Photoshop I added pic of my first go at it.

[mistymouse5001]

Why doesn't anything show up, is it not like paint?

 

[Dom13]

Photoshop is ALOT more complicated than MS Paint. Are you using Photoshop Elements or Photoshop? If you can be a little more specific about your problem(s) I can try to help you.

 

[mistymouse5001]

 

[mistymouse5001]

Photoshop CS4. I have no idea what all of those little tools do. I found some tutorials but still, wow. It's huge and I am not catching on.

 

[cheery97]

are you working in layers? and maybe the layers are underneath others that make them not visible. just a thought?

 

[BayouMickey]

Uninstall CS4, Get you a copy of elements. Learn how to use elements first then graduate yourself up to CS4. CS4 is professional software, you really need to know what you are looking at and doing to get the most out of it. Elements is a basic version and is REALLY good as learning software.

 

[Dom13]

Nice job on your first try!

CS4 is even more complicated than PSE, though I would love to be able to afford it (I have Elements 6). I would agree with cheery97 that one layer is behind another that's why you are not seeing it. Below is a screen shot of my user interface which is very similar to the one in Photoshop. The layers pallette is in the lower right. It consists of three layers, Dash, the text and the background "sign". If I moved the sign above the test it would be like it was "laying" on top of it and you would not be able to see it.

The other thing is to make sure the layers you want are active by making sure the "eye" on the left side of each layer is visible. If you cna't see the eye you will not be able to see the layer.

Keep taking tutorials. I'd recommend the ones on www.planetphotoshop.com. Start with some of the older ones as they may be simpler in scope. If you're not familiar with digital photography terms it may be a good idea to do a google search for a site that gives defintions of them. Lastly post here, being as specific as possible, with you questions and the great people on this board will help you out.

 

[mistymouse5001]

OH Awesome I will go see if I can find one.

 

[mistymouse5001]

Nice job on your first try!

CS4 is even more complicated than PSE, though I would love to be able to afford it (I have Elements 6). I would agree with cheery97 that one layer is behind another that's why you are not seeing it. Below is a screen shot of my user interface which is very similar to the one in Photoshop. The layers pallette is in the lower right. It consists of three layers, Dash, the text and the background "sign". If I moved the sign above the test it would be like it was "laying" on top of it and you would not be able to see it.

The other thing is to make sure the layers you want are active by making sure the "eye" on the left side of each layer is visible. If you cna't see the eye you will not be able to see the layer.

Keep taking tutorials. I'd recommend the ones on www.planetphotoshop.com. Start with some of the older ones as they may be simpler in scope. If you're not familiar with digital photography terms it may be a good idea to do a google search for a site that gives defintions of them. Lastly post here, being as specific as possible, with you questions and the great people on this board will help you out.

Okay got it.!

 

[mistymouse5001]

I got the free trial of Elements 7. I'm reading their help section now!

 

[mistymouse5001]

ok I read through tutorials on layers and I kinda get it but I don't get it. I managed a 3 layer design but couldn't color part of it and text doesn't show when I type. I should do the something before I add text I'm just not sure what any advice?

 

[Dom13]

Layers are like a stack of paper. Some of those pieces of paper are more like transparent overlays, the type you'd use on an overhead projector. In the example I showed above the sign is the lowest on my layers palette as I don't want it blocking the text and Dash. If the sign was higher on the layers palette it would cover what ever layers were beneath it.

Using layers allows you to keep different parts of your design separate and keep the text editable. That makes it easy to personalize designs, and to change the color of one item with out affecting the others. You have to save the design as a PSD (Photoshop format) file so the layers remain intact. Saving it as a jpg, gif, png, etc merges the layers.

My guess with the text not showing would be it's either the same color as the background, it's layer is behind another layer that's blocking it from view, or it's not active (it's eye icon is not visible). As for not being able to color something I'd guess you're trying to use the wrong color palette. Items like shapes and text have their own color palette on the option bar, the one right above the workspace. If you want to change the color of a shape you would have to select the shape and then go to it's color palette and select a new color. You can also recolor a shape by using the fill tool.

To recolor text the text has to be selected. Just like you would do in Word, you have to highlight the text you want to change the color of before you can re-color it. It's color palette is also located on the option bar above the work space and is not controlled by the one under the tool box on the left except when you first activate the text tool.

There are several free tutorials on the Elements Village website. I'd recommend starting there.