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Adobe Photoshop Elements 4 for the Mac is here (almost)!
- Thread starter VanNess
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buffalo said:
The editing capabilities are so much stronger, plus it's fairly simple to make a web gallery quickly and you don't have to upload it to .Mac. You can also get and use filters that easily change the appearance of the photo or illustration. PSE version 4.0 also has some organisational capabilities through Bridge, a separate application.
bousozoku said:
Is it necessary to have if you don't have a dSLR? Right now I have a Kodak EasyShare 6.1MP P&S. Part of me wants 4.0, but the other part wonders if I really need it.
buffalo said:
Nothing is necessary to have.
However, my encounters with iPhoto lead me to believe that anyone who is willing to spend time to get the best out of their photos should be using Photoshop Elements instead of iPhoto for editing and leave iPhoto to managing groups of photos.
Here's an example of something I'd like to be able to do,
I have these 3 sequence photos,
Using Elements 4.0, would I be able to correct the color to the brightness of the third photo, and then combine the three photos into one sequence shot?
I have these 3 sequence photos,
Using Elements 4.0, would I be able to correct the color to the brightness of the third photo, and then combine the three photos into one sequence shot?
buffalo said:
Yes, that wouldn't be a problem with PSE4. Or PSE3. Or probably PSE2. You could use color variations or adjust color to do the former issue, and then it would also be very easy to do the latter....
Really, at FredMiranda, a number of amateur photographers with pretty good chops use PSE. There are things that you can't do (some of the "actions" or macros, the "path" stuff, channel mixer, etc), but they mostly really don't prevent you from actually *doing* anything. They just make some things slightly more frustrating.
So the final picture I would be looking for would be something like this...
except is three pictures on a rail, and not a professional skier
Also, how well do iPhoto and Elements work together. Do the edits from Elements go automatically to iPhoto?
except is three pictures on a rail, and not a professional skier
Also, how well do iPhoto and Elements work together. Do the edits from Elements go automatically to iPhoto?
buffalo said:
Basically, you set up PSE as the external editor in iPhoto from the preferences. Then, you have two options. At least with iPhoto 5, if you drag and drop the photo into PSE in the dock, it will edit the original and you will only keep the latest revision. Alternatively, you can click on a photo and choose to edit it in the external editor from the menus (or right-click it and do the same). When you commit a change (save) in PSE, iPhoto will save the original and allow you to roll back, just like if you had edited in iPhoto.
mkrishnan said:Basically, you set up PSE as the external editor in iPhoto from the preferences. Then, you have two options. At least with iPhoto 5, if you drag and drop the photo into PSE in the dock, it will edit the original and you will only keep the latest revision. Alternatively, you can click on a photo and choose to edit it in the external editor from the menus (or right-click it and do the same). When you commit a change (save) in PSE, iPhoto will save the original and allow you to roll back, just like if you had edited in iPhoto.
Thanks for the reply.
I do have iPhoto 5 so that sounds good. I already picked up my copy of PSE but was hesitant, but this has convinced me that I'll like it and find it useful.
buffalo said:
From my experience, they work together well and easily. Not at my Mac now, but from memory, all you need to do is specify the external application (i.e., PSE) in one of the preferences settings (or something like that).
Then it's a simple matter of double clicking on the image, PSE opens, do your editing and then just hit save in PSE. Go back to iPhoto and the image may take a little while to refresh, but the image is changed. Probably would be a good idea to take a copy of the original image first, though.
If you want to use the iphoto editor, just click on the "Edit" button.
EDIT - OK, slightly different method than the one posted above.
Cool.
Rob
mkrishnan said:
I don't have PSE installed yet, but to create that photo, would I combine them using layers?
buffalo said:
Yes, basically... What you could do is choose one image as the dominant image, and then add the other two in as layers. In the layers, you could use one of the selection tools to cut out the skier, and then delete the rest of the image in that layer. Then, you can do things like adjust color, brightness, and contrast, if necessary, on that layer, to make that picture of him "fit" into the main one. Then you can either lay it down as a transparent overlay, or opaquely, depending on what you want. Basically, as you do this, you can turn layers "on" and "off," making them temporarily visible or non-visible.
What I would recommend is that, in addition to PSE, you buy a simple guide book. PSE is *great*. And I learned informally. But I think there's enough depth that a book would be a good investment. Probably even for me.
mkrishnan said:...
What I would recommend is that, in addition to PSE, you buy a simple guide book. PSE is *great*. And I learned informally. But I think there's enough depth that a book would be a good investment. Probably even for me.
That's a great idea. I have one, published by Focal Press "Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.0: A Visual Introduction to Digital Imaging" by Philip Andrews. Anything from the Visual Quickstart Guide series by Peachpit Press is also good.
By the way, there is a panorama tool in version 4.0, so it might be easier to slice and dice horizontal sequential photos and create one from the output.
mkrishnan said:What I would recommend is that, in addition to PSE, you buy a simple guide book. PSE is *great*. And I learned informally. But I think there's enough depth that a book would be a good investment. Probably even for me.
In the packaging was an ad for Elements Techniques Magazine. 8 issues for $49. Have any of you tried that?
I could also use some help with those above pictures. I now have PSE installed and all three of the above photos in the photo bin. I have the first picture as my background. How do I combine the other two photos? It doesn't seem to work if I just drag the photos to the layers area.
Thanks for helping a PSE noob!
Thanks for helping a PSE noob!
OK, I have made some progress. I now have all three photos layered into one. However I can only see the photo on top. What do I do next?
bousozoku said:
How do I erase the background? I've been trying the magic wand tool, but it's not all of the area I want.
are you looking for something like this?
unfortunately the camera was not fixed on a tripod when you took the picture. so a simple blend of the pictures will blur the background. the only way i know is selecting the skier and pasting him on layers. then adjust color and brightness and blend the layers.
maybe some of the pro's here have an easier or better way to do it.
unfortunately the camera was not fixed on a tripod when you took the picture. so a simple blend of the pictures will blur the background. the only way i know is selecting the skier and pasting him on layers. then adjust color and brightness and blend the layers.
maybe some of the pro's here have an easier or better way to do it.
Attachments
Yes, that is exactly what I'm looking for. Did you use the magic brush tool to select him? That's what I've been using, and I get either some of the background or not all of the skiier. Are there any tips for using the selector, or are there any buttons to modify the picture?
Thanks for the help so far!
Thanks for the help so far!
andiwm2003 said:
buffalo said:
it is not possible to give a full photoshop tutorial here and i'm certainly not a good enough "photoshopper" to do it anyway.
but on this pictures the background is mainly white, so cutting a bit of background is not that critical. i used the lasso tool to select the skier. the only extra thing i did is that i "feathered" the lasso tool with one pixel. when you work on the higher resolution original images you want to feather with more (e.g.4 or 8 pixel). feathering means that the lasso selects with an unsharp or blurred edge. by that the cut out skier can be pasted into the other image without leaving a sharp easy to see edge around him. if you paste the skier on his own layer you can adjust brightness, contrast, saturation for each skier separately. by that you can make the look more even.
if you want to do a lot of this then i recommend to learn how to use the layer system and the selection tools in photoshop.
check out websites like this and follow their tutorials. that way you learn the basics on the go. you can do everthing they say in elements as well with minor modifications.
http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/photoshop/l/blsnowglobe1.htm
these guys know just about everything:
http://www.photoshoptechniques.com/forum/