Learn how to optimize Photoshop for maximum speed, troubleshoot common issues, and keep your projects organized so that you can work faster than ever before!
I run PSE2 and PSA1… I don’t do ANY editing via PSA.
I use PSA for it’s ability to catalog/tag images. I also use some of the Creations which PSA does.
My work flow is to find images with PSA, tag them for the specific purpose, and export them to a folder. Then, I edit them with PSE, as required. If I wish to keep my edited versions, they are archived and imported into PSA for future reference.
PSA has some useful features. I like it’s red-eye tool, for instance. However, I don’t like the way it approaches file management — effectively isolating the user from version-tracking.
O.K. I know what you mean by version tracking. How does PSE implement it? And does it preserve the "digital negative" the way PSA does or do you edit the original file?
florida_guy – neither PSA nor Elements actually store any image files. Those remain on folders on your hard drive, and it’s up to you whether you archive all originals and work on copies or not. Personally, I archive all my original shots and always work on a folder made up of copies that have been converted to a non-lossy format.
I just thought it was important to clarify this right off the bat. Some poor man a couple of weeks ago had misunderstood that and deleted his image folders after he thought he’d moved them into PSA. NOT!!
Since I don’t use PSA, I won’t address Byron’s comment about version tracking. I think I know the answer, but this isn’t a good time to start guessing. The important thing is for you to know that neither of these applications will STORE anything.
Thanks for making that clear although I actually was aware of that if I wasn’t it would be very important to understand that.
To cut to the chase here is a complicated scenario of what I’d like to do. Let’s say I take a high quality picture of a scene containing a my mom standing between a pretty tree and some pretty flowers….
I’d like to be able to always leave the original in tact as "a digital negative" but I’d like to be able to crop out the tree as one picture and resize it, crop out my mom as another and resize it, and crop out the flowers as another picture and resize it.
When I’m done I’d like to have four images… the original and the three crops.
Further, I’d like to be able to make the crops that exact size necessary to fit a 640×480 or 1024×768 picture etc. In other words when I’m cropping the picture at my option would or would not let me make the crop those proportions.
Am I asking for too much? Do I have to do some of this manually by trial and error?
In PSA, once you did your first crop, you would no longer have the original image in your photo well, so you would be unable to continue with your subsequent manipulations. Your original would still be on your HD, along with the edited version, but PSA will only provide access to the edited. (You can revert to the original, but then PSA will destroy your edited copy!)
In PSE, you should make a copy of the original, so that your "negative" is preserved. Then, on the copy, do your first set of cropping. SAVE AS with a new name. Re-open your working copy, proceed with second cropping. SAVE AS with a new name. Rinse. Repeat. 100% manual file management (version tracking).
Pete’s right – what you describe is definitely a job for Elements. Be careful about buying a package, though. PSA 2 just came out a day or so ago. You’d want to make sure that’s what you were getting and not an obsolete version. Elements 2.0 can usually be found for $50 or less, after rebate, if you have a program that qualifies for the $30 back from Adobe. Another version of Elements will be coming out in the not too distant future, too, I bet.
By the way, the sizes you put in your post were resolutions for monitors, so you wouldn’t be cropping to those dimensions anyway. You’d want one size for any prints you were doing and another size for anything you wanted to display on the screen. Elements will do both very gracefully, but, as Pete says, there’s a definite learning curve – which is why this cool forum exists! 🙂
O.K. I’ve cut the tree out of the picture and saved it as a separate image. I am trying to enlarge that image so it could be used as a full screen wall paper for a 640×480 screen and a 1024×768 screen.
I select the image, go to the menu image | resize | image size width and nothing happens.
The other problem is that I don’t have the proportions exactly right. If I select width 640 it makes height 478. If I select height 480 I get width 648.
I only got that close by pure luck. How do I tell that dotted line thingy to keep the proporations to 640 x 480?
EDITED: I can’t delete this but I’m going to start a new thread called newbie questions because I have another and I’m sure I’ll have a few more.
A little cropping is necessary to get a certain aspect ratio. Choose the height at 480, let the other fill in. Choose the rectangular marquee, top left of tool box. Choose the left most box of the four little boxes directly above. On options menu above image, where is says Normal, scroll to Fixed Size. Type in the 480 and 640 appropriately, click anywhere on image and selection lines appear. These denote the exact size you desired. Drag box with cursor or using keyboard arrows to position where desire. Image>Crop.
BTW…Not being familiar with wallpaper, but I thought there was a Stretch to Fit option.
Tampa Bay, huh? The forum moderator lives somewhere around there (although we haven’t seen him for a while) and there are a couple of other regulars in Florida. Thank you! Just checking! 🙂
The free to download Album has a very easy and simple way to create a pdf slideshow. Really cool.
If you do this make sure your pictures are organized alphebetically as you want to see them. (I had about 70 shots of a neighbors plants and trees that I used for pdf; But the slide show has him cutting and us eating a large pineapple, then 15 pictures later he is picking it from the plant).
But perhaps someone knows how to "move" picture order around in the pdf file? Or from within Album?
The way you change the order of photos in your slideshow is as follows (from within PSA2).
1) Select the photos you want to go into the slideshow in the photo well. (The order doesn’t matter at this point.) 2) Click on "create". 3) On the left side of the dialogue box that opens up you will see all the photos you selected, numbered in the order they will appear. 4) Just drag and drop them to the desired order. You can also delete photos or add new ones from within this dialogue box. 5) When they are in the order you like them, click on "create slideshow" to continue building the slideshow.
Thanks for the instructions. That enables me to do just what I needed to do. (Seems like I am rushing everything lately and don’t take time to read and understand:)
I am glad Adobe has this trial version because PSA looks like a real nice program.
I would definitely get both. PSA is pretty basic as far as image editing but excellent for cataloging photos. The real plus is when you open your photo in album and select edit with elements it locks your original and sends a copy to elements… so you don’t have to worry about accidentally altering an original.
