Comments from a newbie

[Anonymous]

Hello all,
I've been enjoying Elements Techniques site for about a month now. I've learned so much from the site and am constantly amazed by the quality of the work in the galleries. Truly insperational!
Photography has been a casual hobby for me for 30 years, I am just now starting to devote the time it deserves.
Any recomendations or critisism of my work is welcome.

Thank you all.

Rick Rhea

[Pauline]

Welcome Rick.
You will learn a lot here at the forum. It's a great place to hang out. :lol:

[CarolLHB]

Hi Rick,
Welcome :D
This is a great spot, I know you'll enjoy it!

[Mary]

Good Morning Rick and welcome :)

What type of photography subjects are you drawn to? Do you have great opportunities in the area where you live? Have you got any of your work posted?
(Lots of questions this morning - must be the coffee) :)

[Anonymous]

Hi Mary,
I seem to be drawn to landscapes and nature. One thing I've noticed is that it can be relatively easy to get a great shot if you have a great subject. Finding the beauty in the less obvious subjects is what I need to work on.
I've been lucky in that I've had the opportunity to travel to Europe for work regularly. I live near Boston, there is plenty of oportunities within a few hours of driving.
My Gallery is athttp://www.photoshopelementsuser.com/gallery/view_img.php?id=1784
My user name is rrhea.
I just noticed that I am showing up as a guest in the forum. I guess I need to register?
Thanks, Rick

[Patricia Heere]

The pictures in your gallery are quite stunning. What camera are you using? I have never been able to get such an action shot of the angels although I have tried. You make me want to go to Europe.
Pat

[Jodi Frye]

Wow ! Fabulous gallery ! Thanks for sharing your point of view !! Always a pleasure to get a fresh look at new views :)

[rrhea]

Hi Pat,
Thanks! All of the pictures from Europe and the one of Boston were taken with an Olympus Stylus 300! It's a fantastic little camera.
The others were taken with a Rebel XT that I picked up a month ago. I used a 70-200 F4L Canon lens on most shots.

I'll post some more Blue Angels photos when I have time.

Europe is a trip! No pun intended. The historical locations in Italy are breathtaking. Go if you can!

Rick

PS thanks Jodi for the compliment :)

[*butterfly*]

Pat
Your pictures are beautiful. I am especially in love with the first one with mom and her baby. I am a newbie and if that is what you did with elements - wow !
I have PSE 2 and many pictures I want to work with..........thank you for sharing your beautiful work.
Was this all done through techniques in PSE??
Butterfly

[Patricia Heere]

Rick, Thank you.

That was done in PSE3. That is my daughter-in-law and I did that for her birthday.

Pat

[Patricia Heere]

Sorry, I meant butterfly.

Pat

[*butterfly*]

Pat
Seeing as i am starting from scratch - what would you suggest my first step to be?
I do have picture it and like working with that - nothing compared to what the PSE can do.
Life has been up and down, so I never got the chance to really involve myself with the PSE, where do you think I should start? :oops:
It is hard being a newbie..............
Thank you,
Butterfly

[Pauline]

Pat that is a gorgeous one of mother and baby!

Butterfly I also have Picture it and it doesn't hold a candle to elements. I still use it but more for card making etc. I have the publishing edition. I think the best thing for you to start out with is to subscribe. It is absolutely the best value for your money and also the quickest way to learn. There are a lot of tutorials in the subscriber area and all are excellent. You also get the newsletter 8 times a year which is wonderful, and of course if you are ever stuck on anything you have the help from plenty of people on this list. Everyone is wonderful and more than willing to help. PSE is great and there are also many books out there on it to help you along. You can't go wrong with that. Welcome.

[Patricia Heere]

Thank you Pauline.

Butterfly, I agree with Pauline that subscribing to this forum will give you a lot of ideas. I am not familiar with Picture It so I really can't tell you where to start with it's features. I did that picture of my daughter in law through the use of layers and some techniques posted by Jodi Frye. Basically, I used the healing brush, spot healing brush and clone tools to paint out blemishes, unwanted features and to smooth out her face and delete lines around her eyes. I then took out some of the red cast and desatured the picture a little and lightened it a little. I then applied a slight gaussian blur and then erased around her eyes, mouth and nose and the baby at differing strenghths to make the areas I wanted to be in sharp focus.

The real key to this was the cropping and sandwiching the picture between 2 copies of the background I created and then erasing on the top layer to expose the picture underneath where I wanted it to show through.

Here is the original so you can get an idea of some of what I did.

http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?pic=1Jils9hPimi5jTZ35NJhUd6P7Ps9K

I am not sure but I would think that if you searched the internet you might be able to get a pretty good deal on PSE3 right now. If you want to do some serious picture editing and scrapbooking, etc you mght really like what you can do with the program.

Pat