Staying active

Jackie Sherman is the author of our book Your Digital Camera Made Easy.

Jackie says:

"Now is a good time to take your digital camera out and about‚ getting some glorious shots of early spring flowers or ancient monuments bathed in sunshine.

But what to do with the photos once you've saved them onto your computer?

Well‚ one idea that is both creative and a good way to save money is to give them pride of place in your very own greetings cards.  So here are a few simple steps you can take to design an Easter card for someone special.

Step 1:  Open the right program on your computer.  You can use almost any word processing or presentation package‚ but the best method is to use a dedicated desktop publishing (DTP) program such as Microsoft Publisher which offers ready-made designs for you to customize.

Step 2:  Look through the catalogue of publications to find a style of card that you think will suit your picture.  There is a wizard that will offer a range of complimentary colours for text‚ borders and other decoration‚ so pick the right combination and then start working on the card.

Step 3:  If you picked a tall style of card but feel that your picture will look better on a wide one‚ you can change the page orientation to landscape by finding this option on the Page Setup menu.

Step 4:   As you work‚ make sure you can see everything clearly.  A low magnification is good for arranging text and pictures on the card‚ but you need to zoom in when working on the text.  Zoom in and out by clicking the buttons showing a magnifying glass.

Step 5: Delete the picture that will be included temporarily and search through your disks and folders until you find your own photos.  Click the best one and insert it into the card.  You can drag the borders in or out to make it the right size and use your mouse to move it around on the page until it is in the correct position.

Step 6:  Remove any text that isn't wanted and type in your own greetings.  You can add extra boxes for more text and change the size and style of any entries using the formatting buttons.  For the inside page‚ you may find that your DTP program offers an appropriate verse.  Otherwise‚ type a poem or other text into a word processing document‚ select and then copy the words and paste them into your card.

Step 7:  The card will print out onto A4 paper unless you choose differently sized paper.  Set this up‚ as well as whether the card will fold down (tent fold) or across (side fold) from the Page Setup menu.  Bear in mind that‚ although it may look as if your card is four pages long‚ when working on the front‚ back and inside 'pages' you are designing four sections of a single piece of paper.

Step 8:  You are now ready to print.  As long as you have a reasonable colour printer‚ your card should look very professional.  To make the most of your photos‚ use special glossy photographic paper – many stationery shops sell packs containing ready folded cards with envelopes."

Making cards is only one thing you can do with your photos. If you read Your Digital Camera Made Easy you will find advice on carrying out a wide range of other activities including:

• Sharing your photos on the Web in an online album
• Filing them in folders
• Printing out personalised gifts such as t-shirts
• Producing your own passport photo
• Sending pictures attached to emails
• Improving your pictures if they suffer from red-eye‚ include unwanted objects or need increased contrast or brightness
• Storing them on a CD or DVD
• Labelling them for easy search and retrieval

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