I think your best bet would be to make sure all of your images are the same size and the same resolution before you add your text.
Jim, thanks for the tip. Now, how do I go about doing that? Sizes of the flowers I take are quite variable. What I do is fit the flower size to the photo paper size, in this case half a 8.5 X 11 Canon Glossy, and the bottom half is the whole plant, for perspective. When the flower sizes differ as much as they do I still don’t see how to maintain consistency in the font size, since it is dependent so much on the enlargement of the image. I can get close in most cases, but viewing side by side, you can see some noticable differences that I’d like to get rid of.
Thanks again Jim.
Alan
Everyone’s workflow is a little different. And my approach to solving the problem you are having is based on what I would probably do in that situation. So if this suggestion doesn’t work, or if I’m really missing the point, I understand and I’m sorry. But this is what I would do.
This size you are describing sounds like it would be very close to a 5×7 inch photograph. So I would use the Crop Tool, and I would set those specific dimensions in the Crop Tool toolbar, along with whatever resolution I wanted. If these were going to be specifically for printing, I would probably set the resolution at about 300. Now, the Crop Tool will constrain those proportions, and the resolution will be kept uniform as well. Obviously, because of the size of some of the flowers, the magnification is going to be different. So that would put the responsibility on me to compose each picture so it would be aesthetically pleasing. It seems to me that with a little practice it should be possible to gain a feeling for how to compose your photographs as you shoot so they will work properly within a specific size.
Now I realize that this is probably going to start another discussion about whether to use the Crop Tool or the Marquee Tool. Everyone has their preference. But I have explained what has worked for me in the past, and if I understand your dilemma, it should work well for you, too.
Jim,
Thanks very much for the insight, and your experience. I’ll print this message line out and put your suggestions to the test tomorrow. I had not thought to use the Crop Tool. What I had envisioned was some option in Elements like what is available in paint where one can create a "box" in the photo, and type in the text within the box (which can be customized with different background colors for effect).
While I have you, I am having some difficulty in creating a montage of photos that I just took of my wife while vacationing in Colorado. I am following some instruction in a book I have (by Scott Kelby) but what I end up with is three photos that are not blended properly. One can still see the original photo edges. Any suggestions on that one?
Thanks again Jim.
Alan, the novice
There are ways that you can do text the way you are describing. For instance, you could create a new document in the same resolution as your pictures. Then you could paint that document with whatever background color you want. Next, enter your text and arrange it the way you want it to appear. Flatten the image, use the marquee tool to outline a box containing the text, copy that selection, make your photograph the active document, paste the selection, and then use the Move tool to position that box wherever you want it to be. That is just one method I can think of off the top of my head. You see, Photoshop Elements seems to have intentionally been designed to allow us users as much creative freedom as possible. Another advantage of using this method is that after you have pasted the box containing the text, if the size is not just right, you can use the Transform option under the Edit menu to adjust the size.
I’m not sure what kind of montage of pictures you are trying to create. If you are copying just portions of the different photographs and trying to put them together, you are probably using the marquee tool, or the lasso tool, or the magnetic lasso tool to make your selection. One of the best things you can do to help blend different pieces is to feather your selection. This causes the edges of the images to be softer so they will blend more easily. If you are trying to use three different photographs to create a panorama, then you should be using the Photomerge option that is available under the File menu. One of your options there is to enable advanced blending, and this will help to even things out. Panoramas are not that simple. I have found that I have better results if I take the time to adjust the color and the contrast to match as closely as possible before I attempt to do the photomerge.
It would help if you described your montage a little more fully. Then perhaps I or some of the others could be of greater assistance to you.
I really do appreciate the time and effort you have put into helping me with these issues Jim. I will try to do exactly as you describe for the text additions to the photos.
For the montages: I open one file of the wife for example. Then open another file of the wife. I use the Move Tool to drag on onto the other.
I then use the Layers palette, hold the Ctrl key and click on the Create New Layer icon/click back on the top photo, and press Control-G to Group the photo with the blank layer beneath it. Pressing D sets the background color as black.
I then get the Gradient Tool and press Enter and choose the second from the left. I then click in the middle, blank layer in the Layers palette to make it active. I then click the Gradient Tool in the center of the photo and drag upward and release. This should blend the two photos together, but it has not been doing that for me. I can still see the sharp edges of one photo overlaid on the first photo. As I open another file of another wife photo and merge that one, using the same steps as above, I get the same results.
I have used the Smudge Tool to smudge the edges, which looks good if done well, but I think I must be doing something wrong in retaining the sharp edges of the merged photos.
Again, I am impressed with your knowledge and very appreciative or your help.
Alan
I hope someone who has a little more knowledge than I will feel free to enter into this discussion. I am going to have to read through your workflow a few times and see if I can get a feel for what you’re doing. I feel like I know most of the basic things pretty well. But I have not had a lot of success using gradients, mainly because I just haven’t perceived a real need to use them very much up to this point. So I’m afraid I won’t be able to help you much in that regard. If I think of some ideas for you to try I will post them in this thread. In the meantime, keep watching in hopes that one of the experts will help you out.
Jim
Thanks, I will do that. I have another quick question for you. I could post as a different subject, but will try this first. I thought that instead of trying to label the photos with Text on the pictures themselves, that I would have the picture, both near, and away for perspective, on one page of a binder and the Properties of the pictures, with Comments section filled out, on the opposite page. Question: under Zoom Browser, with a photo active, I click View/Properties, which give very useful information about camera settings and etc. Is it possible to PRINT this Properties field??
Thanks Jim.
Alan
Okay, …. well, dang it anyway. Hate to have to copy all that info.
Later.
/s/
ACT
Can I offer something in reply to your first msg, Alan, about getting the type captions the same size on prints made from different size images. I dealt with this problem like this. First decide how high you want the type in the caption as a percentage of the print height. Say you decide on a uniform 5%. Now go to Preferences, Units & Rulers, and choose Pixels (instead of points) for sizing your type. Note the height of each image in pixels, multiply this by 0.05 (or whatever percentage you selected) and set this as the size of the type for the caption for this image.
It helps to have a calculator on your desk!
