Collage questions.

[Storm1]

Hi -I am trying to make a Collage of my little dog who went over the Rainbow Bridge last year.Some of the photos are Scanned, others digital taken at different resolutions and some of both I am cropping.
Cropping should the Aspect Ratio be No Restrictions?
When I save them does it matter whether I Save or Save as in jpeg?
Image Options what should I put for Image quality & File size?
Thank you . Storm :)

[AngelicKim]

Hi Storm, When making a collage you want all the photos yout adding to be the same resolution. You do this from the menu bar, Image>resize>image size, you then pick your resolution, example 300 ppi, choose the size you want the imae to be, ex. 2 wide 3 inch high. Click ok.

You always to keep your images in proportion.

When saving your photos as save vs. save as, you should use save as. Other wise you will lose your original photo.

Hope this is helpful.

[Wendy]

Hi Storm ...

I just crop mine with no aspect ratio set and save it (with a new name) as a jpg best quality.

Then I simply drag it over to the montage I am working on and resize it within there using the move tool ... :)

I find it easier than trying to work out all the different resolutions and sizes beforehand ... and it seems to work just fine. Also it means that you don't resample the image before you start working on the montage ...

Wendy

[kevq]

Storm,
I'm with Wendy on this. I don't worry about resolution , just prepare your photo then drag it onto the page and resize. I do quite a few montages or collages; if you prefer that term. Never had any trouble showing them on the forum or printing them out.
Kev:)

[mom to 4]

Me, too, I haven't ever worried about the resolution, and so far, I have not had a problem. Glad to hear Wendy say that, so now I figure it is ok to do it that way!

[Wendy]

Hi Colleen ...

I usually try to do things by the simplest method :D :D ...

Wendy

[karen donnybrook]

Yes, the KISS method is the best, isn't it?

Karen

[Wendy]

Karen ...

Oh it is ... :D :D

Wendy

[karen donnybrook]

The other one that is very good is "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" :eek:

Karen

[AngelicKim]

Wendy, yes, thanks for posting about the resolution. The tut I have been been says to set all to the same res. Now I can get them done much faster.

[msbrad]

I'm excited that I have done the collage/montages the same way as most of you!
Storm, I am sorry to hear about your dog, and the rainbow bridge. Just recently went thru the same and I am in the process of creating a scrapbook dedicated to the little guy. In fact that is the plan for the Saturday crop.
Anyhow, I have a very nice saying we chose for his marker that I am including in his book, It will be the 2nd to last page followed by my favorite pic of him. If you would like to have it, write back and I will send the photo of it.
m

[Wendy]

Hi Kim ...

A lot of tutorials do say to sort out the resolution of the images first but I have found it simpler not too :o :o

... Its always worked OK for me :)

Wendy

[Caroleen]

So Wendy, if you get a photo and the resolution is only 180 or so, are you saying you won't have any problem printing it? I thought you had to have a large number of dpi's just for it to print properly. That would be a relief not to have to worry about that.

[Wendy]

Hi Carol ...

Some photos print out OK at 180 and some don't ... it depends on the image.

For montages you are usually reducing the size of the photo you add so resolution doesn't matter too much in those circumstances :)

Wemdu

[Storm1]

Hi - many thanks to every one that answered. So I take it that I just bring up one pic crop it , with no restrictions, save as under a different name. Then I click on x & get up another pic ,do any editing I want & Save it same way.
Then when I want to Start on my Montage bring pics back up one at a time ,resize them but they dont have to be all the same size e.g.2inx 4 in ??
Now is this when I should put them all at the same resolution e.g 300ppi, or Wendy are you saying do not bother with the Res at all ?? Little confused :confused:
Wendy when saving I have to chose a no for Quality & Low ,med , or High for compression . What no is top quality & which is is best for Compression ?
msbrad yes I would like to see the wording on your Marker you can e-mail it to me. Kind of you to offer.
I do not have many photos as I did not have a Digital. The ones scanned come out very dark. I know I could try & work on them ,but I know so little
right now it would take forever . If I manage to figure out this Layer stuff I will be happy enough:)
There is an Adult Education Class on Elements in our High School mid Nov. Its cheap $25 Can for two 2hr lessons. I was on holiday but managed to be 1st
on the Cancellation list.:)
Two months is a long time to have to keep praying.:)
Thanks again for help . Storm

[Wendy]

Hi Storm ...

When I am making changes to images so that I can add them to montages I just simply crop them (no aspect ratio set and no resolution set) and then save them with a new name. I save them as a jpg Quality 12.

Then I add then one at a time to my montage and use the move tool to resize them until they look the right size in my montage. (When you are doing a montage often you will have all sorts of different sizes of images in there)

One thing you need to do is keep your original somewhere safe, as time goes by and you learn more about Elements then you will want to restore them properly ... so make sure that you always keep a set of untouches originals. :)

Wendy

[kevq]

Storm,
when I started doing Montages I used to worry about different resolutions but I read some where that if you did it the way Wendy says, it doesn't matter. If you print it out or save for the web, the resolution is the one for the whole image, that is if you put say four 72ppi photos on a 300ppi background it will print at 300ppi.
Just go ahead, try it and have fun.
Kev

[msbrad]

Storm,
I will e-mail the photo to you this afternoon after work.
And if anyone else wants it too, I am happy to share.

Good luck with your collage, and please post when finished.
m

[Karin Sue]

Storm,

View this free tutorial if you haven't already: http://www.photoshopelementsuser.com/tutorials/t_introtolayers2.php

As to your resolution confusion, there is a step that I didn't notice specified in this thread: Make a new document set to the final size and resolution you want for your collage. (I usually make mine 8x10 at 300 resolution) Then drag and drop (copy and paste) the images you have prepared onto this document and move and resize them as you wish. (Hold down the shift key, or click the chain in the toolbar to avoid distorting as you resize.)

If you are planning to frame your collage, measure the viewable area of the frame. This can affect your design.

Go ahead and try some of the auto fixes on your too-dark photos. Sometimes the auto fixes work great.

[Storm1]

Thank you Karin Sue. I managed to get a good block of time over the Weekend & think I am finally starting to get the hang of it all
Never thought about Quick Fix will try it. Kevq said "go ahead try it & have some fun ". Thats what I did , it was wonderful . I feel sooo good instead of frustrated.
Think my Blood Pressure is in better shape :)
Thanks Storm