Learning Photoshop Elements (PSE) with The Pixeladies!

The PSE 2 class is coming to a close while my head is full of information plus possibilities are brewing. Photoshop Elements is an amazing program! For me, it has so much untapped capability that I'm only beginning to better understand and utilize.

The Guided functions are very helpful (though not always intuitive) for doing basic and fun alterations to a single or multiple images. For example, you can add frames around images, you can move a face in one image to another image, you can create text that has photos in the letters rather than colors (great thing for a trip scrapbook cover).

In the program itself, there are fun filters to play with to see how 'far out' you can push images. Images may begin dull, but they can end up being unrecognizable and totally awesome!!

Layers are the KEY to the program's capability. The user's ability to use the platform to customize and uniquely alter photographs and other images really comes down to learning layers, how to work with them, and a sense of curiosity and just trying things out. That's what I've done in some of my course images below. I love the extrusion effect in the first photo! Guess how many layers 'A Call to Wintering' has? (The answer is at the bottom of this post.) The other two were Guided functions called Photomerge Compose and Pop Art.

I expect the Level 3 course that starts shortly will be truly intense!! What an incredible teaching team The Pixeladies are, and I feel truly fortunate to be studying with them!!

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Highjacked Blog Photo

My profile photo was highjacked ! For those of you who are blogging, be wary. There are some unscrupulous folks out there who may be using or about to use a photo(s) you've uploaded to an online photo-hosting site. At the time I created a blog, having a URL for a photo uploaded online was the only way to insert a photo in your profile or to create a custom header. There had been no problems for a long while. This morning, however, I did a Google image search for my name and found my photo linked to a totally different blog than my own! It is possible I didn't mark my file with the online photo-hosting site as private, but I didn't expect this to happen. I don't know whether marking it private would have actually averted the situation, but I'm not waiting to find out. I eliminated my membership to that online photo-hosting service today and caution anyone to be careful with uploading images to the internet . If you read the terms of agreement at many sites, you'...

Life Book 15 - Week 36 Project Completed (or nearly completed)

This project went in an entirely different direction than the Life Book 2015 lesson. That's ok because we're also working on accepting those times when we move in our own direction using the lesson purely as a launching point. This piece involved experimenting with collage on a substrate (muslin covered with joint compound), followed with paint, more collage, and then the felt, fabric and beaded plant. This piece was created through a class offered by Tamara Laporte from Willing Arts Ltd. For more information, visit this link: www.willowing.org .

Pottery Play Day

Today, I threw a couple of bowls, but my ability to center was not working. It could have been partly due to the new-to-me clay I tried using. In addition, I trimmed three others. One of those three ended up being very experimental...in that I tried a version of mishima on the interior of the bowl. Mishima is a technique of painting a leather-hard vessel with an underglaze(s), then waxing the layer, and finally...carving a design in the underglaze/wax surface before the vessel is fired into bisque. I tried it, and we'll see how it comes out. Below are the five vessels of Batch #8 that I brought home today. Of them, there are two new things I tried. The stripy one was done with one base layer plus a second layer of alternating painted stripes of the base color and mulberry. The other first is where I used a base layer and added two different lip colors of different widths. Lately, I've noticed other potters getting some great results...

Cay Denise

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