My own personal tip is to check the forum before I attempt anything – then I know I’m doing it right 🙂
Pressing the alt/option key to change cancel to reset. Very useful with adjustment layers,etc.
tricks tricks tricks hmmm, too many. I guess a simple one off the top of my head…for lighting effects>add a brightness contrast adjustment layer and darken quite a bit and lower contrast then paint white on mask at different sizes/angles and opacities to brighten certain areas back up. …most of you know that I do this too much 😉 can’t help it…i like the dramatic effect.
Oh one more real good tip>>>>>Windex your screen before spending hours trying to get rid of that smudge of your kids face 😉 Right Beth ?
That’s pretty cool Jodi. For me, it’s painting with the black to bring out the light.
It’s like painting with light. I like this one. Hey, you can give more than one tip if you want.
Susan’s the one who spent time trying to clone the smudge out. Unless Beth did it as well.
It certainly was Mark!….Good tip Jodi (the painting with light one – I knew about the other one already!)
Susan S.
Hmmmm what is my favourite tip. Spend extra time taking getting the photograph right in the first place because it is a whole lot easier dealing with a great photography than trying to save a less than steller image.
g.
Oh geeze, I just realized i screwed up my tip…I meant paint black on the mask and not white….duh
* Use Richard Lynch’s Hidden Elements tools
* Use Richard Coencas’ tip of holding down the Shift key when dragging a layer from one image to another in order to keep it centered
* Use the Tab key to show and hide the palettes
* Use Command-/Control-0 to fit as much of the image onscreen as possible * Don’t bring up the topics of color matching or dpi/ppi on the forum 😉 * Join in Grant’s Challenge to keep your skills up
* Pull your head up from the screen and say ‘hello’ to your spouse or children or pets occasionally * Drag a layer to the post-it note thingy to duplicate the layer quickly * Never work on the original, always work on a duplicate file (you can also keep the original as an unchanged non-displayed layer on the bottom layer if you save in the PSD format)
So what are everyone elses favorite tips & tricks?
Wendy
TIP: Contrast masking.
Ed
When sharpening an image, it’s best to do it at 100% so you’re looking at actual pixels, rather than something PSE has resampled for the monitor.
On a PC, Ctrl-Alt-0 gives you 100%, then after sharpening, Ctrl-0 gives you the full image at max size to check the results. I use those two shortcuts all the time.
Can you give a little more detail on how you do this? I can’t get it to work… Thank you!
Ed,
What is contrast masking?
Sarah,
Are you asking me or Ed?
If you’re asking me, when you have an image open, hold down the Ctrl and Alt keys and press the 0 key.(that’s zero, not oh) The image should go to 100% magnification.
Bert
Until I joined this forum I hadn’t had any contact with other people who use Elements … so I haven’t come across many tips at all. It is good finding out what other people do … things that everyone else knows and take for granted seem like magic to me. So thanks for all the input, my tips book has taken on board some welcome additions and now I am off to try them out ….
PS …. I too have tried to clone out a spot on the screen …. Sigh!!!
PS …. I too have tried to clone out a spot on the screen …. Sigh!!!
So have I, Wendy.
Bert: Were you successful??
🙂
Chuck
Chuck,
At first, I wasn’t, but I kept at it and eventually through superior technique and purity of spirit, I was. <grin>
Bert
My favorite trick is to pick up your tricks from this Forum. :p
Shan
Lou,
I especially liked your tips. You’re my kinda person. Lift your head up once in awhile to say hello to spouse. Loved it.
Also, remember there’s another day. Try to close up shop by, at least, 3 am.
Lol.
I liked the one about double-clicking the hand tool to get an enlarged view. (Arraich’s book)
Lorace
Hi Lorace,
Well I didn’t know about double clicking on the hand tool … maybe I haven’t got that far in the book yet 🙂
Wendy
double clicking on the magnifying glass will give you 100% while double clicking on hand tool will give you ‘fit on screen’. Double clicking on my brain will give you…nothing.
Jodi,
Thanks…I didn’t know about those two tricks.
Bert
Jodi, that’s neat.
Now can you tell me the opposite to do?
Say I’ve enlarged the picture so it’s large on my screen, no more canvas. How do I get it back? One time I did a minimize and got it back to where it was but it hasn’t worked since. A – magnifying glass just makes it smaller on the screen but no canvas.
Does that make sense?
Thanks,
Lorace
CTRL-Spacebar momentarily changes the cursor to the +zoom tool. ALT-Spacebar momentarily changes the cursor to the -zoom tool. Spacebar momentarily changes the cursor to the hand tool.
Before using photomerge, adjust the images side by side to get them closer in the overlap area, & save-as. After photomerge, if there still is a "diagonal band" in the sky, open one of the save-as images, ellipse or freehand select that sky area with feathering, copy & paste it onto the merged image.
Carl
Its amazing how many things I didn’t know. I just tried the photomerge one Carl and it works really well.
Thanks everyone for the tips 🙂
Ctrl + increases image size
Ctrl – decreases image size
If it looks OK to you, stop now. Don’t spend the next few hours chasing your own tail about, it just wastes time and energy.
A bigger monitor will not make your eyelids open any wider when you are tired. Nor will turning up the brightness on the monitor, it upsets your calibration.
If you can’t see that anything needs doing to a picture, it might not. You may find like I have, that you are becoming a better photographer (I couldn’t get any worse).
Time passes at least three times faster than normal as soon as you launch Elements. (I think it is written in the license agreement somewhere)
Periodically clean your mouse mat(or other surface), ball, underside(for those using optical), even your tablet, as the ‘grot’ build up can make life really difficult.
More like observations than tips, but hey!!, if they work ?….
Paul
If you can’t see that anything needs doing to a picture, it might not
Good one. I tend to be compulsive about this. I have found, though, that sometimes a really nice looking photo can still be improved by just adjusting the Black and White points in the individual R, G and B channels in Levels, and then tweaking the midpoint in the RGB combined, usually to darken the whole image slightly, which improves color saturation. It just adds that extra snap to an otherwise fine image. It can be overdone, though.
Time passes at least three times faster than normal as soon as you launch Elements
Ain’t that the truth!
Bert
That is what my husband and my dog say.
I got started working on some older photos this morning, and wow, it was noon before I knew it! Jane
That is what my husband and my dog say.
Jane,
Your dog talks?
🙂
Bert
Bert: yes, but only Jane can hear it. 😉
wrote in message…
Ed,
What is contrast masking?
I put together a short document, that summarizes what I know about Contrast Masking. There are reference links in the PDF file.
This is when you would use the technique:
"There are many photos where one would like to darken the highlights and get more shadow detail." Uwe Steinmueller.
My Contrast Masking PDF:
http://support.wizov.com/Contrast_Masking.pdf Ed
Jane,
Looks like he’s even taken over your bed.
Cute picture.
Bert
Ed,
Thanks so much for the PDF file on Contrast Masking. It downloaded just fine. I kept checking back here for your response. Glad you came through. Thanks
Mark
I tried to download it and got a blank document. I’ll try it again.
I was able to download and save without any trouble, Ed. Nice! Thank you for doing that.
And, Jane, your picture makes me sad. My old boy loved nothing more than laying on the bed and "visiting" each evening when we got home from work and were in changing clothes. He can’t get up there any more, and we see him walk up to the bed occasionally and look at the top of it very wistfully. By now, of course, I’m just glad he’s still around.
wrote in message…
I tried to download it and got a blank document. I’ll try it again.
It is about 350K, so it may take awhile to download. I used Acrobat 6 to make the PDF, so there may be a compatibility issue, although I did use Acobat 5 and later comaptibility.
Ed
Ed,
Thank you for the Contrast Masking tutorial!!
I’ve saved it in my "Elements Stuff" folder for reference.
Byron
Ed
Thanks for the information. I will be able to put this tutorial to good use as that I have several pictures of my daughter shot in front of a picture window that came out just like your untouched example. I’m glad I clicked on your link.
Terri
Ed, that’s an excellent tutorial. I’ll add my ‘Thanks!’ to that of so many others.
Chuck
Hi Beth, Muffin is 11 now and can’t get up on our bed any more with out a boost. But she can still get up on most all the sofas, this particular one is in Maine and it has had many a wet salty family dog on it and many a wet grandchild.
Soon we will face having to make a ramp so she can get into our vehicles, but we have that already designed complete with astroturf for traction.
We do have to lift her(all 80 pounds) into our boats now. Jane
Jane
Dogs do talk but only the ones that care can understand them.
g.
Ours talks, of course, and we also laughed a whole lot a few weeks ago when we figured out he can spell, too. We use a modified version of his name as a password to access a site, but my husband had forgotten that. As he was trying to log on, he asked me what the password was; since I was in another room I yelled out the answer – and the dog immediately came to see what I wanted. He was just sure I had food, but…
I’m thrilled with the contrast masking tutorial, Ed. Thank you so much.
I just happen to need it very badly at this time.
Another happy camper, thanks to you.
Lorace
Hi Beth, Yes, that has happened to us too, Muffin comes running, then looks at the computer and sighs.
Jane
Ed,
I am trying to learn here, hence this question: does the contrast masking procedure have an advantage over the use of curves?
Ken
PS I realize that Elements per se does not incorporate curves, but some of us have added that capability with an acquisition from a legitimate source, which in the interest of tact, is left nameless.
Hi, Jane–did you see the new imac?
Finally got the Contrast Mask PDF. Turns out the problem was that I was using an old version of Acrobat Reader…4.0. I downloaded 6.0 and the problem was solved. I’ll add my thanks and praise, Ed. Very nicely done.
Bert
wrote in message…
Ed,
I am trying to learn here, hence this question: does the contrast masking
procedure have an advantage over the use of curves?
Ken
PS I realize that Elements per se does not incorporate curves, but some of
us have added that capability with an acquisition from a legitimate source, which in the interest of tact, is left nameless.
If you had curves in PE, how would you approximate the contrast mask effect?
I would like to try this as a mental exercise, and use a hypothetical Curves adjustment, and see where it leads.
Ed
…
Ed,
I am trying to learn here, hence this question: does the contrast masking
procedure have an advantage over the use of curves?
Ken
PS I realize that Elements per se does not incorporate curves, but some of
us have added that capability with an acquisition from a legitimate source, which in the interest of tact, is left nameless.
You can take the Contrast Mask and duplicate it. This increases the effect. It is like having two filters in front of the camera. You could place the new Contrast Mask into a different blend mode, and change its opacity.
Even better, duplicate the Contrast Mask and Invert it. Remember, we desaturated this. So we can put color back into the layer. This inverted Contrast Mask can be used as a color correction filter. For instance, go to Adjust Color > Hue/Saturation, and click on Colorize. Move Hue and Saturation (leave Lightness alone) and you get an infinitely-variable, color-correct-o-meter.
Ed
Ed,
Thanks for the amplification.
Ken
Ed,
It is great how your "inquiring" mind really digs into something. Loved your phrase, "color-correct-o-meter"!
wrote…
Ed,
Thanks for the amplification.
Ken
I will work on clarification next.
Ed
Ed- You’ve got the makings of a poem there. Amplification…clarification…
He’a poet and don’t know it
But his feet show it
They’re Longfellows
He’a poet and don’t know it
But his feet show it
They’re Longfellows
Bert, that brings back memories – was one of my late father’s favorite ‘groaners’….
🙂
Chuck,
Yeah, I know. I apologize. I just got this irresistible urge… 🙂
Bert
Tried to print out Ed Wurster’s great technique (Thanks, ED) so I can follow the steps. But I was asked to give "The Master Password" to open the PDF file when I tried to print in PSE. I have no idea what it means and don’t know how to go around it.
Anyone can help me with this problem? Thanks.
Shan
Shan, I have dial-up so instead of downloading…I printed directly off of his site. If no one gives out a password, you might try that too.
Terri
I downloaded it…no password was required.
Bert. sssssshhhh… maybe Ed doesn’t want Shan to have a copy.
Terri,
My printer ran out of ink. So I tried downloading to a zip disk to print on my wife’s printer. That was why I raised the question. But it’s no biggie. I’ll run out to get some cartridges, then print.
Bert,
You must have a better puter than mine that doesn’t need a password. 🙂
Shan
Hi Barbara, Yes, I went over to the new Mac store in our town and tried the new iMac. Oh, what a nice machine! My husband is still hinting about Christmas,,,,,,
I want to make sure that all my software will work with the newest Panther. I keep reading all my Mac magazines and the ‘goods and bads’ are getting ‘better’, so my target date is getting closer. Fewer and fewer pages and articles on how to fix things.
Trouble is, that I really don’t need it. Yet,,,,,,
Jane
wrote…
Tried to print out Ed Wurster’s great technique (Thanks, ED) so I can
follow the steps. But I was asked to give "The Master Password" to open the PDF file when I tried to print in PSE. I have no idea what it means and don’t know how to go around it.
I have security enabled in Acrobat to allow printing, but not editing.
Why does this cause a problem? PSE has the file association for .PDF, and you should turn that off in Edit > File Associations…
Why doesn’t this happen when you open the PDF with a browser? Because a browser is not an editing application.
I am glad you found this problem, Shan.
Ed
You must have a better puter than mine that doesn’t need a password
More trustworthy, anyway. 🙂
My favorite tips:
1. Finding out I could add Photoshop brushes, styles, effects, etc.
2. Finding out about Hidden Elements
3. Most useful technique: "Smart-Sharpening." Basically what it does is gives you away to isolate and sharpen just the edges in a photo without messing with the rest of the pic. See article here: <
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/smart_sharp.shtm l>
There is also an easier tutorial that does not require Channels or Hidden Elements on the RetouchPro Hidden Elements forum by Leah. You will have to register to the forum to access it.
I have an example of smart-sharpening using a photo I took of a pink rose in my PBase PSE gallery. Be sure to look at both the before and after pictures, taking special note of the inner petals of the rose and the dewdrop. <
http://www.pbase.com/omd01639/pshopelements>
I’ve also used the smart-sharpening technique on portraits. Love it!
Patti
Hi Patti, I love your black and white trees!
I must try to do that, and try different colors and different angles. What an inspiring picture! Jane
Patti,
Love your Ping Rose. Did you find the dew/water drop as is, or added it yourself?
Shan
Ed,
Went out and bought cartridges today. No problem printing from your PDF file. Thank you again for sharing with us.
Shan
Shan, the dew drop is 100% authentic. It was early morning and very cold, but the sun was shining on the rose. Roses don’t normally bloom here in WV in November, so I was surprised to see it there. I immediately ran back in th house and got my camera. I was disappointed to see that the picture was over-exposed, but Elements came to the rescue! I’m still playing and trying new techniques with this rose photo, it’s a good one to practice on.
Patti
Patti, can you do exposure compensation on your camera? I’ve found that on mine a 1/3 stop underexposure tends to capture detail in both the highlights and the shadows; can look kinda flat, but a contrast adjustment in Elements usually doesn the trick. Has pretty much ended my problems with ‘blowing out’ the highlights.
Chuck
Chuck,
I have never tried to adjust the exposure on the camera. I just do it in PSE, usually in Levels…after setting the B&W points in the R, G, and B channels, I go back to the RGB composite and grab the midpoint and drag it to the right, darkening the image slightly and giving much better color saturation. It doesn’t work for every image, but seems to work with most.
Bert
EDIT: I have turned off sharpening and contrast processing in my Oly E-20, so the images I get are a little soft and flat. I would rather do the adjustments myself in PSE.
Thanks, Jane. The top half of my "black trees, white trees" was taken with the whiteboard function of my camera (Olympus C-4000Z). The sun had just set and I took a photo of the tree line against the sky. The inverse image was done via Elements.
Patti
Bert, the only reason I started doing it was that my G2 images in high contrast situations would be completely overexposed in the highlights, i.e., no detail left at all, just pure white. No amount of Levels adjustment can help if the details are kaput. On the other hand, a slightly underexposed image with details still present in both highlights and shadows responds very well to the technique you’re describing.
Chuck
Chuck,
Yes, I have had some images like that…highlights totally burned out. They would have benefited from your technique. I’m just never smart enough to make the adjustment on the spot. Gotta get better with the camera….and not rely on PS to bail me out.
Bert
Yep, Chuck, I can do exposure compension with my camera — just gotta learn how! It’s the first camera I’ve had that is not a point and shoot. I haven’t made it through the manual yet, but I’m working on it. It’s a big step from "auto everything" to have all these controls and to learn what they all do. So for now I’m still using the camera’s auto settings. I am determined to learn though!
Patti
Patti, I’m sure you’re learning very quickly!
One of the real nice features of digitals is that you can take lots of pictures and not burn any film; I occasionally go out and just play with different exposure combinations and bracketing just to see the effects. I don’t really have to take notes, either, ’cause the EXIF data captures the compensation, exposure values, flash status, etc.
Chuck
Chuck – I agree 100 % – I’ve learnt an enormous amount about the technical aspects of photography playing with my digital – especially flash photography and using fill-flash. I almost never used flash before – now I have a decent flash unit and half an idea of how the E-ttl system on the Canons works I’m using it an enormous amount.
I also tend to very slightly underxpose outdoor shots – unless it’s the object in shadow that I’m really interested in – in this case I will blow the highlights, as pushing shadows up too much does tend to increase the noise with the compacts even at iso 50.(I want a DSLR!) Although there is the danger with digitals that the photographer over-relies on either or both post processing or firing away in the hope that one of the two hundred shots of the subject will work I think the freedom to experiment and learn has improved my photography.
Still hasn’t helped me take a decent self-portrait tho’….(I won’t admit to the number of shots I’ve run through the camera trying to do the photo challenge!)
Susan S.
Susan,
I’ve always had trouble taking good flash pix…until my latest camera. I bought my Oly E-20 (SLR) from a friend, and the package included an FL-40 flash unit with off-cam mounting hardware. I have learned to use it tilted up at 45 or 60 degrees for bounce illumination, while the on-cam flash gives illumination to the central subject. The system is auto-TTL..that is, the flash is illuminated only long enough for proper exposure. I am now able to take decent flash pictures for the first time in my life!
Bert
Susan and Bert: I am having an awful time learning to use flash with my digitals; my Canon 380EX (bought more than a decade ago for a film camera) just defies me at every turn. I was thinking of getting a new and more powerful unit, but not until I learn how to use this one or conclude that the E-TTL feature has stopped working. I need to experiment more in controlled settings, I guess…
🙁
Chuck – with the G3 the full E-ttl functions of the 380EX work fine – my recollection is that the G2 isn’t quite so well synchronised.
I found this site useful
<
http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/>
– part II has some very useful info in the way that canon implements its flash and explains very clearly how fill flash works in practice in the Canon cameras.
– it’ s aimed at the EOS film cameras and there are some differences in the way that the G3 at least handles the settings, but it helped me a lot.
Susan S.
Susan, thanks very much for the link. Alas, my problems with the 380 EX are also evident on the 10D. If I conclude that the flash unit no longer synchronizes, I’ll send you its manual, although it sounds like you really don’t need it!
🙂
If you go to preferences and change your grid settings to: gridline every – change to 33.33%
subdivisions – 1
Now you have a grid by thirds and it can help visualize the rule of thirds while cropping photographs.
—
Have A Nice Day,
jwh 🙂
My Pictures
http://www.pbase.com/myeyesview
James, that a terrific suggestion re Rule of Thirds! Changing my settings as we speak!!
One of the real nice features of digitals is that you can take lots of pictures and not burn any film; I occasionally go out and just play with different exposure combinations and bracketing just to see the effects. I don’t really have to take notes, either, ’cause the EXIF data captures the compensation, exposure values, flash status, etc.
I’ve been doing that recently, Chuck (when I’m not playing with Elements or working). I’ve ordered Mikkel Aaland’s book, "Shooting Digital," and if it’s half as good as his Elements book, I’ll be very happy and will learn lots and lots!
Patti
Patti,
Please start a thread after you have read Aaland’s new book and tell us what you think. I just received the Elements book yesterday. I’ve decided to just read it cover-to-cover, but the early chapters seem to be pretty elementary…for beginners…so I’m not geting much that’s useful so far. It’s a good review, though.
Bert
jhjl1,
About the rule of thirds; this isn’t exactly 33.3%. It is based on the classical golden section. This golden section divides a line in tow parts where the shortest part relates to the longest part like the longest part to the sum of both parts. This is about 3:5 and 5:8. Someone with more knowledge of mathematics can be more precise than I am.
Nevertheless, when applied more exactly your tip can be very useful.
Leen
jwh,
Thanks for a very informative link. I must admit, I didn’t really understand what you guys were talking about with the Rule of Thirds.
Now, I see that I have used the principle quite often instinctively. But I think reading it will improve my landscape shots in the future. Thanks again.
Bert
Patti mentioned JB’s Smart Sharpeners in her tip. I downloaded & installed it from <
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/smart_sharp.shtm l>, & put it in the Preset folder/Photoshop Actions, which is where the other .atn files are, but I can’t see it when I’m using Elements 2.0. I’ve checked the How-To’s, Filters, & Effects–but don’t see it anywhere. Any suggestions?
Thanks, Lou
Patti,
The image is all the more precious with the dew drop being natural. Good shot.
Shan
Some of the niftier shortcuts I use:
Right-click gives quick access to context-sensitive actions. i.e., after creating a selection with the marquee, right-click allows choice of Deselect, Select Inverse, Feather, Layer via Copy, Layer via cut, New Layer, Free Transform, Fill, Stroke, Last Filter. Different tools/situations offer appropriately different choices… try ’em all.
Keyboard navigation of the Layers palette. ALT-[ and ALT-] select the prievious or next visible layer, respectively. SHIFT-ALT-[ and ] jump to the first or last visible layers, respectively. CTRL-[ and ] move the current layer down or up, respectively. SHIFT-CTRL-[ and ] move the current layer to the bottom or top of the layers palette, respectively.
CTRL-ALT-SHIFT-E on a blank layer creates a merged copy of all visible layers. (Also works by holding ALT, while navigating menu to Layer-Merge Visible)
