Hi Chris,
I know what it’s like to be new to photoshop and have some very basic questions. Once you get past the basics, you’ll fly right along into the creative fun stuff. You can master a lot in a short period of time. Until then, I highly recommend reading the manual, purchasing digital imaging magazines, searching the web for tutorials, etc.
For now though, I’ll give you some tips in some very plain english. Pardon me for putting things in an elementary way, I just don’t know the level you are working at, so it’s best to go back to basics…
1. First things first, always go in and duplicate your background. Do this by right clicking on the word "background" in your layers palette. It will ask you if you want to make a copy, click yes.
2. Then, make sure that layer is active by making sure it is the "blue layer". This will be highlighted blue as opposed to the rest of your layers.
3. Next, go over to the "tools palette" on the far left side. This is your little tool box of gadgets that you can use to manipulate your images with.
4. Hold your cusor over each one until a little yellow box comes and tells you what it is. You are looking for the clone tool. If you right click on the clone tool, it will give you more options… as will the rest of the tools.
5. Click on the clone tool to make it the active tool that you are using.
6. Next, go over to your image. Hold the cursor over a section that you want to put over top of the text… such as, if you have a pic with sky in it, and the text is in another part of the sky, place the cursor over some of the sky with no text.
7. Hold the ALT key down and click on that section of sky.
8. Now, go over to the text, and click on it. This will copy the part of the sky that you selected over the text. If you drag across, then your "source" point will also move and copy across. This can be tricky and takes patience.
Remember that at the top of you screen in the "tool bar" you have the option of changing the size of what you are copying. You can go as large or as small as you want.
One more tip… when you hit the ALT key to copy, you will see the cursor turn into a circle with a cross in it. You can use this to make sure you get things straight.
From here, it is just practice… remember that you will probably have to go back and forth between the source point and the text to get it right and copied.
I am really not sure if I am allowed to include my e-mail on this board, but if you would like to keep contact with me, please feel free to do so. I know where you are coming from in the learning process. Also, remember that like anything else, if you stop using PS7 for a while, you will have to relearn everything you already knew. So, it might be best until you master it to keep notes of basic procedures. Talk to you soon,
Chris, if you have MSN Messenger, feel free to add me with the hotmail passport above. My appologies to the hosts if I am not allowed to post my address.
San…
