Kristen's RHS Graduation Announcement Picture

Here's the final version of the picture Kristen sent out with her graduation announcements. Isn't she beautiful? Okay, let's see how it's done. Oh, and remember, you can click on the picture to get an enlarged view!

First, take 180 pictures (at three different locations) of your daughter (really, but don't worry, it will probably be fun--and she'll be moving away to college soon--so you'll be happy you did it!).

Then tell your daughter to pick her "favs". Then tell her to pick her "supa favs". By then you should have a reasonable number of pictures to choose from!

Next, open up Memory Mixer 3. Before doing ANYTHING else:

Click on View.
Click on Guides.
Click on Crop Area - 4x6.

That is, if you are sending out a 4x6 picture. Which we did. :) Anyway, if you skip this step there's a good chance you'll work for hours and hours creating a work of art, only to go to print and realize it doesn't fit on the paper! Just like I did (sob!).

Now we'll put on the picture used as the background.

Click on Edit Photo.
Click on Add Photo.
Navigate to wherever your desired picture is stored on your computer.
Click on your desired picture.
Click on OK.
Move and enlarge (or crop) your picture to fit the space.

I intentionally took this picture off center with the idea that we might want to put other information or pictures in the space on the right. If you're shooting pictures for an announcement of some kind, it's good to take a few shots like this. This picture was taken at the Jordan River Temple, right in front of the entrance. The light gravel walkway did a terrific job of acting like a reflector! That reflection, an overcast day, and a flash all contributed to a well-lit picture.

Next we add the filmstrip embellishments.

Click on Embellishments.
Click on Add Embellishment.
Navigate to wherever you have your filmstrips.
Click on your black filmstrip.
Click on Apply.
Click on your white filmstrip.
Click on OK.

What's that? You don't have black or white filmstrips? If someone wants to tell me how I can give you mine, I'll do it. I made them a while back using Photoshop Elements and I've used them lots. When I do use them, I often prefer them to be transparent. They seem more "filmy" that way. The white filmstrip alone seemed too bright white to me--even with a reduced opacity, so I decided to put the black one underneath, also at a reduced opacity.

Set the white filmstrip opacity to 80.
Set the black filmstrip opacity to 49.
Set the rotation of both to -90. (They are pictured that way in the photo above.)

The white filmstrip has a shadow. With the white filmstrip selected, click on Drop Shadow and make the settings look like this:



At first when I was using this embellishment, I was frustrated because the spaces for the pictures didn't fit the 4x6 pictures that I was trying to put in them. Then I realized, "Duh, you can stretch the element to fit the pictures!" It was quite a revelation. This next step will get the openings to be the right size and to align the white and black filmstrips so that it really only looks like one single filmstrip. With each filmstrip, click on it to select it, click on Edit, uncheck Keep Proportions and make the settings look like this:

Then, while I was messing around with one of the 15 versions of this project, I realized if I placed the pictures close together, and added a white border, I could make the pictures be any size I wanted! Like this:

Now we ended up using the regular sized openings, but this is a useful thing to remember. And I discovered I liked the thin white border and decided to keep that. Just sharin' the things I learned along the way.

On to what we really ended up doing. To make it easier to try various photos, I used Photo Boxes because they keep their place and shape even if you change your mind on which picture you want to use in them. To get the three Photo Boxes in place:

Click on Edit Photo.
Click on Add Photo Box.
Click on Mat.
Reduce the size to 1.
Close the box.
Click on Edit.
Uncheck Keep Proportions.
X/Y coordinates should read: X: 593; Y: 46
Proportions should read: Width 110; Height: 166
Close the window.

While the box is still selected, copy the box by holding down Ctrl and press C and wait for the hourglass to go away--that lets you know the object has been copied. Then keep holding down Ctrl and press V. You should now have a copy of that Photo Box.

Now here's a problem that I've had with Memory Mixer 3. Sometimes I'll copy something, make adjustments assuming I'm working on the copy (which in previous versions has always been what is selected after making a copy), then when I go to move it somewhere I find out I was working on the original. So now after I copy things, I move it around first to make sure I've really got the copy selected. Once you've made sure you've got the copy, click on Edit and set X: 593 and Y: 217. Now you've got the middle box positioned right.

Follow the procedure above to create the third Photo Box. Set X: 593 and Y: 388.

Your picture should look like this:

Now put in the pictures you want! Either double-click on the box to add a photo, or drop and drag from the options on the right. Remember you can adjust the way the picture is cropped by double-clicking on the picture or clicking Crop, or using the Zoom or Nudge options. We ended up with these:


Finally we document her school and graduating class!

Click on Titles and Journaling.
Click on Add Text.
We used the font "TXT Romanesque". Select whatever font you have and like.
Set the Font Size: 15 (Although if you use a different font, you may have to adjust the size.)
We changed the color to match the purple shirt by clicking on More Colors, Picker, and selecting one of the pixels on her shirt. It turns out to be Red: 40; Green: 23; Blue: 97 on the RGB tab. Close the window.
Now type the name of the school.
Click Okay.
Rotate the text to -90.
Drag the text to where you want it on the film strip. (Hey, Memory Mixer people! In your next version, let's have the ability to move the text around just like we move everything else--using the X/Y coordinates!)

Now copy the text (your should know how to do this after all the copying of Photo Boxes above) and move it around to make sure you're working on the copy.
Click on Edit Text.
Replace your school name with the class info.
Click Okay.
Drag the text to where you want it on the film strip.

And, voila! You've got a fabulous picture to include in your Graduation Announcements!

Of course you still have to print this out. I am ashamed to say I've never figured out how to get a satisfactory print using the File/Print option. So here's what I do.

Click on Share Album.
Click on Export to JPEG...
Click OK.
Click Next.
Click Clear All.
Select the page you've been working on.
Click Next.
Choose export image size as Large.
Click Next.
Navigate to where you want to save the file and click Next.
Click Export.

Now you've got a JPEG ready to import into Photoshop, crop to 4x6, and print away! This was a really fun project to do! Hope you enjoy it too!