In the past I have used Picnik.com to create collages. It is a process were I must first export photos from Aperture 3 to a JPEG file and then upload them into Picnik.com. Picnik.com has preset collage templates which you have some control over. I wanted to do something different yesterday for the New York State Fair collage I posted.
In looking for a better way to create that collage, I found a youTube video by Photographer Pete Thorne (see below) explaining how to use Aperture 3 and its book function to create multiple photo images. It took me less than five minutes after viewing the video to create the collage from yesterday. All done inside of Aperture 3. I had a lot of control over the size and placement of each photo. Something not available in Picnik.com. I could add text in hundreds of stylized fonts and place it over, above or next to photos or use an export plug-in to create bordering effects. I will be continuing to explore this tool.
This is not an ad for Aperture 3 but you might want to look at the features of the photo editing software you use. You might be surprised at what it can do. I know I was.
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That sounds pretty awesome. Is Aperture an Apple product?
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Yes, Aperture runs on Macs only. Adobe’s Lightroom is the PC program most like it.
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Sweet! Thanks for the link and description. I like Aperture a lot, and full screen in Lion is great and since I’m not comfortable with Photoshop yet, I’m excited to use this. One question, is there any way to add watermarks in Aperture? I’ve searched but not found anything.
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You’re welcome, Diana. Check out BorderFX, it’s freeware, for adding watermarks easily in Aperture 3.
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Interesting. I will have to look into what I can do with Photoshop. I use Picasa for my collages, but it would be nice to be able to have more control.
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Photoshop can do quite a lot. I would look for articles and books by Scott Kelby to get the most out of PS.
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I don’t have Save PDF to Aperture
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You should. Also, Save JPEG to Aperture. What version are you using?
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Aperture 3.2.4… I was able to add the save to (Aperture) but not save PDF to Aperture… I think it is the same thing…
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i’m have the same problem too, does not have the option “save JPEG to Aperture” or “save PDF to Aperture”. seems to be a common problem.
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Yes, me too.
I am using version 3.4.3 but I don’t have save PDF to Aperture.
Any suggestions?
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So I worked this out. . .
When you hit the PDF dropdown, there’s an option to ‘Edit `Menu’. Choose that, select Aperture from Applications when the window opens up.
Now you’ll have Aperture as an option in the PDF dropdown 🙂
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Apple must have changed this during upgrades. Figures they would bury it. Glad you got it to work!
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This is awesome! Just one silly question: how do I get to resize the picture within the collage? Can’t figure out which button to use… I am pretty new to mac, so happy for any advise!
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