Photo Montage Template Tutorial?

[Diana]

Does anyone know of an Elements tutorial to make a photo montage template....one you can save and use with different photos? Something on the order of this one in Pauline's gallery...
http://www.photoshopelementsuser.com/gallery/view_img.php?id=3092
I think I remember you said you found that one ready made, Pauline?

I want to make one myself...have tried to get started but can't seem to get the cut-outs to go through all the layers using the cookie cutter tool and end up with transparent holes to add the photo layers. Also, to add frames around each hole. Are there other methods? Anyone have any ideas?

Diana

[Ward Grant]

Have you looked at Wendy's always helpful mini tutorials-there is one on making montages, as well as others reference adding pictures

http://www.photoshopelementsuser.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3602&highlight=mini+tuts

[Diana]

Thanks, Ward. I have kept an eye on Wendy's mini-tuts and I have created montages. But that's different than creating the type of template that I want to do.

Diana

[Ward Grant]

I looked at the one you mentioned in Pauline's gallery. I concur this is very well done and hopefully she will be along soon to give you more details. The framing really sets off each mini-picture. I think I could do the cut-outs, but I'd be hesitant to offer any framing tips. Good luck.

[CarolLHB]

Diana-there's an article in the newest newsletter about creating layouts for scrapbook pages that I'm sure will work well for what you are looking for:)

[NMarti]

Diana,
I also used the wedding template in the video tuts in subscriber area. In fact he even mentions saving it as a template to reuse. I have done multiple ones based on that tut and just open, delete existing picture and replace with a new one. Works quite well.

I'm sure Pauline will be along shortly to tell you how she did hers.

[Diana]

I'm not able to use the videos as I have a dialup connection which is just too slow. I haven't received my current newsletter yet. I'm looking forward to getting it so I can try that tutorial out. Thanks for your feedback.

Diana

[kevq]

Diana,
I'm pretty sure that Pauline got the tut from a scrapbooking site she belongs to.
No doubt she will be on line soon with all the information.
Kev.

[kerriann85]

Yep, that newsletter article is just what you need. And then take it as adapt it to difference "holes" as you want them.

[Pauline]

Hi Diana that particular template was a download from Scrappers guide. It really is a wonderful site. She does a new issue once a month and for the price, it's really reasonable since you get a tutorial and downloads. With that months there was also instructions to make your own (sadly I've never tried it yet, just used the ready made template as I was in a hurry)

You can make your own template by using the shape tools.

Open a new blank file the size you want.
Decide the shape you want for your main photo and drag the shape out.
When you let go of the moouse your shape will fill with the foreground colour.
-continue to draw all the shapes you want for your page design.

Now go to each individual shape. Ctrl + click to selection the shape. Create a new layer, then with a different colour from the shape choose
Edit>stroke outline selection. (select 20 pixel for stroke size, choose center for location) This stroke outline will be your template.

You can use the line tool as well as the shapes tool to make selections.

When you are all done laying out your template click the eyes next to the shapes layers to hide them so only the stroke lines are visible. This way you can tell which strokes or lines you don't want.

When you are happy with what you have you can delete all the shapes and you are left with just the stroke outlines. Merge them together.

To fill the shapes open your photos. Use the magic wand and make sure "contiguous" and "sample all layers" are checked in the options bar
click insie the shape area you want to fill to get a selection outline
click ona shoto to select it
chose Select>all
chose Edit>copy
click on your template page
chose Edit> PASTE INTO SELECTION
Do NOT deselect yet. Use your move tool to move your photoaround within the selection. If you need to resize use Ctrl + T for free transform.

double click inside the outline or click the check mark to confirm your selection

Select>deselect and you photo will be cut to the selection shape (which is why you cannot deselect until it's the way you want or you won't be able to move your photo around. It will be cropped to the shape)

Well I hope you can understand this. I haven't made my own template yet, as I said. The reason that you fill the selections and then delete them is that you need something to be able to stroke around. You can change the colour of your template borders by clicking it to select it and changing the colour. That's what I ended up doing. I think I might have also used a bevel or something on there.

GOOD LUCK!!

[Diana]

Wow, thanks, Pauline. I just found your instructions. I'm excited about trying them, but it's too late tonight, so I'll print them off for tomorrow. Thanks a lot for going to all the trouble of typing all that out for me. I appreciate it.:D

Diana

[Pauline]

Diana I just hope they aren't too confusing. I was trying to condense about 3 pages of instructions that gave 3 different methods. Hopefully once you start you will understand the concept and it will work out okay!! I really should try it myself, so just know I only used the ready made template and have yet to make my own!! Let me know how it goes.

[Wendy]

Hi Diana ...

I have been away for a few day and have only just returned ...

This is something I haven't tried to do ... but it should be fairly easy to replicate. If I get time later today I'll see what I can do :)

Wendy

[karen donnybrook]

Welcome back Wendy, how did your weekend go?

[Wendy]

Hi Karen ...

I had a great time ... but what a lot of messages were waiting when I got back :)


Wendy

[karen donnybrook]

I bet there were :eek: Where did you end up and was your passport really necessary or just a dud clue?

[Wendy]

Hi Karen ...

We ended up in Ghent in Belgium and the main place we visited was Waterloo (where the battle was held)

It was brilliant !!


Wendy

[Diana]

Well, here are my results. I followed Pauline's steps with some variations as I wanted to make my photo "windows" "empty" so I could slide a photo layer beneath them.

One thing I found is that if you want to apply separate layer styes, such as bevels and frames to the "windows" you have to leave the components unmerged until you get all the styles applied or you get the same effect on everything, including the background.

The first image is a practice one I did just to try to get a technique down and I posted a screen print so you can see the empty windows and the photo partially slid in.

The second image is where I tried to create a similar design of the template Pauline used in her gallery. I hope you don't mind, Pauline, I just wanted to see if I could do it. I filled all the windows with various great-granddaughter photos just to see how it would work.

http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/5672/montagetemplatepractice6ml.th.jpg (http://img443.imageshack.us/my.php?image=montagetemplatepractice6ml.jpg)
http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/2058/montagetemplatehayden6la.th.jpg (http://img99.imageshack.us/my.php?image=montagetemplatehayden6la.jpg)

Now that I know how to do it, I can come up with some design ideas of my own. Thank you to all who responded. Pauline, your steps really got me moving in the right direction.:D

Diana

[Diana]

Whoops, as you can see by the second image, in doing it this way, when you slide the photos beneath the "windows" it's important to get the layers in the right order. I see that my main image is overlapping the lower left image which I didn't catch until I posted (was in kind of a hurry).

Diana

[Wendy]

Hi Diana ...

I have posted a quick tut on making these sort of templates and have tried to add in steps so that people who are new to Elements will be able to do it. Its a bit different to Paulines but not too much :)

http://www.photoshopelementsuser.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6183

Wendy

[Pauline]

Diana, I'm so glad it worked for you!! Look terrific. You've done a great job. Now as for your layer styles, all you need to do is make a selection first of the area that you want the selection to apply to and then use your layer style.

An example is that for me, I just opened up the template. Then I put my pictures in. Each picture goes on it's own layer, and the template was the bottom layer. If I wanted something done to that picture like a shadow inside the template I ctrl click onto the picture layer and apply the effect I wanted.

I'm glad you managed to follow those instructions! It was long, but I figured once you got the concept you would be okay with it.

[Diana]

Pauline, thanks for that additional piece of information--I didn't know that.

Wendy, thanks for that in depth tutorial. I'll compare it to what I did and I'll probably learn something new. Where did you get the curved shapes? I finagled around with the rectangle tool and "add-to shape" with the circle tool to get mine but I figured there must be a better way or a ready-made one somewhere.

Diana

[Pauline]

Diana if you use the "paste into selection", once you confirm your changes the extra photo should crop away so that you don't have to do it yourself.

[Wendy]

Hi Diana ...

You can use the rectangular marquee then subtract from using the lasso ... or any other selection tool. Or use any of the cutmon shapes :)

Wendy

[karen donnybrook]

Thanks for the montage tutorial Wendy. I have printed it out for future reference. :)