Make Your Own Digital Photo Gifts
Here's how to create a digital photo collage, a custom greeting card, and a mock magazine cover.Dave Johnson
If you think about it, your digital camera is a gift-making machine. Everyone loves photos, and they're always a popular present. With Mother's Day right around the corner, why not surprise you know who with a picture that you took yourself?
But don't just tie a bow around an 8-by-10-inch print and leave it at that. If you put a little thought into it, you can cook up some really clever and thoughtful digital photo gifts. Just imagine how much more fun a photo collage or custom-made photo greeting card would be. Or try something totally wacky: Create a framed, make-believe magazine cover featuring your guest of honor!
In this article, we'll explain how to tackle each project using Jasc's Paint Shop Pro 7.0 ($109).
Make a Photo Collage
Why a collage? Because it's fun--fun to make and fun to get. People have been making custom photo collages for eons--long before computers came along. There are all sorts of ways to make a collage, but this particular technique makes the photos look like they've been torn right out of your photo album. You can go a step further and add captions too.
1. Start by creating a blank page in Paint Shop Pro by choosing File, New or pressing Ctrl-N. Enter the dimensions in the New Image dialog box. Since you'll probably want to print this as an 8-by-10-inch photo, using the drop-down menu, change the units to inches, and enter 8 for width and 10 for height (or the other way around, depending upon how you plan to orient the page). Set the resolution to 200 (that's the resolution of most ink jet printers). Click OK. You'll come back to this blank page later.
2. Now it's time to start assembling photos. Paint Shop Pro makes it easy to see all the photos in a single folder at a glance: Choose File, Browse (or press Ctrl-B) and use the folder list on the left to locate the pictures you want.
3. When you find your first photo, click it, hold down the left mouse button, and drag the picture onto any blank part of the Paint Shop Pro screen. (Don't place your photo in the new image page you created in the first step.) Your photo should show up in front of you a moment later.
4. Now it's time to crop the picture down to size. This is the cool part of the collage: Instead of a using bunch of rectangular photos, you're going to cut them up so that they look like you trimmed them with scissors. Click the Freehand button in the toolbar (it looks like a lasso). Next, to make sure it's set to Freehand mode, right-click anywhere on the toolbar, select Tool Options, and in the dialog box that appears, set the 'Selection type' to Freehand. Now click anywhere on your photo, and while holding down the left mouse button, drag the pointer around the part of the image that you want to put in the collage, completing the crop by encircling the image. (Either end the trace near where you started it, letting the program finish the loop, or drag over the trace line from the outside of the crop, letting the program remove any "cuts" inside the crop.) And don't worry if your lines looked jagged--you want things to look hand-done.
5. Another magic touch: Choose Selections, Modify, Feather and set the Feather Value to about 5 pixels, then click OK. This will create a slight blend effect so the edge of the picture blurs into the background.
6. Choose Edit, Copy (or press Ctrl-C) and then close the photo you just clipped, since you don't need it anymore. Click the blank collage image you created in the first step and choose Edit, Paste, As New Layer (or press Ctrl-V). The cropped photo will appear in the scene. Drag your image around until it's more or less where you'd like it.
7. You can even resize the image you've just pasted into your collage page. Choose Image, Resize (or press Shift-S), and change the number in the 'Percentage of original' section of the Resize dialog box. Also be sure to uncheck the 'Resize all layers' option at the bottom. If your image is way too big to fit in the collage, for instance, try resizing it to 50 percent and click OK. Since you've pasted the image into the collage using the 'Paste, As New Layer' command, the current picture is always the top layer, and the one you can resize. When you add another picture, that one will then be on top and therefore resizable.
8. Next, it's a simple case of lather, rinse, and repeat. Just return to the Browse window, drag another picture into a blank spot on your Paint Shop Pro screen, then edit, crop, paste, and resize it in your collage screen. Do this for every picture you want to add to the collage.
9. If you want to, add captions. Wait until all the pictures are positioned in the collage before you add your captions. That way, you'll have a better idea where to place the text and you'll see how much space is available. Start adding a caption by clicking the Text button in the toolbar (the icon with the letter A). Click the spot where you want your caption to appear--say, under or beside the photo--and you'll see the Text Entry dialog box. Type your caption, select a font and size--fatter fonts often look better--then click OK to make your text appear.
10. You can move the text around the screen later and even resize it by grabbing the text's handles in the center--but only as soon as you lay it into the image. If you add anything else to your picture, the text becomes permanent and you can't move it around anymore.
11. That's all there is to it. When you're done, save the file and get ready for printing your collage. You might want to make a test print on regular ink jet paper, but print the final one on glossy photo paper (about a dollar per sheet). The pictures will look their best, and they'll be more resistant to fading. Let your collage dry for at least ten minutes (away from direct sunlight) before you handle it. Mounting your print behind glass or plastic will also help prevent fading over time.
For more tips on how to select the best paper for your photo print jobs, see "The Paper Chase," and for advice on how to get the best results from your printer, see "Printer and Ink." For other image-editing tricks for photo printing, check out "How to Print Perfect Photographs."
Give a Custom Greeting Card
Hallmark doesn't have a monopoly on greeting cards--not anymore, at least. Now that digital photos and ink jet printers have become popular, you can make your own in no time. If you have access to a greeting card design program like Hallmark Card Studio Deluxe (programs start at $20)
1. Create a blank 8.5-by-11-inch page in Paint Shop Pro. Within the program, choose File, New or press Ctrl-N. Then enter the dimensions (8.5 inches wide and 11 inches high) in the New Image dialog box. Remember to set the resolution to 200, and click OK.
2. Your greeting card is going to be a "quad fold," which means you'll fold the page in half one way, then in half again the other way, to make your finished card. In order to know where each quadrant of the card is on the page, you need to mark the sheet with fold lines. Choose File, Preference, General Program Preferences from the menu and click the Rulers and Units tab. Change the Ruler Display Units to Inches and click OK. Then choose View, Rulers or press Ctrl-Alt-R. The page should now be bordered by rulers that you can use to divide the page.
3. Click the Draw button in the toolbar (it looks a little like a pencil). You're going to draw two straight lines on the page. Start by positioning the mouse pointer halfway down the page, right next to the 5.5-inch point in the vertical ruler. Hold down the Shift key on the keyboard, then click and drag the pointer to the right, across the page. You should get a perfectly straight line that divides the page in half. Now do it again, using the horizontal ruler: Position the pointer 4.25 inches across the page, hold the Shift key, then click and drag a line down through the middle of the page.
4. Now that you have identified the four quadrants of the page, it helps to know which is which. The bottom left is the back of the card, and the bottom right will be the front of the card. The upper left corner is the inside right portion of the card and the upper right is the inside left--but both of the upper portions are upside down. That means you'll need to flip anything you put in those two parts of the card so they'll be right side up when the card is printed and folded.
5. From here, making the card is a snap. Just add pictures and text, following the steps for the photo collage (see "Make a Photo Collage"), and paste other graphics if you like, as well.
6. If you want to place a digital image on the cover of the card, for instance, choose File, Open (or press Ctrl-O) and locate an image on your hard drive. After you open the picture, choose Edit, Copy (or press Ctrl-C) from the menu and then click the greeting card image to select it. Choose Edit, Paste, As New Layer (or press Ctrl-V), and the picture should appear in the card. You can click and drag the picture to position it in the lower-right quadrant.
7. Is the image too big? Choose Image, Resize (or press Shift-S) from the menu, and uncheck the 'Resize all layers' option in the Resize dialog box. Look for the 'Percentage of original' box and enter a number to resize the image--try 50 percent, for instance--and click OK. The picture should now be smaller. If you are happy with the results, move on; if not, choose Edit, Undo (or press Ctrl-Z) and try again.
8. Anything you put in the upper quadrants will need to be rotated 180 degrees so it's upside down on screen. To do that, choose Image, Rotate from the menu (or press Ctrl-R) and make sure that the 'All layers' option is not selected. Set the Rotate dialog box to spin the currently selected text or graphic by 180 degrees (left or right doesn't matter). Click OK, and the object will now be upside down.
9. After you've added all the text and digital images you need to complete the card, you're almost ready to print. First choose File, Page Setup and make sure that the 'Fit to page' option is selected. Click OK. Right before you print, erase the two fold lines by drawing over them with a paintbrush that's set to the card's background color. You won't need them anymore, and the card will look better without them.
10. Print out a test page on regular paper, just to make sure everything lines up properly. When you're ready to make the final print, try using cardstock made especially for printing greeting cards. If you can't find that, you can use paper advertised as "heavyweight" ink jet paper. HP's $9 Matte Greeting Cards pack,
Create a Snazzy Magazine Cover
This is one is always a big hit, and it's very easy to do. If you've got a nice photo of someone, make it the cover story of a magazine all about that person. For Mother's Day, for instance, why not make Mom Magazine and stick a picture of her on the cover? When you're done, just print it out on glossy paper using your ink jet printer, and put the finished photo in a frame. Here's how to do it:
1. Select the photo you want to use as your cover photo, and load the image into a new Paint Shop Pro screen. Your picture should be at least 2 megapixels (3 is even better) to make a sharp 8-by-10-inch print.
2. The first order of business is to add a border around the photo to give it a magazine-like format. A solid red border, for example, will give it a Time magazine look. In Paint Shop Pro, start by right-clicking the color palette (it's on the right side of the screen) on a red tone. That'll change the current background color to red.
3. Choose Image, Add Borders and enter a border dimension in the Add Borders dialog box. Leave the box beside Symmetric checked. Set the size of the border to a number between 60 and 100 pixels--the right size depends upon the image you're using. Click OK, and you'll see a red border appear around the image. If you think the border is too large or too small, choose Edit, Undo from the menu (or press Ctrl-Z) and try again.
4. It's time to add a title. You can call it Super Mom, Kristin Today, or anything else that strikes your fancy. Click the Text button in the toolbar and click in the upper half of the picture, more or less where the title should end up. The Text Entry dialog box will open. Set the text to Vector and check the Antialias option. Type a title, then select it with your pointer and adjust the font style, size, and color to taste. If you move the dialog box out of the way, you should be able to see the text change in the image. Don't worry about the exact placement, because you'll get to fix that in a minute. When it looks good, click OK. When the dialog box is gone, you can drag the text around the screen and even change its size. Move the pointer over the center of the text, then click and drag to move it. You resize the text by grabbing a corner. If you want to get fancy, you can even slant the text by clicking and dragging the small box to the right of the center of the text.
5. From here, it's all up to you. You might as well go to town on it. Add some cover lines to your magazine to make it look more like a real publication. You can inspect your favorite magazines to get a good sense of what looks right. Use any attention grabbers you want, like "Mom's 10 Hottest New Cookie Recipes," or "Jeremy's Street Hockey Adventure." Add an issue date and a price (your magazine isn't free, after all!), too. If you're ambitious, you can even photograph the bar code from a real magazine with your digital camera and paste it into the lower left or right corner of the cover.
6. When it's done, print it on glossy photo paper. This kind of paper usually runs around a dollar per sheet, but the final print will look much better than if you use regular ink jet paper. Then frame the cover. Whoever receives your gift is sure to love it.
For more tips on how to enhance your expertise with your digital camera, sign up for Digital Focus, Dave Johnson's weekly newsletter. For back issues, check the Digital Focus Archive. And go to Top Image Editing Tools to download some shareware image-editing utilities.