Torrance Class Cancellations

If you look on the left side of the screen, you will see there are only two classes listed under Torrance. The other three classes, the Organizing class, Adv. Photo Editing, and the Projects class had to be cancelled due to low enrollment.

For those few of you who had registered for these classes, I am really sorry. I suspect you are frustrated. I know I am. For those of you who were thinking of registering, but had not gotten around to it, you now see that it was not a good plan.

I am teaching the Projects class at the South Bay Adult School. I am not sure what its status is, but I do know that it is not too late to register. It does not start until the week after next. That also goes for the Camera RAW Photo Editing class I will be teaching for PV NET.

For me, if there is a silver lining to the cancellations, it’s that I will have more time for private one-on-one help. Also, it will give me additional time to prepare for the Photoshop CS5 class I will be teaching in the spring for Torrance. 

Finally, look for a poll here soon, asking for inputs as to what topics/courses you would be intereted in taking in the future.

Happy New Year!

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Cannot See the Menu Bar in the Photoshop Elements’ Organizer

This is a situation that may be present as soon as you install Photoshop Elements and run it for the first time, or it may mysteriously disappear at some point. All versions of Photoshop Elements require the screen resolution to be set 1024×768 or higher. In addition, the Windows font DPI setting must be set at 100% or 96 DPI. If the DPI is set at a larger size, for example 120 DPI, Elements does not have enough room to display the characters on the Menu Bar.

What has happened is that at some point you or another program has changed the font size to make the printing on the screen larger and easier to read. This video shows how you can easily reset the DPI setting back to its default. The video uses Vista, but the steps are the same in Windows 7.

     Changing Windows Font DPI

By the way, I would appreciate it if you would indicate that you like this video on the Like button, if indeed it is helpful. Also, please do not hesitate to comment or rate it.

What are the Digital Photography Projects Classes Anyway?

This is a question I am often asked by my students. I teach a variation of a digital photography projects class at each of the three schools. Each class is slightly different, and is customized for the hardware and software that school uses. Their titles also vary from school to school. The “projects” courses being taught this winter are:

South Bay Adult School – “Creating Multimedia Projects Using Vista” (Starts January 11th)

Torrance Adult School – “Projects in Digital Photography” (Starts January 6th)

PV NET – “Windows Movie Maker: Home Video Editing” (Starts January 28th)

Each one of the schools will be using a version of Windows Movie Maker to edit and make a multimedia production. The classes cover the complete process from uploading the media to the computer, importing it into Movie Maker and publishing the presentation in the appropriate format depending upon how it is to be shared.

Basic video editing techniques, including editing video clips, adding transitions, background music, audio narration, and titles will be included in each course. DVD Maker, which is included with Vista and Windows 7 will be used to burn a TV-viewable DVD  at Torrance and the South Bay Adult

School. Since PV NET classroom is equipped with PCs using Windows XP, which does not include DVD burning software, we use a free DVD burning  program called DVDFlick. Publishing the multimedia productions to online sites such as YouTube or Facebook is covered as well.

In addition to basic video editing, all of the classes cover how to rip/copy music from an audio CD for use as background music. Since there are quite a variety of video formats that are used by digital cameras, the classes cover how to convert from one format to another as needed. We will also make use of Photoshop Elements to help manage our media and to create special effects, such as the Ken Burn’s Effect.

Finally, what makes the class more relevant and fun is you are using your own photos, music, and video clips to produce your masterpiece. However, there are sample files available for your use if need be.

I hope one of these classes fits into your schedule and interest. And remember, almost every digital camera one buys today includes the capability to take high quality video; that includes many DSLR models.

PV NET Working With Camera RAW Class

For those of you who are interested in taking the PV NET “Working With Camera RAW Images in Photoshop Elements” class I’m teaching for PV NET in January, you can register directly by CLICKING HERE.

To review my description of the class, CLICK HERE. The class begins January 10, 2011, and space is limited.