Photoshop Hell

[mrclark321]

Well I ended up getting my copy of PS Elements in the mail with no instructions!!!
I find this program difficult to use, I am still having a hard time just putting a border around picture. Any one else use this and can you give me some hints!!!!

Dan

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y200/mrclark321/IMG_1284_edited-3.jpg

[scraggles]

What specific hints are you looking for?

If you search google for Photoshop elements Tutorials you will find a lot of resources.

[mrclark321]

I'm having a hard time just putting a frame or border around picture!!


Dan

[mrclark321]

Could use some help with this one!!!! PS Elements is not very user friendly in my opinion...

[mdm]

Practice. You just got to fool around with the settings.

[scraggles]

Which version of Elements?

[mrclark321]

Elements 3

[scraggles]

I just realized I don't have Elements loaded up on here anymore because of a recent format. You can do ctrl+a, which will select the entire picture, and then contract the selection in the 'select' menu. that's how I do it in photoshop, then inverse the selection and fill it with the selected border color. Hopefully someone with elements can jump on this before I confuse you too much :)

[mrclark321]

CONFUSED!!!

[mrclark321]

99 bottles of beer on the wall...99 bottles of beer!!!

[mrclark321]

Come on ...anyone else use PH elements have this problum???

[symes]

99 bottles of beer on the wall...99 bottles of beer!!!

the reality is photoshop is not easy to use - but if it were it wouldn't be able to do all the wonderful things it did. Just like your SLR, when you first got it was likely foreign to you...takes time and practice...something I am currently doing...

as for tutorials...This is one helpful straight to point website I have found:
http://www.good-tutorials.com

Cheers...

[mrclark321]

Thanks for the help....

[Mocking-DX]

scraggles technique is nice and quick

i usually do it in 2 layers
click on the new layer icon on the bottom of the layer palette(the white square)
this will give you a transparent layer

NOw fill the layer with the color
click ALT+BACKSPACE for black or CTR+BACKSPACE for WHite

this will cover your whole picture with the color you selected
now click on the MARQUEE TOOL on the tool palette, the default is square.
If you want oval, RIGHT CLICK on the marquee tool to give you selections and select oval

now drag the Marquee tool to a desired area where you want the picture to show through

press delete, Voila! your picture should show

NOw if you want drop shadow, click on the black circle icon with letter f on the bottom of the layers palette
this will give you options to put drop shadow, bevel, gradient,etc.

This is the same technique i use to do vignette effect. I just have to FEATHER THE SELECTION to about 150-200 pixels depending on the picture resolution
JUST PLAY around with it

[cfcRebel]

Hi Dan,
I am a PS idiot. I was just wondering if u have tried or heard of Picasa? I am not asking you to throw away PS Elements and use this. But in case u can't get PSE to work, this is a cool temporary tool for your photo editing. It's a nice photo organizer and it offers some basic photo touch-up, post-processing tools. It is a free photo software(3Mb) http://www.picasa.com
This is by no means a substitute for PS but it is just too difficult for me. So I use Picasa and i love it.

[malum]

There are actions to do it for you, search google for border actions

[jimsolt]

Well I ended up getting my copy of PS Elements in the mail with no instructions!!!
I find this program difficult to use, I am still having a hard time just putting a border around picture. Any one else use this and can you give me some hints!!!!

Dan



Try here (http://www.adobeforums.com/cgi-bin/webx?14@816.ltcrdz1NRBw.0@.eeb4f8b). It is a forum dedicated to Photoshop Elements. Like this forum, it has many very knowledgeable contributors who are very willing to help. They share your view that Adobe should have included a manual, so they won't think you're out of place when you feel that way.

There are some good books out there and some tutorials on the web. Ask some specific questions on that forum and you'll get some directions as to where to turn for help. For basic questions they might supply specific step by step answers. DO BE CLEAR whether you are using Windows or Mac. The program is different for these platforms.

Jim

[luckyart60]

don't give up, like you when I first started with PS3 it was difficult, but if you stay with it you will be very amazed with what you can do.

Check out this link and post your question there

http://www.photoshopelementsuser.com/forum/
also there are on line vidio tips and tricks on this site

I also purchased the following books and DVD

The photoshop Elements 3 book for digital photographers by Scott kelby
Also a copy of Scott kelbys PSE3 DVD

plus Photoshop Photoshop 3 Solutions by Mikkel Aaland

hope that helps

[cgratti]

a quick way to place a border around a photo is to do the following..
1. select the whole picture. SELECT>ALL
2. Add a stroke to the picture. EDT>STROKE
3. Select the stroke and copy it to a new layer, right click on the layer and choose blending properties, add a bevel and soften it. Pretty simple.

if you search google for for Photoshop frame tutorials you will find ton
s of help.

[mrclark321]

Thanks everyone for all the suggestions, I was getting agrivated last nite not to mention I had a few beers..In time I will figure it out I just thaught a program like
PS would have this feature readilly available.

Dan

[dapa-group]

Simple, when you have your image loaded into Photoshop/Elements, go Ctrl=A, then Edit>Stroke> Set stroke to (width) 10pixels (starting Point) and colour Black?, Location = Inside, Mode = Normal and Opacity = 100%. This will give you a very basic Black 10 pixel border. You can experiment from here. Learn to walk before you can run. Photoshop and Elements are truly amazing programmes, which need to be learnt not told. Practise makes perfect, as is always the case. I hope the above information helps?

[scraggles]

Keep in mind, photoshop isn't a program for amateurs. It's a professional Image editing program. People major in using this program alone in school. It does take a bit of practice to get good at. You can't expect to just install it, and then pop out the most amazing pictures just like that. I've been using it for over 5 years and I still undo my changes 9/10 times. Just check out tutorials and you'll learn fast.

[cgratti]

once you master Photoshop, you can then move to Illustrator! Which is 10 times the beast Photoshop is.

[Citizensmith]

One important photoshop tip when you are messing with borders and stuff. Never mess with your photo layer. Select the image, copy it to a new layer and leave it alone. Two reasons...

When you realise 20 minutes into playing with something you don't like it you won't be going back to your last save, or losing some stuff you do like because its earlier in the the undo history. Now you can just turn off whatever you don't like.
Secondly, once you've got a border you really like save it as a photoshop file and now you can swap out your image layer with any new photos you want the border on. Your border that had so much time perfecting is now easily reused without remembering exactly what order you did things.

[Citizensmith]

once you master Photoshop, you can then move to Illustrator! Which is 10 times the beast Photoshop is.

Once you've mastered PS Elements you can move on to CS. If Illustrator is 10 time the beast CS is maybe 5 times the beast. It adds a lot of really useful abilities.

I wonder what will happen to Illustrator now Adobe have Freehand and the like in their stable? Macromedia had done a better job of user interface than adobe so hopefully we'll see some all round improvements.

[Mocking-DX]

1 thing i love about the CS is the snapshot feature
when you get to point you wanna revert back to just take snapshot
then go on messing around
then take another snapshot, so on and on
just go back to the snap shot before you messed up if you went too far

[scraggles]

Where is that feature Mocking-DX? I haven't ever heard of it before.

[DOrtiz]

Hi Dan ..

Well I ended up getting my copy of PS Elements in the mail with no instructions!!!
I find this program difficult to use, I am still having a hard time just putting a border around picture. Any one else use this and can you give me some hints!!!!

I use Paintshop Pro v8.10. I find it easier to learn and provides the *basic* functions I need:

http://photos.imageevent.com/dortiz/general/variousimagefolder/IMG_1284_edited-3.jpg

Regards,
Dave

PS: I took off to much of the pooch's eye glare on its right eye. Sorry, I was kinda rushing. :)

[cgratti]

Once you've mastered PS Elements you can move on to CS. If Illustrator is 10 time the beast CS is maybe 5 times the beast. It adds a lot of really useful abilities.

I wonder what will happen to Illustrator now Adobe have Freehand and the like in their stable? Macromedia had done a better job of user interface than adobe so hopefully we'll see some all round improvements.

I am a graphic design student (Senior), and personally think Illustrator CS is by far, and I mean by far harder to learn than photoshop CS. There are many more tools to learn to use. You can't really do much with photos in Illustrator, thats why they made Photoshop, but if you want to add text and Illustrations, then grab Illustrator CS and run with it.

I to am curious to find out all the new improvements coming since the merger of Adobe and Macromedia. Adobe is still the standard for graphic designers, but maybe they will make them all even better. I really want to get my hands on CS2, there is a feature called Live Draw I want to test out, just place in a scanned image or drawing and it creates outlines automatically for you, I hope this cuts down on the pen tool time spent drawing images.

[mrclark321]

Thanks Dave and everyone else. I like the job you did, looks good. I purchased PS Elements off Ebayand the guy screwed up the order so bad that I ended up getting it for free(less taxes) so if I have to buy another program it's not too bad.


Dan
Hi Dan ..


I use Paintshop Pro v8.10. I find it easier to learn and provides the *basic* functions I need:

http://photos.imageevent.com/dortiz/general/variousimagefolder/IMG_1284_edited-3.jpg

Regards,
Dave

PS: I took off to much of the pooch's eye glare on its right eye. Sorry, I was kinda rushing. :)

[RbrtPtikLeoSeny]

Just google it. You'll find plenty of articles to read, forums to visit, stuff like that. And just toy around with it. You'll get the hang of it eventually.

[Mocking-DX]

SCRAGGLES

it's one of the buttons/icons at the bottom in the history palette
there's a create new document from current state, but never used it
i'm lucky if i remember to creat new snapshot before i go too far most of the time

[marie]

what a beautiful photograph
she is gorgeous
you got her eyes beautifully

the doggy looks good too :lol:

[BottomBracket]

Dan, I second the Scott Kelby book suggestion. It tells you what to do in most situations. I don't really like his writing style but it is very easy to understand.

[mrclark321]

Thanks again everyone for all the help!! I just need to spend some time!!


Dan

[hollow]

Hi Dan.

I don't have Photoshop Elements but Photoshop CS. And for border I'm playing with one thing : "Canvas Size" which is in "Image" menu. I guess this is available in PS Elements too.

So here are the steps :
- opened your image;
- croped to loose the initial border;
- resized to 400x295 pixels ( Image -> Image Size )
- Image -> Canvas Size -> applied an increase for both horizontal and vertical with 6 pixels, white colour (found at "Canvas Extension Colour");
- again Image -> Canvas Size -> applied an increase for both horizontal and vertical with 18 pixels, black colour.

This is my method and I think this is quite simple and efficient.
Hope this help you.

Best regards

[Citizensmith]

I am a graphic design student (Senior), and personally think Illustrator CS is by far, and I mean by far harder to learn than photoshop CS. There are many more tools to learn to use. You can't really do much with photos in Illustrator, thats why they made Photoshop, but if you want to add text and Illustrations, then grab Illustrator CS and run with it.


I probably didn't explain myself clearly but I was actually agreeing with the original post about illustrator. We actually use Corel at work, but wheras I'm fine with photoshop CS and the various Macromedia Studio MX applications I keep on getting stuck on simple things in Corel. Fortunately for me most of the design work I do can be adequately coverd in PS CS.