Software required to create photo gift

[kiwi]

I have a friend setting up an indoor play centre

He wants to use a P&S to take a photo of a kid's bday party then quickly turn that around into an 8x10 print with a nice template border and some custom text "Darren's 5th Birthday party" etc

The criteria for the software - it's got to be simple and quick, doesnt have to be free

Any good ideas what to use ?

[xkellie]

photoshop. use a custom action or template to do the job quickly.

[kiwi]

photoshop what ?

I dont consider photoshop a simple end user application though

[flash]

"Gimp", "Picasa", "Paint", download them all and keep the one that suits you, just type in the name in the search thingy, all good, all free! and yep Photoshop is a bit top heavy for me as well, (I use cs2)

[kiwi]

I dont think picasa or aint are suitable for doing what I described, I tried them

a) create a template border with logo etc
b) drop picture into border/frame
c) edit text

There's bound to be some specialist tool out there, just dont know where ?

[Invictus]

I believe photoshop elements allows for custom frames to be dropped on images, and simple print options. I would need to double check to be sure.

[kiwi]

probably, im still thinking that there's a better choice somewhere

[Flash Hit]

If they have Microsoft Office the PUBLISHER is EASY!
1. INSERT the picture
2. Right Click on it and click FORMAT PICTURE
3. at COLORS and LINES select a BORDER
4. select and size a TEXT BOX and type your message
FINISHED!
Gee that was hard - 12 seconds!

[Flash Hit]

This is what took 12 seconds. There's lots of frames to choose from.

[kiwi]

Yeah, I thought about publisher or even PowerPoint but think that it's reasonable to want to crop and do an autolevels

[Invictus]

I've been thinking on this Darren, and apart from the suggestions already, would probably be at a loss for a 'simple' solution.
It also depends on the operators definition of 'simple'.

I'm sure a bit of setup time in lightroom or creating a photoshop action/droplet would do the job (which is what I would probably do for myself). Once it is setup how your friend wants, then it would be simple.

At first I thought maybe using a mogrify batch script (resize, add border, add watermark/logo) that could have a image dropped into would suffice. As long as your friend doesn't need to change the text on each photo, it could be done.
But I'm guessing it may be too fiddly to be viable.

Irfanview: Can batch, resize, add border, can add plain text, but can't easily add a logo.

Only other suggestion would be a 'photo booth' style software package.
eg:
http://www.breezesys.com/PSRemote/photobooth.htm
http://www.partyboothapp.com/

Probably overkill, but based on a quick search, they appear to tick the boxes on the requirements. Most other software I found addressed one request, but not another.

[kiwi]

Yeah, I'm a bit stuck myself, maybe paintshoppro or something is the answer

The photo booth stuff I don't think would really suit

I appreciate your thinking though

[Erin]

Paintshop Pro is just as complex as Photoshop, mate. Not a lot of difference to it. Same principles apply in that program as do in Photoshop - I know because I used to use it.

Elements would be your best bet. It's a simple, cut-down version of Photoshop. There is a bit of a learning curve but not much really. Nothing beyond learning the few short steps you need to do to achieve the effect you want.

What I would suggest you do is go looking at some digital scrap-book sites and get some freebie elements like frames and borders. You can open these in Photoshop/Elements on a layer and pop your image behind. Add text, save - done.

Alternatively, tell your mate to log into Snapfish or similar and get the image printed using their software and products.

[virgal_tracy]

There are plenty of 3rd party templates for photoshop. Purchase the template, open the template in photoshop open the photo you want to use and just place the photo into the template and its done. Very easy. The hard part is finding the template you want.

[kiwi]

Considering the likely user is a 15 year old part time bubble gum eater, im just not sure any application that's mnot specific forthe purpose will fly.

[flash]

what if you combined different levels in different areas, I.E. did all adjusting, levels whatever in Photoshop or a third party system then saved to desktop then opened it in MS office or open office and did the rest in there as far as a presentation is concerned, I dont think you are going to get a low or no cost "one stop shop" for everything you want! but a combination of stuff that you already have would suffice

[peterking]

You haven't said what platform you want it to run on. If it's for a PC then go for IRFANVIEW http://www.irfanview.com/ .
I used it for years but it is only for PC's not MAC's.
Simplest thing ever and it's FREE.

[kiwi]

It's for a pc, ta Peter, it's been a long time since I looked at irfanview

[xkellie]

i still think photoshop (any version) would be your best bet. set up an action to do all your work and it would be one click, you're done. any idiot can do it. btw, most high schools teach photoshop these days, so that "15 year old part time bubble gum eater" would probably be able to do it better than you.

saying that, i've never used elements/gimp/etc, so I don't know how far you can go with those, and if you can do it with them it would be a cheaper alternative.

[Analog6]

Actually Kiwi, the free download FastStone Image Viewer (Windows) will do this. Once you have set up the frame it stays the same until you change it. You then just apply it to the photos you select in a batch function. You can apply watermarks, resize and make minor adjustments at the same time.