Laura Vegas

i get a lot of comments and emails about how i print my photos into smaller sizes … and i do answer everyone. lol! but since i usually respond just to the person that commented … i suppose there are some of you out there that might still be wondering if i'm ever going to answer. guess it would help to start answering some of the commonly asked questions here on the blog itself. first up, let me show you the layout … then i'll explain how i resize and print.

just love these photos of sarah that i took for our christmas cards. i have the ones of alyssa printed out to scrap next. i decided to use the same type of photo placement that i used on the layout of haley the other day (see a few posts down). except i only had 3 small photos … so i added pattern paper and my title to one of those spots. all the product on here is from the new making memories "chloe's closet" collection, which is exclusive to michaels stores … you can find it in stores now.  

now on to the photo resizing and printing … using the photos on this layout as my example. keep in mind that my way isn't necessarily the right way … or the only way. just happens to be what i personally do … and what has worked for me for over 2 years now! and make sure to click on any of these samples to see them bigger … they should appear larger for you.

so the first thing i do is pull up the photos that i'm wanting to print. i mainly use photoshop CS2 for this … but occasionally i use elements too. they both work! for this layout, i had 4 photos total. i like to pull them all up … and then minimize all but the one i'm working with. that way i can have the photo i'm working on … but all the others are right down in the photo tray. i go back and forth a lot.

for these 3 photos, i knew that i wanted to print them smaller. one of my favorite sizes to print is the 2×3 inch. but for this layout, i knew i was using a 5×7 of my focal photo … so i wanted the smaller ones to be 7 inches tall also (when stacked 2 high). i choose a 2×3.5 size for each of these photos. i simply clicked on the crop button … and put in my size dimensions that i wanted, making sure the DPI was set at 300. then i can drag the cursor over what part of the photo i want to crop … and it will keep that 2×3.5 dimension with whatever part of the photo i want (whether i'm cropping in close or not). so each of these photos here are cropped down to the size i want. now to get them onto a canvas to print.

this is my usual way of printing. i create a new canvas at 8.5×11, making sure the DPI is at 300. my photo printer works with standard paper size … although a wide format printer would be so nice for larger prints! then i simply copy and paste my photos onto the canvas … arranging them where i want. each photo you add on becomes a new "layer" … and you can move each one around seperately. see that little bottom box on the right side of the screen? that shows my layers … just click on the layer you want to adjust … and you can work with just that layer. because i'm going to print this out and then trim all the photos apart … i just arrange them however i need to to make them fit on the page. so here are the 3 smaller photos … and the larger photo that i also added that is 5×7 in size. you can also rotate photos to make them fit … don't forget that. it's not going to matter once you print them, because you will trim them out. i do like to leave some space in between the photos … because sometimes i like to trim them with white borders. once the photos are arranged, you'll want to flatten all your layers … very important. then you can print!

this is the other way i print. if i know that i'm going to put my photos side by side or in a collage … then i'll arrange them that way on the blank canvas. that way, i only have to trim out one large photo … as opposed to trimming the smaller photos and then adhering them side by side. so this example here shows the 5×7 photo … and then my 3 smaller photos arranged just like i have them on my layout. i could just print this, and trim the collage … and then adhere my pattern paper right over the blank spot. make sense? i didn't happen to do that for this layout … but if i knew my plan, this would be a great option. sometimes i like to have borders between my photos. so if i wanted that … i would just arrange my photos leaving that small gap … and then trim right around it. kind of like in this layout HERE. once again … just make sure and flatten your layers before printing.

and just one more idea. this is great for if you don't print at home … or if you just want to order your photos through an online site or local printer. i do this a lot actually. i have an awesome photo printer (although i paid less than half of that price it shows now) and just love it. but i'm also loving costco lately. this example shows how i used the same 3 smaller photos. but this time, i copy and pasted them onto a 5×7 blank canvas, at 300 DPI. the photos are 3.5 tall … so that adds up to the 7 inches tall. and the combined width is only 4 inches … so that just means you'll have an extra inch to trim away. but once you have the pics on there … just flatten the layers and then save it as a seperate file. then simply upload this to your favorite site and you can order prints. this is a 5×7 … so i would just order a 5×7. if you wanted to do 4×6's … you would just resize whatever photos you wanted to fit a 4×6 canvas and do the same steps. when you can order prints for 15-40 cents each (depending on the size) … sometimes it's easier to just do this and not have to mess with the printing yourself.

ok … hope that made some sense? and hope i didn't make it sound to complicated … i have a tendancy to do that. lol! it's really not that hard … and once you get the hang of it, it's super easy to do. please feel free to ask any questions that i havn't answered on this. i'll do my best to answer any i can!

are you going to CHA? no, i'm not going … but would love the opportunity someday. i think it would be an amazing experience. but i have lots of projects that will be there … so does that count?!?!

more info on flattening the layers? i'm no digital smartie. but the way i see it, is that every time you copy and paste a new photo onto your canvas … it creates a new layer. this way, you have control over each one individually … and can change up or remove each one individually … and not have to start all over if you mess up. i had 4 photos on here … so i had 4 layers. but once they're all arranged and how you want them … you have to flatten them to make one solid canvas. if you go to the toolbar across the top and find "layers" … a drop screen will come down and you'll click on "flatten layers". if you don't flatten … you can't print. and if you ARE in the middle of working on a canvas and want to stop … you can save it. it will save as a photoshop file … and next time you open it, all your layers will still be there and you can continue where you left off.

printing as a 4×6? don't know that anyone specifically asked about this … but i feel like chatting about it. totally same idea as the 5×7 i mentioned. and btw … the 5×7 could totally be printed as 4 photos at 2.5×3.5, and they would fit perfectly. mine just happen to be 2 inches wide. like i said … i love the 2×3 size. basically a wallet size. so you can crop 4 photos to 2×3 … and fit all of them on one 4×6 print.