Quick start Guide on how to use Narrative Select

Keyboard shortcuts can be found here

• Overview
• Projects
• Rating (selecting your images)

• Image Assessments
• Filtering
• Views
• Zooming
• Close-ups
• Eye and Focus Assessments

• Scenes
• Shot Information
• Shipping to Lightroom

• Moving and Copying Files

 

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Overview

Select, by Narrative, is a dedicated image selection tool. The broad aim of a selection tool is to help a photographer cull potentially thousands of RAW images from a photoshoot down to a few hundred as quickly as possible. We aid the selection process by rendering large image files very quickly and enhance the photographer's powers by adding helpful features like Close-ups and Face Zoom.

 

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Projects

Projects are the way to organise your work inside Select. The ‘Projects’ screen can be accessed by clicking on the purple Narrative icon in the toolbar.

 

Creating a new project

Step 1 – For each new shoot, you can create a new project through different methods:

 

If your files are on a memory card and you want to copy them to another location before starting the project, you can use ingest your images. To learn how to ingest, click here.

 

If the image files are already on a hard drive or your computer, create new project through the following options:

• Click on “Choose Folder”

• Drag your image folder into the app

 

Step 2 – Find your image folder and click 'Choose Folder'.

 

 

Step 3 – The image folder’s title will be transferred automatically as your project title.

Click on the title if you want to change the name and click 'Next'

 

If you want to conserve the image folder’s title and skip this step for your future projects, click on the option marked below:

 

 

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Rating (selecting your images)

What do the ratings mean?

The short answer is– anything you want them to mean! They don't carry any inherent meaning and are a legacy of the way most programs have allowed users to rate images. Many photographers will simply rate images they want to keep with 1 star – but there are many, many other ways to do this. Some photographer use color ratings to indicate things, like which images they'll use for their blog, which go to Instagram, and which need retouching. There is no right answer, find a way that works for you!

 

You can move between images by using (↑ / ↓) keys.
(You can swap this to up/down in preferences)

(1),(2),(3),(4) or (5) to apply a star rating and (6),(7),(8),(9) or (p) to apply a colour rating. You may also apply a rating via the right-click menu, or the 'Rate' menu.

 

If you want to totally clear an image rating, press (0) or right-click to clear just the star or color rating.

 

(T) allows you to tag or untag an image, or click on the square in the bottom right of the thumbnail. Note – Lightroom will not be able to read this rating type.

 

(X) Rejects an image. Images that have been rejected are not moved or copied from Select to a different location.  

 

(U) Clears a tag or reject rating. 

 

If you want T or X to remove their rating, just tick “Applying a duplicate rating with a key will clear that rating” in preferences.

 

If you want to auto-advance after adding, changing or clearing a rating head to preferences found at the top menu bar.

 

Please note: when you add or remove a rating or rotate an image we create an .XMP sidecar file in the source folder. Don't delete them! These files are where your rating information is stored (except for JPGs) so they must be in the same folder as your images for any program to read your ratings. Learn more about .XMP files here.

 

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Image Assessments

This feature is only available on Pro Plans.

(This feature was previously known as Distil)

• Yellow hexagons tell you that you might find better images in that scene.

• Red hexagons tell you that it’s very likely you’ll find better images in that scene.

• Hover over them for an explanation, and a neat highlight that shows the scene they relate to.

• You can then use the filters in the toolbar to hide images with Image Assessment warnings.

• From preferences, you can choose to turn off just the yellow Assessments, or turn off Image Assessments altogether.

 

To filter your images by Image Assessments (strong and moderate), enable the Image Assessment filter option by clicking on the three dots and then choose the assessment warning to filter them:

 

 

A few notes on Image Assessments. The reason why an image was or wasn't given a warning is based on the context of all the images that scene, not just if one or more of the subjects are blinking or out of focus. For example, some images with warnings may not actually be objectively bad if viewed on their own – but we give them a warning because we believe that there are better similar images in the scene. And on the flip side, some images that are objectively bad may not get a warning because they are in a scene with images of very similar quality.

 

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Filtering

When working on your project, your filter options will be closed. To view them in your workspace, click on the icon as shown below:

 

 

 

 

Once the filters are opened, the Star Rating’ will be shown by default and if you applied a new rating type to your images, like using red labels, the color filter will be ‘ticked’ within the other filter options. You can filter the images currently in view by clicking the rating icons in the toolbar. 

 

To view more filter options, click on the three dots. You can add any of these to your toolbar by ‘ticking/unticking’ them.

 

 

You can also add more filter options. If all are enabled you'll see them display as shown below:

 

The small number below each icon indicates how many images have that rating applied.

 

If you hold (⌘Command) and click on a filter you can quickly select every other filter except that filter. Useful if, for example, you want to hide any images you applied a red colour filter to.

 

 

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Views

By default, you are in ‘Loupe View’ - which is where you see one main image and a filmstrip.

 

You can toggle the position of the filmstrip between vertical and horizontal by pressing (Y)

 

To switch to ‘Grid View’, tap (G) or click the icon in the toolbar. In grid view the slider in the toolbar changes the size of the thumbnails.

 

To enter 'Scene View' press (S) or click on the icon in the toolbar to view the amount of images you have per scene and assessments.

 

From ‘Grid View’ switch back to ‘Loupe View’ by double-clicking on any thumbnail or by pressing spacebar. Alternatively, you can tap (E), or click the icon in the toolbar.

 

 

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Zooming

There are a few ways to zoom with Select. They all rely on the preset zoom level. This is set to 100% by default, which means that when you in zoom mode, you will see the image at its original size.

 

We suggest you keep this as the default size as this will give you the truest representation of the image. If you want to change it, you can use the slider in the toolbar, or press (- / +)

 

 

 

Zoom

• Tap (spacebar). This will zoom you to your preset zoom level. If there are any faces detected in the image, you will be zoomed straight to the centre-most face. You can use (Z) to zoom, but it will not zoom into a face.

• Now you can press (←/→) to scroll between any faces found in the image.

• If there are no face detected, pressing spacebar will act the same way a standard zoom.

• PRO TIP – Hold (spacebar) and you'll temporarily zoom in until you release it. 

 

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Close-ups

This feature is only available on Pro Plans

 

Close-ups is the name of our zoom panel. Open and close close-ups with ( / ) or ( . )

 

Once turned on, by default, it shows all the key faces detected in the image. It’s great for checking if people have their eyes open and their faces are in focus in portrait, couples and group shots.

 

If no people are detected in the image we show a zoomed in portion of the centre of the image.

 

 

Locking

This feature is only available on Pro Plans

 

If you hold (Command) and click on a face – either in the main image or in the close-ups panel – it becomes ‘locked’. This means that that person will take over the entire close-ups panel. Press (o) to unlock them. When one face is locked you can also press (Command) + (up) or (down) to scroll through any other faces in that image.

 

Similarly, if you hold command and click anywhere on the main image, that area will become locked in the close-ups panel (and replace anything else that’s locked)

 

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Eye and Focus Assessments

This feature is only available on Pro Plans

 

You can switch assessments on and off with (⌘Command) + ( , ) or the icon in the toolbar.

 

 

Once you’ve got assessments mode switched on you’ll see small red or yellow indicators below some of your subject’s faces.

 

The ellipse indicates our assessment of their eyes. The line indicates our assessment of their focus. The default colors are red for really bad, yellow for probably bad and clear for fine. Think of them as warning lights on your car’s dashboard – they're there to alert you to possible issues. Hover over them to see the score out of 100. You can change the colors of the assessment indicators in preferences.

 

We’re constantly updating our models and thresholds to make them as good as we can, but please feedback where you see anything that is incorrectly labelled. If Select has missed faces or is not showing Assessment information, read this.

 

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Scenes

This feature is only available on Pro Plans

 

Select detect scenes (a set of very similar images in capture time order). They will load in after the initial project creation and may take a minute or two to appear. Here's what you can do with scenes:

 

You can navigate straight to the first image in the next or previous scene by pressing (shift) + (←/→)

 

You can cycle through all the images in a single scene by pressing (⌘Command) + (←/→)

 

You can hold (⌘Command) + (shift) and click on a thumbnail – all images in the scene will be selected.

 

Note: for now, scenes will only work well for shoots where you have one shooter. We are working on a solution for multiple shooters.

 

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Shot information

If you want to see information about your shot, have a look at the shot info panel.

 

Open it with ( i ) or via the Workspace menu.

 

We’ve abbreviated the information shown by default, but you can click the ‘show more’ link to see all the shot information.

 

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Shipping to Lightroom Classic

Once you’re happy with your selection it’s time to edit your images.

 

Option 1. Click the [SHIP] button, or press (⌘E). This will open up some options to choose what you want to SHIP, and where.

 

 

Option 2. Select which images you want to edit and drag them from the filmstrip over to the Lightroom app icon, or directly into the Lightroom window. You need to make sure that the import dialogue is not currently open in Lightroom.

 

Option 3. Inside Lightroom, import the folder where the images are saved. This will import all the images in the folder, so you’ll have to apply a filter to get your selection.

 

Learn more about safely syncing with Lightroom.

 

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Moving and Copying Files

To move or copy files, first, select the images you want to move or copy. Or press (⌘A) to select all images in your project. Now you have a few options;

1. Click the File menu, then Move File(s) or Copy File(s). Now you can pick the location from the pop-up Finder window. OR,

2. Right-click on one of the image thumbnails and select Move File(s) or Copy File(s). Now you can pick a location from the pop-up Finder window. OR,

3. Click and drag one of the image thumbnails directly into a Finder winder move, or hold (option) to copy

Narrative Select Keyboard Shortcuts

• Navigation
• Rating
• Zoom
• Close-ups
• Edit
• Workspace

Navigation

 

Rating

 

Zoom

 

Close-ups

 

Edit 

 

Workspace

Getting your images from Select into Lightroom

There are a few ways of getting your images into Lightroom Classic or CC once you have finished your selection. Here are three ways:

Option 1 – Use the SHIP button

Click the [SHIP] button, or press (⌘E). This will open up a window with options where you can choose which images you want to ship, and if you want to ship to CC or Classic.

 

Note: make sure you don't have Lightroom's import window already open, or the ship button won't work.

Option 2 – Drag and Drop

Select which images you want to edit and drag them from the filmstrip over to the Lightroom app icon, or directly into the Lightroom window. Again, make sure Lightroom's import window is not already open.

Option 3 – Import in Lightroom

Inside Lightroom, import the folder where the images are saved. This will import all the images so you’ll have to apply a filter to get your selection.

 

Learn more about safely syncing with Lightroom

 

If you are looking for how to get your images into Capture One, click here.

In this Article:

The home screen

The Create blog screen

Building your blog

Adding images to your blog

Rearranging the layout

Unique Features

Publishing

Summary

Next Steps

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The Create Blog Screen

To create a new blog, press the Create new post button. 

 

Learn more about the home page here. 

Once you have clicked the Create new post button you will be taken to the create blog screen. This is where you give your blog a title and select the images you want blog. 

 

Give your blog a title and select the images you want to add through the Select Folder button. Once you have done this, click Create Post and Narrative will start to import your images

To learn more about the Create Blog screen click here. 

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Building your Blog

Now that you have successfully created a blog and imported some images, you can now start working on your blog. 

In the left-hand side of Publish you will find the gallery panel, this is where all of the images you imported are. 

On the right-hand side you will find the inspector panel, this contains information and settings to do with your blog. 

And lastly, we have the middle section of Publish, this is where your blog post will be made.

Adding images to your blog

To add an image to your blog post, simply click and drag on the image you want and then drop it into the layout. 

Once you've added your first image you can start adding and dragging others around it. Where ever the blue line shows up you can add the image. This allows you to create amazing and interesting layouts. 

 

You can also double click images to add them as well as use our Magic wand tool to add many at once! 

 

Click here to learn more about adding images to your blog post.

 

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Rearranging the layout

Once you have some images in your blog, you might want to start rearranging them. 

To rearrange them all you have to do is click and drag on an image and drop it where you want it to be. If you drag over another image you will be able to swap its position for the one you are holding. 

 

 

Click here to learn more about rearranging your layout

 

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Unique Features

Narrative Publish has many features that will help you build your blog quickly and make it look good, here is a quick look at a few of them. 

Magic Wand: Use the Magic Wand tool to instantly build a blog, then rearrange it to how you please. 

 

Click here to learn more.

Text Box: Add text to your blog that automatically takes on your websites styling. 

Click here to learn more.

Blank Spacer: Add empty space to your blog post using the blank space. Its like an image, only empty!

Download Button: Add a download button to your blog so viewers of the blog can download the images of the blog. 

Click here to learn more.

Cropping Mode: Double-click on any image or blank space to adjust the size and crop to make your blog exactly how you want it to look. 

 

Click here to learn more.

 

SEO: Do your blogs SEO from right in side Narrative Publish. Use the traffic light system to guide your actions to make sure you rank well on Google. 

 

Click here to learn more.

 

Pinterest Pins & Facebook Comments: Add social media tools to your blog so that potential viewers and clients can share them much more easily.

Click here to learn more about Pinterest Pins. Click here to learn more about Facebook Comments.

 

Layout Animation: Add layout animation to make your blog stand out, whether it scrolls or fades it will look like no others!  Click here to learn more.

Lightbox: Turn this on and viewers will be able to click the blogs image and see it in a full screen view, turning your blog into more of a slide show. This is very effective on mobile.Click here to learn more.

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Publishing

Once you have finished building your blog it's time to publish it onto your website!

To start publishing your blog post click on the publish button in the bottom right. If this is your first time publishing you will need to set up your publisher. 

To learn how to publish to your specific website click here.

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Summary

That's it! If you've gone through these steps you should have a beautiful blog on your website.

 

If you run into any issues please contact our support at support@narrative.so.
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How to Publish to WordPress Via Plugin

1. Once you have finished building your blog click the Publish button in the bottom right-hand side of the app.

 

 2. The Publish Settings will now pop up, first enter your website URL

 

3. Then click on the Wordpress logo

 

4. Select your Wordpress theme  

 

5. Now press continue. 

 

Narrative will now check if you have the Narrative Plug-in installed. If you have not installed the plugin yet, Click here to learn how. 

 

Once you have installed and connected your the Wordpress Plugin you can continue with the steps below.

 

6.  Select the default category you want to publish to and if the posts should publish as drafts or as live posts, press update to continue.

Note: You can change these each time you update your blog. 

 

7. Now press start Publishing, this will now start publishing your first blog to your website.

 

The Publish settings will now close and your blog will being to upload.

Once it has finished uploading you will see a "Visit Page" button. Click this to be taken to your blog, if you hit an error it is likely that you aren't logged into your website on that browser. 

 

 

 

If you are using Gutenberg your back end will look something like this:

 

If you are using the Classic editor it will look like this: 

 

If you want to make changes to your post you can just edit the blog and then press the "Update Blog" button.

 

 

 

Your blog should now be published on your website. Please contact our Support team if you have any issues whatsoever. 

 

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How to change your publisher settings once your publisher is set up

Sometimes you will need to change your publisher settings, either if you are running into an error, or you need to swap what website you are publishing to. 

 

There are two ways to do this.

 

Method One: 

1. Open the Publish tab

2. Click the gear icon.

 

 

 

 

Method two:

1. Inside Narrative Publish head to your Mac toolbar and click Narrative Publish > Preferences

 

2. Click on the account tab and then press "Update Domain Details"

 

Your publisher settings should now open up.

 

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• Publishing to WordPress Via Code: Overview

• Setting Your Publishing Details

• How Publish to Wordpress Via Code

• How to Publish Via Code When Having the Plugin Already Set Up

• Related Articles

   

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Publishing to WordPress Via Code: Overview

 

This publishing method will allow you to upload your blogs to your website in scenarios, for example when:

• The plugin method isn’t possible due to connection issues

• You need to publish to multiple websites

• Your website hasn’t been launched or it’s in staging/testing mode

• You want to post your blog in a different section of your website (like “Pages” instead of the “Post” section)

 

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Setting Your Publishing Details

Once you have completed designing your post and you are ready to publish manually to your WordPress website, you’ll need to have your publishing details saved.

 

If you haven’t done this yet, follow the steps below to get this set up:

 

1. Click on the gear icon to open the publishing settings

 

 

 

2. When you see the publishing settings window open:

 

2.1 Input your website's URL - eg www.mywebsite.co

2.2 Click on Other

2.3 Type Wordpress and press continue

 

3. Once publishing settings have been saved/ updated click “Ok/ Start Publishing ”

 

 

 

 

4. If this is the first time publishing, your blog will now start uploading, click here for the next steps. If that’s not the case, click Publish to start uploading your blog.

 

 

 

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How to Publish to WordPress Via Code

1. Once the upload of your blog is complete, click Copy Link to copy your post's HTML to your clipboard.

2. Log into your WordPress website.

 

3. Navigate to the post or page where you would like the blog to be placed. 

 

👉 If you are using the Classic Editor, continue with the steps here

 

👉 If you are using Gutenberg, continue with the steps below

 

 

 

Gutenberg

1. Add the title of your post

 

2. To add your Publish Post hover over "Add Text..." and click the plus icon

 

3. Search for "Custom HTML" and then click it, to add it to your page.

 

4. Now Paste the code that you copied from Publish. 

 

5. Click the preview to see your blog. 

 

Your blog should now load and be fully published! Once you are happy with how it looks, make your blog live and you should be good to go.

 

 

Classic editor

1. To add your Narrative Publish post, click the text editor tab.

 

2. Paste the link you copied from your Narrative Publish post.

 

3. Press Preview to view your post. 

 

Your blog should now load and be fully published! Once you are happy with how it looks, make your blog live and you should be good to go.

 

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How to Publish Via Code When Having the Plugin Already Set Up

Setting Your Publishing Details to Via Code If You Have the Plugin Already Set Up

 

If you already have the plugin set up but want to publish via code, there is a quicker and simpler way to do it than the steps above. 

 

To do this, change the Publish category from the current category to Publish via Code and click "Publish" to start uploading your blog. Click here for the next steps.

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Related Articles:

• Changing the preview text and featured image for your post (Wordpress)

• How to publish to Wordpress

• Narrative post not loading correctly - Wordpress