Is this summer your time to learn Elements or Lightroom?  Here is your chance!

The Texas Chicks summer schedule of Photoshop Elements and Lightroom classes has been posted and is waiting for your registration!

And, if you sign up between now and May 28, you can save 20% on your workshops!

If you’re wondering whether an online class is the best learning environment for you, read what one of my students from my most recent classes said:

Also, HUGE KUDOS for actually giving a LIVE presentation…being there to physically answer the questions that we have, in real-time, really means a lot. And having the video as well as your screen-view and chat box are UBER helpful! I always worry about if I’ll be able to hear the presenter…but you not only were clear, audible, guiding, and assisting, but also kind, educated, authentic, and genuinely HAPPY to be there. I didn’t feel like I was just another number…moreso that you truly cared whether we understood the processes and what you were teaching.

• My layer mask doesn’t work
• The new action I just installed doesn’t work
• I run an action and nothing changes

I’ve been using Elements for many years now, and I’ve never once encountered a broken layer mask.

Friends, it’s user error.  Layer masks don’t break.  And I’m saying this with a smile because I’ve been there myself, multiple times.  Let’s end the layer mask mystery once and for all!

If you need a basic tutorial on layer masks in PSE, start here.  And then, when you think you’ve got masking down but your mask isn’t behaving like you think it should, come back to this article.

Layer Mask Troubleshooting

• Make sure the regular brush tool is selected – not the Impressionist Brush or one of the others hiding under the regular brush tool
  
• Check that the brush Blend Mode is Normal.  This particular setting is haunted and has been known to change frequently without the user knowing about it.

• Turn brush opacity all the way to 100% to make sure you can see its changes,
• Is the brush the right size?  If it’s too big or too small, you might not see it at all.
• The layer must be turned on with its eyeball showing and active for editing (highlighted).
• Make sure the layer mask is active for editing (has a white outline around it).

• If all else fails, reset All Tools using the arrow just above the Tool Box
  
• Sometimes, after running an action, you won’t see any changes.  Check these items:
• Is the layer turned on?  If no eyeball is visible on the left of the layers panel, that means the layer is off.  Click it to turn on.
• Is the opacity of the layer at least 1%?  If the layer opacity is 0%, that means the action maker wants you to increase the opacity in order to turn on the layer.
• Is the layer mask black?  Remember that with layer masks, black conceals and white reveals.  If the layer mask is black, the effects of the layer are hidden until you paint them in with a white brush.

Never let those layer masks in Elements make you think they’re broken.  They’re not!

• The best forum for getting quick answers to questions on photography and post-processing, plus the most complete source for creative workshops
• The best videos to learn photography from the pros

And today, here is my list of the best books to learn photography and post-processing.  What’s on tomorrow’s schedule?  The best free internet resources for learning and practicing!

Technical Aspects of Photography

• Understanding Exposure - by Brian Peterson.  This is the classic book for learning the exposure triangle (aperture, shutter speed and ISO).  If you’re wanting to make the move to manual, this book will teach you how.
• Photography 10th Edition, by London, Stone, and Upton - read about this in the Standford photography course.  (More on that course tomorrow!).  This book is super pricy, but if you want a textbook that teaches all the technical aspects of photography, it’s worth it.  Good for techies who want to understand everything from how cameras work to maintaining them and mounting prints.
• Digital Field Guides for all cameras - plain English translations of your camera manual
• The Digital Photography Book - Scott Kelby created this series of 4 books to reproduce what he would tell you if he were standing over your shoulder telling you how to shoot a specific thing.  I loved books 1 and 2.  Book 3 is most about Off Camera Lighting.  And I haven’t read book 4 yet.

Creative Aspects of Photography

• Expressive Photography - a beautifully written and illustrated book created by the Shutter Sisters.  Read my full review here.
• Learning to See Creatively - also by Brian Peterson of Understanding Exposure.  I think Expressive Photography speaks better to women and moms, but this book lays out the “technically correct” standards by which “the masters” judge creativity

Post Processing

• Lightroom for Digital Photographers - a great start to finish tour of Lightroom.  This book gave me my start in Lightroom.
• Photoshop Elements Missing Manual - a start to finish encyclopedia of everything in Elements.  Read more about it here.
• Skin - mostly for full Photoshop users.  However, this book teaches important color correction theories that everyone can use.

Depending on where you live, you can probably find most of these books at the library, with the exception of Photography by London, Stone and Upton.  And you could check used textbook stores for that one – just make sure to find the 10th edition so that you get all the good info about digital cameras and post processing.

Continuing this week’s education theme, I’m documenting the resources that have taught me the most about photography over the past few years.

Photovision is a resource that I’ve recommended quite often over the past year.  So much so, in fact, that Photovision sent me a brand spankin’ new camera in thanks!

Just as rewarding as the new camera, however, are the thanks that people send me for recommending this resource to them.  People love this video series.

Subscribers receive a 3 hour DVD every other month, starting in February.  Or, if you subscribe after February, you receive all DVDs that have been released to date.

February’s issue was awesome.  Newborn Fundamentals with Alecia Silvia was my favorite segment, as she described how she set up an in-home studio for newborns.  April’s edition will bring part II of this series, watching Alecia in action with a non-cooperative newborn.  I learn so much from watching these professional photogs in action, hearing the words they use to communicate with their clients, and watching them compose images.

Also in February was a Wedding Shoot Out.  5 photographers competed to get the best shot at several typical wedding portrait locations.  They each had 2 minutes only to set up the shot and take their photos!  The most instructive part of this video was hearing their discussion after the shots – why they chose the lenses they used, how they planned their composition, and the shooting settings they used on their cameras.  I am (most decidedly) not into wedding photography, but this was a very informative segment nonetheless.

iPhoneography was a topic from February that I expected not to get much out of.  I was amazed, in the end, at things people can do with their phones – and inspired to make an iPhone my next phone.  Other February segments included outdoor family photography using off-camera flash and an in-depth marketing overview of a very successful Montana photography business.

Each DVD comes with DVD, Blueray and  mobile versions – I load mine up on my Ipad as soon as I receive the DVD.  That’s a week or two worth of distractions on the elliptical machine at the gym, plus I’m learning and immersed in something I love to boot.

For subscribers with broadband internet, you can opt to receive your videos sooner via streaming video rather than on DVD.

If you want to subscribe, make sure to use coupon code PVFAN to purchase for $49 (saving 75%).

New this year is the PhotoVault.  Watch old segments for FREE.  This week, the featured video from the vault is 48 minutes all about newborn photography with Julie Klaasmyer.  It was filmed in 2011, and I can tell you that this video rocks!

See the schedule above for upcoming featured vault videos.

Finally, remember how I said I won a 5D Mark II from Photovision in January?  Once you subscribe to PV, you can refer friends – if you refer 3 people who sign up, you get next year’s subscription for free.  Each subscription that you send earns you a chance to win this year’s drawing for a 5D Mark III.  And I promise, once you watch the videos, it will be easy for you to refer friends!   It could take as little as a quick Facebook review of Photovision.  That’s a whole lot cheaper than buying a Mark III for sure!

This week Texas Chicks is featuring a series of posts on the best places to improve your photography and post-processing skills.

I have been a member of Clickin’ Moms for going on 4 years now.  I began my in-depth photography education there, and I still learn from the marvelous women (plus a few men) on the forums.

Clickin’ Moms has grown in leaps and bounds recently, but it still stays true to its roots – serving as a forum where people ask questions, answer questions, encourage, inspire, recommend and suggest.

The forum is divided among these conversation types, each of which is further divided into just about every photographic niche you can imagine:

• CMpro (by application only)
• Tutorials and Articles (like Learning to shoot Manual, The Basics of Skin Color Correction, The Un-Awful Family Portrait, Natural light during the day, Making grass and colorful clothes POP!!!, Newborn Positioning, Fill Flash Outdoors)
• Photographers’ Chit Chat
• Photography by Type (Newborns, Babies and Children, Families, Seniors, Couples/Engagement, Boudoir, Weddings & Events, Maternity, Birth Photography, Street & Urban, Landscapes & Nature, Pets & Wildlife, Macro Photography, Food Photography, Night & Low Light, Sports, Fine Art & Miscellaneous, Film, Black & White)
• Business Matters
• Products and Services
• Show Us What You’ve Got
• Contests, Challenges, and Exercises
• Off Topic Chatter
• CM Workshops

Members range from beginning amateurs to incredibly talented and successful professionals.  As I write this, over 600 people are in the forums visting and learning.  Where else can you go to ask any question about photography you want and get a quick, if not immediate, answer?

While CM has stayed true to its roots, it has branched out into some fabulous new ventures as well.  I’ve taken several of their workshops lately (see the list below).  I’ve learned from, been inspired by, and put into practice techniques from each of them.

• Perfect Clients: Finding Them, Keeping Them and Helping Them Help You
• Combining Lifestyle and Modern Portraiture in Newborn Photography
• Creating Connections in Family Portraiture
• It’s Your Atmosphere
• Capturing Couples and Beyond

If Clickin’ Moms sounds like something you would benefit from, save 10% on your subscription using coupon code FRIEND now through April 30.

Continuing my series of interviews with women who have made careers for themselves in our photography world, today I’d like to introduce you to Barbara Brundage.

This woman knows more about Photoshop Elements than anyone I’ve ever encountered.  Every year, she writes the Photoshop Elements Missing Manual with its 600 plus pages.

Not only does Barbara pull off a new version of this book every year to keep up with Adobe’s release schedule, but she is a harpist also.

Talk about a life lived on your own terms.  That is the kind of inspiration I like.  Here is a snapshot of Barbara, in words:

How long have you used Photoshop Elements?

Oh, I started back with Elements 1 when it first came out.

Did you do anything special to learn it as well as you do?

Sure, I did it the hard way–by making lots and lots of mistakes as I was learning. I have to say that the first book I got on PSE wasn’t any help at all–it had lots of pretty pictures but no clear explanations that you could follow to recreate what the author had done—so frustrating. That turned out to be quite helpful when I started on the Missing Manual, because I already knew what I didn’t want the book to be.

Are you a photographer?

A very mediocre one! A very long time ago, back in film days, I used to lug around a ton of old Nikon glass, but it was such hard work that I stopped doing much photography. Then when digital came along I got interested all over again.

Have you had other careers besides being the Elements “maven”?

Oh yeah, several, but for many years my main career has been as a professional harpist and music publisher and arranger.  All my musician friends think it’s hilarious that I, of all people, should write computer books.

What does a typical work week look like for you?  Do you work from home?

Oh gosh, there’s never anything typical from day to day about what I do. This time of year I’m busy woodshedding the music for all the Easter harp jobs, and then in the summer I may be on the computer literally 18 hours a day working on the book. Yes, I’m fortunate to be able to work from home.

What do you like most about helping Elements users?

I remember how much I struggled with certain things about Elements when I first started using it, and it’s always nice to be able to help save other people from having to go through all that. Besides, there are usually concepts that seem confusing at first, and then suddenly you get it and wonder why it ever seemed difficult. Those are very fun moments.

How long does it take you to write the Missing Manual each year?

As long as I can get–there’s never enough time, so it’s always pretty intense, especially towards the end when we’re all scrambling to meet the deadline. I start as soon as I can get a look at what’s coming.  I think the record was two books in four months once (back when we had to do separate books for the Mac version and the Windows version).

What is your proudest career moment?

 Which career?

Is there anything you’d like people to know as they read your book?  Or as they use PSE?

Well, I think the most important thing is that although it  can seem so complicated when you first start, you really can learn to use PSE and use it well if you just go ahead and try different things.  It hardly takes any time at all before it stops being confusing and starts being fun.

Do you have recommendations for people just starting to learn Elements?

Yes, don’t be afraid of it.  Just make sure you aren’t working on your original photo (make a copy if you aren’t using a program like Organizer or iPhoto that creates versions for you), and jump in. Just play around with everything.  Try all the different tools, stack up a bunch of filters and see what happens, add some layer styles and effects. It’s so much fun to see what you can do that pretty soon you’ll be addicted, too.

You know, I think that last piece of advice from Barbara is the best.  So many people develop a strange type of fear-based paralysis when the open Elements.  Work on a copy of our original and you can’t do anything wrong.  If the photo looks good at the end, that’s all that matters.  You might not have used the same edits I would have chosen and you might have created an workflow order all your own.  But if you like what you see, you did it right!

For those of you who are serious Elements users, I encourage you to read Barbara’s book.  Well, maybe not from cover to cover (although I’ve done that!), but at least read over the topics that are useful to you, and then keep the book on your desk and use it as a reference.  I can’t imagine that there is anything worth doing in Photoshop Elements that’s not in the Missing Manual.

Have any of you ever visited 1000Memories?

They contacted me recently to talk about their new product – Shoeboxes.

You know those shoeboxes full of old, unorganized photos you have in the attic?  Yep, it’s time to digitize them and put them on the internet to share with friends and family.

From their press release:

Shoeboxes are easy-to-make collections of photos from the past. Some are built to capture an event (1983 High School Graduation, for example). Others have broader themes (say, Santa Pictures). Through shoeboxes,1000memories is reinventing traditional photo albums by allowing users to invite different groups of family and friends to view and collaborate on a photo collection–or what 1000memories calls a shoebox.

This selective sharing feature creates the potential for collaboration, allowing users to collect a group of photos in one place instead of in multiple albums. It also ensures that users have greater control over their privacy. Instead of broadcasting content to an entire network, users can choose specific family members and friends with whom to share.

“Shoeboxes are the solution for all the photos you kept in your closet or hard drive but never knew what to do with,” says cofounder Rudy Adler. “Unlike other photo-sharing services, shoeboxing is specifically designed to make it easy to preserve and share your photos from the past”.

I’m interested in this service for several reasons.

1. It sounds like an easy way to share photos with family members, without the hubbub of social media cluttering the screen.  Facebook is way too busy to use like shoeboxes.
2. These shoeboxes focus more on the past than a site like Flickr – they help you collect and document family history and share it with relatives far and wide, not just those that visit your home.
3. The privacy controls ensure that only those you really trust get to see the awful haircut your mom gave you in 1st grade.
4. Sharing photos on 1000memories is free.
5. A family tree feature is in the works.  It looks like it will let you build a visual family tree – it would be super cool to click on grandma on this tree and be able to show your kids all the pictures you have of her.  From the time she was a kid until now.
6. They have an Iphone app that allows you to scan photos using your phone.  I really want an iPhone….
7. Their partnership with ScanCafe.

ScanCafe digitizes old photos – I’ve heard of them before, but never got around to sending any of my old photos to them.  They are selling special packages through 1000Memories.  Tell them how many photos you want to scan and they’ll send you a box to ship them in.  After scanning, they return the photos to you with a CD containing all the photos, plus they post them to your own shoebox on 1000Memories.

Sounds easy, right?

I am in the process of filling my boxes now.  Who would like to join me?  I have one box that a reader can fill with 600 photos to be scanned by ScanCafe!  Here’s how you enter:

• Visit 1000Memories
• Leave one comment on this post and tell us what you think is useful about this new site
• Leave a SEPARATE comment here if you like my Facebook page
• Leave another comment if you link back to this page via a comment on Facebook or any other type of social media
• Contest ends Monday, April 9, 12:00 PM CST.

 And you can read more about this product on the 1000Memories blog.

I’ve documented my journey through Angie Warren’s Fly Guide here on Texas Chicks.  As I finish it up, I can say that what I loved most about the project was that it suggested assignments for shooting that took me out of my comfort zone.  The assignments went far beyond what to shoot – each of Angie’s suggestions is complimented by exercises to get the most creativity out of the particular shoot, and guided reflections to help you get to know yourself and your style better.

The last assignment was to work around a specific color.  I chose purple.

Some shots were obvious, like big purple walls.

Others were lucky finds – like the store clerk on a purple ladder changing out the window display.

I peaked through a hotel fence to snap this purple skirt hanging on a garment rack.  Love the framing that the fence provides.

This purple flower on a window reflecting passersby was an easy one.  I like the movement the walkers generate.

This was a particularly fun assignment to do with a buddy.  My friend knew of an awesome bathroom that she wanted to shoot in.  Yes, a bathroom.  The manager of the restaurant thought we were looney, but talk about stretching your creative bounds…..

At least I found purple and got a bit of a self portrait in the process!

I’m not even sure if Angie is still selling the Fly Guide, but if you’d like some guided shoots that push your creativity and encourage and introspective evaluation of where you are as a photographer, I would totally recommend this ebook.

You can read about my other assignments, if you’ like.  Just know that reading them (even duplicating the shoots) will not give you the experience of working through the guided reflections and other assignments in the book.

• Self Portraits
• What My Home Says About Me
• My Favorite Photos

What a relief that Jodi from MCP Actions has made Facebook Timeline templates.  Because I can tell you that I’d be going with whatever Facebook dished out to me otherwise.  A Facebook graphics master I am not.

So not only did Jodi make a template for us, she gave us 8 customizable templates to choose from.

These files are not actions.  They are layered PSDs.  You open them in Elements just like you would any image, and then you place your photos into them using clipping masks.  And yes, they work in Elements just like they work in full Photoshop.

Jodi even made it super simple to use them.  All the instructions are on the layer names.  This layers palette comes fromm the Polaroid Frames template:

You click on the layer that says “Place” above the layer describing where your photo will go.  Once you’ve activated that layer by clicking on it, go to the File Menu and select Place.  Navigate to the photo you want in your timeline and select it.  Now you can size and locate the photo where you want inside the frame.

You can change the background color by clicking on the Color square on the Change Background Color layer.  Easy peasy, right?

You can download this free Facebook Timeline template set here. While you’re at MCP, check out some of our free actions for Photoshop Elements.

The new Texas Chicks LIVE ONLINE class schedule for the next couple of months is ready for you!

Sign up for Elements classes here.  The Elements classes consist of 3 hour and a half to two hour classes.

Is it Lightroom you’re ready to master?  Register for LR classes here.  The Lightroom series has 2 hour and a half to two hour classes.

Earlybird pricing is good through March 5.  Purchase any classes and receive a 20% discount automatically – no coupon code required.