How do I make a basic composite or contact sheet?

How do I make a basic composite or contact sheet? FotoFusion enables you to make a grid-style layout and use text tags to create labels under image frames. This is useful for making simple composites and contact sheets. Note: For composite portrait layouts, you will need to rename your portrait files to the name of the person in the portrait if you want their name to automatically appear in the label field. eg: IMG_35865.jpg should be renamed to Jane Smith.jpg First, draw a single large frame on your canvas. The frame should roughly cover the area where your completed grid should appear. Either: Hold the F key on your keyboard and drag out a frame; or Click on the "Create Empty Frame" button on the toolbar. (see highlight below); or Drag over the canvas with your left-mouse button down, release it, then choose Image frame. 1 / 22

You may wish to change the border and shadow properties, or align the frame dead center at this point, to avoid multi-selecting your completed grid elements later. 2 / 22

Select your image frame, then add a text frame attached to it. Click the T icon on the toolbox to do so. 3 / 22

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While the text is selected, click on the T icon on the text toolbox, and toggle to the Tags tab. 5 / 22

Click on the Tags button, then choose Image> File > and File name. The 6 / 22

The words "not available" will appear, only because there is no image file inside the frame at the moment, so there is no file name to display as such. 7 / 22

Next, carve your image frame into the desired number of rows and columns. Select the image frame, then either click down on the splitter icon to drag it up/down and right/left, or click on the splitter icon to type in the number of rows and columns. 8 / 22

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The results - a grid of equal sized and equal distanced frames - ready to be adjusted. 10 / 22

Normally the labels will fall under the image frames. To resize the image frames to accommodate the space required for the text frames, select one image frame, then click Ctrl-A (Windows) or Cmd-A (Mac) to select all image frames on the canvas. Drag the blue resize handles on one of the frames - all the frames will adjust. 11 / 22

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After you have created space between the image frames, you can then move the text frames below them. Select a single text frame, then click Ctrl-A (Windows) or Cmd-A (Mac) to select all text frames on the canvas. Drag a single text frame down (or use the keyboard arrow keys) to move it into position, resizing the frame as necessary. All other text frames should follow the actions in the same relative position under their image frame. 14 / 22

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Should you need to readjust the position of the entire layout, hit Ctrl-A (Windows) or Cmd-A (Mac) twice, to select all image and text frames on the canvas. Click on the Arrange icon (Text or Image toolbox) and center the entire selection. 16 / 22

As a final setup before adding images, change the text frame font size. Select one text frame, then open the Text Editor. Change the font and text size if required. Align the text to Center and Middle, so the label appears centered under the image. It is also strongly recommended to change the text mode to Do Not Exceed, to accommodate longer file names should they be longer than the font size can display. When you have adjusted one text frame, click the = icon at the top of the text editor to apply the changes to all other text frames. 17 / 22

Now that the template is set up, add your photos. If you want the images to appear in alphabetical order by file name, select them all, hover over the autopopulate icon, and choose Sort by: file name. Click on the autopopulate icon to transfer the images to the empty frames. 18 / 22

If you need a custom sort, drag the images to the empty frames and drop them into each frame individually. Note: FotoFusion Enhanced & Extreme cannot read parts of a file name separately (eg; distinguish a first name from a last name within a file name). 19 / 22

As soon as image files appear in the image frames, the text frames will auto update to show file name information. 20 / 22

Note: if you are a professional portrait photographer who makes portrait composites as a regular part of your business, you may be interested in LumaPix' Composite product. The Composite product allows you to import a database file with your portraits, automatic labelling by last name (or any other criteria) and automated grid options. Learn more at https://site.lumapix.com/composite/. 21 / 22

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