Elements can’t handle the kind of task you want in the order in which you’ve laid it out. In order to access Print Preview, an image has to be open on the desktop. There are a couple of options, though.
First option: Go to File>Print Layouts>Picture Package and choose a layout for, as an example, two 5 X 7 prints. When it comes up, you’ll have two the same. Click on the duplicate and you get the option of scrolling through and choosing a second image.
Second option: (my first choice) Create a new blank 8 X 10 canvas and set the resolution to match that of the pictures you want to print and choose a transparent background. Leave it open on your desktop and then use File>Open or the Browser to open the images you want to print on that page. As each opens, select the Move tool and just drag/drop the picture to the blank canvas. You can continue to do this until you have the page filled with as many images of various sizes as you want to print. It takes a lot longer to explain than to do.
These are brief descriptions. If you’d like more detail, repost and tell us which method you’ve chosen to try.
Really appreciate your help. Can get option 1 to work, but when I use the Move tool, I get a large image of the picture which I can’t get to locate into the new transparent folder. All I can do is to minimize, delete or go full screen with the displayed picture.
After (or before) I move the pictures using either method, I’d also like to insure a border around the picture and a caption indicating what the picture represents. Is that doable?
OK, the problem you’re having when using the Move tool indicates to me that the resolution of the new canvas is different from that of the image you’re moving. If, for example, you set your new "printing" canvas to 300ppi but the image you’re moving on to it is at a resolution of 150ppi, the image will assume the resolution of the canvas. In that example, the image would appear much smaller because the pixels have compressed by a ratio of 2:1. My guess is that you’ve set up something that’s going the opposite way. A new canvas defaults to a resolution of 72ppi; did you increase it to match that of the image to be printed? A 150ppi image moved on to a 72ppi canvas would appear over twice its original size. Each pixel of an image is going to transfer to the "allocated" pixel location of a new canvas on a pixel by pixel basis. This is a hard concept to explain, but think of it like graph paper (remember that?!) If you draw a figure at a ratio of 1 foot per square on paper that’s four squares per inch, that same drawing done at the same ratio on paper that’s two squares per inch is going to be much bigger. Pixels/resolution are much the same.
Try doing the reverse; open all of the images you want to print on one page first and check their resolution. Each should be the same in order to get a good match. (There’s a way around this, but let’s take it a step at a time so the instructions don’t become too convoluted.) Now create the new canvas, set at whatever resolution the pictures to be printed are at. Now drag and drop.
Borders: This word has a couple of different connotations in Elements, so we’ll have to clarify which one you’re asking about. My first thought was that you wanted a band of white around each picture like professional printing services used to do (the ones I’ve seen lately have gone to borderless, but I remember white!) The other kind of border people sometimes want is a colored band that encompasses a picture. What’s your pleasure?
Captions: Not hard, but you have to decide a couple of things. A caption on the picture itself is one way (and the easiest!) Or, you can increase the size of the image canvas through Image>Resize>Canvas Size, and set the anchor point at upper center. Your picture will be positioned at the top of the canvas with a band of white at the bottom on which a caption can be printed. Or! If you want to print the picture with a caption below on white but have the entire photo a standard 4 X 6, 5 X 7, etc., that will require some trickier resizing. All are doable, so let us know what you’d like. If you are choosing a white border like mentioned above, you could set up the image file so it made use of the lower part of the white border for the caption, otherwise you might wind up with a few new gray hairs trying to figure out how to get this set up without disturbing the aspect ratio of the image.
If you want a step by step explanation, post information about a sample image file so we’ll be able to use your numbers instead of you having to interpolate our directions to match what you’re seeing on the monitor.
Beth,
Hope this typically thorough, logical and informative Haney post means that things are better in your world. We miss you.
Bob
Jack,
One important point not mentioned in this discussion…
After you have dragged an image onto the blank canvas, you can then resize it to fit your needs. With the Move tool still selected, hold down the Shift key and drag one of the corner boxes to resize it (the Shift key ensures that the image maintains its original aspect ratio). To complete the resize, hit Return or click the check mark icon at the upper right of the toolbar.
Mark
Hi Beth,
I’d like to step in here and ask a "dumb" followup: Using your suggested "Second option (my first choice)", I created a blank 8X10 canvas at 72ppi. I then opened two images, each 2592 pixels(36 inches)X 1944 pixels(27 inches) at 72ppi; this is the size that images are imported into my computer from my camera. When I drag that image onto the blank canvas it is, of course, far larger than the canvas, so much so that resizing by dragging on its corner box is very difficult. How would you suggest that I resize those images so that they would "fit" on the 8X10 canvas and still be resolution-compatible?
Thanks,
Wendell
That’s not a dumb question, and it comes up a lot. There are a couple of "howevers" that have to be addressed first, though! (Aren’t there always?)
First, you don’t really want to print anything at 72ppi. That resolution is way too low for you to get a print of good quality. The recommended range is between roughly 150ppi to 300ppi. I strongly suggest something higher than 150, though. Each of us, as we work with our respective cameras and printers, find a sweet spot. For me, I don’t like to go below about 240ppi if I can avoid it.
Do this exercise, and you’ll begin to see how this "resolution" stuff works.
Make a copy of any original image from your camera and have it open on your desktop. Go to Image>Resize>Image Size and make sure there is NO checkmark is the box where it says Resample. Now start changing just the resolution and watch what happens to the physical measurements. As you increase the number in the resolution box the size of your picture as measured in inches goes down.
Change it to 240, and you’ll see you can make a nice 8 X 10 with just a touch of cropping.
Now change the resolution to 370, and you’ll bring the size down to just slightly over 5 X 7.
Now go up to 430, and you’ll have close to a perfect 4 X 6.
If you use this method for your initial resizing, you’ll be able to maximize the use of digital information in your original image.
Now, with a large camera like yours, it may be that you don’t want to actually print a 4 X 6 at 430ppi, so this is a situation in which you’d want to resample downwards. If I was going to do this, I’d first make sure I was working on a copy of the image. (More about this in a minute.) So, with the copy open on your desktop, first make sure it’s been resized to 430ppi to get as close to 4 X 6 as possible. Then select the Crop tool, and in the Option bar set the width and height to 4 and 6, depending on the orientation of the picture. Then set the resolution to 300ppi. When you click and drag on the picture you’ll get a selection that’s an exact size. Move it around by clicking and holding down with the mouse button on that little thingy in the center until the selection lines encompass the area you want to keep. Then go to Image>Crop. You’ve just made a perfect 4 X 6 at 300ppi. Elements resizes and resamples automatically.
NOW, if you have two or three of these that you want to print on one sheet, set your new canvas up according to my other instructions, but make sure the resolution is set to 300ppi. That should eliminate the problem you were having with a huge image that was too big for the canvas.
Back to the subject of copies. There are a number of us compulsive types on the forum who strongly advocate always archiving the original camera image. Most of us store these either on CDs or an external hard drive and work on nothing but copies. People often don’t see a value to that, but as you become more addicted to digital imaging you’ll learn a lot about editing. More than once I’ve wanted a fresh copy of an image file, because I’ve learned a better way to edit or have decided that I liked the little 4 X 6 print so much that I want to go back and make an 8 X 10. It always makes me sad when I see a post from someone who has "messed up" their only image and want to know if there’s a way to undo all of the edits they’ve done. Ah, usually not unless they’d archived the original.
More than you wanted to know, huh? Please post again with any other questions. The camera you’re using is going to provide you with a lot of digital detail, so we want to make sure you know the correct way to work with the pictures so you get the best prints possible. Just stay away from a resolution of 72ppi if you are going to print anything. I’ve suggested to Adobe more than once that they do users a disservice by using that resolution as the default in some functions. You’ll notice so far they haven’t been listening. 🙂
Edit: I forgot the part of the "lecture" where it’s recommended that you also convert images from JPEG to either PSD or TIFF format. JPEG is known as "lossy", which means that each time you edit and save changes the file is compressed again. Compression also means that digital information is tossed away. Over time an image can deteriorate in quality. PSE and TIFF are both non-lossy, and they also support saving layers. That’s another aspect of this digital stuff you’ll want to explore soon, too.
OK, now I’ll quit.
Thanks, Beth, for your prompt response.
"More than you wanted to know, huh?" NO! I absorbed — I hope correctly — every word. Thanks, again . . .
Wendell, in your message #6 you said
When I drag that image onto the blank canvas it is, of course, far larger than the canvas, so much so that resizing by dragging on its cornerWendel, box is very difficult.
You can always reduce the view (Ctrl-minus)until the image is totally visible, then resize it by holding down the Shift and dragging a corner until you get the size you want. Then simply move it to where you want on the blank canvas and increase the view back up (Ctrl-plus).
Mark
Are you using "contact sheet" in print layout? You arrange all the pictures you want on one page into a folder, set up the number of columns and rows that you need, and make sure that your page is set to 8 X 10. When it asks you for the source, you just point it to the folder with all the images in it, and they will load automatically. You can see it — and I think you can even add captions!
Audrey
