Products FAQ: Collages, Montages And Slide Shows

What is a digital collage or montage and what makes it so special?
What kinds of photo collags can you create?
What kind of photos should I send you?
Can I send items other than photos to include in the collage?
What number of photos do you recommend for a collage?
What can you do to bring old photos to life again?
What is the most important thing I can do to speed up the completion of my project((s)?
Do you matte or frame photos?
What is so special about the digital slide shows with motion and music that Photo Collages And More create?
How long should my slide shows be?
Can I choose what transition effect I want to use between slides?

What is a digital collage/montage and what makes them so special?

    • A digital collage is a new way of taking photos that are in some way or another special to you or someone you care about and converting them into a unique treasure that will be viewed for years to come. You are sharing memories of special people, events and places that revolve around a common theme such as a wedding, an anniversary, a graduation or some of other special event or achievment. Then you find a place of honor to hang your digital college for all to admire and to be reminded of those post events. Emotions are best evoked when a photo can remind you of the those moments from the past that are worth remembering. Click here for Collage Samples.

    • A digital montage is simply using an established patternn of image placement, always using no more than 25 images to make up the montage. Click here for Montage Samples.

    • Because of the nature of the special computer software we are using to create our collages we are able to feather the edges of photos so that their edges blend one into another - something our grandmothers could never do with the cut and paste collages of the past.

    • We are able to color correct and improve in other ways the images you send us to become part of your collage./montage. We can make old photos look a lot younger but don't expect us to take off twenty years or twenty pounds.

    • Anyone can give the usual gifts. Anyone can put together a photo album that will probably just sit in a bookcase somewhere, never to be seen again. But with a photo collage from Photo Collages And More you get something that will be hung on a wall for all to see. A reminder not only of those events from the past but a reminder of your gift, your thoughtfulness and your effort to give something truly unique.

    • A special event or achievment is not made up of just one moment in time. It's a collection of images, of people, places and actions that together form the memories that people cherish. And it's the creation of a digial photo collage that will showcase these memories like nothing else.

What kinds of photo collages can you create? Click here for Collage Samples.

    • We can create standard rectangular collages with a key photo in the middle that you select and a progression from the outside edges to the center of the collage that you also select.

    • We can do circular collages that would then be matched up with a circular or oval matte that you would have cut where ever you choose to have your collage matted and framed.

    • We can do collages where there is text is overlaid on top of your collage images. You would provide the text and give directions as to where you want the text to appear on the collage.

    • We can just randomly place the photos. PCAM would determine where each photo would go (except for a key photo that would appear in the center or at the top or bottom of the collage).

    • We can do photo collages in what we call the "stepping stone" style which is where we show the entire photo with a white border around each photo.

What kind of photos should I send you?

You should always send digital images if you have them because that saves time and money since we won't have to take the time and effort to scan them at Photo Collages And More. You can take your prints to places like Kinkos, Ritz/Wolf Camera and just about any photo processing department of any drug chain, Target or WalMart and they will do it for you. If you have slides or negatives you will probably have to send those to us. Make sure you tell us how many you are going to be sending for scanning and what kinds of images they are: photos, slides or negatives, before you send them. You should mail them to Photo Collages And More, Attention: Scanning, 12505 Bayleaf Church Road, Raleigh, NC. 27614. You will not the number and type of images you are sending to us on the Cost Estimator form.

Can I send items other than photos to include in the collage
You can send documents such as a wedding invitation or birth certificate or wedding license if you want that included in a project. Just mail it to the address given above.

What number of photos do you recommend for a collage?

The smaller the final print the fewer the photos you want to use. So if you want to include 100 or more photos we recommend at least 16x20 inches be used as your final print size. It doesn't mean that you can't use a smaller size with a lot of photos but you will have to accept the fact that the images will be smaller than they would be if a larger print size were used.

What can you do to bring old photos back to life?

Depending on the severity of the damage to an image we can do quite a bit to restore an image. We can get rid of dust and minor scratches and color correct and take care of red eye for no additional cost. But if major restoration work is required, if the image is torn or has bad discoloration blemishes then more extensive work will be required. The charge for more extensive restoration is $5 per image. You need to tell us on the Cost Estimator form how many photos are going to need such extensive restoration.

What is the most important thing I can do to speed up the completion of my project?

Send us digital files and provide us with as much detailed information about the type of project you want as possible. Do you want a title to the project? Do you want a center image that is larger than all other images? Do you want a border of a certain color and shape around a center image? Do you want any captions assigned to particular slides in a slide show? Do you want a specific color background for your slide show? All of these instructions should be clearly stated when you fill out the Cost Estimator form. And check off those items that you want that carry an extra charge such as addingn captions.

Do you matte or frame collages or montages?

How you present your collage or montage is a very personal decision so we do not matte or frame your collage or montage prints. The prints are sent to you in a tube for protection. All you have to do is take your print or prints to a nearby frame shop and they can help you select just the right frame and matte.

What is so special about your digital slide shows?

You can take your images to just about any photo processing lab at a nearby drug store or Wolf/Ritz Camera and they will put together a slide show which consists of nothing more than one slide after another with maybe a couple of seconds on screen and one transition type, usually just a cut between slides. With Photo Collages And More slide shows you get to select any of the music that you can find on the iTunes.com website (at $1 per song used), there will be pans and zooms within your slide show to add movement and focus attention on those specific people or places that you want attention focused on. And there will be a variety of transistions used to add excitement to your slide show. In addition we will be able to add captions to individual slides (at $3 per caption) to further customize the look of your slide show project. So if you just want a few photos thrown together go to WalMart or Target. If you want a truly unique and emotional slide SHOW then place your order with Photo Collages And More.

How long should my slide shows be?

We suggest that you allow 3 second for each slide and two seconds between slides. So if you want a 12 minute slide show you will want to provide 144 images. We would not recommend anything fewer than 50 slides simply because you want to have enough slides to tell a story. A typical song will be approximately 4 minutes long, which equals 48 slides. With beginning and closing credits, which we don't charge extra for you could do a slide show of approximately 50 slides in four minutes. This assumes some leeway in the beginning and end of the slide show in terms of matching it up to the music you choose. An example would be if the music you chose was only 3 minutes and 25 seconds long. We would either have to reduce the number of slides, shorten the length of some slides and transistions or have silence at the beginning and/or end of the show in order for the music background to match up as closely as possible with the images we are using to create the slide show.

Can I choose the slide show transisitons to use?

Yes, we can send you a list of the transistions that are available and you can choose the ones you want us to use. Don't go overboard. If you leave it up to us we will typically use 3-6 different transistions in a slide show. A lot of it has to do with the content of the slides. Some seem more appropriate for a soft dissolve than a barn door than a circle wipe, etc.