One of the biggest advantages of modern graphic software is the ability it gives you to create your own poster images. You can use this option to create posters of enlarged family photos, beautiful country scenery or busy cityscapes. These personalized posters can become your home's favorite piece of art or a treasured gift. Additionally, once you create the base poster design, you can print off as many copies as you'd like.
Instructions
Printing a Poster from a Photo
1. Draw sketches of your poster ideas, incorporating your photo in your sketches. Don't look to create perfect replicas of your photos---you just want to draw the basic shapes so that you know where you'd like to place the other design elements in your work. These elements include text, font styles and other photos or illustrations.
2. Make a file folder on your computer where you can store your work.
3. Select the photo you'll use from your photos. If the photo doesn't exist, take the photo. If you must take the photo, consider taking it with a digital camera, because old photos require that you take the extra step to scan them into your computer so they can exist in a digital format.
4. Scan the photographs that still exist in hard-copy format. Opt for a scan ratio of 200 to 300 dots per inch (dpi). This produces higher quality photo reproductions. Save these (and all your photos) into your file folder.
5. Open your graphic design program. While many art professionals working in the design industry opt for programs like Adobe Illustrator, you can opt for other programs if you're more comfortable with them. For example, Publisher offers quite a few design features and gives the budding designer some advantages like templates that other more advanced programs don't offer the beginner.
6. Set the parameters of your poster project in inches or centimeters. Many design programs come with a default setting---usually 8 ½ by 11 inches. If your poster fits those specifications, then you just need to click "OK" when the pop-up menu appears. Otherwise, you need to set the specifications for your desired size.
7. Add your photos to your poster template. Many photo-based posters feature the photo as its primary image and take up a large amount of space on the poster. If you opt to do this, the photo becomes the background of your poster as well as its focal point.
8. Adjust your photos if they are too small or too large. Additionally, if your photo poster consists of a large photo image covering the whole poster area, make sure you include some bleed space on the borders. Otherwise, you may inadvertently cut off some of the graphic elements.
9. Insert any text you would like on your poster.
10. Make final adjustments to your poster and do a test print to see if you find any flaws. If so, correct them. If not, create a PDF (portable document file) of your work and burn it onto a disc to take to the printer. Your printer will subsequently print off as many copies of your photo poster from the PDF as you order.
Tags: your poster, your photos, your photo, your work, file folder