Tech: Help with photo progs?

Subject: Tech: Help with photo progs?
From: Sorcha
Date: 20 Jul 05 - 12:44 AM

IF this sucker will stay up for a bit....I have Zoom Browser, Adobe Photoshop abd PhotoImpressions....Need help. 'Help' isn't much help.

In the past, I didnt' have a problem printing 4 to a page, on any of them but now when I click Print, and layout, it reverts to some crap I don't want to print. Won't let me Add New Album, and I can't figure out how to wipe an album......Heeeelllllpppp!!!! Please!

Subject: RE: Tech: Help with photo progs?
From: Peace
Date: 20 Jul 05 - 12:47 AM

Message John in Kansas, Amos, BillD (to name a few).

Subject: RE: Tech: Help with photo progs?
From: Sorcha
Date: 20 Jul 05 - 12:50 AM

Yes dear....

Subject: RE: Tech: Help with photo progs?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 20 Jul 05 - 09:29 AM

Sorcha -

Can you clarify which program you're using to make albums, and is it the same one you're trying to use to print? Some printers have a multipage autolayout function, but I don't use that feature as I've had poor results with it generally.

I don't often use the album features of any of the programs I've got, and I only have Photoshop Elements - not the big one. I would expect Photoshop to have most of the same features, but with somewhat different menus.

Photoshop Elements has a feature "File | Create Web Gallery" but I didn't find it easy to get the titles and comments the way I wanted, or to get consistently sized images. I did find that you almost have to create a separate folder of images all the same size, resolution, and same color mode before it gave even consistent (but still ugly) results.

Another option is "File | Print Layouts | Contact Sheets" or "File | Print Layouts | Picture Package." Again, my main objection is that if you want titles or captions you get canned defaults that are "ugly." (Ugly is anything other than what you'd like them to be.) The same requirement for "standardizing" all the input images applies to some extent.

My usual procedure is just to create a new blank page, and then drag the pictures I want onto it individually, place them as needed, and add text directly on the page. I usually save the "assembled" page, but you can print without saving it.

The couple of critical things to pay attention to:

The blank page and each of the pictures must have the same "mode" and "resolution."

     If you drag a 150 dpi picture onto a 75 dpi background, the picture will be twice as big as you want it.

     If you drag an "indexed color" (.gif, usually) picture onto an RGB background page, results are unpredictable - except that you certainly won't get what you want. With Photoshop, you'd also have to resolve RGB vs CMYK modes, but Elements doesn't let you use CMYK.

Your description is a bit vague. Maybe some more specific description?

John

Subject: RE: Tech: Help with photo progs?
From: GUEST
Date: 20 Jul 05 - 09:38 AM

I'm glad I just insert pictures into a wordc document. Makes life so much easier.

Subject: RE: Tech: Help with photo progs?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 20 Jul 05 - 09:53 AM

Actually, GUEST, that's my main method for all my indexing and records. Word can be a bit balky about positioning and getting the text wrapped just like you'd like it to be, but in general it's image handling is better - and a lot more flexible - than most of the "Album" programs I've played with.

It's still a matter of "the best program is the one you know how to use."

John

Subject: RE: Tech: Help with photo progs?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Jul 05 - 12:36 PM

Word is actually very easy to set images in, but don't try to take them back out of Word and use them for anything meaningful. It turns them into gobbledy gook once they're there. They look fine, but they don't translate well from Word to say, Photoshop.

Right clicking is the trick in Word, and from there choosing to format the photo. It doesn't matter what size the photo is (except that it will take tons of disk space if it's too big, and look pixelated if it's too small) because you can simply tell it what size you want it to display. At the same time you use those icons (the ones with the picture of the dog) and set the wrap features.

SRS

Subject: RE: Tech: Help with photo progs?
From: Sorcha
Date: 20 Jul 05 - 12:57 PM

I'll get back to you on this....

Subject: RE: Tech: Help with photo progs?
From: Bill D
Date: 20 Jul 05 - 01:07 PM

posts in alt.comp.freeware about 2 programs which are good at printing multiple photos.
(Iomega has been recommended often)

Subject: RE: Tech: Help with photo progs?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 20 Jul 05 - 01:47 PM

Stilly -

Different versions of Word may be a little different, but in the recent ones I've used:

If you go to View | Toolbars and put a check by the "Pictures" toolbar, when you left click on a picture the toolbar should pop up. You can leave it on the document, but I usually drag it up to the toolbar. The toolbar should go away when you click back to another part of the document, and it should come back the next time wherever you left it.

You can click on the little doggie to set wrap, but if you click on the paint bucket (Format Picture), you get ONE menu window, with tabs for ALL of the things you can do to your picture. The Layout tab gets your little doggie, where most of the good stuff is on the Advanced button.

If you need to recover a picture out of a Word document, it sometimes helps to paste it on a separate page or in a new document - in Word, and resize it to as large as you can get it before you do the "recovery." Most recovery/copy methods get you screen resolution (72 dpi) at whatever size is displayed in the document. Word may have a lot more information than that, but it doesn't get passed out. Later versions of Word allow "compression" of images, and if that's been done you may not get much more back; but if the image was a good one when you pasted it, sometimes Word can bring it back up to better quality for the save.

The best way I've found to actually do the recovery is to copy the picture in Word, and then go to Photoshop Elements and do a File | New From Clipboard. You can just paste onto a blank picture in PSE, but for some reason it always seems to look better to me with the "New File" method.

John

Subject: RE: Tech: Help with photo progs?
From: GUEST,Bardford
Date: 20 Jul 05 - 04:17 PM

If you have a recent version of Photoshop that has a browser feature-

File>Browse>navigate to folder your photos are in. Select desired photos (ctrl+click).
then go to
Automate>contact sheet
use>selected images from browser
Then set up yourlayout as desired.