For instructions on how to place background images, see our Creating Your Pages article: Placing A Background

So you've been through the School Annual Online backgrounds and you're just not seeing anything that suits your school's personal theme? We add new backgrounds every year, but it can be challenging to stay one step ahead in the creative process, so let's expand upon your choices:

1.  What program can I use to make my own Background?

• There are a few programs you can use to make a background.  Some of these programs require a subscription or one-time payment, and some are free (open source).  Open source means the source code was shared with the community.  meaning the community can come up with new features and add-ons.  There is nothing inherently wrong with this program, but please check with your IT department before downloading.  
•  
  • Adobe - Photoshop or Illustrator - Subscription Base Service.
  • Affinity - Photo or Design - One-time payment
  • GIMP - Photo editing software - Free (Open source)
  • Inkscape - Design software (similarities to Illustrator) - Free (Open source)

2.  Create a single background with a full bleed.

• In the program, set your Artboard to 2550x33000 pixels
• Do not forget there is a 1/8 inch bleed line around the book.  
• you can save it as a .jpg .png .tiff
• Any time you have your own photo or a photo you have taken:
  • Set up your artboard and placed the image on the page
  • You might need to resize it to the artboard
  • Make sure the image is a high-resolution image
  • Some images might be distorted or become pixelated when stretched.  

3.  How to upload the custom background.

• In your image library, create a new sub-folder under Activity called Backgrounds
• Click on the upload button
• Go to the page you want the new background on and go to Edit > Change Background.
• Navigate to your new folder with the background in it.
  • if it has a red border around it, it is not sized right and cannot be placed as a background
• Once placed on the page take a look at the background and see if any changes need to be made.

Remember, we have great patterns available as well.  In your Page Designer, click the Images button.  Select Backgrounds-SAO from the drop-down or you can choose from our exclusive Quick Creator backgrounds in the drop-down list.

If you have a parent with a great camera, ask them to capture some images that you can use for backgrounds.  Nature scenes are always popular and even pieces of those images can be cropped to create textured backgrounds.

As always, you may upload your own backgrounds (JPG, TIF, or PNG) that you may have scanned or created with an image editing program.