Our Parish Life in Pictures

Including images of parish activities and events is a wonderful way to showcase your vibrant parish life. Pictures of sacramental life including baptisms, weddings, First Communions and Confirmations allow the parish to celebrate as a whole. Photos of gatherings like parish picnics, youth activities, and campus clean-up days display fellowship at work. Being sure these images will work in your document is an important step in sharing these moments. 

Also consider resolution. Digital pictures are made up of tiny squares called pixels. One million pixels is equal to one megapixel (MP). If you zoom in close enough to any photo you can see the individual pixels that create that image. Up close, photos look more like a Rubik’s cube than your original photo. It is these tiny squares, however that retain the clarity and detail of your image.

The more pixels, the greater the resolution of the image. The higher the resolution, the clearer and more detailed your photo. Keep in mind that most digital cameras have settings that allow you to change the resolution, so you can control the quality of the photos as you take them.  Photos intended to be used for your weekly bulletin are sufficient if set at a 4X6 size or 540x360 pixels.

If you are working with high quality digital images that are very large, the best option is to resize and save the photos into a TIF format and then re-insert into your bulletin. Here’s how:

1. Insert the photo into your bulletin

2. Resize to appropriate size and shape

3. Right-click the photo, click “Save As Picture”

4. Verify that you are saving in the “My Pictures” folder (default directory for pictures)

5. Name your picture in the File Name dialog box

6. Click the down arrow on the Save As Type dialog box and change to Tag Image Format (*.tif)

7. Save and then Right-click on the photo again and click Change Picture > From File.

8. Double-click on the new TIF file to replace the original photo.

 

These few steps will help decrease the picture size and decrease your bulletin file size. Once you are ready to transmit for printing, you’ll definitely notice the difference.

Our best advice is to consult your camera’s owner’s manual to determine the best settings for your use.

Ultimately, how many megapixels and what resolution settings are best, depend upon how you intend to use the photos. Consult your camera’s owner’s manual for what settings best met your needs.

 

 

 

 

Extend Your Bulletin's Reach

 

You work hard every week on your parish bulletin, but these days it’s hard to know whether it reaches all the people who should be reading it. As the pandemic drags on, many parishioners are still staying away from Sunday Mass. How can you get a bulletin in their hands? You could mail them, but that takes time and costs money. It’s far simpler (and free!) to send your Sunday bulletins to their email address. If you haven’t already done so, here are the easy steps you can follow to take advantage of J.S. Paluch’s free eBulletin service.

1. Create an electronic list of the email addresses of your parishioners. You may already have such a list, so you can import it into an Excel file or CSV or Text file with the information on each line separated by tabs. Your file might look something like this (Excel file):

 

Or this (Text file):

(Note that there is a tab after each entry on a line, even if the entries don’t appear to line up.)

The only necessary information is the email address; the names are optional.

2. Contact Igor Ratajczyk at ratajczyki@jspaluch.com or 847-558-2726 to get set up. You will be sending the email list to him.

That’s all you have to do!

If you don’t have an email list, you can direct your parishioners to sign up at either of these two links: https://ebulletin.jspaluch.com or https://www.jspaluch.com/Subscribe

Of course, you can also publish your bulletin to your parish’s own web page or social media platform. But when you do, please be sure to show your appreciation for the support of your advertisers by using the PDF for your bulletin that includes the ads.

Bonus!

When you submit your email list to J. S. Paluch, if it has more than 100 names on it, your parish will receive a $50.00 Visa gift card.