collage of hundreds of photos with high res output?

[designpartners]

Hi All,

I was asked today how to quickly (and ideally automatically) create a high res image (which prints to 92"x23") of over 500 photos?

anybody got any ideas? Google leads me to loads of cheap websites, none of which so far do what I want. picassa limited to 5000px in size.

any help appreciated.

James

[MarkM]

Is it really a collage or a grid layout of some sort? It's hard to imagine doing a collage automatically because it involves a lot of creative decisions. Any grid-like layout is probably best handled by layout software like InDesign. It uses low-res proxies for images so the resolution doesn't really matter until it's time to print.

Here's a few tips on auto-placing a lot of images in InDesign: http://indesignsecrets.com/quickly-place-images-indesign-document.php

[sniper]

Check out Foto fusion     http://site.lumapix.com/# The older version (4) that we have will do collages very nicely, I don't lnow the maximum size though.

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

Hi All,

I was asked today how to quickly (and ideally automatically) create a high res image (which prints to 92"x23") of over 500 photos?

Hi James,

It's not clear to me what you are looking for. If it is simply a collection of 500 images on a single sheet, I'd imaging that Qimage could do that for you. You can let Qimage automatically place the images of different sizes in an a layout that makes optimal use of the total paper surface, or place them in a regular grid. You can also make a template if you want to add text, background colors, etc., and recreate the job with different images at different occasions.

Output resampling and sharpening for optimal resolution is automatic, regardless of the input file size(s).

Cheers,
Bart

[john beardsworth]

You could probably do it in Lightroom's Print module. Set your final paper size and use a custom package or grid layout as needed (but I agree your requirement isn't clear).

John

[hjulenissen]

Hi James,

It's not clear to me what you are looking for. If it is simply a collection of 500 images on a single sheet, I'd imaging that Qimage could do that for you. You can let Qimage automatically place the images of different sizes in an a layout that makes optimal use of the total paper surface, or place them in a regular grid. You can also make a template if you want to add text, background colors, etc., and recreate the job with different images at different occasions.

Output resampling and sharpening for optimal resolution is automatic, regardless of the input file size(s).

Cheers,
Bart

I have seen a demo (not tried myself) of Mirage that seemed suited for such tasks.

Mirage comes for free with certain Epson printers in my part of the world.

-h

[sharperstill]

I used InDesign when I did something similar for my wife. There's a way of loading the curser up with all the image files, then you can click once into each placeholder.

[designpartners]

Sorry for not being clear and thanks for all the replies - I'm sure there is a solution there.
I'll pass this on to the guy who asked me and I'll let you know how we get on. InDesign seems like a possibility. Lightroom can easily do up toe a 15x15 grid, and you can custom make larger ones but then had to manually add to each box.

I have a trial of Mirage anyway so I'l give that a go also.

Thanks for the tips!

James

[sharperstill]

Apologies for the poor quality pic.
Friends set up this InDesign grid. I then selected all the pre-prepared images and the curser was loaded up with all of them.
I could then click into each rectangular placeholder and one image would remain.
Someone with half-decent InDesign knowledge could help you set up the file.

Jon

[langier]

If a grid will work, run Contact Sheet II in PS or Bridge, using Bridge to set the order or the similar function in LR.

Contact Sheet II will handle several hundred images on a grid. I'd take a couple of rows of the pix and run a trial to check the spacing before running a large batch of pix.

I do this regularly to do book layouts--run a sheet of the master photos then cut them up and reorder on the table or floor, just like the good old days.