you upload will be re-sized to a maximum of 500px wide by 375px tall (it only expands to this size when clicked). The individual photos appear in various sizes depending on where you view them in the directory (200x150px, 120x90px, or 40x40px), but in general, it's better to have the photo be too large than too small. Let the directory's image resizer downsize the photo to the best dimensions. (The photos are never enlarged by the image resizer, only reduced.)

I want to keep it simple. I don't want people to be resizing everything in Photoshop to meet specific image dimensions. I think it's best if they just upload big photos and let the image resize downsize them to fit the best dimensions for the various displays. Better to upload large photos than small ones, because the image resizer doesn't enlarge photos (doing so makes them look fuzzy and pixelated).

johnsonth wrote:Thanks Alan. I appreciate your eye for detail. Individual photos in the Ward Organizations and Photos sections display at 200x150. In the Household display section, it seems the default is 120x90, which is the same ratio as 200x150.

Thanks for catching that. I used the household picture size, not the individual size. But to be precise, it's 120x100 for individual photos in the profile display.

I've corrected my earlier post.

johnsonth wrote:However, the Leadership section displays at 40x40. So it seems my statement about the photos being cropped to the square is right only for the Leadership section. I think it might be best to upload a photo at 200x150px.

I still think it's best to upload individual photos as squares. The reason I say that is that the algorithm for creating the square thumbnails takes the leftmost or topmost square from a rectangular image. In our ward, we have some rectangular individual photos where the person's face happens to be to the right of center, and the cropping algorithm for the leadership thumbnails leaves only a tiny fraction of their face visible. For some others, the photo is rather tall, and the crop leaves the face from the nose up. Uploading square individual photos eliminates these possibilities.

johnsonth wrote:The image resizer never enlarges an image, so if you upload a photo that is 30x30px in size, that's how big it displays everywhere. But if you upload an image that is 1000x700, the image resizer will resize it down to the maximum dimensions, which are 500x375.

Actually, a 1000x700 would resize to 500x350 (it maintains its aspect ratio), but otherwise that statement is correct.