Trying to create ten 1" head shots on a 6x4 card

[Soupy]

I am a beginner and I am trying to create a 6 x 4 card that contains 10 head shots of different people (1” x 1” each). I want the pictures to go around the edge of the 6” x 4” photo card with greetings in the center. There would be 4 pictures on the top & bottom and 2 in the centers. What is the easiest “best” way to do this so that I get 10 perfect 1 inch pictures? I have been somewhat successful, but I don’t have pictures all the same size. I would like to also create a template for this, but I thought I would stick to the most important question first. Thanks.

[Rusty]

Hello Soupy, welcome to the forum.

There's probably a much easier way to do this, somebody will be along..., but this comes to mind.

Create your "base" as a plain, solid color image sized 4x6. Click "View" and turn on both the ruler and the grid

Create a new, blank layer above the BG layer, with that layer active use the rectangular marquee tool to draw a 1-inch square. This will be easy because, with the grid active, it will snap right to the grid line. Then, Alt-Backspace fills that selection with whatever you have as a foreground color.

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1vAtgldFjbbjBtYm3iwsN4oFEY0dtU_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1vAtgldFjbbjBtYm3iwsN4oFEY0dtU)

All you do now is duplicate that layer ten times and you have the desired 1-inch squares. You should change the color of each new layer-square as you make the copies. It doesn't matter what the color is, just be able to tell them apart. Now, use the move tool to position the ten squares around where you want them.

Rusty

[genevh]

Sorta like this?

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/15hTFhybK6VHB5hFSBuwM1i3kjpD0_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=15hTFhybK6VHB5hFSBuwM1i3kjpD0)

Here's what I did......
1. Crop your pictures by setting the width and height in the crop tool to 1" by 1". Don't worry about the number, you just want to constrain the tool to keep all four sides equal. 5x5 would work too. Wipe out whatever number shows up in the resolution box when you crop. Save each picture as a new file so you don't damage your originals.
2. Go to File -> New -> Blank file and create your document. You may want to color the background once created.
3. Go to View and check Grid.
4. In Edit -> Preferences go to the Grid setting and set the gridline box to every 0.33"
5. Open each picture, and with your destination picture up in the main edit window, start dragging and dropping each picture into place using the grid lines as your guide. Hold the ALT key and you can resize the pics to 3X3 blocks, giving you 1" square pictures as you go. Each picture will end up in its own layer on top of the blank file you created. If you drop one and need to move it or resize it again, highlight the layer the picture is on in the right hand panel under Layers, hit V, then move or resize the picture to where you want it.
6. When done with the pictures you can turn off the grid by going to View again and unchecking grid. Unless you want to use the grid to help line up your text.
7. Go to the left panel and select the Text tool. Pick your font, color, etc. and click in the middle of the file and start typing away. The text will appear on its own layer also and can be moved around when you are done typing to get it exactly where you want it.

Hope this helps!!! And welcome to the forums!!!!

Oh....and don't forget to save your new postcard

[genevh]

Another idea......

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1cwWr9bkhb7t4yCiee1QmXaGew30_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1cwWr9bkhb7t4yCiee1QmXaGew30)

You can use a picture for your background if you want instead of a solid color. You could start out with a 6x4 picture instead of a blank image file, and lower its opacity with the slider in the layers panel in the left hand menu. Select you picture, copy it onto its own layer (CTL-J in Windows), then start dragging your cropped pics onto it as in my previous post.

Have fun......

Hmmm...Rusty and I were typing at the same time!!! :)

[Soupy]

Thanks much for your help! I can't tell you how many hours I worked on this. I am finally on the right track. I tried your suggestion of taking a 6x4 picture and lowering the opacity to use as a background. I cropped a picture to the 6x4 size and did ctl-j to duplicate the layer. The opacity slider was there to use, but nothing happened. Am I still missing a step?
Soupy

[Soupy]

I might as well ask my last question pertaining to this project. Can you set up a template so next year I could just drag or paste the new pictures in those squares? One of the "Create" projects has this type of setup.

Forgot to thank Rusty for his help. The thumbnail looked familiar. My husband has one just like it from spring training. Our son lives in Wauwatosa and we are near Madison.

[Rusty]

I think whether you do it my way or Gene's way, a template file can be saved before you start adding all the images.

I didn't bother to position these exactly the way you described but here's the general idea...

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1GQVUUYeSyv58vtkVX85i31wLnwEx0_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1GQVUUYeSyv58vtkVX85i31wLnwEx0)

After you have all of your ten squares where you want them, save the file as "template-whatever". Then, every time you want that same layout, use that template.

Note - my use of a file like this contemplates selecting each of the ten "spots" and then doing "Past Into Selection" to add your head shots. There are a number of other ways to do it as well.

Rusty

[genevh]

Soupy:

If you did CTL-J and created a new layer and lowered the opacity on it, the reason your not seeing the change is probably because the bottom layer is still showing through. Click the eye beside that layer so the layer no longer shows through.