Those of you that just finished the photo editing class at Torrance Griffith Adult Center remember we made a very simple photo collage consisting of only two photos and a background image. The key technique we used to blend the photos together was to borrow the Layer Mask that is part of an Adjustment Layer and apply it to a normal layer. PSE does not have the capability to apply masks to normal image layers like Photoshop CS4.

Expanding the technique to more pictures and making a more interesting collage is possible, but it would take a fair amount of time. The process is only slightly shortened if you use a plug-in that directly gives PSE Layer Masks for normal image layers. By the way we do deal with such plug-ins in the Advanced Editing classes I teach.

But there is a much easier way thanks to Microsoft’s Research Labs. They have created a program called AutoCollage 2008, and it’s free to download. Here is the link to its home page.

            http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/cambridge/projects/autocollage/

There is a link there to download the program, which is Version 1.1 now. It is very easy to use. After you start the program, you basically just select your images and it does the rest. You do not have very much control of the placement, but you are done in a couple of minutes. One thing I did learn about using it is to avoid select portrait mode images. The program tends to rotate these, which normal you would not want to do.

I find this program to be very useful for making title slides for slide shows and videos. Using it for that, I just select a few of the pictures from the slide show. If you are using PSE, you can use the File > Export command to copy your chosen pictures to a temporary folder. Run AutoCollage using the pictures from that folder, and then delete them after you are done. Remember, since you used the Export command, they were copies that PSE disowned once they were copied. The originals are untouched. Below is an example from a recent slide show I made.

Until next time,

Don

Did you ever own a Disc Negative camera? In the 80s and for a few years, Kodak had a line of cameras that put  very small negatives onto a circular disk that resembles an old ViewMaster disk. Each disk had 15 pictures spaced around its circumference.

I had one of those cameras for awhile and ran across a few disks today. The negatives are so small, I could not even tell what was in the pictures. I first Googled to see if there are services that would transfer the images to a CD or at least print them. There are few places. My first thought was to send the disks I found today and have all of their images transferred to a CD.

I immediately went to Plan B once I discovered how mach that would cost. From my quick research, it appears that it would cost about $20 per Negative Disc. Here is the link to one company that provides such a service.

   http://www.pixmonix.com/110-126-disc-disk-negative-scanning.php

My Plan B was to scan the disks with my Epson V500 scanner. I put the disk into one of the larger negative holders that came with the scanner and used Vuescan to do the actual scanning.

Here is what a single frame scan looks like.

After cropping, straightening, etc in PSE 7, I was able to isolate images that are about the size from a 1-2 Mp camera. However, the quality is nowhere near that. The images will make a 4×6 print with reasonable quality and size wise are suitable for PC screen display or slide show DVDs. Below is an example of one of the pictures after enhancing it in PSe 7.

Now that I know how to do it, I will see what is on the other Disc Negatives I d found.

Until next time,

Don

The Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) is the plug-in within Photoshop Elements (and Photoshop for that matter)  that allows PSE to open and edit camera raw files.  

As new cameras are introduced they often change their raw file format or other inner workings that affect the raw image file written to the memory card. Adobe updates the ACR to accomodate the change. I normally did not worry about making sure I had the latest ACR, as long as my camera raw files could be opened and edited with whatever version of ACR I had installed. However, on occasion Adobe makes improvements to the ACR that are incorporated into the latest version that add to its capabilities.  So you need to occasionally check with the Adobe web site to see if a new version is available.  Here is the link  to the ACR Download page. Here is the link to the Readme file that describes how to download and install the new ACR.

The latest version is ACR 5.3, which was just released. Even if you have recently purchased PSE 7, you may not have this latest version. For example, I believe my PSE 7 (October vintage) came with ACR 5.1, but I am not certain of that. I do know I have updated it at least twice  since then. Also, unlike CS4, clicking on Help and then Updates apparently does not let you know about the new update. When I did this, it said my PSE 7 had all of the latest updates. To find out the version of ACR currently installed, open a image in the ACR and look in the upper left hand corner where you will see the version number.

 Also, this latest update is  compatible with with PSE 6, and Premiere Elements 4.0 and 7.0. However, you have to copy the file itself into the appropriate folders in each one of these programs. This is all explained in the Readme file. If you recently bought a new camera, you definitely want to upgrade to the latest version. Otherwise you may not be able to read the raw files from your new camera.

The picture above is a recent panorama  comprised of four images of the downtown Los Angeles taken from Kenneth Hahn Recreational Area. I need to return there after a rain. I suspect the view will be even more spectacular.

 Until next time,

Don