by Paula Gilarde

I’m always looking for scrapbook page ideas that give my page a great look and get me inspired. In this hybrid lesson, I’m going to show you how I created a photo strip for my page “January Snow.”

Instructions for doing this in both Photoshop CS and Photoshop Elements follow.

How to make a photo strip in Photoshop CS

  1. Create a new canvas 4″ x 20″, 300 dpi.
  2. Open the 4 photos that you want to include in your strip, and crop them each to 4″ x 5″.
  3. Drag each photo onto your larger canvas so that you have the 4 photos filling the canvas.
  4. Make the top layer active, and add a layer style (by clicking the f in a circle in the layers palette). Select >Stroke (the last entry in the styles box) and choose a size of about 50 px. Set the position to “Inside” and change the color to white (unless you want a red outline!). You should now see a white box around the first layer.
  5. Right-click with your mouse on that top layer and select “Copy Layer Style” from the fly-out menu. Again, in the layer’s palette, select the second layer and right-click with mouse to “Paste Layer Style.” Your second layer should have the white box around it.
  6. Repeat step 2 for all remaining layers.
  7. Flatten your image by selecting >Layer >Flatten Image.
  8. Drag your flattened image onto a new 8.5″x11″ canvas, and resize for desired print size. A typical photo booth strip is about 8 or 9 inches tall. I printed mine at 10 inches.
  9. Print, trim, and mount on page.

How to make a photo strip in Photoshop Elements

  1. Create a new canvas 4″ x 20″, 300 dpi.
  2. Open the 4 photos that you want to include in your strip, and crop them each to 4″ x 5″.
  3. Drag each photo onto your larger canvas so that you have the 4 photos filling the canvas.
  4. Ctrl+click on the top layer in the layers palette to make a selection from that layer (you should see marching ants around it).
  5. Create a new layer above the selected layer (using the New Layer icon in the layers palette). Go to >Edit >Stroke, and select a Width of 50 px. Set color to white and location to “Inside.” You should now have the white outline.
  6. You can copy this layer (right-click with mouse to select “Duplicate layer”) and move the copies over the remaining layers.
  7. Flatten your image by selecting >Layer >Flatten Image.
  8. Drag your flattened image onto a new 8.5″x11″ canvas, and resize for desired print size. A typical photo booth strip is about 8 or 9 inches tall. I printed mine at 10 inches.
  9. Print, trim, and mount on page.

 

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