Using Adobe Photoshop Picture Package for Great Digital Photos

With the holiday season just around the corner, most of us - especially those of us who are obsessed with our digital cameras - are looking for ways that we can include or flat out use some of our amazing pieces of photographic genius in holiday gifts and cards. You could always cram the photos you want to use on a flash drive and battle traffic to elbow your way through the shopping crowds at your local department store just to stand in line and wait to use their enormous photo printing machine ... or you can go the easy route and do it right at home with professional results.

All the most recent versions of Adobe Photoshop have a series of commands that are found under "File", "Automate" that do a ton of work for you with very little input. One of those commands is called "Picture Package". Imagine the sheets of photographs you get from a professional photographer - or the ones your child is sent home with after school picture day. Combined into one sheet are pictures that range from itty-bitty to wallet size to frame-able beauties. This is what Photoshop's Picture Package does for you - create a full sheet of photos that are ready to be cut and used professionally.

What will you need to follow this quick and easy guide? Not much. A copy of Photoshop (CS, CS2, or the current CS3 will all work) is essential. The other thing that you'll need is at least one photograph that you want to use. That's it.

Photoshop Picture Package - The Steps

1. Create a Folder (optional): If you have more than one photograph that you'll want to use for your picture package, you need to create a brand new folder on your computer that you can place them in.

The easiest method for a PC is to right-click on your desktop and choose "New". Select "Folder" from the pop-out list. When the folder is made, you can name it "Picture Package" or anything else you like that will help you identify it easily. Then, copy-paste the photographs you plan on using into this new folder.

2. Automate It: With your photo or photos located and ready to go, fire up Photoshop and then go to "File", choose "Automate", and select "Picture Package" from the list. This will open a dialog; the only work we'll have to do ourselves happens in this little dialog, and we'll go through it piece-by-piece in the next few steps.

3. Source Images Panel: The very first option in the dialog asks us whether we want to use a file (a single photograph) or a folder (all the photographs you've placed in a folder). To access the "folder" option, you'll need to click the arrow beside "File" and choose "Folder".

With that done, you need to tell Photoshop which file or folder you want it to use. To do that, click the "Browse" button directly below the "Use" option. You'll need to navigate to the file or folder you have ready, and then click "Open". When you do this, give Photoshop a moment to work. It will open the photograph(s) you've chosen and use them to display a preview in your dialog.

4. Layout Panel: There isn't anything you need to set up with this, but I thought I'd point it out now. As we continue going through adjusting our settings, the "Layout" panel will change. This is a preview that shows you exactly how the photographs will print with the settings you've chosen. You'll want to reference it as you go on.

5. Document Panel: Several settings are nestled inside the "Document" panel. Most of them we won't have to mess with, but it's always a good idea to understand what they mean even if we don't want to change them. Let's start from the top of this panel.

First, we have the Page Size setting. By default, Photoshop sets the page size as being 8" x 10". Most photo paper (in whole sheet size) is the standard paper size of 8.5" x 11". There is a reason for the "wasted space" though. For one, printers will not print clear through to the very edges of paper. For another, even if a printer was set up to do that, we'd wind up with photographs that have bits cut off where we weren't expecting it. Most of us will leave this setting alone, but if you have a specialty printer that will work with larger sheets of paper, you can go up in size to 11" x 17" with this setting.

Layout is the next setting in the Document panel. This is the setting we'll wind up playing with the most, and is the coolest part of Photoshop's Picture Package. Adjusting the layout is easy; all you need to do is click the arrow and select a new grouping of photo sizes. Play with it for a moment and you'll notice that each time you select a new "package", the Layout Panel will change to reflect the actual layout you've just picked. The picture(s) will be rotated and centered so that they print properly on your sheet of photo paper. Which package you choose is all up to you and what needs you have for your photographs.

Resolution is next in line and is the setting we really don't want to play with. 300 pixels per inch is what Photoshop uses as a default, and results in the highest quality print you'll achieve off of a home printer. You can lower this number, but your photo quality will suffer as a result. What this setting does is tell the printer how many pixels need to be printed per inch of photograph. The more pixels, the more detail - the fewer pixels, the less detail.

Mode comes next. This is a setting that gets into a whole set of technical jargon that we really don't need to understand for our purposes. RGB is the standard setting, but you can change it to CMYK if you have a higher-end printer that uses separate tanks for each color of ink. Most of us will just leave it at RGB and call it good.

The last setting is a little tick box that says "Flatten All Layers". If you're printing a standard photograph, you probably don't even need to understand this - what it is asking is if you want all the layers in what you're printing to be merged. This really only comes into play if you're printing art work or manipulated photos ... you can tick it or not, it's up to you.

6. Label Panel: There are several more options in the Label panel, and they're not even vital to the photo package. If you don't want anything to be printed beneath your photos, leave the setting to "None" and click "OK".

Want something printed on your pictures? Cool - and very easy. First, you need to decide what you want printed. You can choose between printing Custom Text, the Filename, Description, Copyright, Credit, or Title. Everything but "Custom Text" will use the file properties to set the text for you. You can choose what type, size, and color of font you want it printed in ... but that's it. The Custom Text option lets you do those things, and decide exactly what you want it to say beneath the photos. Most often, this is used as a watermark tool.

7. Let Magic Happen: When you're satisfied with your settings, click "OK" and sit back ... Photoshop has some work to do (aren't you glad you're not having to do all the things flashing on your screen?). When it's done, you have a single document filled with your resized and perfectly placed images ready for printing and gift giving.

Told you this was quick and easy.