What's new

What technique/process/idea interests you?

cookingmylife said:
I've come to the conclusion that while I'm impressed with extractions, I just don't have the patience for it. That happens with some techniques I've tried. Not having CS, I can't make text paths so I'm happy to just use the ones I've bought if I fancy that. However, dh had such a hard time reading the journaling done on a border text path, I think text paths will stay in the 'tried and rarely repeated' bin with extractions.

I think once I read a formula for clusters...somewhere sometime...and I'd like to make elegant ones with TLP products. I think I could probably replicate some that I've really liked and used in the past elsewhere. Lynn G comes closest to what I look for.
Click to expand...

I have been using PSE 14, and in the "Guided" section, they have a really quick way to make an extraction.
 
Making better use of shadows.
Improve my blending techniques
I just have started to use layer masks and want to improve on that as well.
 
There is no easy way to extraction . Unfortunately it's all about practicing. I would love to learn how to fit my journalling into those weird shapes elements @AnneofAlamo like those you did onto your latest art journalling page.
 
AnneofAlamo said:
I love shadows.hmmmm this might be a fun thing.
Click to expand...
what i've learnt more than anything this year is that to please myself shadow-wise, i usually have to manually shadow some elements (like just use a soft basic brush and a low opacity brown or grey tone and add extra depth or shadow details), for me it makes a world of difference to how i feel about the end result of the page (and really i scrap for me, i doubt my kids would notice any difference and i may not when i'm way old and have thick glasses but for now it's what i've learned to do for me)

what i want to learn - like people above have said, the pen tool never does what i want it to when i go to use it but most of the time i can live without it. I also gave up on lightroom because everytime it opened, it was cataloguing or loading (can't remember the term) every photo it could find on my drive. i had quick galleries or something where they were in kind of groups but it still felt like it slowed my whole system down and it wasn't worth opening it to edit a few new photos for a page when it had to reload every photo i've ever taken; big batch edits it was great but editing massses of photos at once dooesnt make me as happy as scrapping so... picmonkey it has been for a while now :)
 
carilyne said:
I must admit after several times watching Cheryl scrap and others. I may soon need to learn photoshop. Paintshop is so slow and has no styles. Hmm I'm a student I wonder if the school has connections to the Adobe student discounts.
Click to expand...

It is a change, and change is hard for me, at least a lot of the time. BUT... know that you would have support here, and we would be happy to help you if you decide to take that jump to PS. :)

I've heard the school discount is very good, and wanted to participate, but unsure, since my kids were in elementary school the time.
 
@misslovescraps manipulating text is actually easier than it looks. I do use the pen tool for each line. Then rasterized the text. It is then an element. I can warp it to fit into the space. Using tangie s fonts helps too. Words are my favorite.
 
bellbird said:
what i want to learn - like people above have said, the pen tool never does what i want it to when i go to use it but most of the time i can live without it. I also gave up on lightroom because everytime it opened, it was cataloguing or loading (can't remember the term) every photo it could find on my drive. i had quick galleries or something where they were in kind of groups but it still felt like it slowed my whole system down and it wasn't worth opening it to edit a few new photos for a page when it had to reload every photo i've ever taken; big batch edits it was great but editing massses of photos at once dooesnt make me as happy as scrapping so... picmonkey it has been for a while now :)
Click to expand...

Have you tried RadLab? I know it costs a lot of money... but knowing there is a sale coming up might help! It is the easiest plug in for PS that I use for editing photos! I am not sure how you do that with a batch of photos... I did a google search, and their own website has a tutorial. Just a thought to make it easier for you! Less tedious, and more enjoyable. :)

I must google picmonkey. I've never heard of this?
 
It's funny. There's all these wonderful things to learn out there, and I'm moving more toward simple, plain pages - just so I can actually get an album done! Maybe if I feel a bit more caught up with my books I'll feel like experimenting more.
 
@Juliestcyr Thank you for the reminder about Guided. I never paid attention to that for so long when it was just too controlling back in PSE's early days and I forget it's good for a lot of things I might want to do 3x a year...extraction is one of them!
 
jk703 said:
Have you tried RadLab? I know it costs a lot of money... but knowing there is a sale coming up might help! It is the easiest plug in for PS that I use for editing photos! I am not sure how you do that with a batch of photos... I did a google search, and their own website has a tutorial. Just a thought to make it easier for you! Less tedious, and more enjoyable. :)

I must google picmonkey. I've never heard of this?
Click to expand...

I recommend radlabs too. I use it with PSE 14 on pretty much every photo. It's so easy to use, so def wait for a sale. You can try it for 14 days for free. Just do a google search for totally rad labs and you'll find them.
 
I love all the tips and tricks that are shared here at TLP, so keep em coming. I always love learning about ways to speed up my scrappin. I love watching others scrap, and always seem to learn something new. It seems like there are a million and one ways to do things in PS and PSE, so it's fun to explore new ideas.
 
AnneofAlamo said:
@misslovescraps manipulating text is actually easier than it looks. ....I can warp it to fit into the space.
Click to expand...
this is a lightbulb moment for me - why did i not think about text like that!? i always rasterize it and merge it with some kind of paper (word strip or matt whatever) and warp that - u can do it to text alone!? Genius idea!
 
picmonkey is free & also has a paid level as well https://www.picmonkey.com/ & a free trial of that level -it 'unlocks' certain presets basically and features i use in photoshop CS6 anyway (like burn/dodge)
i haven't bothered upgrading cos i can patch under eyes etc in CS6 and have actions for other more photography pro stuff that i don't use so much anymore - have gone back to more normal true to life pics & i know my camera better these days - i used to use more artsy filters as a distraction from motion blur, poor exposure etc). B/c it's online i like it cos it's not another program to DL and fill my hard drive etc. I've always heard good things about Rad Labs - thanks for the heads up re: sale!

ETA: lol the only drawback to picmonkey for me is that it's shockwave dependant, so if shockwave crashes u have to reboot the browser to get it to work - like it just did :)
 
Last edited:
jk703 said:
I love to learn new tricks and ideas...I have and continue to write a lot of PS tutorials. (I write for Pink Reptile, and I'm just getting back to writing for Forever Joy. Occasionally, I also write one for Scrapping with Liz.) After I write them, I pin them to my board so that I can reference it for later...

My all time favorite one was Dry Embossing, and it was really cool to be able to make any pattern into a dry embossed pattern on a solid paper. It really translated well, and looks like dry embossing!

I seem to have to re-learn techniques when I don't use them often (I re-learned slicing for my new siggy, lol!). That is one great reason to pin to Pinterest - my own reference!

I would love to actually learn how to make a kit, ellies or papers, but sadly, I know I wouldn't scrap. I like scrapping too much to want to put that much effort into the learning part, lol! But all that knowledge, and I'm sure I'd pick up a few more techniques and tips!!!
Click to expand...
Jenn.....I know you've showed / told me like twice already, but can you tell me again where I can find all your tutorials???? I LOVE them. And use them a lot when I can remember where they are. I promise to save / bookmark it this time. Pinterest was it??
 
I keep them all on Pinterest, only since I write them all over. The board has all my layouts on it, but you just have to search tutorial, and scroll, and you would see the highlighted word (I think). At least, when I have to go back to re-learn, that's how I find them! :giggle It's in my siggie... or https://www.pinterest.com/jk703/digital-scrapbooking-tutorials-layouts/ :)
 
I need to take advantage of lessons and resources I've already collected and improve my shadowing technique and my use of brushes, actions, etc. I have had full Photoshop CC for over a year now and I'm not taking enough advantage of it!
 
Back
Top