December 2008

6 Quick and Easy Vignettes

December 18, 2008

This post is your 7th opportunity to enter Digital Photography For Moms’ contest to win a free copy of Photoshop Element 7/Premiere Elements 7, courtesy of Adobe!  See details at the end of this post. Vignettes often are the finishing touch in a refined and professional picture.  They bring focus to the subject of the photo [...]

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Need Help Running Actions in Photoshop Elements?

December 16, 2008

This post is your 6th opportunity to enter my contest to win a free copy of Photoshop Elements 7/Premiere Elements 7, courtesy of Adobe!  See details at the end of this post. Thanks to Rita at Coffeeshop Free Actions, we Photoshop Elements users can all use photo-enhancing and time-saving actions to speed up our digital [...]

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Tutorial – CoffeeShop PowderRoom 2 Free Action

December 16, 2008

Warning:  This Photoshop Elements tutorial is EXCRUCIATINGLY detailed and may cause eyes to cross!  Read the instructions that came with PowderRoom first, and read my tutorial only if you still need help!   CoffeeShop PowderRoom 2 is a fantastic action created by Rita at CoffeeShop Free Actions!  A few clicks of your mouse will completely retouch [...]

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Photoshop Elements Tutorial – Running Actions Part 4

December 16, 2008

This is part 4 of my tutorial on using the CoffeeShop PowderRoom 2 free action.  It covers smoothing and softening skin, and creating a vignette.  Soft Skin Click on the black Layer Mask Thumbnail box of the Soft Skin layer to activate both the layer and its Layer Mask.  Double check that the black box has [...]

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Photoshop Elements Tutorial – Running Actions Part 3

December 16, 2008

This is part 3 of my tutorial on using the CoffeeShop PowderRoom 2 free action.  It covers whitening, brightening and defining eyes.  Whiten Eyes Click on the White Whites layer in the Layers Palette to activate it.  Make sure that the black Layer Mask Thumbnail on this layer has a white outline around it. Zoom [...]

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Photoshop Elements Tutorial – Running Actions Part 2

December 16, 2008

This page contains part two of the CoffeeShop PowderRoom 2 Tutorial and covers the White Teeth layer of the action.  White Teeth Click on the White Teeth Layer in your Layers Palette to activate it.  The active layer will be darker than the others.  There will be two icons on this layer.  The black box [...]

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Photoshop Elements Tutorial – Running Actions Part 1

December 16, 2008

Install and Run CoffeeShop PowderRoom 2 Action If you don’t already have CoffeeShop PowderRoom 2, download it.  See these instructions for installing actions in Photoshop Elements 4, 5, 6 & 7 on Vista and XP if you need help. Open PSE, and open a portrait that you want to retouch. Make sure you are in [...]

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Using Props to Add Interest to Kids’ Photos

December 12, 2008

This post is your 5th opportunity to enter my contest to win a free copy of Photoshop Elements 7/Premiere Elements 7, courtesy of Adobe!  See details at the end of the post. How many pictures have you taken of your kids?  About 47 million, if you’re like me.  And each and every one of them [...]

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10 Methods of Sharpening an Image in Photoshop Elements

December 6, 2008

This post is the 3rd opportunity for you to enter my contest for a free copy of Photoshop Elements 7/Premiere Elements 7!  See details after the post. It never fails that the cutest pictures of my kids are slightly  less than perfect photographically.  Often, they aren’t quite sharpe enough – I find it hard to [...]

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Sharpen Photos Using the Luminosity Mode in Photoshop Elements

December 6, 2008

Use this method to sharpen photos in Photoshop Elements with a minimum of halos and noise: Duplicate the layer that you want to sharpen Apply the Unsharp Mask to the new layer Change the Blending Mode of the new layer to Luminosity and adjust layer’s opacity to taste Previous Sharpening Method:  Unsharp Mask Times Two [...]

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If All Else Fails When Sharpening in Photoshop Elements

December 6, 2008

If your picture is blurry beyond repair, here is one more idea to try.  Make everything other than the subject of the photo blurrier! Duplicate the layer that needs sharpening (after flattening if necessary) Select the part of the picture that you want to focus on Invert the selection by typing Control + Shift + [...]

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Sharpen Edges Only

December 6, 2008

Use the Find Edges Filter in Photoshop Elements to sharpen only the areas of your image that you want to sharpen.  This method is a bit complicated, but is worth it for shots where there are larges areas that you want to remain soft while still sharpening the edges crisply. Duplicate the layer you want [...]

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Use the Sharpen Tool in Photoshop Elements

December 6, 2008

I didn’t even know this tool existed until recently!  It works well for sharpening small parts of your image, but not so well for sharpening large parts. Right click on the Blur Tool, which looks like a teardrop Select the Sharpen Tool Start out slowly with a lowish strength Brush over areas that you want [...]

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Sharpen in Photoshop Elements Using the High Pass Filter

December 6, 2008

I like this method of sharpening a lot, especially when used with a layer mask.  It works great on water and for brightening eyes. Duplicate the layer you’d like to sharpen (you might need to flatten your image first) Go to the Filter Menu and select Filter/Other/High Pass Set Radius anywhere from 2 – 20 [...]

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