HELP!!! Not able to apply Effect - E5

[Sherry]

I guess I am suddenly dumb. I have been busy and not using my program other than sizing photos. Today I tried to apply a Vintage Frame and boy was I surprised. For the life of me even following the directions in Help and the E5 issue of the mag, I could not do it ... yikes!!!

I had brought in my photo, corrected and sized it, then tried the drop method, the apply method, the double click method to no avail. It simply put this small square on the screen over the photo. When I tried to size it the photo distorted not keeping my corrected photo as I desired.

And I've been telling EVERYONE how easy Elements is to use ... oh my ... color me RED!!!

Can anyone take me down the right path ... please!
Sherry

[TonyW]

You should be able to size it without distorting the image by dragging out a corner (just don't hold Shift or the picture will distort.) However those vintage frames are the quirkiest in the whole bunch. They work best when the image is the same aspect ratio as the frame although if you mess around you can resize them a bit but they have a habit of flipping back to the original aspect ratio.

I used one recently and got so frustrated I finished up putting the frame under the image and sizing it to frame the image rather than using the official method of dropping the image into the frame - surprisingly it worked out quite well.

Different groups of frames are made differently and most don't have the problem the vintage frames do - others adjust to fit the image (right click and Fit Frame to Photo)

Tony

[Sherry]

Thanks Tony, I will give it a try!

Sherry

[Byron Gale]

...size it without distorting the image by dragging out a corner (just don't hold Shift or the picture will distort.)...Tony,

I understand things exactly the opposite of this... holding SHIFT while dragging a corner handle forces the program to retain the aspect ratio. It is when a corner handle is dragged without SHIFT that you can distort the image.

...unless I've completely misunderstood the issue... again. :p

Byron

[Sherry]

Don't you just LOVE it ... as I understand it is now the other way around ... oh my!!!!!!!!!

Sherry

[Byron Gale]

WOW - they really changed this in PSE5... Tony's advice is exactly correct!!

In PSE5, using the Move tool, if you click/drag a corner handle the aspect ratio is maintained.

UNLESS... if you first drag a side handle, or SHIFT-drag a corner handle, this cancels the automatic aspect ratio maintenance. You would subsequently need to press SHIFT to force it momentarily back into the mode of maintaining aspect ratio.

It is like the automatic mode is cancelled when you do something to intentionally distort aspect ratio.

[TonyW]

Byron: Had me confused too at first but it is more logical since most of the time you want to maintain the aspect ratio when you transform by dragging out a corner of a selection or frame element. Does make switching back and forth with older versions and CS2 tricky though as they all work the other way round. Wonder if this was a user requested feature :confused:


BTW the difference is that the the transform option bar has a constrain proportions check box that wasn't in older versions. The default is always on and I don't see a preference to change it. You can manually uncheck it or hold down shift but next time you use it it's checked again.

Tony

[Wendy]

Byron ...

I understand it was because most of the time people want to maintain the proportions ... :)

Ummm ... now everone is waiting to see if the next version of Photoshop is like this too ...

Wendy