Topic: what software to use for photo collages?

[maria9547]

I have Adobe Photo Deluxe Home Edition and its driving me nuts.  I'm trying to compose a photo collage of a lake trip and I have to resize my photos so small (almost 1" x 1")that you need a magnifying glass to really see the picture practically.   They come out all "broken up"....its something to do with the pixels I think. I want the pictures to come out to be about 2" x 2".  When I use my digitial camera I use the best resolution for email pictures. The "Help" section in the program isn't much help and I've never done this before.  Is there something out there easier to work with or am I just a nimrod?  Don't answer that!  Just help me pleeease!

[Sandra]

Hi Maria,
I think that most picture editing programmes are similar in the way that they work and the sizes that you work with them in the program.
After any resizing you should run the "Optimiser" that most programs appear to have,this may help improve them a little.

Our resident photo editing experts are probably asleep now (Adept and Tony)but I am sure they will be able to offer more/better advice than I can  

[Adept]

Sorry I'm afraid I don't know much about Adobe Photo Deluxe but it sounds to me as if the photos are not being taken at sufficient resolution to be printed out. The best resolution for email pictures will almost certainly be far too low to be usable for printing out.

Your best best is to use a higher resolution on your digital camera

[Tony]

Hi there Maria,

I'm no expert [Sandra's just being kind] I just love laking with things   but it is all down too pixels. The lower they are the smaller the image will be in relation to it being worth looking at.

Is it a cheap digital camera, I have a cheap £27 digital, better on inanimate objects than facial shots [all down to pixels] I have it set on large resolutions, and it can reproduce not half bad 8" x 6" desktop background images [photo of the grandson]  

Have you got a scanner? If so try scanning a good quality photo, like a school photo of yourself and lake with the photo editing software. If the results are OK then your not a nimrod  

[Sandra]

I just had an idea,but I havent tried it,when you use a scanner doe it give you the option of save as .jpg or .bitmap.
Is it possible to save the images from a digital camera as a bitmap at all?
I know that scanned images done in .bitmap are massive so would that be a better format to save them in and work on them,then convert them back to .jpg for e mailing  

[Tony]

Yes Sandra you can save images in any format either from a scanned photo, or a downloaded image from a digital camera. However the image on the digital camera is stored as a jpeg. but you can change it to whatever you want once it is on the PC.

So for best results you have to set the camera up for 'Large' resolutions and 'Best' in the quality option [those are the options you get with my cheap digital camera] Unfortunatley the more info stored on the memory chip, the less photo's you can store, there is always a trade off.

Here is a link to a web page of two photos of the apple of my eye, my Grandson   you will see what I mean Click Here

[maria9547]

Thanks everyone.  I'll try your suggestions & see what happens.  I couldn't give up yesterday, so I kept trying all kinds of things.  I did an "instant fix" and I think that helped with the resolution.  Next, I want to try to enlarge the pictures...they are already in jpg format.  I'm glad you guys are here for us less than fortunate in computing skills....whew!  Thanks again

[Sandra]

Its a good job that the lad inherited his other granddads looks and not yours Tony  

[Tony]

The wife reckons he is the spit and image of me, see I told you she was lovely. Anyway neither Charlie nor me have seen his other Grandad, so it's a good job he's got me who loves him to bits.  :adept:

[Clive]

He certainly has a gleam in his eye Tony.    He will go far, mark my words!