F**K the Preset Manager

As mentioned earlier, I just got PSE 11. For years I collected brushes, .abr and Patterns, .pat. I have hundreds of them. My greatest fear in moving from PSE6 to PSE 11 is losing them. I had the worst time adding them in the first place. I watched YouTube videos and searched the forums and groups.

It didn't matter what I tried; trying to add them drove me crazy. Sometimes I got lucky after hours of trying. Suffice to say, I paid for those brushes with hours of anguish.

Now I have to move those hundreds of items into PSE 11. I've been there before and it was ugly, so I've avoided doing it. After repeating my earlier mistakes and getting frustrated again I thought there has got to be an easier way.

I'm here to tell you there is!

All you have to do is go to your old photoshop program and double click on the icon. Then click on PRESETS. Next, you can click on BRUSHES. You will see a whole folder of .abr files (Brush files)

Brush file

To make the next steps easier, you can change from icon view to list  view.

-SELECT ALL (the brushes)
- Cut

Open up your PSE program and head to the brush section there.

- PASTE into PSE 11's brush folder.

And that's it. You're done.

There will be doubles and you will be asked if you want to replace the brushes that are doubles. Just say no.

Your patterns, styles and textures can probably all be done in the same way.

Easy, Peasy Colour Replacement

Okay, it's been awhile since my last post. But I haven't forgotton you. I'm happy to say that I've had 20,000 views on my blog since I started this blog according to Google. I've just jumped from using PSE 6 to using PSE 11. This is one upgrade that's actually worth the money. If you wish you could use 'Actions', PSE has finally included that option. If the tools look different, it's because I'm doing this tutorial using the Elements 11 work space.

So I've just found a super easy way to change colour. You don't need PSE 11 to do this. First click on the element you want to highlight. I add each element (flower) on a new layer. If you do that too, then you can just click on the layer you want to colour. Otherwise, you can probably select with the selection tool. Once the part you want to colour is selected then you can:

 Go to your ENHANCE menu and drag down ADJUST COLOUR. Then ADJUST HUE/SATURATION.

Now here's where it gets interesting. A window will open that looks like the one below. There is a pull down menu button called MASTER. You'll notice that when you pull down the menu, MASTER will now be at the top of the menu instead of being a button.

MASTER is the one you choose if you want to change the colour of the Entire picture.

Instead choose a colour like blue, in this instance. Then, start to play with the sliders. You will notice that anything blue in the flower you selected will start to change colour as you slide back and forth.

This is a way to isolate one colour only, and change it without changing any of the other colours in your picture.

Unfortunately I'm not that well organized tonight. I don't have a PSD of this picture. I'll have to use another picture to show you some samples.

 This is the original composition I did. I clicked on the red poppy layer to highlight them. Then I pulled down the the menu on HUE/SATURATION. Then I chose RED.

I then adjusted the sliders until I got a green colour and played around with the SATURATION slider and the LIGHTNESS slider.

On the dragonfly, I went through the same steps.

One thing to remember is that the colour will mix with the original colour like poster paint. Remember your colour mixing. Red and blue make purple, so if you have red, drag the slider to blue to make purple.

Have fun and keep creating!

If you have any questions then make a comment so we can all see the answer. If you're thinking it, there are probably a lot of others wondering as well.

Photoshop for The Terrified

Tonight a Facebook friend asked me how to get started on Photoshop. I've been there. I opened the program and it just sat there, staring blankly at me. I'm not ashamed to say that I gave up; a few times. So here's some info about how to get started.

Double-click on your photoshop icon. When your program is open there will be panels to the right that look like this.

Below the coloured boxes are FULL, QUICK and GUIDED. Choose FULL.
Below that are your PANES. The first is the Content pane, then the Effects pane. Below the Effects pane is the Navigator pane.

Open it by clicking on the triangle. These triangles are for opening and closing the PANES. When you open it there won't be much there. Also your Layers pane and your Favourites pane will drop down to the bottom of the panel. That's alright.

Now we will open a new BLANK FILE. Here's a screenshot.

Go to the FILR menu and click to pull down. Click on NEW and there will be a FLY OUT window to the right. Select BLANK FILE.
Remember, the triangles are for opening and closing.

 First name your document.

PRESET is the size of paper. You can select U.S. paper for a standard paper size or photo size; whatever you want. If you want a specific size, then select Custom from that same menu. Below are the width and height boxes. To the right are pull down menus where you can choose the type of measurement you are comfortable with.

Below those is the RESOLUTION. I use 300 pixels/inch. It's standard.

Below that is the COLOUR MODE. RGB colour is fine. That means it will print out the colour that you see you picture on the computer screen.

Below that is BACKGROUND CONTENTS. That is the colour of the background.  The best choice is Transparent. That's because later when you use the eraser a background colour will appear. If you erase on a red background when you erase the red will show. With transparent you have a clear background, so when you erase, what you are trying to erase will  gone. This will save you endless amounts of misery later on when you want to make a png.

In the bottom right of this box the IMAGE SIZE will appear. Now you're ready to click OK. Your page will appear and to your right your NAVIGATOR will have a thumbnail of your page. this is what it should look like.

Above your thumbnail where the pointer is will tell you the % of the larger image you are viewing. To the right of the pointer is a scale where you can zoom in or out on that page by moving the slider. So, play with it and adjust it until the whole page shows up on your main screen. You'll notice the page will have a checkered background. That indicates your background is transparent. If it is white, then you have a white background. Which means you need to close the file and open a BLANK FILE.

Now we are cooking! Notice below your navigator pane there is a LAYERS pane or pallette. Click on it to open it up.Here's what you'll see.

 You will notice 2 things: your navigator pane gets smaller and there are a bunch of scary looking things at the top of your LAYERS pane.

First we'll deal with making the navigator pane larger. Where my pointer is there is a handle that you can grab onto. If you slowly move your pointer, the pointer will change. Press down on your mouse. That will enable you to slide the pane up and down making the panes larger or smaller. I like to give more space to the layers pallette because as you add more layers, you'll need more space. I find with the navigator pane I mostly use the slider.

Now let's check out the navigator pane. Top left will be left on normal. It has a pull down menu and when we get a graphic on the page you can try the others.

Next is Opacity. Leave it at 100% for now.

DON"T SKIP OVER THIS.
Okay, this is a good time to talk about what the layers pallette is all about. This pane is the basics of how Photoshop works. Grab a few sheets of coloured paper. Put one piece of paper on your desk. This is your background. Remember the transparent background we made? Next put another sheet on top, or better still if you have a sticker or other graphic lay it on top. This is your second layer. If you do any kind of collage this will start to be familiar. Next element. This is layer three.

So, what you are doing is building a picture from the ground up. You can move these layers up and down and add adjustment layers with effects.

Below are icons. The first one is to add a layer. Go ahead and add a layer by clicking on the icon. Notice that your first layer is called layer 2. Add another layer. This is layer 3. You can change the order of layers by dragging them to the top or the bottom. To the right of those thumbnails are names layer 1,  layer 2, etc. Double-click on that name and you can change the name of the layer. Hit RETURN on your keyboard. Done! You just named your layer.

Next is the circle icon. That's to add the adjustment layer I was talking about. Go ahead and click on it. Holy Crap! What happened? Don't panic. Here's what you will see.

Notice where my pointer is. There are 2 squares. The top one is red. The one in the background is white. The red one is Foreground colour and the white one is the background colour.  Remember when we chose the background colour? If the colour of the background was turquoise that's what you'd be looking at when you open your page. So if you're wondering why your new file is was turquoise, now you know.

Just click cancel to get rid of the colour. If you clicked OK on the colour box you'll be happy to hear our next icon is to delete a layer. Simply click on the coloured layer and hit the delete icon.

One last note about the layers pallette. You have probably noticed the eyes next to the boxes. If you add a layer and then aren't sure you want to keep it, then click on the eye to make that layer invisible. Layers can be manipulated and worked on using transparency or using effects on the layers pallette. Remember the NORMAL setting on the pallette. Often you can invest a lot of time manipulating the layer. This is when the eye comes in handy. You can turn it off instead of deleting it.

Okay, so you are probably bored to tears by this point and you are itching to make  something.

Let's do a quick and dirty (just a term, this is family friendly site)  picture with what you have learned. Don't close anything!

Delete all the layers until you are back to layer 1.
Go here and select a background of your choice.
http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.ca/p/search.html

In Photoshop go to FILE->PLACE to place your graphic. Adjust the size by clicking on it and grabbing the corners. Here's mine.

Next click on new layer in the layers pallette for your next layer. The beauty of putting each new element on a separate layer is it's easy to get rid of if you change your mind later.

Next layer add a new element and choose MULTIPLY on layers pallette. Adjust Opacity with the Opacity slider.

 

 Add another layer.This is your texture.

http://shadowhousecreations.blogspot.ca/

Play around using opacity and effects.

This is our last layer. Go to layer->Flatten image

Go to FILE->Save

Say goodnight Gracie.

Good Luck!

ACK!

In my absence Blogger has changed everything! So, I have to sort through everything and update to the radically different interface. But not tonight.

Just an update.

I had my appendix removed recently, so I haven't done anything for awhile. I just updated my Etsy shoppe. I've also started bookbinding. I shall return to my photoshop adventures soon, as I'm now able to spend longer periods of time in my computer chair.

I added a new website Kim Klassen Cafe, that looks intriguing and I will return shortly.
I've had about 700 views in my absence and I thank you for hanging in there.

My latest bound book.

Actions in PSE; It Can be Done

Go to any Adobe forum and you will be told that you can't run actions in PSE. But you can through the EFFECTS pallette. For those of you that don't know what actions are:
 ACTION - A series of steps used to alter a photo. You double-click the action and watch it run.

Here's an example of a picture that has had some actions run on it.

original Thanks to PPS DigiScrap

With Actions

Here are some links to get you started. Just try adding one or two to start with. Also make sure they are made for PSE. If they are not made for  PSE there will be commands in the action that Elements doesn't have so Elements cannot do the actions.
Here's the links:
http://www.thecoffeeshopblog.com/p/loading-actions-into-photoshop-elements.html

It tells you to put the database in the garbage. It's alright, if things go terribly wrong you can take the database out of the garbage and go for a walk to calm down.

Here are some PSE friendly Actions from the same site.
http://www.thecoffeeshopblog.com/p/coffeeshop-actions-and-presets.html

Here is a video if you prefer.
http://www.viddler.com/v/7ea7b063
They have some free actions, but you have to sign up to get them.

More useful info on PSE Actions.
http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/pselements/qt/actions.htm

Have fun. Hope this works for you. Leave a comment to let me know. Or you can send a small jpg of what you made with the actions and I'll post it here.

Just to let you know comments are moderated and I don't open anonymous comments as they are usually always spam.

stoneangel3's photostream

stoneangel3's photostream on Flickr.

New Store + Thanks

I've added a store to my blog. I'm just trying it out. So far everything works. I still have a way to go on this. Just to warn you, if you click on the buy button you'll end up at paypal.

Also I'd like to extend a big welcome to all the great folks that have begun to follow me recently. Of course, I really appreciate all of you that have been following.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Replacing Colour

Just like in real life: if you don't like the colour of your dress, you can change it. Unlike in real life you can't change the colour of someone else's dress.

Here's how:
Use your magic wand tool to select (in this case a coat). You can do this by double  clicking the wand on the coat. You will see the outline of your selection. You can expand or contract the selection by making the number in the TOLERANCE box at the top of your screen. I used 30 for this selection. Don't worry you can always change it back, or if things get really ugly you can DESELECT under the SELECT menu. Mac users can hit Command d and start again. Your coat should look like this.

Jacket is selected.

Next go to the ENHANCE drop down menu at the top. Pull it down and select ADJUST COLOUR. This will bring out a fly out menu asking how you want to adjust the colour. Click on REPLACE COLOUR. Here'swhat you will see.

Replace colour.

Now a new menu will pop up and it looks like this.

Replace colour menu.

Notice that it will show the coat selection. Also notice that SELECTION is picked. Don't change that. However, in future you could miss the selection steps and just select the entire photo to change the tint if you wanted to.

Now you can play around with it using this part of the menu. You will see the colours change as you drag the HUE slider. If you don't then increase the LIGHTNESS slider.

Change the colour here.

This is all much easier to see on a light coloured selection.
When you are happy hit OK. The box will disappear and then you can deselect the coat.
Good luck and any questions or comment are appreciated and answered.

Vintage photo from Quaddles.