[lusimon]

I am looking for a good digital software program that includes banners for photo's, resizing, etc. There are several out there, but want some advice on which ones are better and easy to use. I've got a great camera, still learning how to use it.

[bonk]

What ones have you been looking at......digital photos like Picture It is what you mean is it??

[lusimon]

I've looked at that, Photoshop Element, Microsoft has one as well. Just don't know which one I should purchase. I saw several at Sam's, but just wanted advice, as I am still learning. My camera came with Picture Project, guess that is Nikon's deal.

[bonk]

Well I have used a lot I found Picture IT easy to use although not that many effects but certainly a good starter.

Now I use Photoshop 7 and it was hard to learn but it can do almost anything you want.

Paintshop Pro 8 is very good too.

[buck52]

the free version of PSP7 that is available HERE can't be beat

[Noyb]

If your looking at Photoshop Elements .... Wait.
The new version 4.0 is out but will probably not be available for a while (on the shelves or on Sale)

It has a couple new tools that I suspect will be in the next version of Photoshop
and some tools that are in Photoshop - but not in PSE 3.0
http://www.adobe.com/products/photos...w.html#kmhead3

[Saxon]

Check this out, seems to do most of the things you require

http://www.picsprint.com/

[lusimon]

Thanks for all of your suggestions and I will research these all of these. Some I've heard of and some I haven't. Told you I'm still new at this, I uploaded some pictures to Sam's only to get them back and some of them had the heads cut off. When I sent, they looked fine on my computer, so still lots to learn.

[slipe]

Originally Posted by lusimon

I uploaded some pictures to Sam's only to get them back and some of them had the heads cut off. When I sent, they looked fine on my computer, so still lots to learn.

A 4 X 6 print is in a 3:2 width/height ratio. Most consumer cameras other than DSLRs are in the same ratio as your computer screen, which is in a 4:3 ratio. To get a 4 X 6 print from a 4:3 image you have to cut some off the wide edge. The gray area beyond the dashed lines has to be removed to get the correct ratio without distorting the picture:


There are a couple of solutions. Most people just crop the images themselves. In the example you would want to lose some feet to keep all the heads. Photos often look better with tight cropping even if you aren’t trying to save heads.

You need software that will crop to a preset proportion or print size without dumping any pixels other than those you cropped off. Recent versions of most image editors do that. I would try buck52’s suggestion to start with the free older version of Paint Shop Pro. There are plenty of tutorials online for it and PSP is just a notch below the full Photoshop. If version 7 doesn’t have cropping to a preset ratio you can use this good little freeware: http://ekot.dk/programmer/JPEGCrops/

The other solution is to have the prints made at 4 ½ X 6, which is the right ratio for consumer digital cameras. I have read that Wal-Mart will do that at no extra charge and there are several online sites that will do 4 ½ X 6. I would guess Sams will do it if Wal-Mart will. You would still get better overall pictures by learning to crop, but you wouldn’t lose heads that way.