Copy/Paste option in Elements 3.0

[glenpinn]

hi everyone.

i have started using elements 3.0 for photo editing etc, and need to know how to get the "copy/paste" option to work.
i do a lot of what i call multi image work, for example pasting 4 3x2 portrait pics onto a 6x4 portrait blank and having it printed with the 4 smaller pics on the 6x4 photo.
i use elements 3.0 to crop and resize the 4 photos to 3x2 @ 300dpi, giving me 4 pics at 900x600. i then create a 6x4 (1800x1200) white portrait blank but i cant seem to copy each of the 4 3x2 pics onto the 6x4 blank.
if i open one of the 3x2 pics, go to the "edit" menu, there are no "cut/copy/paste" option working, they are blanked out, and if i use "right click mouse" option, all i get is the "select all" option.
if i use the "select all" option then open the 6x4 blank, i cant find a way to "paste" the 3x2 image into the 6x4 blank.

i can do this task perfectly in microsoft photo editor (a componant of microsoft office xp pro) i just open each of the saved 3x2 pics>right click mouse>select copy> close the image>open the white 6x4 blank>right click mouse>then paste the 3x2 image. i repeat this 4 times till the 4 3x2 pics are on the 6x4 blank, then have it printed.
just cant seem to do it in ELEMENTS 3.0

anyone have a resolution, i cant seem to find anything relating to this sort of thing in the help option or guides. im happy to cont doing it the way i do at the moment, but want to do it all "inhouse" with elements 3.0

any help appreciated and have posted a sample of what im trying to do.

cheers....GLEN

[opus]

I tried to duplicate your problem and was unable to. HOWEVER, the way you worded your question I want to just verify that you're actually doing what you think you're doing.

You can't just open a picture in Elements and expect its contents to already be on the clipboard. The program doesn't know what you're asking it to copy. So first, you need to "select all" ... think of this step as you telling the computer WHAT you want it to copy. Then, you need to actually COPY what you've selected.

So when you choose 'Select All', are you then selecting 'Copy' afterward? If not, doing this should fix your problem and you'll also be able to paste.

If this is what you're already doing, then I don't know what the problem is.

[glenpinn]

hi kelly.
thanks for your reply.
i have already tried the "select all" option then "copy" but still the "cut/copy/paste" option in the "edit menu" is still blanked out and i cant use them.
just to explain as best i can just so u know exactly what im doing.
1. i import 4 photos to elements, crop each to 3x2 resize at 300dpi = 900x600
2. create a white 6x4 blank @ 300dpi = 1800x1200
3. i want to copy each of the 4 3x2 pics onto the 6x4 blanks (as in my included sample)
4. im then left with a 6x4 photo for printing with 4 3x2 photos on it.

this is so easy to do in MS PHOTO EDITOR, i do it every day, and this is very popular with clients because i can copy any amount of photos onto any print size blank (eg 16 3x2 on a 12x8 blank etc) and they frame them.
i use elements to crop and resize the photos and to create the required blank and save them as sRGB in highest quality JPEG format.
i then open each of the photos seperately in ms photo editor, copy them, close the image and then open the blank and paste each of the photos onto the blank as i mentioned in my first thread.
the problem with photo editor is that when i save the finished multi pic photo the jpeg compression is very high, and the file size will be 250kb, whereas in elements the same photo saved at high quality jpeg would be 1.2mb or more.
i can re-save the finished photo in photo editor as a .tif file then resave it in elements again as high quality jpeg.
my photo printing service requires all photos to be saved in one of the adobe editors in sRGB color, cropped to required print size and resized to 300dpi, baseline standard, so after creating this multi pic photo in photo editor, i have to import it back to elements to save it in the required specs for printing. seems a bit long winded but my photo printer is the best in australia, they only print for professional photographers and photo processors and specialises in adobe files only (fuji frontier and fujimoto)

hope this makes sense again.....GLEN

[glenpinn]

how can i move this thread, should be in DIGITAL IMAGING and COMPUTERS i think

regards.....GLEN

[Trevor Ash]

Hi Glen,

If I'm understand your problem correctly, you're saying that the option to "copy" what you have selected is disabled and unclickable when you try to access it from the menu.

I'm not familiar with photoshop elements but I can think of at least one reason why you'd have this problem in regular Photoshop. Photoshop supports multiple layers and you have to have a valid layer selected before being able to copy it.

It might help if you were to post a screenshot showing your desktop with the image loaded in photoshop.....or might not If you use a PC you can press the Print Screen button on your keyboard which will automatically fill the clipboard with a screenshot of your screen. You can then paste than in a new image and post it here.

I'm not really sure what the problem is but I bet it'll be obvious once figured out. Unfortunately software is filled with all kinds of arbitrary rules and limitations that just aren't obvious.

[glenpinn]

hi trevor.
thanks for your help, i am fairly new to elements, and im thinking its something simple iM doing wronG, but working in layers is something new to me as well, but i have posted 3 screenshots of what im doing.

image 1. is the 6x4 white blank and the 4 3x2 pics at the bottom, and have opened the 1st 3x2 image to copy. i right mouse click and click on the "select all" option

image 2. is the screenshot after i have clicked on the "select all" option then gone to the edit menu and try to select "copy" in the drop down box, as u can see most options in the edit list are not functional, only a few at the bottom

image 3. is the 6x4 white blank in the workspace that i want to "paste" all the 3x2 pics onto.

im not overly fussed if i cant resolve this, i just want to be able to do it all inhouse with elements 3.0. but my guess is that i eed to create layers to work with like u said, MS PHOTO EDITOR u dont use layers to do this work, u just open the 3x2 photo, right click and "copy" then close, then open the 6x4 blank then right click and "paste" then drag the 3x2 photo to one corner of the blank, then repeat this process till u have all 4 photos on the 6x4 blank, then save the work, SO EASY a child can do it.
the only reason i want to do it in elements is because of the format i save my work in for printing, all my photos on my pc are saved in sRGB color using highest quality jpeg (10 or 12) baseline standard (for the reasons i mentioned in my previous post)
photo editor has none of these option to save in, it only uses high compression jpeg so my photos will probably be degraded somewhat when saved in photo editor, although i can save them as a tif file then resave them in elements to thier original format, i dont know if thats an ok idea or not. remember that each time i save my work, im actually re-saving it as a new file, not just saving the same file repeatedly over and over again.

thanks 4 your time and will await further comments.....GLEN

[glenpinn]

hi again.
well i got it to work to a point, b4 i was only using the "quick edit" screen on elements, so i opened the "standard edit" option and imported the images and started again with better results this time, and the "cut/copy/paste" options work in the standard edit mode but not in the quick edit mode.
i bought up the 3x2 image>right click>select all>then edit>then copy (it worked this time) then i opened the 6x4 blank>edit>paste and there it was, the 3x2 image is now on the white 6x4 blank BUT it pasted it in the centre and now i cant seem to move it to one corner to get the other 3 3x2 images pasted on so now i got to get it moved from the centre.

heres what i now have in the image below.

ill keep plugging away, but i need to learn to work in layers and to work in the standard edit format not the quick edit format cos the cut/copy/paste option works only in the standard edit mode.

cheers.....GLEN

[glenpinn]

hi there again.
thanks everyone for your help, i finally got it all worked out.
a guy in photography corner got me sorted out, i just had to utilise the layers and "move tool" into my actions and that was it.
once i imported the 4 3x2 photos and opened the white 6x4 blank, all i had to do was select the "move tool" then select all>edit>copy each of the 3x2 pics onto the 6x4 blank and move each of them to the desired location on the blank, then save as>name the file>save as jpeg etc and that was it, done.
the key to this was the "move tool", as i was trying to work in the "crop tool" mode.
thanks for everyone who gave help or advice, im now a happy chappy and can sleep in peace.

cheers everyone....GLEN

[opus]

Ahh, with sharp eyes and an even sharper mind, I could have figured that out from your pictures.

Unfortunately, I have neither.

So glad you got it figured out! Elements is quite powerful, I hope you find it continues to do all that you want it to do.

[glenpinn]

ahhhh kelly, gotta be a bit quicker next time (lol)

the things u dont know are right under your nose, i was thinking this elements might not do such a simple task as this when ms photo editor can, anyway, im a happy chappy and thanks again to all for the help.
from someone who has gone from videography to trainee pc and internet security consultant i luv doing these multi pic photos, im so glad i can do them in elements now so who knows, maybe one day i might get into this photo stuff a bit more, its very interesting work.

thanks and cheers everyone.....GLEN

[kerriann85]

Glen, sorry I didn't see this earlier. Glad you got it to work.
Yes, the "quick editor" has its limitations but Elements3 is awesome software.
A great place for Elements help... (And you'd have gotten an answer about 60 seconds after your question) is at www.photoshopelementsuser.com It's a forum with a great bunch of people there all helping each other.
And if you stop by say hi and tell 'em Kerri sent ya!

[glenpinn]

hi and thanks kerriann.

ill copy that link to my favourites, i had no idea it existed and will go introduce myself.
im only new to photography, well photo processing at the moment, im in the process of moving into photography to compliment my videography work and recently bought a D70 camera as a starter to see how it goes.
ive been doing photo processing for a few months now, moving over to elements 3.0 from using ms picture-it 7.0 which i quite liked as an editor. i have 600 very old family archive photos (1915 to 1970) on my pc and im in the process of restoring them all and having them all reprinted. i also do a lot of photo slideshow work using MUVEE auto producer and tmpgenc dvd author, and i usually crop, resize and enhance all the slideshow photos before burning them to dvd. i also do a lot of this multi picture work for people, adding multiple photos onto larger blanks and having them printed. i have made an entire suite of various size landscape and portrait blanks in about 25 different colors, and clients can choose the background color, i crop thier pics to whatever size they want, resize to 300dpi and simply copy/paste them onto the color blank spacing them out or i fit them all neatly together without spaces as u saw in my first photo (4 3x2 pics on a 6x4 blank)
its very interesting work and im just glad i can now do it in elements because my photo printing outlet uses very specific fuji frontier and fujimoto printing machines and all work must be cropped to exact print size + allowance for bleed, resized to 300dpi then saved in sRGB color basline standard or optimised in jpeg 10 or 12 quality.
im not that sure why the printers need to be so specific i dont ask why i just do it, as i now use the same settings for all my photo work.

anyway, thanks again to all for the help, and ill go take a look at that site u posted.

cheers everyone and catch u later.....GLEN

ps: just did this 8x6 quickie in elements to show u what im doing (red is def not right but u get the drift)