Very new to PSE7

[pnbbolte]

I was told that PSE7 was the program I needed to get to get into photo editing for myself. I have read through the help and viewed some of the videos and see that there may be some things I would like to do.

However, I don't know if there is a simpler Elements program I should start with or not.

I do a lot of genealogy research and one of the main things I need to be able to do is cut headshots out of a photo that may have several people in it. There may be 4 people in a photo and I need to end up with 4 seperate headshots that I input into my genealogy program.

Before now I was using photosuite 8, but with my new computer (of 2 weeks) that has Vista 64 it just doesn't work and I can't get support.

If I can find out how to do this with PSE7, I can at least do what I need to do while I learn how to do the other things I want to do.

Any and all help is greatly appreciated.:)

[Wendy]

Hi ...

... and welcome to the Village :)

I really don't think that you will find something simpler that is as good as Elements, there is a learning curve to using it but it is so worthwhile.

Cutting out headshots is easy with Elements and also once you learn how to use it then you will be able to restore your old photograph and enhance them. You can get some great results doing that :)

Wendy

[pnbbolte]

Wendy,

Thanks for getting back to me. After years of using one type of terminalogy it is going to take me a bit to relearn. In my old program I kept using "masks" to cut out heat shots. After days of trying to figure out the new program I figured out with PSE 7 I do "cropping" to cut out heatshots (or that is what I think I should be doing to get the same results)

I guess anything new will take time and a lot of reading.

Thanks again,
Barb:):)

PS,
Did I post to the wrong area in the village? Since I'm new should it be in the Beginners section?

[Diana]

Hi Barb, and welcome to Elements Village.

Your post fits in just fine under General Discussion... it's really not that important here. The best rule to follow is to put a good descriptive title on your post so members who may know the answer to your question will open the post to read it.

Yes, it sounds like using the Crop tool is what you need to cut out headshots of people from group shots. I work on family genealogy, too.

Let us know if you run into any other questions as you're learning your way around Elements.:)

Diana

[Wendy]

Hi Barb ...

Don't worry about where you post between General, Advanced and Beginners. The original idea was that basic queries would go in Beginners, intermediate ones in General and the indepth ones into Advance.

The problem with that is that what to one person is a basic question to another is an advanced question :D :D ... so it gets pretty mixed up. Just post in anyone that you think is right ... most of us read them all so it doesn't matter too much.

... and ask as many questions as you need to, there is usually someone around who will be able to help :)

Wendy

[Jeff Perry]

Barb, does your geneology program, int which you want to put the pictures, allow you to "paste" an image from the clipboard?

If so, the quickest way to clip a headshot and paste it is to draw a rectangal (or oval) using the Marquee tool arount the head, you will see the infamous "marching ants" signifying the selction, then hit CTRL C (on a PC) and a copy of the selection is put on your clipboard.

Now go to your geneology program, and hit CTRL V to paste the image.

Here is a trick...after selecting the Marquee tool, but before making your selection, set the Feather setting in the options bar at the top to something like 20 or 50 (the right number will depend on the original resolution of the image you are working with). You should see curved corners on your marching ants selection.

Now cut and paste and you will have a nice soft fading edge to your headshot.

Jeff