Need a really good Collage Program

[TechLarry]

I have a new Canon Pro9000 that I will be using to print collages of photo's on 13 X 19 paper in Portrait mode. They will then be placed in 16 X 20 frames.

I need really good software that will simply take the pictures specified, and automatically do the layout, ordering, etc... and make it ready for print.

Picassa comes VERY close, but it does not support A3+ properly. You can only build for sheets up to letter, and if you try to print those the pictures on the sides end up horribly chopped off. The picture looks fine until you try to print it.

I don't care if I have to pay for it. I just need it to get the job done quickly and easily.

Thanks

 

[TechLarry]

Ok, so I found that by changing the sizing from Crop to resize, it helps in Picassa. I've tried a few collage programs and none of them are as easy to use as Picassa. Picassa is definitely the iPhoto for the PC.

And the Canon Pro9000? Jeez, what an AWESOME printer for $400. I printed out 10 13 X 19 Collages on their new Canon Photo Paper Pro Platinum, and the results are unbelievable.

And after that, only the PC cartridge is showing any signs of wear-down. About 1/5th. The rest are still showing full.

 

[madFive]

Sounds like a great printer - enjoy! I haven't needed to do any large-scale printing like this for a while. For now, I'm happy w/ my cheap hp photo printer that does full-bleed on 8.5x11. I would generally always just use PhotoShop, or maybe Illustrator (if you don't want to edit the photos at all before-hand, or if you want some more precise layout/aligning options) for a job like this. Photoshop does have a thumb-nail/preview-sheet printing option that may be perfect for what you're looking for. As for more quick/cheap options for printing large numbers of collage pages, sorry I'm not familiar w/ any others.

Also, for a 13x19 page size, a 16x20 frame is really way too small (I used to work in a frame shop, and did a lot of similar stuff). I would normally recommend using a 3" mat border on something that size, so an 18x24 frame would probably be the closest standard size to what you need.

Hope the work turns out well - have fun.

 

[Ziongates]

photoshop