Print Layout: Quick Start Guide
This guide shows how to use preset print layouts for your photobooth. The example below explains how to set up the printer and define a traditional double strip of four images with a logo.
You can also choose preset layouts for a single strip of four, one large and three small, and two by two images. You can adapt all these layouts to meet your requirements.
This guide is for DSLR Remote Pro for Windows v2.2.3, NKRemote v2.2.3, PSRemote v2.1.2 and Webcam Photobooth v1.2 or later. Please see this series of articles for more information on photo booth shooting or if you are running an older version of the software.
Step 1: Setup your printer
First connect the printer to your computer and then display the Windows "Devices and Printers" window by pressing the Windows "Start" button and selecting "Devices and Printers":
You should see an icon for your printer (this example uses a DNP DS40 printer which is shown as "DS40"). Right click on the icon for your printer and select "Set as default printer" to make it the default printer. Right click on the printer icon again and this time select "Printing preferences" to setup the default printing and page settings:
Next click on the "Advanced..." button to setup the printer page settings. The contents of the advanced options dialog will depend on the printer model. The advanced options dialog for the DNP DS40 printer used in this guide looks like this:
The printer is loaded with 6x4 paper and so the page size is set to 6x4. The print quality for this printer can be set to 300 x 300 dpi, 300 x 600 dpi or 600 x 600 dpi. The photobooth software needs the horizontal and vertical dpi settings to be the same which means that the 300 x 600 dpi setting can't be used. Since there is very little difference in the print quality between the 300 x 300 dpi and 600 x 600 dpi settings with this printer the 300 x 300 dpi is used. The 300 x 300 dpi setting requires less data than the 600 x 600 dpi setting and therefore will print faster.
Finally save the settings by clicking on the OK buttons in the advanced options and printing preferences dialogs.
Notes: On Windows Vista the "Printers" window can be displayed by pressing the Windows "Start" button and selecting "Control Panel" and then double clicking on "Printers". On Windows XP the "Printers and Faxes" window can be displayed by pressing the Windows "Start" button and selecting "Printers and Faxes".
Step 2: Define the Layout
Run the photobooth software and select "Photobooth Settings..." from the File menu:
Set the number of images to 4, the output to "Print and save JPEG copy" and select the "Custom layout" checkbox as shown above. Then click on the custom layout "Settings..." button:
Then click on the "Preset Layouts..." button to display the preset layouts dialog:
Select the preset layout you wish to use - in this case the "Double strip of 4" layout and press the "OK" button.
Note: If the page preview has the wrong orientation you need to go back to step 1 and change the orientation setting.
The settings will be copied to the "Photobooth Custom Layout" dialog which should look something like this:
Next click on the "Print Test Page" button to check the layout. The test print will show the positions of the images together with horizontal and vertical rulers and will look something like this:
The placement of the images on the page can be adjusted by clicking on the "Preset Layouts..." button and adjusting the values for the margins and image spacing. When you're happy with the layout press the "OK" buttons in the "Photobooth Custom Layout" and "Photobooth Settings" dialogs to save the settings.
Step 3: Add a Logo
Connect the camera to the PC and run the photobooth software. Then type Ctrl+F4 to enter full screen photobooth mode and F4 to take a test sequence. The photo strip will be printed on your printer and a JPEG copy of the layout will be saved to the prints subfolder. Check the print and repeat step 2 above if you're not happy with the layout.
When you're happy with the print layout you can add a logo by editing the JPEG copy of the print layout in an image editor such as Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. The JPEG copy of the print layout can be found in the prints subfolder. This can be located by pressing Esc to exit full screen photobooth mode and looking at the status line at the bottom of the main window. This will show something like "Saved C:\DSlrRemote\2011-08-09\IMG_0004.JPG". In this case the folder where the images taken by the camera are saved is "C:\DSlrRemote\2011-08-09" and the subfolder where the JPEG copy of the print layout is saved is "C:\DSlrRemote\2011-08-09\prints".
When you've added logos to the image using the image editor it should be saved in the photobooth images folder as background.jpg. The location of the photobooth images folder is defined in the "Photobooth Settings" dialog (see step 2 above). In this example the photobooth images folder is set to C:\Photobooth\PhotoboothImages. Please see FAQ 1 on the frequently asked questions page if you are having problems saving the background.jpg image to the photobooth images folder.
The background.jpg image should look something like this:
Print out another test shot by typing Ctrl+F4 to select full screen photobooth mode followed by F4 to start the shooting sequence. The final print should look something like this:
Where to find more information
Please see this series of articles for more information on photo booth shooting. The section on "Printers and print layout" has a number of examples of how to create different print layouts.
Please visit our user forum at www.breezesysforum.co.uk/forum to ask questions and share information with other users.
