putting pics together

[RWebb]

i have 2 jpg files - i want to put the pics side by side and make 1 pic out of them.

irfanview seems unable to do that

i have photoshop etc from adobe suite but am not proficient with it. will that do it?

some other - free - package that can do it?

thx!

[stomachmonkey]

Photochop

1) Open both.

2) Go "Image"->Image Size, see if they are both relatively the same size, h x w and pixels.

3) pick one, go "Image"-> canvas size

4) Increase width to accommodate size of both, anchor from left or right

5) Go to other image, "Select"-> all, copy n paste into the 1st

6) tweak and save

[kstar]

You could try a program like Autostitch:
http://www.cs.ubc.ca/~mbrown/autostitch/autostitch.html

That's a free demo, so I don't know if it is crippled by way of watermarks or not.

Also try a Google of "Stitch Photos".

Of course, Photoshop will do it, as stated above!

[LeRoux Strydom]

For proper stitching of pics, as in putting together large panoramic photos, I use Autopano Pro. You may be able to find freeware that does something similar. Google for pano stitching.

[DARISC]

I'm a bonehead, self taught and lazy. I'd open both the .jpg's, see which is the biggest.



Then open a new file, say 3 times bigger than the biggest .jpg. (file, new, you specify the size - not critical, make it big)



Drag and drop the .jpg's into the immense new file.



Scale the big .jpg down to match the small one (edit, transform, scale)



Position them as desired then flatten image (layer, flatten image). Then select them both with desired border margins and copy to clipboard (edit, copy).



Make a new file, accept default - new file will match what you just copied to the clipboard (file, new)



Paste what you saved on the clipboard into the new file (edit, paste), then flatten that file (layer, flatten image)



Close all the other files without saving. Then save the new file as whatever, in .jpg format in this case. (file, save as)



Done - takes maybe 5 min. max. once you've done it once or twice.

[imcarthur]

I am also self taught. I have found that there is no one program that will do it all or maybe I just don't know the programs well enough.

For combining, I use MS Image Composer 1.5. It was a freebie included with FrontPage years ago. You can find it free on the net. It is also good for adding basic text to pictures, making gifs without background color & some other basics.

The pic below was an easy one. I had a collection of pics & I dumped them all on the Composer desktop, positioned them & changed the background to black.



For sizing & color enhancement & cropping, PS is the tool. You can do the whole pic or select a tiny piece of the image to enhance which is often very handy. In the pic in the lower right, you can see I enhanced just the subtitle.

I saved that picture above as a jpg in Composer & them resized with PS - Pelican likes 800 pixels wide & no greater than 100 KB or Wayne's sizing software can do strange things to your image. The save for web feature makes it a breeze.

For elaborate text with arrows & callouts etc, I use Corel & then save it as a jpg for PS.

Ian

[imcarthur]

The last tool I use a lot is IrfanView. Aside from it's viewing features, I use the Capture feature to snapshot the desktop. Then I save it for further manipulation with PS.



You'll notice this image is slightly distorted. I captured it with IrfanView & saved it. I didn't resize it so the end result was 797 pixels. Wayne's software resized it to 800 & fuzzed it.

Ian

[RWebb]

Thx for posting the ph'shop directions - can't get them to work
- opened files have blue window borders & clicking on the big file makes them vanish - flatten often grayed out


not sure how you get multiple images to open in ir'view

[imcarthur]

In Image Composer, select your images to import . . .



Import them . . .



Resize, reposition . . .



Add text & position it . . .



Finish . . .



And I snapped all the images with Irfanview (which won't open multiples in the same frame). Then I resized these all in PS for posting.

Ian

[DARISC]

Originally Posted by RWebb

Thx for posting the ph'shop directions - can't get them to work
- opened files have blue window borders & clicking on the big file makes them vanish - flatten often grayed out


not sure how you get multiple images to open in ir'view

Diss VILL VERK!

All 3 files should have blue borders.

Put the cursor POINTER (have to have the pointer tool selected) over the image (NOT the blue border) of one of your files.

Hold left mouse button down, then move arrow over the big file and release. POW, zee image VILL be dere, MITOUT der bleu border!

Repeat with second image.

Close the two original images without saving.

Continue as per previous sequence I showed.

You there? Can you do this now? I can wait.


Edit: Irfanview, et al are good programs, but Photoshop does it all - you don't really need them.

[svandamme]

for these kinds of stitchings i use Paint Shop Pro, it's shareware...
Photoshop is to much of a beast for these kinds of things i only whip it out if i need to do some real fancy stuff requiring multiple layers, and when i know i'll spend more then one day editing and re-editing

[imcarthur]

OK. Thanks for the PS lessons. How do unlock the new layers if you want to screw with it some more after you combine? I have had PS for years & never bothered to learn it properly.

Ian

[RWebb]

ok - was out drinking last nite

think i got it - this step:
"Drag and drop the .jpg's into the immense new file."

didn't work for me, but if i cut and pasted them instead, i got them.

thx!

[DARISC]

Originally Posted by imcarthur

How do unlock the new layers if you want to screw with it some more after you combine?

Open an image, select all, copy to clipboard, deselect, paste, use arrow to move pasted image slightly then scale it down.

Hit paste again, scaling down the newly pasted image even more and you will see this - note that each pasted image comprises a new layer which is added to the original image (which, when opened, had no layers) - keep paying attention to layer menu box at lower right of screen:



To convert the background (which is locked) to a layer, dbl click on the lock and accept the defaults in the dialogue box - note that background becomes layer 0:



Drag layer 0, putting it between layers 1 and 2 - note that layer 0 now obscures layer 2:



If you don' fuchin' believe me, turn off layer 0 :



Bear in mind that whatever action you choose to do will only be done to the layer that is active (dark blue in the layer menu box).

If you flatten the image, everything is merged and there are no longer any layers (just as there weren't any in the original image).

You can selectively merge layers that are active into one layer, i.e. turned on, by selecting "merge visible".

Hope this helps.

You too Randy

[imcarthur]

Thanks for the how-to. It is time I dove in & learned it. I have just been lazy & used the tools I knew. Now I have PS CS3 so there's nothing stopping me.

Ian

[RWebb]

First, thanks to Darisc for help on perverting Jack Olsen's pic. - see that thread for my poorly done chop job

Now... how do you cutout an irregular shape?

[TimT]

How do unlock the new layers if you want to screw with it some more after you combine?

You should save a working copy of the file before you combine or flatten and save.
You can always go back to the saved "working" copy and mess around.

If you just combined the layers and didn't save, you should be able to use "undo" or history and uncombine the layers.

I use GIMP for photo editing now. Its freeware also

[TimT]

Now... how do you cutout an irregular shape?

Best way to deal with this is get a graphics tablet

Such as this

there are much better tablets out there... this is OK for occasional use

[svandamme]

Originally Posted by RWebb

Now... how do you cutout an irregular shape?

plasma cutter

[RWebb]

have tablet for GIS work - might work - but I want to know what tool[s] in Ph'shop to use.