Fotoshop Video

I could not resist posting this link just in case you have not seen it yet.

http://vimeo.com/34813864

Are You New to Your Camera?

Did you get a new camera for Christmas? Is it your first digital camera, or is this your second or even a third one? Even if your camera is not that new, are you making the most of its capabilities? If your answer to any of these questions is “yes”, you should consider taking a course devoted to how to use your camera.

The second section of my camera class at the South Bay Adult School, begins Wednesday, February 15th. To find out more about this class, CLICK HERE.  To register for the class, you can go to the South Bay Adult School’s website.

Due to the several holidays in January and February, I am teaching only one camera class at Torrance this term. This class starts in about a week, on Monday, January 23rd. To find out more about it, CLICK HERE, and scroll down. You can register for the class by going to the Torrance Adult School website. In fact, this is a good term to take the class. Normally the class is five, or on occasion six 2-1/2 hour sessions. However, this term there are seven sessions, which means more instruction time for the same price. If you plan to sign up for the class, you will need to do so the very first part of this week.

Remember, the classes at both schools cover the compact camera models, as well as more advanced models, including digital SLRs.

Finally, if you found this post helpful, please rate it accordingly using the star rating system above. Thank you.

I Learned a New Word–iPhoneography

Last week I watched parts of a two-day live webinar presented by http://www.creativelive.com/ and featuring photographer, Jack Hollingsworth. The webinar was presented free to promote their course, “iPhoneography Workshop”.

There is a whole world out there that is using the iPhone and other smart phones to create photographic art. I’ve had my iPhone 4 for a few months now, and frankly still know very little about using it, except to use it as a simple point and shoot camera. And I was not even doing that right.

After watching the webinar, I’m looking at the camera on my iPhone with increased respect. To be honest I’m still not that versed on the basic capabilities of even the native camera, let alone the thousands of iPhone apps that are available. Its features were expanded with the release of iOS 5. I have never read the manual, so I did not have a good grasp of even the basics. Here are six things I learned.

1. The picture is not taken until you lift your finger from the camera button, not when you tap it. This means you can compose the shot, hold down the shutter release button and then remove your finger the instant you want to take the picture.
2. To zoom in on a scene, pinch your fingers and then drag outward. You should see the slider bar open allowing you to adjust the zoom by dragging the slider.
3. The iPhone has a AF/AE Lock capability. To turn it on, tap and hold on that part of the image you want to lock in on for a second or two. Remove your finger, and you will see the AF/AE Lock at the bottom of the screen. To turn it off, tap on the screen again.
4. You can quickly bring access the camera from the Lock Screen mode. Double click on the Home button, and then tap on the camera icon on the right.
5. You can also use the Volume Up button as the shutter release to take a picture.
6. This really has nothing to do with the camera, but you can make a screen copy. First hold down the sleep button, and then quickly double tap the Home button. The captured screen is added to the Camera Roll. This also works on the iPad.

The above are what the native camera and its apps are capable of. My next step is to explore some of the cool apps available available for the camera. I suspect the camera in Android phones have similar capabilities and apps.

If your using an iPhone or iPad 2, and know of a good app or two to exploit their capabilities, leave a comment. Also, if you like this article and would like to see more like it here, please let me know by giving it a high star rating above. Thanks.

A Cold Winter is Coming

Winter term classes start at the South Bay Adult School, Torrance and PV NET next week. Torrance had to  cancel three of the classes already. South Bay Adult School will no doubt cancel both classes that were due to start next week unless there are some last minute registrations. All of the cancellations are due to low enrollment.

If you have any comments regarding how the current classes I teach can be improved, or ideas/suggestions for future classes, please leave a comment. I have to submit classes I would like to teach this spring in a week or two at the very latest. Totally new classes will not be possible until the Fall Term. However, changes in scope, focus, and approach to existing classes can often be accomplished rather quickly. So please let me knew your ideas.

Thank you.

Check Out My New Photoshop Elements: The Organizer eBook

As many of you know, I have been using Photoshop Elements from its beginning, which must be over ten years now. I began using its Organizer when it was first introduced in PSE 3. To manage my images before that, I used  Adobe’s Photoshop Album, which became the Organizer with PSE 3’s introduction.

Over the years my photo and video collection has grown to over 33,000 items. PSE’s Organizer is not perfect (no software program is), but it has served me well for a long time. Although there have been many excellent Photoshop Elements books over the past ten years, almost all of them devote most of their coverage to its editing capabilities. Michael Slater wrote what I feel to be the definitive book covering the Organizer (Organize Your Photos With Adobe Photoshop Elements 3), but it was written when PSE 3 was first introduced.

I decided last summer to write an eBook strictly devoted to the Organizer. I have been using and teaching it for the past ten years. Don’t get me wrong, my intent was not to replace Slater’s book. I do not cover every detail and feature within the program. Instead, I have tried to focus on those things that I have used over and over throughout the years, and which I feel are the most important.

That being said, my eBook ended up taking longer to complete and grew in size more than I had envisioned. It ended up containing eight chapters, consisting of over 160 pages and 200 illustrations. Please click on the following link to find out more about my eBook and how you can purchase it.

Photoshop Elements: The Organizer

More Than One Way to Skin a Cat or Dupe a Layer

As you have discovered by now, there are multiple ways to perform the same command in Photoshop Elements. And for almost all of them, there is a keyboard shortcut. This quick tip addresses simply duplicating a layer.

The long way from the Menu bar is to click on Layer > New > Layer Via Copy. Doing it this way names the new layer a copy of the original layer, e.g. Background Copy.

The commonly used shortcut key for this is Ctrl+J. This results in the duplicate layer being named Layer X, e.g. Layer 1.  This shortcut is also great for copying selections to their own layer.

If you want to give the duplicated layer a different name from the default, you must do that as a separate step. But if you use the shortcut key, Ctrl+Alt+J, a dialog box appears (as shown below) giving you the option to change its name, as well as Bending Mode. This is true whether you are duplicating a layer or copying a selection to its own layer.

If you like this tip and would like to see more, please rate it at the top and also click on the Like button below. Also, please add any comments you have about this post in the Comments section below.

Exploring Blending Modes

Whenever you create a new  layer or duplicate a layer, you can control how the two layers will interact. You use the Blending Mode to do this. Often you will use the Normal blending mode, which basically stacks the two layers with no interaction between them. But there are 24 more in Photoshop Elements. One quick way to cycle through them and see their effect is to first select the Move Tool. Then click on Shift+ to work down the list of blending modes, and Shift- to work up.

As an experiment, stack two images, for example a portrait over a textured background. With the portrait on the top layer, and the Move Tool selected, cycle through the blending modes as described above. The figure below shows an example. In this case, the Blending Mode was Hard Mix. Remember you can vary the effect by adjusting the top layer’s Opacity.

Happy Holidays!

PV NET’s Announcement of My Upcoming Class

I just got this email announcement from PV NET regarding the class I will be teaching there beginning January 12th. They send out announcements like this periodically to several thousand residents in the Palos Verdes area. By the way, their computer classroom can only accommodate sixteen students, so if you are thinking about taking the class, I would not wait too long to register.

Happy Holidays!

Start off the New Year with a BRAND NEW class from Don Stouder!

	www.palosverdes.com/edu
	PVNET A NON PROFIT 501(c) 3 ORGANIZATION
December 20, 2011
Start off the New Year with a BRAND NEW class from Don Stouder! Exploring Photoshop Elements 9/10 on Your Laptop (January 12th, 2012 – February 9th, 2012) Have you recently purchased PSE 10, and want to learn more about the program’s new features? Would you like to work with your own pictures as you learn the program? Are you using Photoshop Elements on an Apple laptop? If one or more of the above apply to you, this brand new course from Don Stouder just may be the course you have been waiting for. As the title implies, it will be taught using Photoshop Elements 10 installed on a laptop. The class will cover both using the Organizer and the Editor in PSE. For more information Click here to register! FOR INFORMATION AND REGISTRATION: 310•544•5395 or www.palosverdes.com/edu education@palosverdes.com If you do not wish to receive any more emails from PVNET, please click here to be removed from our mail list.

Use the Magnetic Lasso with Caps-Lock On

I still find the Magnetic Lasso in Photoshop Elements to be my selection tool of choice at times. There are times when the newer semi-automatic selection tools don’t work as well for me. Recently I learned that if I used it with Caps-Lock turned on, the cursor becomes a circular brush with a + sign in the center. Zoom in sufficiently to see this symbol, and it is much easier to trace along the edges of your selection. Try it. It really does improve your tracing accuracy. This also works in Photoshop.

Preview of a New Course at PV NET

I am teaching a new course in January at PV NET called “Exploring Photoshop Elements 9/10 on Your Laptop”. The class starts on January 12th. CLICK HERE to register for the class. This short video should give you a better idea how the class will work and the general topics we will be covering.