It warms my heart when she says it, but unfortunately it does nothing to warm the weather, which is still putting up a good winter fight. The kids are desperate to get outside (and so am I), but Bailey and I filled some time with a little indoor magic. Bailey says “abracadabra” when asked to use the magic word — some summertime reprogramming might be in order.

Another new web-sized storyboard for my collage action set. Next on the agenda — more print-sized collages.

Download the PSD: Collage – 4 Image – D.psd

Sample:

I am so excited to share the actions I’ve been working on.  I’ve created a set of templates and actions that automatically (with a little setup) create storyboards for use on the web… I even added in an 8×10 that can be used for print..  The process may seem a little complex the first time, but I think it gets easier after you’ve done it a couple times.  There are very specific instructions or the action will fail, so I’m going to try to be very detailed.  At this time, these are PC Only because I don’t have a Mac to use to make the changes that would be needed to make them work.

Here are the templates that are currently available.  The possibilities for configuration are endless, but I am starting with a few basic pieces. Templates could be a lot more fun, but I didn’t want to use brushes, papers, and graphics that weren’t designed by me… so if anyone wants to donate templates, I will try to set them up to work with the action.

All outlines and drop shadows can be turned off or on, the color can be changed, or other effects can be added. The background is solid white, but can be filled with any color or texture. The templates don’t follow a specific width, because I wanted there to be a variety of sizes. Not all images will work with every template, so some experimentation might be needed.

UPDATE 2/24:

I’ve added a 3 image action and 3 new templates. These are less plain, but the backgrounds can be turned off and replaced with white or another color.

FULL INSTRUCTIONS:

1.  Download the template package and place the entire “Collage Images” folder and its contents in your C: drive.  The “Collage Images” folder must be in your C: drive for the action to work.

1b. Download the Action Set and install it in PS with your preferred method. Either by dragging it to your actions panel or dropping it into your Actions folder and loading it.

2.  Save 4-5 images into the “Collage Images” folder with the names 1.jpg, 2.jpg, 3.jpg, 4.jpg, 5.jpg.  The web storyboards are probably best used with images you’ve already resized for the web.  Watermarks may get cut off in odd places, so unwatermarked versions are probably best — you can always add your watermark to the finished file.

Full size images will work, but it will be harder to transform them because they’ll be so large.  The 8×10 collage frame should be used with full size images since you’ll need the extra size for print.

3. Open your desired PSD template from the “Collage Templates” folder and make sure it is the only thing open in Photoshop.  This step is important.  If anything else is open in PS, the action will fail.

4. With your chosen template open, choose the correct action for your template.  If it’s a 5 image template, run the 5 image collage action.  If it’s a 4 image template, run the 4 image action.

5.  When the action has finished, you’ll see all of your images crowded into the center of the stage.

6. Now you just need to select them and move them into place, transforming if needed.  Make sure that you click the tiny thumbnail of your image and NOT the white square in the layer.  With your image selected, use V (move tool) and Ctrl-T (free transform) to move and resize your image so it fits within its space.  You should see a double black line around your image, not around the mask.  Do not click where you see the red X.

Once you’ve moved and transformed your images into place, decide whether you will leave the outlines and shadows off or turn them on, change their colors or leave as-is. You can deactivate the shadows and outline independently of each other by using the eyeball icons in the “Outlines” layer.

The PSD templates are marked “read only” so that they are not accidentally changed. When the action is complete, you’ll need to save your finished product with a new name.

The template package is available here: Andrea’s Collage Template Set>

The associated action is here: Andrea’s Collage Action Set>

A few from a recent newborn session.  What a fun session this was, with little one sleeping the entire time!  Newborns are definitely a favorite for me.  I hope to see a whole lot more of this little guy as he grows.  If we’re lucky, it might even warm up enough to do this 3 month portraits outside!

This is a copyright banner action. It’s designed to run on 300dpi web sized images and the copyright PSD should be around 95px high.

Download the copyright.psd file to your c: drive and edit it with your own information, logo, etc. This file must be placed in your c: drive in order for the action to work. Mac users will need to re-record the place command.

If you want to batch it, add a flatten command to the end of the action.

If your web-sized images are 72dpi, you just have to make the copyright.psd 72dpi, too.

This is what the action does:

Here are the associated files:

Copyright Bar Action

copyright.psd to be placed in the c: drive