Copyright © by Harold E. Jones .. 2001.

You will need 2 "Family" photos as well to complete this Tutorial. Scan them into your hard drive or if you prefer
choose 2 "photos" from your graphics collection.

1. Open new image, width="350" height="350", 16.7 million colors, White. I have chosen white so as to make it easier to see your work.
Click on the "Color Options pallet." Make your foreground color Dark Green ["#004040"] and your background color Mid Green. ["#50797B"].

2. Go to "View/Rulers" and click Ok. [If you do not already have "Rulers" on your PSP Desktop] Go to "View/Grid" and click Ok. I find it is easier to be more precise when designing your gaphics if you have both the "Rulers" and "Grid" activated.

3. Click on the "Layers Option Pallet." Add a layer and name it "back cover."
4. Click on your "Preset Shapes Tool," open your "Tool Options Pallet" and select: "rectangle; stroked & filled; line width=2; antialias=checked; vector=unchecked."

5. Hold down the left mouse button and start at co-ordinates W=50 x H=50 and drag down and to the right until you reach co-ordinates W=250 x H=300. Release mouse button. You will now have a "Mid Green" shape with a "Dark Green" border. This will be the back cover of the album.

6. Click on the "Magic Wand Tool," open your "Tool Options Pallet" and choose the following settings: "Match mode=RGB Value; Tolerance=100; Feather=0."

7. Make sure you are on the "back cover" layer. Click outside the "Back Cover" shape. Go to "Selections/invert." click Ok. The "Marching Ants" will appear around the shape.

8. Go to "Edit/copy."

9. Go to "Edit/paste/paste as new layer."

10. Click on the "Layers Option Pallet." You now have 3 layers. "Layer 1," "back cover," and "layer 3". Right click on the "layer 3" and re-name the "layer 3" as "Page 1."

11. Click on the "Mover Tool" and re-position "page 1" slightly down and to the right of the "back cover." This means that the "Dark Green" top and left lines of "page 1" will be just below and to the left of the "Dark Green" top and left lines of the "back cover."

14. Turn Off "layer 1" by clicking on the "small glasses" to the right of the title "layer 1." Go to "layers/merge/merge visible" and click Ok. You now have two layers. Right click on the new layer named "merged," and re-name the layer "Album." Click Ok. Turn on the "Layer 1" again by clicking on the "small glasses."

15. Click on the "Layers Option Pallet." Add a layer and name it "spine."

16. Click on your "Preset Shapes Tool," open your "Tool Options Pallet" and select: "rectangle; stroked & filled; line width=2; antialias=checked; vector=unchecked."

17. Hold down the left mouse button and start at co-ordinates W=60 x H=60 and drag down and to the right to co-ordinates W=80 x H=310. Release mouse button.

18. Click on the "Layers Option Pallet." Add a layer and name it "photo." You should have 4 layers. Layer 1 [White background], "album," "spine" and "photo" layer.

19. Open up one of the photos that you have chosen.

20. Go to "Edit/copy."

22. In your layer pallet, with the photo layer activated, click and hold down the left mouse button and drag the "photo" down and underneath the "spine" layer. Release the mouse button.

23. While the "Layers Option Pallet." is still open, turn off the "White background" or layer 1 by clicking on the "small glasses" to the right of the name "layer 1."

24. Go to "layers/merge/merge visible" and click Ok. You will now have only 2 layers. "Layer 1" [the white background] and a layer named "merged."

25. Right click on this "merged" layer and re-name the "merged" layer, "album." Click Ok. Turn on the "layer 1" again by clicking on the small glasses.

26. Click on the "Layers Option Pallet." Add a layer and name it "front cover."

27.Click on your "Preset Shapes Tool," open your "Tool Options Pallet" and select: "rectangle; stroked & filled; line width=2; antialias=checked; vector=unchecked."

28. Hold down the left mouse button and start at co-ordinates W=80 x H=60 and drag down and to the right to co-ordinates W=260 x H=310. Release mouse button.

29. Click on the "Magic Wand Tool," open your "Tool Options Pallet" and choose the following settings: "Match mode=RGB Value; Tolerance=100; Feather=0."

30. Click inside the "Front cover" shape. The "Marching Ants" will appear.

31. Open the "album_bg.jpg" image that you downloaded to your hard drive or choose another pattern.

32. Click on the "Flood Fill Tool" and in the "Tool Options Pallet," change from "solid color" to "pattern." Click on the "Middle tab" and scroll down until you locate "album_bg."

33. Left click inside the "Marching Ants" on the "Front Cover" and the pattern will "flood fill" the cover shape.

36. Return to the Album graphic. Activate the "Front Cover" layer. Go to "Edit/paste/paste as a new layer.

37. Click on the "Mover Tool" and position the "Tulips" photo in the bottom right hand corner of the "Front Cover."

38. Right click on this new layer and re-name the "layer 3," "Tulips." Release the mouse button.

39. Click on the "Color Options pallet." Make your foreground white. ["#FFFFFF"]

40. Click on the "Layers Option Pallet." Add a layer and name it "Text."

41. Click on the "Text Tool" then left click on the "front Cover." The Text "Options" box appears.

43. Click on the "Layers Option Pallet." You should have 5 layers. Layer 1 [White background], "Album," "Front Cover," "Tulips," and "Text."

44. Turn Off "layer 1" and "Album" layers by clicking on the "small glasses" to the right of the titles.

45. Go to "layers/merge/merge visible and click Ok. You now have three layers. Right click on the new layer named "merged," and re-name the layer "Front Cover." Click Ok. Turn on the bottom 2 layers again by clicking on the small glasses.

46. Make sure that you are still on this new "Front Cover" layer. Click on the "Deform Tool" and a box with small square buttons will surround the "Front Cover."

47. While holding down the "shift key," left click on the center button on the right hand side. An arrow will appear and still holding down the "shift key" and the left mouse button, move the right hand side of the "Front Cover" down 20 pixels. The left hand side of the "Front Cover" remains in position. Release the mouse button and an "Options" box appears. Click on "Apply."

48. Click on the "Layers Option Pallet." Add a layer and name it "My Photos."

49. Open one of the "Family Photos" that you have chosen. Click on this photo and go to "Edit/copy."

50. Make sure that you are on the "My Photos" layer and then go to "Edit/paste/paste as new selection." Click on the "Mover Tool" and position the first photo to the right of the "Front Cover" and slightly covering it.

52. Click on the "My photos" layer and hold down the left mouse button. A "small hand" appears allowing you to "grab" the "My Photos" layer and drag it down and under the "Front Cover" layer.

53. While the "Layers Option Pallet" is still open, turn off the "White background" or layer 1 by clicking on the "small glasses" to the right of the name "layer 1."

54. Go to "layers/merge/merge visible" and click Ok. You will now have only 2 layers. "Layer 1" [the white background] and a layer named "merged."

55. Right click on this "merged" layer and re-name it "album." Click Ok. Turn on the "layer 1" again by clicking on the small glaases.

57. If you want to have a different type of background for your "Album," Activate the "White Bckground" or "layer1," and "flood fill" with a pattern of your choice. Then go to "layers/merge/merge all flatten." Click Ok. Go to "File/save as" and save as a .jpg extension.

For further information, please E-mail me.