Photoshop Elements 10

[Prudie]

yay, I'm finally well enough to open pressies today and have been given this package that I've wanted for a while. Anyone else have it and got some tips, will I find it easy to use as a complete novice at any kind of editing?
This is where we need a photography section!

[AlBags]

It's not easy .. no : )

Have a good look through this little lot first! ...
http://www.adobe.com/...rt/photoshopelements/

[AlBags]

Adobe forum ..
http://forums.adobe.c...ty/photoshop_elements

[Prudie]

Oh no SC, not encouraging, but I thought this was the amateur version :-(
That looks tedious Al

[Prudie]

Thanks for the links anyway. I was also given the ...... for Dummies to go with it.

[AlBags]

No worse than MS Office .. learning about Word, Excel etc!

[jno]

the Dummies book will help you with most things. It's not incredibly complex, just a matter of knowing what you want to do with a given photo and then finding out how to achieve it. Cropping, sharpening the image, removing colour casts etc are all fairly straightforward. There's some jargon involved: burning means making darker, dodging means making lighter and "unsharp mask" is (sooo obviously!) to make sharper.

I've got something called Photoshop CS3 Extended, which has about a million functions I don't understand and will never use. I just ignore them.

[tamborine]

I got an ipad but am back on my trusted lappy. Can't be doing with more nerdy stuff. Too big for the pocket & handbag :( ebay ?

[jno]

your lappy may have put the answer on the wrong thread, tamborine?

[tamborine]

ooops, wrong site :)

[Mosaic]

If I were you, I'd concentrate on learning how to do a few things rather than feeling you have to do all of it at once. In my experience hardly anyone uses all the tools and effects available in Photoshop. Think about what your main tasks might be - and if stuck, come back on AB and ask!
So for example will you be starting by using photos you've taken, or do you want to use it to draw?
It's a big big program, so work at like like eating an elephant - a little at a time with lots of help from others.

[squarebear]

"like eating an elephant - a little at a time with lots of help from others. "

haha , that's a great saying.

[Prudie]

Thank you for further answers. I only want to use it primarily for photos I've already taken and wish to print and frame so cropping, correcting, colour changes and rubbing bits out. At least to start with.
By draw Mosaic do you mean creating something from scratch, a greeting card for example??

[Mosaic]

With programs like photoshop you can be as simple or as fancy as you want. So you can make cartoon figures or you can paint almost as if you have real art materials.
The program is intended at graphic design, rather than layout for print. So it would be brilliant for say importing a photo, cropping it to a specific size, adding text -- but then actually print the photo as a glossy to stick onto a card from a craft supplier, or use something like Publisher that has card templates to insert your new image there.
I think a good starting point would be to copy some photos into a folder for your artwork. This means you don't risk ruining your original shots. Then get familiar with image sizes and using pixels. Then have a play with effects and text and framing etc.
Then play around

[Mosaic]

Don't know what happened to the last sentence!

[woozer]

I am enrolling in an evening class to try and get to grips with it !

[Mosaic]

For anyone in Lancashire area, I'll be doing classes from April onwards but if you have a specific question or area you want to work on I'm happy to answer through AB.