New to this forum - can anyone help?

[kpmeiling]

Hello. I hope I am in the right forum. I have been searching the internet for a couple hours now and my eyes are tired. I came across this forum and thought I would post my question hoping that some one can help me and I am not sure as to whether or not this forum is strictly for professional photographers or not, but thought I would give it a try.

I love to take pictures and do projects with them on my computer and burn them to a dvd. I use Pinnacle Studio, which I love to make my videos. I also used Microsoft Picture It Publishing Platinum to apply effects to my pictures. The program Microsoft Pict. It, let me use one of my own pictures as a background, as the program calls it, and then allows me to insert a different picture into it which I was able to control the transparency of the picture I inserted, or layered. I love this option.

I have tried to dload the program on my laptop, however, it will not work for some reason, and microsoft no longer supports it.

What I am trying to find out is, has anyone ever used this program and know what I am talking about and have they purchased another software that does the exact same thing? If so, can you please advise as to the program you are now using? Anyone help would be greatly appreciated. If need be, I can insert one of my pictures, If i am able, to show you what I mean.

This past summer a bunch of our friends did a float on tubes down a river, I took lots of pictures, a golden eagle, the sky, the river, the people, etc. I was able to create a background, and inserted the pictures I took, control the transparency of the pictures, and I ordered a poster size picture of my project. I handed them out to the friends that did the float. Had all the pictures on one big poster, in different shapes, different transparency, etc.

Would like to continue to be able to do this, however, microsoft picture it will not work on my laptop.

If anyone can help and knows what I am trying to explain, please advise. Thanks you in advance for your help and consideration.

Kelly

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[MOD]

Welcome to the forum!

[Colleen]

I believe you can do something similiar in Photoshop Elements, but not totally sure. I'm still trying to learn the program myself. I would be interested to see if anyone else knows.

[Hub]

From your description, I know Photoshop can easily accomplish these tasks (and many, many more). However, this is an expensive program. As Colleen suggest you might want to check out Photoshop's little brother Photoshop Elements. Here is the LINK to check out the specs.

Good luck.

Hub

[yorkshireman]

Welcome from the UK - I have just finished on the beta testing program for Adobe Photoshop Elements 7.0 which is now on sale - everything you will need is in this product, suggest you buy a decent idiots guide / Bible to get the best out of it.

You can get it bundled with Premiere Elements 7.0 their video editing software which will then let you put your images into a DVD and put together a professional presentation, anyway check out the specs as Photoshop Elements has a lot for the digital photographer for a good price.

[Grandpa]

Welcome to the forum. Good advice on PSE.

[kpmeiling]

thank you for your responses. I will be checking the specs of that program. Any other suggestions of other programs would be great.

Thought I would be able to insert a pic for an example, but can not figure out how to.


Again thanks, I will let you know if that is what I am speaking about after checking the specs.

[texaskiwi]

Hello and welcome.. I'm a newbie too and I just love this forum.. I've learned a lot so far and that's just a couple of days!!

Anyway, one of my favorite things to do is create dvd "slide shows" out of my photos and videos.. so far the best software I've found that does tons of effects and is very user friendly is Arc Soft Show Biz 2... I had a version that came with a computer I had bought in 2004, but I used it and loved it so much I purchased an updated version that did a bit more for just $49.95. I'm not sure what the full version would cost but Arc Soft has a pretty good line of products (they have a website.. not sure of the address, but you can google it) I like Photoshop as well, but mostly for photo editing.. I had that one but unfortunately I lost it during a re-format of my computer (serious virus issue) and for some reason I couldn't reload it... but I found there were a few things I couldn't do with Photoshop Elements, like vignetting and softening the edges of photos.... but maybe I just didn't know how.........

anyway, my daughter just had a fourth birthday and, as you would expect, I took tons of photos and video.. after the party, I took all that and created a dvd with the photos of her friends and the videos and kid's music.. then made a copy for all the kids that were at the party with a thank-you note attached... they all loved it!! the parents said their kids watched the dvd's over and over and loved seeing themselves in the "movie".....

So.... good luck with your project and hope you find more fun things to do with photos, etc.

[kpmeiling]

Thanks for the info on the ArcSoft, as soon as I complete this repy I am going to check it out. I really do not need a program that makes movies with the pictures though. I have Pinnacle Studio for that and I love it. They offer numerous transitions to choose from and if you ever run out of choices, you can purchase additional transitions and so much more. Program was pretty expensive when I purchased it, It was $179.00, but no regrets at all.

I do the same thing that you do texaskiwi with my pictures, the slide show, I add music and try to match the pictures with the words in the song. Its just great.

I do though print high quality pictures, and rather than making a video of the pictures, I like to group all the pictures into one and print them on an 11 by 14. Thats why I am looking for a program that allows you to have your own background, or pick from theirs, and then layer pictures on top of the background. Want the soft edge option, borders, shapes, etc. and want the option of controlling the transparency of the pictures. Maybe one picture that I am adding I would like it faded into the background rather than being prominent.

I am gonna Check the ArcSoft and hopefully between the two that was mentioned I should be able to decide.

I love spending my spare time working on my little projects as I'm sure everyone else does. I will let you know which program I decide to go with. going to be a x-mas present from hubby.

[Jerry R]

Welcome to the forum Kelly.