Things Elements will do ... No 1

[Wendy]

Well up to now its been how to install Elements and how to get it to work ... so maybe its time to have a little fun with it :)

How about creating something using the gradient tool ....

1. File>New ... 7inches x 7 inches, 72 pixels/inch, mode RGB, contents white.

2. Select the gradient tool plus any gradient you like ... but simple two tone colour ones do seem to work best. (Don't use black and white)

3. Start of with the Linear Gradient.

4. Set the mode to difference ... and paint!!

5. Now admire the amazing effects ...

6. Try changing to diamond gradient ... experiment and ENJOY!!!

Here are two I made:

http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1qOdOAScPErHsLCGeTGN053qoALV
http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1HfcKoQonTM45pH5WAQA7LInrArLIO0


Wendy

[kerriann85]

Wendy,
That was a fun exercise on this icy snowy blustery day! Both my 10 year old son and I had fun playing around. He liked the tie die effects. And I made some interesting "Wolverine claw" slash marks. It's neat to then cut it out with the cookie cutter. (Makes beautiful butterflies.)

So now for the next question.....what does one do with it? Make monitor desktop wallpaper? (that would drive hubby nuts!)

This is a good way to get me diving into all that E3 does besides edit photos. I'm ready for another one!

Kerri

[Wendy]

Kerriann,

It makes great backgounds for images (if a bit on the wild side :) ) but I do like your idea of making Butterflies ...

If you have saved one ...... then you could post a link to it using :

http://www.pixentral.com/index.php

I will try and think of another fun use of Elements for later in the week.


Wendy

[kerriann85]

Yes, these would make wild backgrounds all right!
Maybe cool as the background of some scrapbook page? ( I've never gotten into that.)

Here's what I made.....

Ths second one contains what my son calls "wolverine claw slashes" .

[/url]http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?pic=1pobL6WxW6AuNoiAl4Th5kEkHoKgnF0

http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?pic=1UIDWfmebNHcaJpX4dZyoBggPuoOe0

More later in the week?! How bout tomorrow? It'll still be snowing then! :D

[kerriann85]

Ok, why aren't those links hot....

http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?pic=1pobL6WxW6AuNoiAl4Th5kEkHoKgnF0

http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?pic=1UIDWfmebNHcaJpX4dZyoBggPuoOe0

[Anonymous]

Kerrianne, those a pretty cool. I remember Wendy doing these for us a long while back and she really is a pro at it...you should convince her to " show her stuff ! " ;)

[Jodi Frye]

oops, that was me...i forget to log in sometimes :oops:

[kerriann85]

Too funny, I was just about to type: "Jodi, is that you?"

Yes Wendy, show me your stuff!

[Wendy]

Kerriann,

Hey you did really well with those ... congratulations.

Well I hadn't made any gradient pictures for ages but I sat down and made a couple ... and guess what?. The Pixentral server seems to have developed a glitch ... so I can't do a link to them :(

Maybe tomorrow :)... if not I'll have to try another site.


Wendy

[Wendy]

Ah ... now its working .... so here are the two I did:

http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?pic=1qOdOAScPErHsLCGeTGN053qoALV
http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?pic=1HfcKoQonTM45pH5WAQA7LInrArLIO0


Wendy

[Mary]

Wow Wendy - you are VERY good

this is one that I did and the only reason I stopped was because it appears to pulse! very eerie!
www.pixentral.com/show.php?pic=1ed7c6fQyD8AK2r4yENkEgZVnXhDah1

[Wendy]

Mary,

Thats a great one ... the colours are so effective :)

Using difference mode is very unpredictable but the results can be excellent. Thanks for the kind comments about mine but I think that I was just lucky and hit a good combination by accident.


Wendy

[MikeH]

Ok here is my first effort...

http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?pic=1fjTvuOZYQVe17e2rQAIIKJHY1rTUG

Mike

[Jodi Frye]

Wendy, again you blow me away with your work ! You are the gradient queen !

Mike, that is sooooooooooooo cool !

[MikeH]

Jodi,

Thanks :D - surprising what few strokes here and there will do...

I will have to go some though to get up to Wendy's standard. :wink:

Mike

[Wendy]

Mike ... that is really good. It looks just like silk.

Using this technique seems to give really vibrant mixtures of colours.

Jodi ... come on. Its your turn next and you do them far better than I do :)


Wendy

[kerriann85]

Here's one I call "Diamond RIngs"
http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?pic=19ogQ8iG4KwvFLKuXr5UGhGCf174eV1

[kerriann85]

Mike's I'll call "Tie Dye Hankies"

[kerriann85]

Mary's is "Lava Lamp Broken"

Wendy's 1st is "Church Window Wanna-be"


(p.s., Yes Wendy, I am indeed a Female, you can assure Colin)

[Jodi Frye]

did i miss something ?? who's a female ?? LMAO !! doh !

I missed it...where is it ?

[Jodi Frye]

Yes Wendy, I know i should I really should...been busy workin on a project...one of those yummy 'prize' ones ;)

[Wendy]

Kerri ... Diamond rings is lovely. You have come up with some really imaginative names and they do suit the images ... we will have to make you our official Image Namer :)

Oh that Colin !! ... have you accepted his "sorry" yet? ... He tends to type before he engages his brain but he does say sorry once he realises. Please don't be put off.

Jodi ... Try the thread "Resolution" over at the other place.

Wendy

[Jodi Frye]

:? Oh

sorry, but he drives me nuts....not such a long drive tho ;)

[Wendy]

Jodi ... me too :(



Wendy

[wrogers]

I found this tutorial "Fun with Grads" on Pbase. I like the way they intergrate a picture into the design. Here is the link
http://www.pbase.com/creativematrix/fun_with_grads

[Leslie]

That was fun..are you going to do another one?

[Wendy]

Leslie,

I'm working on it :)


Wendy

[kerriann85]

An idea for sometime when you are out of somthing else for us to discover would be discovering what can be done with the text tool? Probably need to come up with something more specific, buit since I don't know what all it will do, I can't do that. :)
(I doubt I'll even be able to remember how to duplicate the Happy New Year I made, but that's all the text I've played with so far.)

[Wendy]

Kerri,

I have put text tool into my notepad ... :)


Wendy

[jo]

I'm new here, and you all are giving me lots of ideas for things to try this winter when I can't get out much to take photographs!

I just upgraded to Elements 4, and I've used gradients before, but I guess I just stumbled through it and got some nice effects. Now I can't figure out how to use it!

I tried to put one of my projects in the gallery but I got some kind of error. Let me try this instead. {I'm changing this to a link since I know some forums don't like images in the posts. And I'll try again to put it in the gallery -- and pay more attention to the process :roll: .}
http://www.chambersofmyheart.com/otherpics/autumn_poster_sml.jpg

This was the first of a series of 18x24 posters of the seasons. Kind of a collage of "framed" photos of the season in different sizes. You all have given me some ideas for new approaches.

Anyway, each season has a different background where I used an image or two in the corners of the background layer, picked a main color for the background, then used the gradient tool to blend it all together and fade into the corner photos.

The gradient with a photo makes a nice background for something else.

[Jodi Frye]

That's really beautiful.

[Wendy]

Hi Jo ...

... and welcome to the forum :)

What a nice image ... if you are having problems with getting images into your Gallery just start a new thread and tell us what is happening ... hopefully we will be able to talk you through it :)

To start a new thread just click on "New Topic" at the top of the page :)



Wendy

[Carbone]

Nice work, I love those Fall colours :)

Ray

[jo]

Thanks for the compliment. It looks better as a large poster, though. And it's really very simple compared to what I see you all doing! I think I'll have a lot of fun this winter playing with the photos I've taken this year.

[Mary]

Hi Jo and welcome!

Your poster/collage is gorgeous! :)

[jo]

OK! -- this time I was able to load the image into the gallery.

[Wendy]

Oh well done ... glad you managed to sort it out :)


Wendy

[richs]

Kerri,

There are a couple of ideas to work with text at http://myjanee.home.insightbb.com/tutorialselements.htm

Here's more ideas:
http://www.pslover.com/tutorials/TextFX/1

[Wendy]

Rich ...

This is a really old thread ... Kerri's query was way back in January. So I don't think she need text info anymore :)


Wendy

[kerriann85]

Interesting that this thread was resurrected. It started way back when I actually had time to Photoshop! :)

Thanks Rich, have been to both those sites and they are excellent for text and all kinds of other ideas! Hopefully someone else will find them interesting too.

Jo, that poster is gorgeous!

[Wendy]

Kerri ...

I just couldn't resist taking another try at this:

Here goes ....

http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1pgoCLwIQq5vTG3SAtRv4Bp1wiKX1

Its still addictive !!


Wendy

[kerriann85]

Wendy, that's really pretty! Do you knit? Could you turn that into an afgan for me? :D

[Wendy]

Kerri ...

I never got round to knitting .. but I do crochet. I was somewhat of a Hippy many moons ago :)

I have got hooked on this now ... so here is another:

http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1EULRybECUqUaOsze1V0tnxTXMY1U80


Wendy

[GaryK]

Last time I played with that, I started having too many flashbacks..had to stop. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

[virgo1]

Wendy...

That is sooooo farout. Can you do it in paisley? :lol: :lol: :lol:

Eva :wink:

[CarolLHB]

Wendy...
What are you playing with? Those are great-can we play too?? :lol:

[Wendy]

Carol ...

Take a look at the first message in this thread ..

Its a mini tut I did a year ago ... when I first joined the forum. There were a few of them ... originally seven but now only six as one vanished when the site crashed.

All of them are in the Mini Tutorial link I did:

http://www.photoshopelementsuser.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5197


Wendy

[Shelly]

Wendy,

These gradient pictures are so fun to do! Thanks many times for reposting your tut. I'll entertainment myself all day with these.

Shelly

[Carbone]

Last year, I held the Gradients Museum for Elements Users... I didn't kept the ones which were sent by the other participants (because they were not mine), but I left mine online.

http://www.pbase.com/carbone/gradients_museum&page=all

Enjoy !

Ray

[Wendy]

Ray ...

You certainly played a lot :)

We had fun with the gradient museum ... and then there was the snowflake one. (Why don't we do that again .. nearer Christmas).???


Wendy

[Carbone]

Wendy... :roll:

Ok, it's being planned, be patient... :)

Ray

[kewTpie]

Hi Wendy!
Ok, here is my first attempt at one of your tutorials! I finally got some time to sit down.
Since Christmas is so close, I thought these colors were appropriate.
I also am trying to get the hang of layers (note my initials...) and it's also my first post to pixentral, so here's hoping the link works!
Thanks again!

http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1IrTDlXWkmTGXHUtLJYPSpPUSqNO78

[kewTpie]

uh oh--
here's another...I may be hooked...

http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1RjTD9Ct4tHpPOvSUdazF15Pz4oI0

[kewTpie]

OK-
One last one before I go to sleep...
This one I added noise to.
What do you think?

http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=15PaqpJ9MtNwUsH1cjDKKfZ9HtWiL

[Wendy]

Hi Kristie,

It certainly is addictive !!

Three nice gradients effects there ... adding the noise is a nice touch. Makes me wonder how the effect would work if you used a noise gradient.

You did well with your copyright initials ... did you make a brush to do it or did you type them on ?


Wendy

[jo]

Kristi, those are really nice -- gives me some ideas I'd like to try. :wink:

[kewTpie]

Thanks!

On the first one, I made a seperate layer with my initials. On the others I did another of your (Wendy's) tuts for a brush!!
I do have a question though, I need to make one white and I had trouble with it. I thought I saved a second brush as white, but it still is black.

[Wendy]

Kristy ...

It doesn't matter about colour with a brush ... you just need to set your foreground colour to the colour you want the initials to be ... and there you go :)


Wendy

[kewTpie]

Wendy-I tried to make a new brush and set my foreground color to white, but when I go to define brush, it says there are no pixels selected. If I change it to blac, it will work, but I want it white!
Can I just change an existing brush (saved black) to white? I don't see where to do that.
Thanks for your patience and help!

[Wendy]

Hi Kristy ...

Just make your brush in black ... then when you want to use that brush just:

Select it
Change the foreground colour to white
... and your brush will be in white.

Brushes always use the forground colour ... its rather like dipping a real paint brush into paint.

Hope this helps :)

Wendy

[kewTpie]

thanks Wendy!!

[Wendy]

Hi there Kristy ...

Glad to help :)

Have you tried making snowflakes yet?


Wendy

[kewTpie]

No snowflakes yet, but it's getting to be "the season" for it, I'll try when I get more time.
Right now my biggest push is to take some nice Christmas pictures of my two young sons and get them out for cards. I am needing to find a easy way to cut from one picture to another. My idea was to cut them from one and lay on top of one of the gradients I made. Or to use that grad as a border.
I took some weedding pix last saturday and I noticed afterwards a candle was missing from a group of them in a picture.
Well, I used the mag lasso and figured out how to get it into the picture, but for the life of me I couldn't rotate it. (it just needed a slight tweak). Well, out of frustration I went back to MS digital image suite and made the change.....I need to find a class on Elements. I am very good with a "show me once" type deal. Your mini tuts are great. step by step!!

I would really like to create a cool 8 X 10 for the new couple with several pix and a kind of scrapbook style as a gift. Too many projects, not enough time:p

Anyway, I'm rambling.

[Wendy]

Kristy ...

When you got the candle onto its own layer ... you were almost there:

All you need to do is first put the candle on its own layer
then select the move tool and click on the candle
a box comes up around it (called the bounding box)
move your cursor to the corner and then outside the box
and you will see that your cursor changes to a little arc with an arrow on each end.
You can then move your cursor around and it will rotate your candle ..

If you put the cursor near the line but inside the box then you are able to drag the image in the box and resize it. Hold down the shift key whilst you do that and the resizing stays in proportion :)

See you were very nearly there :)


Wendy

[Photocrazy1579]

Thanks for this. It makes cool patterns to use as backgrounds and to use with clipping masks to create beautiful text.:D

[Byron Gale]

Whoa! Just a few weeks short of 4 years later....

...gotta love digital archives!

[Wendy]

... and it was my very first tutorial :D

Hi Photocrazy1579 ...

Do let us see what you made

Wendy :)

[Photocrazy1579]

I love this. This is one that my daughter made. And I used a clipping mask which I also learned how to do here :) to make her name out of it, which is a png and normally has a transparent background. My oldest daughter has a yearbook that has a cover very similar to this.

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1stmkg6szimDvq56UFPNTzSKHAijdQ_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1stmkg6szimDvq56UFPNTzSKHAijdQ)

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/19xJLdf48sDzf5XwdEjbdWWHMA_thumb.png (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=19xJLdf48sDzf5XwdEjbdWWHMA)

[Wendy]

Oh very nice .... they look really good :)

Wendy