What am I doing wrong, saving after editing?

I am trying to edit photos with my software (PS Elements 6.0), and managed to change a pic to B&W and add a hint of color. I was all impresed, until I clicked "save" then tried again with"save as"..both times the pic is stored as a PDF file, which I cannot see like I do all my other pics in "my pictures". Why is this? I can't open the pic (other than with the software), and I want to e-mail it or post to a forum but can't. Why isn't is saving the same way it did with pics that are unedited? Thanks

PDF? Are you sure it's not PSD?

Have you used layers and not flattened it? Jpegs can only be single layer, any more and you have to save as PSD or TIFF.

Failing that, are you in 8-bit?

Sorry PSD.
Flatten?? 8-bit??..that means nothing to me, I was following a step by step guide in a book I bought to edit the pic, when I was done, all I wanted to do was save it ..so what do I do know? Thanks guys! So, if it's saved as PSD, how does one open the file?

did you open a duplicate layer at any time, to do the colour for example? If so, you need to combine them again ('flatten').

OK, go to 'Layer > flatten image', that should sort that out if it is the problem. Also check 'image > mode' and set that to 8-bit if not already set.

A .psd file will be opened in your picture editing software by default.

To flatten an image you need to reduce all the layers that you have created whilst editing down to a single layer. To do this, go to the layers menu and select flatten image.

Strictly speaking it's not necessary to do this. If you use 'Save As' you just need to change the format in the selection box from.psd to .jpg and the software will automatically flatten the image before saving.

Should I have stuck to being in front of the camera, rather than behind it? lol
I will try what you said sandpiper, as soon as I am done with dinner. I'll let you know how it goes. Who knew that figuring out simple software could be this complictaed! Thanks Sorarse..sandpiper and Damo!

I did it..I DID IT!
Thanks for your quick replies, and great advice!
Not a great pic or anything, just wanted to play around to see if I could transorm the pic into B&W, then add a hint of color. YEAH!!

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Glad it worked OK.

What was the problem. Layers ?

The problem was I didn't "flatten" the pic, when I did, it was all good. Here's one more I played around with. Where do you guys learn how to do all this stff. The book didn't mention anything about "flattening" I bought Teach yourself Visually (good book). Thanks again!

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BIG pics..sorry, now I have to work on resizing I guess!

Yes, layers require flattening, I thought that would be the issue. Glad you got it sorted out.

It's great that you're having fun with this. Your colouring looks a little inaccurate, perhaps you should zoom in a little more when you're painting the coloured area?

PhotoGuru13 wrote in post #6267440
Where do you guys learn how to do all this stff. The book didn't mention anything about "flattening" I bought Teach yourself Visually (good book). Thanks again!

Playing around with it and practising (for about three years, so far).

The book probably assumes that you know the basics of photoshop and so have used layers before, therefore didn't mention the need to flatten the image when you have finished. That is unfortunately a problem with some tutorials, they have to decide how much detail they need to go into with the basics, or assume that uou will know certain things and just do them without being told.

Although, for most of us, using layers is second nature, the first time is a bit of a learning curve and they should really have added 'flatten image' at the end of the tutorial, for those who haven't used layers before.

It may be worth doing exercises / tutorials which teach you the basics of using the various tools, before getting too deep into the special effects stuff.

Photoshop can be daunting at first (especially the full version, I use CS2) as there seems to be so much stuff to get your head around. Keep at it though and the basics come together pretty quickly. If you have problems though, such as you have just had, I am sure that there will usually be someone on here who can sort out the problem for you and get you back on the right road.

sandpiper wrote in post #6267539
there seems to be so much stuff to get your head around.

Played a bit with PS3 (or was it 2.5?). On a Macintosh IIvx or fx or something
Started working with PS4.0 on a 8600
Still learn new things a decade later...

I'd suggest you reduce the saturation of the eyes, it looks incredibly fake and kinda silly with the eyes so bright. If you must do selective color i'd suggest a bit of subtlety - opacity 20% or so.

There are a dozen ways to do selective color. My preference is to copy the parts for color to a new layer (or duplicate the layer and use a layer mask), then add a B&W adjustment layer between the two layers.