2 new actions for Photoshop Elements are waiting for you to download!

The first is MCP’s latest freebie for Elements – Touch of Light/Touch of Darkness.  It’s similar to Dodge and Burn, but easier and more effective.  This action will pull a face out of the shadows or calm down a bright spot.

And the 2nd new action?  MCP’s Complete Workflow is now available for Photoshop Elements!

This was a tough conversion for me because I had to create an Elements workaround for a intense Lab mode color pop.  It took countless attempts before finding a version that Jodi and I were both happy with.  I think you will like the results!

MCP’s Complete Workflow contains 8 actions, including 5 end-to-end workflow actions.  Everything you need to edit an image from start to finish is included in these workflows, plus 3 different levels of color pop, a black and white with optional tints, and a great vintage action.

In addition to the workflow actions, there are 3 helper actions to correct exposure.  Bring detail out of the shadows, make your darks darker and richer, or rein in those out-of-control highlights.

Each action has adjustable layers and layer masks to give you complete control.  For instance, I masked out the vintage effect on the eyes and lips of the shot below with a low opacity brush to add a little color back.

I prepared these images for posting on the internet using MCP’s Finish It for Photoshop Elements to resize, frame, add text area and watermark.  The vignettes in the above screen shots were added after running MCP’s Complete Workflow.

The Complete Workflow is compatible with PSE 5, 6, 7 and 8.  Enjoy!

Is this the cutest idea ever for a Valentine’s photo card? I love it, and my big girl is thrilled that she gets to give her friends candy this year.

This idea came from 24-7-365 via Lauren Makes via Giverslog.  Phew.  How’s that for full attribution?  I really love Giverslog, by the way.  Do you guys ever read that blog?  It’s full of great idea for sweet and thoughtful gifts.

The web presentation of these images came from MCP’s Finish It action, which I announced here on Monday.  The actual Valentine wasn’t made with the action however, as this action is designed to optimize images for the web only through sizing, sharpening and branding.

Is anyone else making homemade Valentine’s with their kids this year?  Do you have any great ideas for using photos in Valentines?  Please share!

I’ve been using Photoshop Elements 8 for about a month now.

While there are no huge changes here, there are quite a few updates that just might make this product upgrade-worthy for you.

Mac Users

First, a note for you Mac users.  You can upgrade to PSE 8 along with everyone else now.  It’s about time, right?

PSE 8 and Actions

All the actions I have tested in PSE 8 work just fine.  And installing them is the same as installing in PSE 8 – no different, no more complicated, no easier.  Are you listening, Adobe?

Why the PSE 8 Organizer is Miraculous

The Photoshop Elements 8 Organizer learns to recognize and name the people that matter most in your life.  Seriously!

PSE will find your images with faces.  Choose a person to introduce PSE to, like your DH.  Select a few pictures of him, tell PSE that these pix are all of DH, and PSE will find all the other images in your collection with his face and ask you if you’d like to tag them all with his name.

How cool is that?

And, it doesn’t matter if you’ve known your husband since you were kids, either.  When I attended the Elements pre-release press conference, the host demonstrated that PSE could recognize his kids from the time they were tweens to just about full grown.

Click on these screen shots for a bigger view:

Find Images Easily with the Keyword Cloud

Once you’ve tagged your images, the PSE 8 Organizer makes it easier to go back and find what you’re looking for using a blog-style keyword cloud.

What about the PSE 8 Editor?

There is one interface upgrade in PSE 8 that I love.  Those of you who have used CS4 will recognize it.  With PSE 7, I was always playing musical pallets.  First I need my layers palette, then my Undo History, and lord knows when I’m using actions my effects palette is so huge that it takes up the entire palettes bin!

With PSE 8, you can now collapse your various palettes into tabs, so that it will just take you one click to see everything you need.  Do you see under my Effects Palette the tabs for Adjustments/Undo History/Layers?  That makes PSE life much simpler.

You can put all your open images into tabs as well.  Get rid of that space consuming Project Bin and move between your pix easily!  See how I’m working on “Untitled 1″ but can hop over to Pixel Fairy Princess with just a click?

New Editor Features that Make You Look Like a Professional Photographer

Exposure Merge

You know the shots.  If you expose for the background, the faces are too dark to be worth anything.  If you expose for the faces, you miss out on the stunning background, be it a sunset, city line, whatever.

PSE 8 solves that problem.  Take one shot where the faces are exposed properly, and another where the background is exposed as you like it.  Or, try shooting in RAW, expose for the faces, and see if you can’t fix the background in Raw.

Regardless, take the two images and and pick and choose the areas of proper exposure that you’d like to combine into one perfect and compliment-inspiring image!

Recompose

Stand closer.  No, closer.  Really Close.  Why is it that people just don’t want to get close enough together to make a great image?  PSE 8′s new Recompose feature can help with that.  (It’s hiding under the crop button, by the way.)

Use the Red recompose brush to mark the areas you want to get rid of, then use the sizing boxes on the side to squish your image.  The faces or focal points don’t get distorted, but you lose all the unnecessary parts of your image.  Click on this screen shot to see how it works:

And here is a quick before and after that I did to get rid of the space and tree between the buildings:

Chicks Executive Summary – Who Should Upgrade

• If you have PSE 5 or prior – holy cow, are you kidding me?  Upgrade already!
• If you have PSE 6 or 7 -  are you an upgrade junkie?  I am.  And the tagging, Palette tabs, Exposure Merge and Recompose totally make this upgrade worthwhile for those of us who can’t live without the latest gadgets and toys.