Sites of interest

Browsing as usual I came across some great sites.  Most are tutorials and while I'm using Photoshop Elements 9 some of the tutorials use CS5 and up.  For the CS5+ tutorials, the point of sharing the sites (if you have PSE) is to make you think of a workaround and do some research on missing features.  This will in turn introduce you to features of PSE that you didn't know about or may not have thought about using.

Sounds complicated but if you really want to make full use of your Photoshop you need to learn as much as possible.  Some you may know already but other features might be new to you.  Currently PSE11 has been released but other than a few new features (still not enough for me to spend R1000 to upgrade) the tutorials should work fine with PSE9-PSE11.  Earlier versions, unless the tutorials state, I'm not too certain of.

Have FUN!

http://www.photoshopelementsuser.com/ - this has become a favourite site, doesn't look like we can get the magazine in South Africa although you can order from overseas.  There is a free starter kit with two digital magazine plus videos which cover a wide area of PSE.

http://www.iceflowstudios.com/ - this site has various tutorials for different programs but not for PSE by the looks of it.  Still, the tutorials show you enough to create workarounds as mentioned above.  I always watch tutorials for CS5-6 because some features are shared in PSE.
I especially find the tutorial on creating your own brushes useful: http://www.iceflowstudios.com/2012/tutorials/custom-brushes-in-photoshop/

http://www.digitalcameraworld.com/2012/08/16/photoshop-elements-tips-turn-a-grey-sky-blue/ - here's a quick video tutorial for adding more blue to your sky if your photos suffer from dull skies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=at0FahxvlCo - Shallow depth of field makes the subject/object stand out more.  Here you are taught how to create Shallow Depth of Field.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bn7xgXxoqek - another tutorial on replacing the sky but in this case Mark Galer shows you how to enhance the sky further.

http://www.texaschicksblogsandpics.com/photoshop-elements-tutorial-problem-photos-open-jpegs-in-acr/ - if you want the control that RAW offers but only have a JPEG image, you can open it in Camera RAW and make changes as if you were working on an original RAW photo.

http://www.marketbay.co.za/?do=index - an online site for buying and selling.

And that's it for now!

Creating swirls in Inkscape

Since I bought 8.ta's prepaid 120GIG data promo, I now have bandwidth up to the wazoo to play with.

While looking for Inkscape tutorials I finally found a great one on how to do swirls.  I've tried making my own using the Bezier Tool and drawing with multiple nodes but this was time consuming and beyond irritating.  I always ended up with a sharp point somewhere along the line.

The following tutorial shows you different and very easy ways to create and edit swirls.
http://verysimpledesigns.com/vectors/inkscape-tutorial-spiro-swirls.html

Very useful for Stock photographers who want to create a unique design using swirls.  Also, using this technique means you create a design that looks like a swirls instead of a shape gone wrong.  You can also add shapes and split the swirls.

Photoshop Tutorials worth looking at

I'm always searching for Photoshop Tutorials, but preferably ones that aren't all explained via video.

This site is definitely a keeper. I was unable to complete the Alice In Wonderland because I don't seem to have the Warping tool in PSE9. I worked around the other missing tools but this is one I still need to figure out. Still, it's a great tutorial.

The tutorial I did complete, again working around the missing tools was the Assassin with flaming arrow. All the stock and brushes are obtainable through the links provided in the tutorial:

http://photoshoptutorials.ws/photoshop-tutorials/photo-manipulation/how-to-create-a-photo-manipulation-of-an-assassin-with-a-flaming-arrow-in-photoshop.html

As you can see, my attempt is slightly darker, but overall not too bad for my first try with the Magnetic Lasso. For whatever reason the PSE9 Classroom book didn't cover this. For a quick know how for the Magnetic Lasso tool in PSE9:

http://photoshopelementstips.blogspot.com/2010/11/lasso-selection-tools-in-pse.html

I actually find that the Lasso tool is better at removing a background or isolating than the Mask tool, which tends to cause a fringing on the outer edges.

The Alice in Wonderland tutorial, where you need the Warping tool. If anyone gets around this in PSE9, please leave a comment. If I find anything will update.

http://photoshoptutorials.ws/photoshop-tutorials/photo-manipulation/how-to-create-an-alice-in-wonderland-inspired-artwork-with-photoshop.html