How frustrating it is to sort through a stack of photo CDs searching for the one you need, each with a written label like the CD shown below (at left)? Wouldn’t it be cool if you could make a contact sheet (as shown below at the right) that fits in the front of your CD case? Wouldn’t it be even better if the process of creating the contact sheet was quick and painless?
Your wish is my command… here is how you do it:
- Open Adobe Bridge (the program comes free with Adobe Photoshop and with the Creative Suite).
- Navigate to the folder that contains the images you have put on the CD. You can optionally select key images, or make the contact sheet from all the images in the folder.
- Choose Tools > Photoshop > Contact Sheet II
- Under Source Images, you can select Folder (to generate the thumbnails from all the files in the folder) or Selected Images from Bridge (to generate the thumbnails from only the images you selected prior to opening up the dialog box).
- Under Document, set the units to Inches, and the width and height to 4.75 x 4.75 (this is the size of a typical CD case). The resolution can be fairly low, i.e., 150 ppi. I prefer to flatten the layers to keep the file size down.
- Under Thumbnails, decide how many columns and rows of photos you would like on the contact sheet. (Careful here… too many and you’ll need a loop to see them!)
- Decide if you would like the filename of each file to appear as a caption below each photo. And if so, pick a font and a size. (I chose not to use the captions in my example above.)
It seems to me that most creative professionals are visual folks, and this is a great way to visually catalog your CDs.
Want more Photoshop tips? Come to my upcoming Introduction to Adobe Photoshop CS3 class on August 4-5, 2008. It will be held in a virtual classroom, so you can attend this live, interactive class from anywhere in the country. All you need is a computer with fast Internet access, a headset and a current version of the software. You can ask all the questions you like because our virtual classes are led by a live instructor–this is not pre-recorded content. “See” you in August!