Portfolios and Photo Albums

September 8, 2008

Photo RSS

Created and Maintained by:
The Photoimaging Information Council

SEARCH TGP

Columns

Enter Your E-Mail Address:

i want to unsubscribe

We respect your privacy and will NEVER send you SPAM e-mail or sell your information. That is our Guarantee to you.

GIVE US YOUR SUGGESTIONS & FEEDBACK ABOUT THE SITE
We will send you an E-mail every time there is a new article in your favorite section. Sign-Up For ALERTS.

Family Photo Projects

View Slide Show | Print Article | E-mail Article

Portfolios and Photo Albums

by Jill Enfield
A Process Made Easy With Your Epson Printer

Article rating: 8.12

One of the many conveniences of the digital age is being able to make all types of portfolios and photo albums in the relaxed setting of your own home.

The possibilities are endless. I buy ready made books and glue in my pictures. However, a few friends are big into hand-bound books and will make a template, print out the images and fold and re-fold until they have a beautiful and hand-crafted book.

EPSON manufactures all of the materials and equipment needed for these projects, enabling you to make your own lovely keepsakes for your photos as well as gifts for friends. I use the Epson 2200 printer, but there are also many other models of varying prices and features. Here is how to do it:

Step 1:

Whether scanning film or prints, the Epson 4180 flatbed scanner is compact and can accommodate both of these functions. Once scanned, the images are in the computer and ready to be organized in a fashion that will enable you to size them and efficiently place them on a page to be printed out. (Of course, digital images side step a need for scanning). Then cut each image out, glue them or use photo corners to place them in an album.

Step 2:

Decide on the size of your book. I have a book I bought that is 5 x 7 inches. Therefore, the images must be a bit smaller at about 4.5 x 6.5 inches. I print out several pictures on one page to save paper and time.

Step 3:

Adobe Photoshop is a picture program that makes it easy for you to open, size, color correct and even manipulate all of your images. So, to begin with, open the images that you want to use. Of course, you can now print them out from here, one at a time, but that wastes paper. So, either skip down to step #7 or read on.

Step 4:

I like to save paper, and although this will take a bit longer, it is very easy to do. While keeping the images open, Go to File>New. This will open a new page to transfer the images to and print them out all at once.

Step 5:

The MOVE TOOL is the top right tool choice on the tool bar. Click on the Move Tool, then click on the picture that you want to move. Holding the mouse down, move it over to the new page. You then need to click on another image, move it to the new page and keep going until the page is full with images.

Step 6:

Each image is on it’s own “layer” which makes for a pretty big file. This translates to: you image is taking up space on your computer. Once you are happy with the picture placement, you are ready to “flatten” the file and print.

Step 7:

Flattening the file gets rid of the different layers and makes the file smaller (which will take up less space on your computer and print faster). To do this, go up to Layer > flatten image. You are now ready to print.

Step 8:

Make sure to choose the correct size of your paper and paper type before you print. Go to File > Page Set-up and choose your printer, paper size and paper orientation (horizontal or vertical).

Step 9:

Next go to File > Print with Preview so that you can make sure the image is in the correct position. Then hit PRINT.

Step 10:

The print box opens and you need to click on COPIES AND PAGES. At this point the drop down window opens, and you click on PRINT SETTINGS.

Step 11:

Another drop down window opens. Pick the types of paper you are using (in this case it is ENHANCED MATTE PAPER), type of ink (COLOR) and for MODE: ADVANCED SETTINGS. Check off high speed, and put print quality at about 1440dpi (this will depend on your printer and paper selection).

Step 12:

Then hit PRINT.

Step 13:

Before I lay out the books, I print out all the images that I think I might want to use and edit from the small hard copy prints.

Step 14:

I cut out the images on a paper cutter, and decide how I will lay them out in the book.

Step 15:

I use paper glue that I purchased at a paper store. (They recommended Jade Adhesive which is an archival glue made for book binding). Photo corners can also be used, it is a design choice that you should make.

Step 16:

I lay out the pages, glue them in and keep the books open to dry. Then I decide what to do with them!

You can make scrap books, gifts or anything in between. I have been using the books as portfolios when I want clients to see new work. I have also been making gifts for people.

There are some things to take into consideration when embarking on this project, but anyone can do it. The outcome is a creative and beautiful gift.

Gluing takes time – put on some music and sit back and enjoy it.
If you lose patience, you can use photo corners instead.
There are no rules here! Just make sure that you use good materials so that the books last through the years
Cheap glue will eat through the paper and cause brown spots to show through your images.
Cheap paper also will cause brown spots to appear on your images and will become brittle and crack over time.
Photo corners also come in all shapes and colors and some are made with archival paper. Using corners will add to the space you will need, so be sure to take that into account when you are deciding on the proper sizes of the book and images.

^ Back to top

Rate This Article

Rate this article from 1 to 10

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10

poor					great