How to create incredible photo collage emails with iPhoto

iPhoto Tutorial - Create collage emails - Featured

Trust Apple to take a common occurrence that works well and turn it into a work of art that works even better. That’s what our favourite company has done with the email system in iPhoto. Far beyond sending a folder full of images that have to be opened and managed by the recipient, this system elegantly packages a greeting that combines all the photos together into a stylish single image that can be tailored for any occasion.

The system is utterly simple, and far from being restrictive, offers a number of ways to tweak each and every email. It does this through a batch of templates, font size, type and colour options, as well as the ability to move and scale each image within the template. All this without going anywhere near the Mail app – but don’t worry, iPhoto can access all of your addresses, so sending is a doddle too. In this tutorial we’ll guide you through the process of creating your first iPhoto email.

Step 1: Pick a pic or two

Select a batch of photos (note, the more you pick the bigger the attachment size). When you’re finished, head down to the Share menu.

Step 2: Too obvious?

Click Share and you will see the Email option right above Photo Stream. Click on this to be taken to a special area where you can create the ultimate email.

Step 3: New interface

The new interface has some of the same elements as a regular email with an address, subject line and a From option. Select your chosen recipients.

Step 4: Template surfing

On the right you can select from any of the ten templates. Each has its own style. We are opting for the stunning Collage option.

Step 5: Fill the blanks

Click into the text boxes at the top of the email to edit text. You can also, thanks to widget-like floating menus, adjust the font type, size and colour.

Step 6: Photo adjustments

You can adjust each image. Once selected, another handy floating widget lets you adjust the zoom, so you can put the main focus in full view.

Step 7: Not a drag

With your picture suitably enlarged you can now drag it around until the perfect elements are in the centre of each picture. Now it’s easy on the eye.

Step 8: To attach or not

By default your images are also attached separately. This make the file’s size quite large so you can opt to just send the collage image. It will arrive as a PDF.

Step 9: Size it up

If you do decide to keep the photos attached you can alter the size here so that they don’t clog up your friends and families mailboxes too much.

(Click on the image below to zoom in and view the annotations)