
original for What She Sees
A few months ago I was working on a picture, adjusting the color, the highlights, contrast levels, etc. I decided to “play” with it when I was done adjusting it and had saved the image to some folder. I ran it through various filters, finding none that I liked really. Then I clicked on one that shifted the image so much that I was really on to something…for me, anyway.
You see, I have pretty much taught myself Photoshop Elements, the little brother (or sister) to Photoshop CS3. Along the way, I’ve referred to an excellent book by Barry Beckham, The Digital Photographer’s Guide to Photoshop Elements 4: Improve Your Photographs and Create Fantastic Special Effects. I highly recommend this book to anyone having trouble with Elements. (However, he hasn’t published a revised edition since Elements 4 so you’ll have to simply work your way through the improvements that Elements 6 arrived with.) I’ve taken a few classes here in town at Working With Artists in Lakewood (Colorado) and learned some of the various aspects of it; if you’;re in the Denver area, please check out Working with Artists/Flash Gallery….terrific bunch of folks and definitely a fine bunch of photographers!
Overall, though, I’ve taught myself the bells and whistles that I know. And I have a long way to go to master what Elements has to teach me. So, I slog onward……………. Continue reading →