Making filmstrip curved

[Netnut]

Hello---I'n a fairly new subscriber but have looked at forum for some time. My question is, "how do I get the filmstrip to look curved"? I know I have seen the tutorial someplace, but right now the gray matter is not working correctly. Bay cold.
Thanks for the help

[willpresley]

First you will need the filmstrip to be vertical -- you can rotate it later if desired.

Then go to FILTER>DISTORT>SHEAR and work with the settings and adjustments until you find an effect you like.

Do share your work with us when done. Thanks.

[Netnut]

Thank you very much for your help. Now I need to find out how to upload them so everyone can see them.
These turtorials are great.

[Wendy]

Hi there ...

and welcome to the forum :)

Look forward to seeing your image ...


Wendy

[kayser]

Gary-

I saw the results of the filmstrip curve you tried in one of the other threads; you did a good job! I will have to try that one out.

[Wendy]

Hi Kay,

If you need any more info on the Shear Tool then there is a mini tut here:

http://www.photoshopelementsuser.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2682

and here is a link to our original film strip thread :

http://www.photoshopelementsuser.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1640

Wendy

[kayser]

Thanks Wendy! Maybe that will be my project this weekend. We lost power last night because of high winds, but thankfully I wasn't working on anything at the time.

[Wendy]

Kay ...

Just keep saving things .. its awful when you have worked on something for hours and suddenly you lose it !!


Wendy

[kayser]

Wendy,

I finally worked my way through the filmstrip videos and the shear tutorial, but I got sidestracked by another tutorial, so first here's the results of that:

http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1JviMlxcPUs9OwtMOu0n6WeU764XMm

Here's the results of the filmstrip one. I'm still not happy with the choice of pictures, it's not quite what I was looking for, but I at least got more comfortable with this effect.

http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1vNPA8claLBYawezEWXCRYNFgRp3Hu1

http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1YdQfHskiG66gwVBv2C1wBxdlS01q1

Thanks for your help, once again!

[Wendy]

Hi Kay ...

Oh you are doing well :) ... you are mastering both techniques and that is half the battle.

Finding an image for the film strip can be quite difficult but is generally works better with fairly colourful images over a pale background. ... Well done!!

Wendy

[kayser]

Yes, the color thing was exactly the problem. Last night I was complaining to my husband (who takes a lot of the nature photographs I use) that he really should have taken a picture of a colorful flower or SOMETHING with color the day we went to the Natural Bridge. It was a cloudy day, too, so even the pictures of the mountains were muted. Oh well, now that I have some ideas of techniques I can use, I can be on the lookout for what images I want.

Thanks for the feedback.

[Sportsfan]

Hi Kay I like your filmstrip photos. I know what you mean about finding just the right pictures to make it work. I decided to try flowers for my first attempt since they are colorful. I recently added my filmstrip photo to my gallery if you want to take a look.

Sportsfan

[kayser]

Oh I like your flowers! The rest of the pics in your gallery are very well done too! It's always nice to look at other people's gallery for inspiration and ideas.
Thanks for sharing!

[lindajay]

Kay, I really do like the one of the little girl at the beach! I think the photos you chose worked very well on that one. And what a cute little gal she is! Nice work.

--Linda

[jo]

Kay, you did a good job on all of them. I've been struggling with the film strip thing myself. I have grandchildren pics that I'd like to use this effect for. When I shoot 100 pics at a time, there are usually several that are pretty decent and I'd like to put them together with the best one as the main pic.

I watched the tutorial/video/whatever and tried stepping through it, but I got lost somewhere -- maybe because I'm using PE4? I'm on dial-up and videos take forever to load, and I didn't want to spend the money for the version of Quicktime that let's you save the file, so I thought I'd try stepping through it with Scott Kelby's Down & Dirty Tricks for Elements 3, and again I got lost somewhere. Maybe I should reload Elements 3 and try it there just in case it's some fluke in Elements 4 that's different.

So I kind of gave up on the step by step instructions and blundered through creating a blank strip or two and now I'm working on something, but I have a feeling there's an easier way. Here's where it is right now. I want to add a third strip and curve it, but maybe it's time to start all over. I don't have these lined up right anyway, and maybe I need to pick a better size to work with...

http://www.chambersofmyheart.com/elements/karin-w2strips.jpg

[kayser]

Jo,

Did you get to part 3 of the video? It's actually the one that tells you there's a filmstrip download available, so you don't have to create one from scratch! I would say I felt tricked, but it was good practice to do it from scratch so I can't really complain! I had trouble initially with duplicating the one strip so I could have two, until I realized that I didn't have the cursor in the actual filmstrip and was ending up moving the background! I didn't have trouble in PSE4 (other than my own user errors! :)) I recommend getting the download from the third video and then using the preset filimstrip. Hopefully it won't be too hard to download on dialup. And, to duplicate the one filmstrip once you create it, you just click on ALT and the move tool, and you'll see that your cursor has a second image/shadow (not sure what it's really called) and you can then move the copy beneath your original filmstrip.

THe other thing recommended in the video is to do a hue/saturation layer with the background, and it seems to make the filmstrip part stand out more.

Good luck!

[Wendy]

Hi Jo ..

I was just going to suggest the download but Kay beat me to it ... this tutorial is a complicated one so I would suggest that give yourself a little more time using Elements before you go back and try it again ... in the meantime use the download :)

Now your image is looking good ... and maybe another film frame added to the two there would look nice. ... but are doing well !! so don't be disheartened.

Now if you want to do the curve on the strip .. I suggest that you merge then together and do it on all three ... it will look better that way. You will be able to do the curve just at the bottom of them :)

Tip ... lining up things in your images. Click on the move tool then use the arrow keys .. they nudge the selected layer one pixel at a time. Great for fine tuning the lining up :)


Wendy

[jo]

Thanks for the tips, Kay and Wendy. The one about using the arrow keys to move a pixel at a time should help the lining-up problem. That's the kind of tip that's really helpful for easing frustration!

I really should get broadband. Downloads are sooooo slow with dial-up. Sometimes the download screen tells me it's only transferring at 2K when I have a 50K connection! Maybe I'll make that phone call Monday. My son-in-law would just LOVE to set me up with broadband!

[Wendy]

Hi Jo ..

... glad to help :)

I struggled along without broadband for a long time ... but in the end I just took the plunge. It is so much better ... I wouldn't go back now :)


Wendy

[karen donnybrook]

Jo,

Your slow dialup problem - I had the same type of problem and when I went onto broadband, our phone system was useless. The technician came out and found in the first entry to our property, there was one wire resting on (instead of connected to) the connection and another wire fell off in his hand :eek:

I now have broadband BUT here it is nothing like the speed you get - my broadband is only about a 25 download speed :rolleyes:

[nikyee]

I really like this effect of the filmstrip, can somebody tell me where I will find the tutorial for this?!?

Thanx

[GaryK]

The tut was/is in the subscriber area. As well as a download for the actual 1 picture strip.

Hope this helps:)

[Wendy]

Hi Nikyee ...

... and welcome to the forum :)

If you want to do the curve on the filmmstrip then you will need to use the Shear Tool ... here is some information on how it works:

http://www.photoshopelementsuser.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2682


Wendy

[nikyee]

thanks wendy, this forum is great!! Can you tell me if the plain filmstrip is a graphic available within PSE 4?

[jo]

I'm loving this forum! Here's a Christmas present for my daughter using a curved filmstrip. The nice surprise was that I curved the filmstrip first before putting photos in it. Then I did the shear on each photo after I placed it in the filmstrip and Elements "remembered" the shear I used for the filmstrip and fitted it right in with the same curve at the same place. Cool!

http://www.photoshopelementsuser.com/gallery/view_img.php?id=3174

Nikyee, I use Elements 4 and the filmstrip custom shapes are an extra in the 3rd filmstrip tutorial (members only?)

[Wendy]

Hi Nikyee ...

Yes the download for the filmstrip is in the suubscriber area ... don't know if you have joined yet but it really is worth it. There are over 80 Video tuts (with more added most weeks) and tutorials, downloads etc ... and then you get the magazine too ...

Its great value

Wendy