I was always baffled by the fact that Photoshop’s Picture Package command did not offer an option for three 4×6′s on a page. Little did I know, it’s extremely easy to customize these layouts and create your own just by editing a plain text file. These instructions also work for Photoshop Elements and Photoshop Album.

1. Important: Mac OS X users much first apply an update to Photoshop before attempting to customize the Picture Package layouts. Information and and a download link can be found at http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/
2. Copy the next five lines and paste them into a text editor, like NotePad or SimpleText:

# I 8 10
Letter (3) 4×6
0 0 6 4
0 4 4 6
4 4 4 6

1. Name this file FourBySixes.txt
2. Copy the file to your Adobe\Photoshop X.0\Presets\Layouts folder where X represents your version of Photoshop.
3. Open Photoshop and try it!

Tips:

1. The ReadMe.txt file in the Layouts folder explains how to make your own custom picture package layouts.
2. If you’ve never used the automated Picture Package function in Photoshop 6 and up, it can be found under the File > Automate submenu.
3. Adobe Photoshop Album and Adobe Photoshop Elements use the same format for Picture Packager layouts, so this tip will also work in those programs.

Any suggestions, ideas? Feel free to comment on this article!

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• 5 Texture Tips
• – learn the key ingredients to great textures Rain Effect Tutorial a nice animated Rain Effect sent in by Colossus
• Making Black/White in Photoshop for converting color images to good black and white images by Richard Schneider
• Match color from another photo – Before combining two photos, how to get them to match color values
• Getting the Ansel Adams Look – Is it a color photo? You’ll need the channel mixer or levels
• Cloning Tool Stopped Working – I am having problems with the cloning tool on photoshop 7
• Scaling to match another image size – Scaling to an exact target size is tricky… and should never enlarge!
• Resetting Dialogs in Photoshop – if Photoshop seems to be misbehaving
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• Color Photo from Black and White – to and from black and white tips and tricks
• Help removing white backgrounds – How do I get rid of the White background in my forum sig?
• How to pick up an exact color… – How do you select an exact color to match?
• How to fix a corrupted file – Crashing during a “SAVE” is not a pretty picture
• Hot spots too bright – Flash flare and hot spots can cause problems. Here’s one way to solve the problem…
• Photoshop picks only black or white – When I go to pick my color, it will only be Black-white
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• How to fix a corrupted file – Crashing during a “SAVE” is not a pretty picture
• Optimizing graphics for the Web – Can you direct me to a tutorial on how to optimize photos I wish to publish on my website?
• Fading Photos – Use Feathering or Layer Masks
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• Annoying Gray Boxes? Careful what you click
• Selecting Wrong Colors? Eyedropper Spread Trick

Any suggestions, ideas? Feel free to comment on this article!

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We’ll be using a bunch of techniques that involve making a new brush. Okay, technically, it’s called defining a brush preset, but many people refer to it as making a brush since it also can involve tweaking the settings in the Brushes palette. You start with a photo or paint a shape, make a selection, and then choose Edit>Define Brush Preset. Here I made a small selection in a photo (shown in Quick Mask mode, just so it’s easier to see). After choosing Edit>Define Brush Preset, I named my brush and then clicked OK. In order to make the new brush more interesting, I used the Brushes palette (docked in the Palette Well by default) to change some settings. I used the Brush Tip Shape options to rotate the brush slightly and increase the spacing. In the Shape Dynamics options, I changed the Size Jitter to 3% and increased the Angle Jitter to 29%.

I created a new blank document and, using the Brush tool with my new brush shape, I clicked once on one side of the new document. Then while pressing-and-holding the Shift key, I clicked on the other side of the document. This painted a straight line but as you can see, the brush rotated and changed size slightly based on my settings in the Brushes palette.

Another way to make a brush shape is to start with a blank document and create a painted shape. Here I used a standard brush to paint a few lines in black, applied several filters (Motion Blur, Glass, and Dry Brush), and then finished it off with Threshold and a little Gauss-ian Blur. (I’m deliberately not giving you step-by-step instructions here because I want you to start experimenting and making brushes.) Once you’ve created a shape you like, again use Edit>Define Brush Preset to create the brush shape, and then if you like, tweak the settings in the Brushes palette.

Any suggestions, ideas? Feel free to comment on this article!

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