A beginner's manual

[gmm1]

Hi. I am new to digital photography. I purchased Elements 5 after searching for a better program then what came with my camera (Pentax *lst DL).

Everything is greek to me. I need some very basic information but of course I want it to "fit" within Elements.

I purchased Scott Kelby's "PS E5 for Digital Photographers" but it assumes I know some of the stuff already and does not build the knowledge to find stuff on my own. (BTW, I recommend the book, it's a great "how-to" step by step).

But, what I want is a book that explains every command, it's icon, it's shortcut, and an explaination of what the command is for. Those who named some of the features/tools leave a lot to be desired. At least for me, it gets very confusing very fast.

Any advice is appreciated.

[RobertSchuldenfrei]

Hi GMM and NG,

Welcome to the most helpful and friendly place on the web. Our newsgroup (NG) is a wonderful community of Photoshop Elements (PSE) users.

I have found Philip Andrews to be a more topical approach to learning PSE. I have two of his books:

Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0, A Visual Introduction to Digital Photography.

Advanced Photoshop Elements 5.0 for Digital Photographers.

Even more to your desires is his book:

Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0 A-Z

Sadly, I do not have the last book, so I really cannot comment on it. Let us know if you buy these books and if the help. Welcome aboard.

Cheers,

Bob

[baycruisers]

I have Andrews' A to Z book. It's a good reference but not the best for learning.

I would start with his intro book and start playing with some images.

[gidon]

Hi
You've probably seen it already but have you looked at the pdf user manual that comes with Elements. It can be easy to miss - but it's a wealth of information (480 pages!!). It describes every command in detail and may be worth having a look at. It also has some basic tutorials.
It accomapanies your SK book very well too (I have that book too and it's excellent).
Cheers
Gidon

[RobertSchuldenfrei]

Hi Gidon,

My face is red! I had always assumed that the file was just the same as the printed manual. Never even looked carefully at it with each edition of PSE (3, 4, & 5). Thanks.

Cheers,

Bob

[Chuck S.]

I would also heartily recommend Photoshop Elements 5, the Missing Manual, by Barbara Brundage. It's very thorough and an excellent reference.

[gmm1]

Thanks all for the info. I did, in fact, miss the PDF file. I will start there, but if everything goes according to my history, I will end up owning all the books recommended here.


Thanks again...

[smiles]

I would also heartily recommend Photoshop Elements 5, the Missing Manual, by Barbara Brundage. It's very thorough and an excellent reference.

Chuck, I second that one! I have that book and I am currently reading it.

[Wendy]

Hi ...

... and welcome to the forum :)

Don't forget that anytime you need help then just ask and one of us will talk you through things ...

Wendy

[jmikelewis]

Where are these pdf. files? I can't find anything on the start up menu and I have done a file search and come up negative.

Mike

[Inspeqtor]

Mike,

To find the pdf file, you must insert the PSE5 CD into your computer. When it boots up, click on OK for the language. Then click on Accept for the License Agreement. The next screen, click on Browse CD-ROM
The file you are looking for is called User Help.pdf :)

[baycruisers]

Check your install disk.

[dj_paige]

I don't have a CD. I purchased the download version of PSE5, but the User Help.pdf came with that as well. On my computer, it was in the folder that is created when the original download .exe is extracted. It was somewhere in
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Photoshop Elements 5

[mitch]

I too have read the Missing Manual and it has alot of helpful information
for newbees like yourself.

I would reccomend getting this book and read each chapter thoroughly
to get a basic understanding of how to navigate around PSE 5.0

GOOD LUCK !!

[Diana]

Hi,

This isn't a book, but there are a lot of good websites with Elements help. Even though some of these were written for Elements 2 and 3, it is still valuable information for any version:

http://www.arraich.com/elements/pse_hhow1.htm (http://www.arraich.com/elements/pse_hhow1.htm)
[To find an index to more PSE tutorials…..from this page, scroll about 3/4 of the way down and look on the left until you see “Elements Tutorials”.]

http://www.arraich.com/elements/ref2/aatoolbarV3.htm (http://www.arraich.com/elements/ref2/aatoolbarV3.htm)
[Description of all the tools and their uses on the PSE toolbar]

Blend Modes (this is a Photoshop tutorials but most of the same blend modes are available in Photoshop Elements….this is a good explanation with visual examples to help you understand the Blend Modes available in the Layers Palette.)
http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/glossary/ig/Blending-Modes/index.htm (http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/glossary/ig/Blending-Modes/index.htm)


PS Elements Keyboard Shortcuts Lists

http://www.graficalicus.com/modules/publications/docs/pse3-shortcut-keys.pdf (http://www.graficalicus.com/modules/publications/docs/pse3-shortcut-keys.pdf)
http://www.arraich.com/elements/keyboardshortcuts.htm (http://www.arraich.com/elements/keyboardshortcuts.htm)

Diana

[cats4jan]

Welcome - luckily you have found this board at the beginning of your quest - I did not find it until I spent 6 months of trial and error.

I find the digital scrapbooking books and written tutorials are a great way to get familiar with the tools in Elements.

try www.hummiesworld.com

Even if you are not planning on doing any scrapbooking, you will find that while you do the scrapbooking projects, the way Elements works just seems to click.

But really - there is no shortcut to learning PSE - a certain amount of frustration is a given. But the rewards are great - it is a great program both for scrapbooking type projects and for photo manipulation.