Can't Print Multiple Photos on Single Page-c309g Premium

[AnotherRufus]

It didn’t take long, but it’s time for me to eat my words –at least some of them.

After I printed the 3 4x6s, I decided to try to mixing different sizes. Apparently that can’t be done. If I change the print size, that change affects all the photos. Photosmart provided a collection of templates with several options. You could mix and match. It’s somewhat interesting that this is the third similar occurrence – removing options that were previously available - that has happened to me since I purchased my new computer with Windows 7. In 7 you can no longer select the sound you want to hear when Windows starts. (You can still choose the closing sound.) When you want to add a web site to your Favorites in Internet Explorer 8, the list of Favorites always opens at the top. This is a real annoyance when I am trying to research a topic and want to collect the relevant pages into a subfolder in Favorites. For each web page I want to add, I have to start at the top and burrow my way down to the appropriate subfolder. In previous versions of IE the most recently used subfolder was the one that popped up. Convenient.

So who (Microsoft, HP, whatever) is making the decisions as to what is useful or convenient or desirable for us?

Photo Creations is “a new program designed for creativity”. OK but what about just plain utility?

[RocketLife]

---

AnotherRufus wrote:

Photo Creations is “a new program designed for creativity”. OK but what about just plain utility?

---

Hi Rufus.

Again :-), HP Photo Creations is not a direct replacement for utility printing software from other companies, but we (RocketLife) do consider the requests in this forum as we evaluate potential features.

Can you describe more specifically how you'd like multiple-image printing to work? Perhaps you'd select one or more photos and a size of paper, and then the software would present several layouts containing those photos at standard sizes. Or perhaps each photo would "snap" to standard sizes as you enlarge or reduce it in a layout so you can create your own templates. Feel free to post a screenshot.

Thanks again for sharing your suggestions,

RocketLife

[AnotherRufus]

Hi RocketLife.

I’m sitting at the XP machine I mentioned earlier. When my wife’s computer died, I gave her my 3 year old XP and that’s when I bought the Windows 7 machine. The XP still has Photosmart running on it, so I am bouncing  between writing this to you and going through my usual step when I used Photosmart.

When the program starts, there is a menu at the top of the screen with 5 options: Open Files, Acquire Images, Prints, Album and Print.  So the first two options are how you get the images you want to print. The next two, Prints and Album, display the various layout options for printing.  The final menu item speaks for itself.

I have never used Album but I have just clicked on it. It gives you 39 different templates for printing a full page, supposedly to be inserted into a photo album.

Prints is similar. It gives you 34 full page templates. Each template contains an array of shapes where you can drag and drop your photos. The shapes may all of the same size (e.g., there is a template that will print 4 3x5s – either the same or different images; 2 5x7s, 9 wallet size, and so on) or the sizes can be mixed (e.g., a 5x7, a 3x5, 2 wallets, and 8 “mini ID”s – whatever they are. Some of the templates are measured in cm instead of inches.  An interesting feature of printing 4x6s (that’s the one I use mostly – and this feature may also be connected to other print sizes) is that since the size of the original image does not necessarily match exactly the size of the desired printed photo, there is some small amount of movement within the templates. If you send out photos to be printed (as 4x6s, anyway) they’ll come back with either part of the top or part of the bottom missing. If a photo contains a piece at the bottom or top that you definitely would like to have printed, you might be able to get that with this little nudging.

Well, that’s about it. If you want any more info, I’ll certainly try to help. I think the features I’ve described here would be of interest to many.

Rufus

[Canberra]

In Microsoft Office Picture Manager if you select a photo and click "Print" it gives several options: two 4x6; two 5x7; several wallet size; or sveral contact prints, all on a single 8x10 sheet. However when I choose any of those it will give me only one photo. I can trick it to give me two different photos on the same sheet but they will all be on one half of the sheet.

[AnotherRufus]

Hi RocketLife.

My postings the other day were my first in this forum. I didn't include screen shots - as you suggested - because at that time I didn't know how. I've done a bit of reading and so will try posting some now.

This is the top of the screen when the program starts.

If you select Albums you see a window like this.

From the Prints option.

and this shows three photos that been selected for printing and inserted into one of the print templates.

Let me re-emphasize what a nice program this is for people who want to print at home and who might want to print several photos of different sizes on a single piece of paper.

Since RocketLife is the developer of HP Photo Creations, it seems that HP would be glad to give/share the code to enhance a product bearing its name and that RocketLife would be able to fit that code into Photo Creations as an option.

I look forward to that improvement.

[RocketLife]

Thanks for posting the images, Rufus. That was very helpful. I'll forward this to our development team.

We regularly announce new features and tips on our Facebook page, www.facebook.com/HP.Photo.Creations, so that's a good place to stay up to date. (No Facebook membership is required to view the information, only to comment.)

Again, thanks — and happy printing!

[RocketLife]

UPDATE: You can now print multiple pictures on a page in HP Photo Creations directly. (Above, we explained a way to lay them out using the collage print project.)

1. Load your photos and click Print.
2. Set the paper size.
3. Set Image Size to 50% or 25%.
4. Set Images per Page to Grid or Maximum.

Tip: To get different printed dimensions, pick a different paper size.

For a quick tour, see the "Printing at Home" video here:

http://hp.rlproductionnetwork.com/videos.html

Hope this helps,

RocketLife