Hey all.

I am completely computer illiterate, do I need a Photoshop program to make banners and collages and so forth? I know this is dumb question, I just don't know anything about it and if I do, what do I get and how much does it cost. I want to make a collage of pics and don't know how. Any help would be appreciated. My computer training is limited to Excel, Access and Word, don't know how to do graphics.

No, you do not need Photoshop - although it's the industry standard and the most well-documented and supported. There are free programs you can download that are not as powerful but for what you want to work on, they're good enough:

Top 8 Free Photo Editors for Windows

It's great that you're willing to try new things. It's fun and worth the time!

Thank you so much for the help. I'll try it. :D

I don't have Photoshop either... see if your computer has "Microsoft Picture It! Photo." I use the 2002 version. It came free on a lot of older computers, and some people don't even realize they have the program! B)

If you just want to create very simple banners and collages, photobucket is awesome for that, and provides you with a pic URL for posting on message boards....

www. photobucket. com without the space after the dots.

I did make something in photobucket and I was trying to copy it to a message board and I still can't figure out how to do it. :(

Do you have MS Publisher? It comes with some MS Office products. This is great for banners, flyers etc.

For art I started with Paint Shop Pro, originally by Jasc, now owned by Corel. It's reasonably cheap for what it does. Very similar to Adobe Illustrator.

I have a question. When you make a banner, etc., how do you just get Elliott into the picture and not the background of the original picture? I hope this question even makes sense.
Paula

If you're using Photoshop:

The better way:
1. Filter
2. Extract
3. Draw a perimeter around him, making sure there are no gaps
4 Use "Smart Highlighting" for finer parts like hair area
5. Fill Elliott with the paint bucket
6. OK
7. Drag Elliott to the other file
8. Adjust his size by going to Edit > Transform > Scale
9. Clean him up with the eraser and/or blur tool. Make sure you're on his layer!

The faster way:
Lasso tool using 1 or 2 pixel feathering and anti-alias
Use the lasso around him and cut him outta there and bring him over to the other file.

OK... another dummy here. Does anyone have any suggestions for what the best program is for a MAC OS X? I'd be so grateful for any help I can get to start SOMETHING! :help: :pray:

Photoshop CS2 is the best - they have a trial version requiring registration. Adobe has a "mini-Photoshop" called Photoshop Elements (about $100) but has no trial version. There are free or inexpensive image editors HERE. I haven't tried any of them, but they should have the tools you need.