Photo Upload Help

Once you have all three images prepared, return to your account page, select "photos" and use the "browse" function to locate the images on your hard drive and upload them to our server.
Members are allowed to upload up to three photos. (See the User Agreement for details regarding acceptable photo content.) All three photos will appear on your Member Profile page. Here we'll show you haw to use common image editing software to properly size and upload your photos so they look great on your profile.

Photo #1 is the thumbnail image which will also appear in the search results when others perform a search. The maximum size of this image is 100 by 100 pixels. Photos #2 and #3 can be up to 400 by 400 pixels. Photos are automatically resized during upload to fit the constraints, but you can crop (select a specific portion) of your image to get better results.

The instructions below assume you already have some photos on your computer you would like to use. If not, you can have physical photos scanned to disk at Kinko's or a photo processing place which offer that service. Another option is to ask a friend with a digital camera to take photos you can download directly to your computer or transfer using a data CD. You will also need an image editing program of some kind.

Common Image Editing Programs

iPhoto (Mac OS X)
Photoshop (Mac/PC)

Step One:

Download and install an image editing program

Step Two:

Open the program.

You can double click (Mac) or right click (Windows) on an image file to automatically open your image editing program and display the image, unless your computer defaults to opening a "view only" program. If this happens you will need to open the editing program first, then use the "Open" dialogue box to select an image for editing.
Step Three:

Select the area of the photograph you would like to use.

We will start with photo #1, the search result thumbnail image. This should be a "head shot" and contain only your face and enough surrounding area to make the photo look nice. (See the Celebrity Compare page for thumbnail examples.) This area must NOT be wider than it is tall. You can select the desired area of the photo using one of two different tools, depending on your program.

Cropping Tool

Selection Tool

A tool bar should appear on your screen inside the image editing program. If the cropping tool does not appear in the tool bar, click and hold on the selection tool to see if the cropping tool appears, choose the cropping tool, then release the mouse. If the cropping tool is not available, use the selection tool instructions below.

Cropping Tool
The cropping tool allows you select to an area of the photograph, then adjust the selection area by dragging move boxes located on the borders of the selection. Once you are content with the area selected, hit the "enter" (or "return") key on your keyboard, or choose "crop" from the edit menu. The areas outside of the selection area will be removed from the image.

Selection Tool
The selection tool usually appears as "cross hairs" when positioned over the photograph, but sometimes remains a cursor arrow until you click and drag on the image. Begin by placing the tool at the top left corner of the area you want to select, then click and drag so the tool is at the bottom right corner of the desired selection area, then release the mouse. A rectangular box should frame the desired area. If the area is not just as you desire, reposition the tool and repeat the selection process.

If no selection tool is available, simply use the cursor arrow to click and drag as described above. If neither of these techniques produce a selected area on your image, and no cropping tool is available, your program is probably an image viewer rather than an image editing program. You may have to download one of the programs listed above.

Once the desired area has been selected, choose "crop" from the Edit menu and the area outside of your selected area will be removed from the image.

Step Four:

Sizing the image.

Look in the menu bar at the top of the image editing program screen for "Image Size." It should be in the "edit" or "image" menu. Select "Image Size" and a dialogue box should appear which allows you to enter height and width information for the image. Make sure you are working with pixels rather than other units of measurement. Check to see that "constrain proportions" is selected inside the dialogue box.

If an input box appears showing "resolution" or "dpi" (Dots Per Inch) set this field to 72 dpi.

There should be an input box for both height and width. For Image #1 (the thumbnail image to be used in search results) type "100" into the height box. (Be sure the number represents 100 pixels and not some other unit of measurement.) When you change the "height" number, the width box should automatically change as well. Then click "OK." Your image should now be 100 pixels high and no more than 100 pixels wide. If the thumbnail image is wider than 100 pixels, you will need to use the cropping tool to remove the excess on one or both sides, or start over selecting an area that is taller than it is wide.

Step Five:

Save the New Image

Select "Save As" from the File menu (DO NOT select "Save" or you will overwrite the original photo with the new version). The "Save As" dialogue box will appear. It will allow you to save the file in several different image formats. If possible, choose JPEG (.jpg) and when prompted choose a medium-high quality level (about 7 out of 10). Type in a name for the new image and select "Save."

If the JPEG (.jpg or .jpeg) option is not available, save the image as a GIF (.gif).

Follow these sames steps to size your larger profile photos so they are no larger than 400x400 pixels. Again, the photos are automatically resized to fit the constraints, but by cropping and sizing the image yourself you can insure the photos appear exactly as you want them to look.

If you are still having problems, please contact Support for further assistance.