Photoshop Elements

[Amy]

Just bumping for the Monday morning crowd in case somebody has the solution....

 

[jann1033]

adobe has a support page with forums about the software..you might want to check there and see if there is a fix listed..are you sure it was going to do an incremental backup and not an initial one? did it say it recognized the back up disc you put in? after i had to download /reload my pse umpteen times it no longer recognized my backup discs so wouldn't do an incremental one

 

[Amy]

Yep, I went through all the steps twice to be sure I didn't miss anything; 2nd time around I closed all other programs that were running, too, just in case something from one of them was interfering with Elements. I chose incremental backup, and inserted one of my previous backup disks when it asked, and then it filled in a bunch of numbers on the screen showing that it recognized my prior backup.

Hopefully I'll have some time at work this afternoon and can check out the Adobe forums and maybe even just Google the problem and see if I can find out anything. If not, then I'll just have to change how I save my photos so I can easily find ones that have been edited since my last backup so I don't have to save everything each time I back up my photos.

 

[Groucho]

Probably not very helpful, but like photo_chick, I just use regular ol' Nero to do my backups. I don't like photo programs trying to do stuff like backups - mainly because you'll probably run into problems like the ones in this thread. Pictures are just files like any other on your PC, there's nothing different that needs to be done when backing up.

Nero does have a decent basic backup program in their suite, which should work well for photo backups, and can use the "archive bit" just like most any other backup software to know whether or not you're already backed it up.

And DVDs are definitely the way to go - DVD burners are only about $30 nowadays and DVDs are much cheaper per meg than CDs, and it's nice to have a seventh of the number of discs lying around!

 

[photo_chick]

I agree with Groucho. DVD's are the way to go. I picked up a Samsung Lightscribe dvd burner for $25 with free shipping from Newegg.com a while back. No more stacks of unlabled dvd's for me! YAY!


As cheap as the dvd burners are if you don't have one, get one.

 

[Papa Deuce]

I just bought it. It isn't even open yet......

Any good place to get a tutorial? Thank You.

 

[photo_chick]

What is your computer skill level in general? My DD who is 6 and adept at using the computer has picked up PSE without much trouble. I helped her get started, but once she got in there she took off on her own. SHe LOVES to use the filters. Now my MIL who is not very good on the computer wanted to learn to use PSE. I tried to teach her some. And I tried some more. She never quite got it. I think it had to do mor with the fact that she just is no tthat comfortable using the computer.

There are some great books out there and a ton of online tutorials.

 

[Papa Deuce]

What is your computer skill level in general? My DD who is 6 and adept at using the computer has picked up PSE without much trouble. I helped her get started, but once she got in there she took off on her own. SHe LOVES to use the filters. Now my MIL who is not very good on the computer wanted to learn to use PSE. I tried to teach her some. And I tried some more. She never quite got it. I think it had to do mor with the fact that she just is no tthat comfortable using the computer.

There are some great books out there and a ton of online tutorials.

Well, I don't undersatnd OS issues and hardware, but I can usually learn software OK. I use some complicated DJ software. But I have always heard that Photoshop is hard to learn. I do realize that this is basically Photoshop "Lite".

 

[Dan Murphy]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0321476735/103-7071857-2056615


http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0596527284/103-7071857-2056615

 

[Lizziejane]

If I can work in PSE, anyone can!!! I will admit, the layers confused me so I picked up a book by Scott Kelby and it's full of good stuff.

 

[Master Mason]

If I can work in PSE, anyone can!!! I will admit, the layers confused me so I picked up a book by Scott Kelby and it's full of good stuff.

I am reading Kelby's CS2 book right now, I have read a couple of others, but his style is great, straight forward, easy to follow.

 

[jann1033]

Well, I don't undersatnd OS issues and hardware, but I can usually learn software OK. I use some complicated DJ software. But I have always heard that Photoshop is hard to learn. I do realize that this is basically Photoshop "Lite".

i have the Missing Manual book by barbara someone(starts with a "b" but it's upstairs) and it helped me a lot. most things in psc2 are in pse5 but different places...it doesn't have actions but not sure if it can do what actions do since i don't know what actions are. once you get the general idea it's not hard but it is hard imo to really do some things well ie so they don't look like you did them in ps.

 

[Master Mason]

Jan,

Actions are just pre programmed steps. That you can create or get from others.

So, if I had 100 pictures from a baseball game, and I wanted to increase the highlights by 10%, increase saturation by 20%, and cut down the red hue by 5%, I could set it up as an action and then apply it to all 100 pics. That is just one simple example, they can get to be very complex.

 

[Amy]

I'm having a problem with Elements 4. When I connect my camera to download new photos, the downloader comes up, I tell it which folder to put my pictures in (like the Flowers folder), it does its thing, but then it doesn't display just the new photos and ask if I want to delete the photos from my camera. The downloader goes back to the beginning screen, just like it wants me to tell it which folder to put the pictures in again.

BUT.....when I go to file/import photos from file/folder, and look in my Flowers folder, the pictures ARE there! I have to import them again and then it'll display just the new photos.

It's acting like I'm using some other program to get my photos from my camera to the computer, but the Elements downloader is doing it. I didn't change anything that I'm aware of; I looked in my preferences and I do have Elements as the default program to get new photos.

Anyone else have this problem? I took a look at the Elements support and forums on the Adobe website and didn't find anything.

 

[jann1033]

do you have the box checked to open the organizer after you download?i don't have it checked so it doesn't import them to the organizer till i open that later. i think it's on the bottom of the auto download box (but mine closes since i have that "close" box checked,i have pse5 so it could be different.) maybe check your preferences under the edit button to see what is checked or not checked or just open the downloader and see.

 

[Amy]

do you have the box checked to open the organizer after you download?i don't have it checked so it doesn't import them to the organizer till i open that later. i think it's on the bottom of the auto download box (but mine closes since i have that "close" box checked,i have pse5 so it could be different.) maybe check your preferences under the edit button to see what is checked or not checked or just open the downloader and see.

jann - I don't have that option at all in PSE4. I tried it both ways: I opened the Elements organizer first and then connected my camera, and I didn't have Elements open at all, connected my camera and the Organizer opened and it showed the download screen.

Should I maybe try re-installing Elements? Or would that cause more problems?

Or I can just work around it since I know that it DOES download my pictures; I just have to remember where I put them and import them a 2nd time. Pain in the butt, but I can deal with it.

 

[Papa Deuce]

I have Elements. I see TONS of magazines for Photoshop, but they don't mention Elements. Does much of what you learn from Photoshop transfer well to Elements?

I guess what I am saying, is except for features that Elements might not have, can you apply the same principles that you might learn in full Photoshop?

 

[Furgus]

I think with the new elements, a lot of the stuff in the full blown version of PS is the same. Only one to really find out though is to try it.
If you want to try PS you can get a 30 day demo of it on adobe.com

 

[DueyDooDah]

The editor portion of Elements is similar to PS as it is a subset. The organization portion is not in PS. It uses something called Bridge, which is very different. Elements was designed for non-professionals, as opposed to PS. To answer your question though, you should not have to relearn anything, only learn new stuff. What you learn with PSE transfers to PS.

 

[Papa Deuce]

The editor portion of Elements is similar to PS as it is a subset. The organization portion is not in PS. It uses something called Bridge, which is very different. Elements was designed for non-professionals, as opposed to PS. To answer your question though, you should not have to relearn anything, only learn new stuff. What you learn with PSE transfers to PS.

Thanks. That answers my convoluted question!