Photoshop Elements

[jann1033]

i really like the missing manual series ( Barbara Brundege). they have pictures plus about 500 pages of how to do pretty much any thing with it. she also is sometimes on a forum about elements on about .com

 

[bdtracey]

I'm definitely alright with baby toys for the moment!

 

[jann1033]

yeah i'm kind of wishing i hadn't tired to grow up actually they are for different things, painter x has more painter stuff,( hence the name) so you can do more than the artistic filters that come with elements but whee doggies i can't figure it out at all. and it doesn't bother to tell you basics like "the brush is here, put it there" like i need desperately at the moment.

 

[alan]

I know I sound a bit like a broken record here, but I highly recommend Picasa from google for people who are just starting out in photo editing. It does a lot of the basic things that most people need (straighten, brighten up people who are in shadows, that kind of thing) and is a lot easier to get into than Elements...

And it's free

You can try it from http://www.google.com/picasa

regards,
/alan

 

[annnewjerz]

I know I sound a bit like a broken record here, but I highly recommend Picasa from google for people who are just starting out in photo editing. It does a lot of the basic things that most people need (straighten, brighten up people who are in shadows, that kind of thing) and is a lot easier to get into than Elements...

And it's free

You can try it from http://www.google.com/picasa

regards,
/alan

I second the use of Picasa, but only for someone who has done none (or very very little) photo editing before or has very little time to work on their shots. It is a good program, but is a little limited in its capabilities. I used it for a few months just to do the occassional sharpen, b&w conversion, etc. and was very happy with the results.

That being said...I got PE in October and even though it is less user friendly, I really do find that it does a better job in that it gives you a lot more control over what you are doing. I didn't like in Picasa that you used one click editing(or two click or three click depending on what you wanted) and it sharpens/brightens/saturates a predetermined amount. PE has sliders that give you much more control over how sharp, how saturated or how bright you want something and gives you a lot more room to grow.

On top of that, even though lots of people just getting into editing (like myself) probably rarely use all of the other neat bells and whistles like cloning, blemish correction and all of the effects...I do think they are good to have to play around with and one day when you are more comfortable with the program, utilize.

 

[MICKEY88]

yeah i'm kind of wishing i hadn't tired to grow up actually they are for different things, painter x has more painter stuff,( hence the name) so you can do more than the artistic filters that come with elements but whee doggies i can't figure it out at all. and it doesn't bother to tell you basics like "the brush is here, put it there" like i need desperately at the moment.

doesn't the help file offer any assistance,, with most corel products I find it to be a great help...no pun intended..

 

[alan]

I second the use of Picasa, but only for someone who has done none (or very very little) photo editing before or has very little time to work on their shots. It is a good program, but is a little limited in its capabilities. I used it for a few months just to do the occassional sharpen, b&w conversion, etc. and was very happy with the results.

Agreed 100%. But it does get people started, and maybe even let them start seeing what they are missing... and that (I think) makes it easier to move to the more complex products.

I curse the day that commercial software stopped having a nice, printed manual telling you what it does and how to use it.

The way I did my learning of Photoshop Elements - and it's probably still woefully incomplete - was by buying some of those magazines with a CD on the cover, that walk you through projects using the program.

regards,
/alan

 

[madge]

What is the best way to learn this program i'v had it for several months and still don't understand

two things that helped me:

I took a class at the local community college

I bought The Missing Manual (a book)

 

[lumpy08]

I just got PSE 7.0. (Had to with new PC and Vista). I used to have 3.0 but it wouldn't work with Vista. Here is a site that I found the other day that may be helpful http://www.photokaboom.com/_htm_menus/htm_PSE_menu.htm

 

[jann1033]

doesn't the help file offer any assistance,, with most corel products I find it to be a great help...no pun intended..

not really, it has tutorials on how to do certain things( ie make a flower look like it's an oil painting) but they just tell you use this brush, not really what the brush can do or why or when you normally use it. and the help basically takes you to the website where it does the same thing..i need baby steps, maybe even baby baby steps and trying to get the hang of using a tablet and pen and my relatively new vista along with it is enough to fry my brain

i think i need to sit down and concentrate on it for about 6 weeks...it looks like such a great program, tons of really cool features and the work online by others just blows me away, but i think i just need to revamp my brain to use it it could be most have used it as a progression from other corel products and i'm coming from photoshop, maybe just different enough to make it a head scratcher
which leads me to....
i kind of agree about using something basic to start with( ie the free part mostly ) but kind of don't...the only problem i see with that is having to re-learn the basics to transfer to another program. to me it was easier to just get the program with more of what i would eventually need or want then progress through that. that being said i don't really use elements much anymore since i am trying to get the hang of lightroom for editing out that occasional tree trunk that walked into the photo. i basically use elements for a place to open stuff like alien skin and occasionally use the artistic effects or cloning

 

[mouselovenfamily]

I just got PSE7too. I'm taking it slow and going chapter by chapter in the book to understand everything. I'm flaggig things in the book I really like so I can easily go back to them.
I'ts really pretty easy so far. I've used Picasa and Photo Explosion so this is building off of it. For me it's like Algebra, I have to understand step one to build on step two. I really like the part on taking the still from a movie clip to put to single shot. That should come in handy with the D90.
I'm also dropping all this links people are suggesting into my favorites, so thanks and keep them coming! Good luck!!

 

[wenrob]

not really, it has tutorials on how to do certain things( ie make a flower look like it's an oil painting) but they just tell you use this brush, not really what the brush can do or why or when you normally use it. and the help basically takes you to the website where it does the same thing..i need baby steps, maybe even baby baby steps and trying to get the hang of using a tablet and pen and my relatively new vista along with it is enough to fry my brain

I think he's talking about the actual editing software(PSP). On the left side there is a "learning center" and if you have it open then when you click on a tool it will tell you what that tool is and how to use it. It's pretty handy. Mine also came with Lydia tutorials that you can find in the help section as well. That said, I use mine for digi scrapping and 90% of what I know I taught myself. I have two books I've bought for PSP and read cover to cover but hands on is what made things click for me.

 

[mouselovenfamily]

I went to send photos off to print today and found out PSE7 has blocked me from uploading to local printing locations. Is there a work around here??? I need some quick prints for basketball tonight...Thanks~
Renee

 

[MICKEY88]

I went to send photos off to print today and found out PSE7 has blocked me from uploading to local printing locations. Is there a work around here??? I need some quick prints for basketball tonight...Thanks~
Renee

if you have the pics saved in a folder on your pc, just upload from the folder, don't use PSE7

 

[mouselovenfamily]

Wish it were that easy. On my computer since downloading PSE7 I can't get to the upload page on any sites (Walgreens, Wal-mart) It will allow me to see store site but when I go to upload photos....blank page. On both sites.

 

[MICKEY88]

wow if a program did that to me I'd delete it...


is there a preference area in the program that you could change settings...

 

[wenrob]

wow if a program did that to me I'd delete it...

No kidding, me too!
I think Mickey88 is on the right track though, it's probably something you have set in your preferences. I go to several scrapping boards and PSE7 is very, very popular and I have not seen anyone mention an issue like this. These women are all about scrapping the page and getting the print so I think if this was a common issue it would have been brought up a time or two. I couldn't see these girls staying loyal to a program that won't let them print, kwim? Also, have you tried the "help" button and searched "printing?"

 

[mouselovenfamily]

Thanks! Got it! I had to change my browser... I've never had issues with it before but I changed it and now it's working. Who knows.

 

[ElizK]

HELP!! My head is about to explode!

I'm trying to cut a piece (someone's head) from one picture and place it on a different picture to make a better picture of this couple. I've done it before, but I can't get it to work!

Here's what I've done:

I used the magic extractor to choose the person's head, I selected "select inverse" and cut the rest of the picture, leaving me with only his head. Saved that.

I open the 2nd picture that I want to place the head on. I create a blank layer. I ctrl-c to copy the head, ctrl-v to place it into the empty layer. What it's pasting is the 1st picture with a hole in it where the person's head was! What the heck am I doing wrong? I've already spent 3 hours on this!!

Thank you!

 

[Suburbanmom]

Instead of copy/paste, select the arrow from the top left side. Click and hold on the head and drag it down to the thumbnail of the 2nd picture on the bottom of the screen then let it go. You should be able to drag and drop it. Let me know if that works out for you.