Which Adobe program?

[Chris7]

Hello. I’m looking for a program that will allow me to divide up a page into a sectioned template, then insert photos into those sections, sort of like a real photo frame that has cutouts for multiple pictures. I’d like to be able to zoom in and out on the photos and move them around as if they were “behind” the sections, without this affecting the template as I am working. I was thinking this would probably be an Adobe program of some sort, but am wondering which one.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Lovesong]

You might be looking for InDesign.

 

[Phrasikleia]

If it's only a single page, then Illustrator would work as well.

 

[ChrisA]

Hello. I’m looking for a program that will allow me to divide up a page into a sectioned template, then insert photos into those sections, sort of like a real photo frame that has cutouts for multiple pictures. I’d like to be able to zoom in and out on the photos and move them around as if they were “behind” the sections, without this affecting the template as I am working. I was thinking this would probably be an Adobe program of some sort, but am wondering which one.

Thanks in advance.

Of course Photoshop, either the full CS veraion or Elements could do this too. Use a mask that is the same shape as the matboard you are trying to simulate to clip the images use the same mask to select what part of the mat to show.

This is a simple enough job that several programs could work. Use what you know best. If you don't know any pick the one you are most likely to continue using.

 

[Phrasikleia]

Yeah, Photoshop or Elements would work, but then he would be a bit more committed to his cropping (or level of zoom as he phrased it). It sounds as though he wants the flexibility to enlarge the photos in the "frames" at will.

 

[mperkins37]

Total Photoshop job, as the photos will have better color calibration inside Photoshop.

 

[Chris7]

Yeah, Photoshop or Elements would work, but then he would be a bit more committed to his cropping (or level of zoom as he phrased it). It sounds as though he wants the flexibility to enlarge the photos in the "frames" at will.

Thanks to all who replied. Which of these programs would be the easiest to learn? The key was to make workflow quick once I have the template. I wanted something that would do the cropping automatically -- just by placing the picture in it's place in the template it would be cropped to that those dimensions. (Zooming in and out would make the photo bigger and smaller but the photo would stay within it's place in the template).

For example, if I made a circle and divided it into four triangles (with curved outer edges), with or without lines separating the triangles. I could just put the photos in and they would automatically be that shape, but I could easily zoom in and out and reposition them within the triangles without worrying about affecting the template. In a sense they would be automatically re-cropped each time I repositioned or resized them. Then I might label each with curved lettering around the outside of the circle.

It would be nice if I could have multiple pages without having a new document (or file or whatever) for each, but ease of workflow would be much more important than this.

 

[NRose8989]

Ummm...... can't iPhoto or Aperture do this when making books or cards?. Adobe's CS products are over kill for what you want to do.

If not I'm sure some third party apps would be able to do that. I know you can in Pixelmator, which is considerably cheaper than PS.

Though if you want to do more then id say jump onto the Adobe CS apps.

 

[Digital Skunk]

You need InDesign, but from what you told us we won't be able to give you a definite answer. What is going to be the result of the templates and photos? Or what are you trying to do as a whole?

InDesign or Illustrator are going to be your best bet, not Photoshop. And if you are looking for a layout editor or if you are trying to make a multi-page document for printing then it will be InDesign and nothing else.

 

[Phrasikleia]

Which of these programs would be the easiest to learn?

InDesign. It's a far more intuitive application than Illustrator. I used to teach various graphics courses and found that students had the most trouble getting the hang of Illustrator. So I would recommend you go with InDesign. It's probably best suited for your purposes anyway.

 

[Chris7]

InDesign

I think I'm going to go with InDesign. Right now, just doing brochures and posters, but will likely go to multipage projects later, and I don't want to learn two programs if I don't have to. I think the 11 hour tutorial on Lynda.com will tell me more than I need to know.

Thanks for your help. I've found the staff at Adobe sales misleading to at best useless in trying to pick out programs (the last time I spoke with them, I asked them about Premiere Pro CS4 and they did not know what a codec was).