ThelmaLou Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 After a 10 year hiatus from scrapbooking (Creative Memories), I'm jumping back in. This time, with Project Life. I love the *idea* of digital scrapping because of the fact that I can produce duplicate albums for my kiddos as they grow up and get married. I know absolutely nothing about Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. I have a point and shoot digital camera. I've saved all these images on my computer for the last several years, but haven't even figured out how best to label and easily access all the hundreds of photos I've saved. Project Life offers 2 digital options: Shutterfly and Jessica Sprague. Shutterfly seems like the easiest option for a newcomer, but the layouts and options for journaling are really not anything like the *signature* Project Life layouts. The Jessica Sprague option is what I'm interested in, but I'm afraid of the learning curve. I know nothing of Photoshop jargon, actions, layers, zipping and unzipping, files, etc... How many hours am I looking at to get something like this up and running? Will I be spending many frustrating hours only to end up with $ out of pocket for photoshop, online tutorials, and digital scrapping supplies only to quit? I'm trying to begin with the end in mind, meaning I really do know that I want the finished product to be digital and "page by page" printable instead of in a shutterfly prebound book. But I'm also trying to be realistic about my time availability and effort involved in learning and maintaining a digital scrapbook. Any input would be fabulous, especially if you started from scratch at some point, too, and found it to be wonderful/overwhelming/fill in the blank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThelmaLou Posted January 11, 2012 Author Share Posted January 11, 2012 anyone??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chai Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 I learned Photoshop Element about two years ago and I just gave a tutorial to some of my neighbors! It does have a steep learning curve, but once you get it, pages can be easy and beautiful. There is always more to learn, but you can make pages with a few basics. Jessica Sprague's tutorials are very good, so I recommend starting there. After you've gone through a tutorial, open up a page and work through it step by step. When you get those steps down, make some simple pages. Then you can explore other tutorials and techniques. For photo filing, I sort by year and by month. Each folder is a different month within a year. If I have a big trip with lots of photos, I add another folder within my month for that. I didn't bother to rename my photos. I have a seperate file for photoshop pages. I name my photoshop pages by year and month, for example: 2012_01 Birthday party. I love digital scrapbooking! Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThelmaLou Posted January 11, 2012 Author Share Posted January 11, 2012 I learned Photoshop Element about two years ago and I just gave a tutorial to some of my neighbors! It does have a steep learning curve, but once you get it, pages can be easy and beautiful. There is always more to learn, but you can make pages with a few basics. Jessica Sprague's tutorials are very good, so I recommend starting there. After you've gone through a tutorial, open up a page and work through it step by step. When you get those steps down, make some simple pages. Then you can explore other tutorials and techniques. For photo filing, I sort by year and by month. Each folder is a different month within a year. If I have a big trip with lots of photos, I add another folder within my month for that. I didn't bother to rename my photos. I have a seperate file for photoshop pages. I name my photoshop pages by year and month, for example: 2012_01 Birthday party. I love digital scrapbooking! Good luck! So, will it do me any good before I buy Photoshop Elements to organize and name pictures or groups of pictures, or do I do all this directly in Photoshop after I buy it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chai Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 So, will it do me any good before I buy Photoshop Elements to organize and name pictures or groups of pictures, or do I do all this directly in Photoshop after I buy it? I don't like the Organizer in Photoshop, so I use Picassa (a free download). It seems to be much more flexible for me. You can make folders and file using Windows--Picassa will read your file structures and find all of your photos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crissy Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 So, will it do me any good before I buy Photoshop Elements to organize and name pictures or groups of pictures, or do I do all this directly in Photoshop after I buy it? I would suggest getting organized first. Trying to learn a new program *and* hunt for the files you have in mind would be frustrating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThelmaLou Posted January 11, 2012 Author Share Posted January 11, 2012 I don't like the Organizer in Photoshop, so I use Picassa (a free download). It seems to be much more flexible for me. You can make folders and file using Windows--Picassa will read your file structures and find all of your photos. And then this will be easy to use with PE 10? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chai Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 And then this will be easy to use with PE 10? I think so, but I'm sure you will find other opinions. When I am working, I usually have both Photoshop and Picassa open. I find my files in Picassa and drag them directly into Photoshop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pink Fairy Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 Are you a quick learner when it comes to computer software? I'm not, so it took me about a year to get really comfortable with PSE. I look at that as time well spent, since by the end of the year I was able to make beautiful digital scrapbook pages. Two books I referred to a lot are PSE: The Missing Manual, and the PSE book by Scott Kelby. You can usually get these at your library, and it's fine to use a version or two back (for PSE8 or 9) if they don't have the latest one. After a few years of learning PSE inside and out, I finally upgraded to full Photoshop last month. ♥ ETA: I actually loved the Organizer in PSE. It made it easy to find all of my digital elements by type, designer, color, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThelmaLou Posted January 11, 2012 Author Share Posted January 11, 2012 Two books I referred to a lot are PSE: The Missing Manual, and the PSE book by Scott Kelby. You can usually get these at your library, and it's fine to use a version or two back (for PSE8 or 9) if they don't have the latest one. QUOTE] Just looked at these on Amazon. These look like they'll be very helpful, especially the Missing Manual one. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forget-Me-Not Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 Do you have any working knowledge of layers/masks? I think that's the steepest learning curve in PSE. And it's not that steep. Everyday Elements does an online workshop that is pretty helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThelmaLou Posted January 11, 2012 Author Share Posted January 11, 2012 Chai, Just looked around on youtube at some Picasa tutorials. Looks like it wouldn't be too terribly confusing. I might go this route after all. Thanks for the recommendation! Lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThelmaLou Posted January 11, 2012 Author Share Posted January 11, 2012 Do you have any working knowledge of layers/masks? I think that's the steepest learning curve in PSE. And it's not that steep. Everyday Elements does an online workshop that is pretty helpful. Unfortunately, no. I have no idea what a mask or layer is at all. Really absolutely no working knowledge of anything to do with digital photos or editing. Period. I'll check out the Everyday Elements workship to see if that's going to be up my alley. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThelmaLou Posted January 12, 2012 Author Share Posted January 12, 2012 So I just downloaded Picasa, and I'm finally seeing pictures I haven't seen in years that were buried on my computer. I'm loving this already! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ma23peas Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Go to http://www.jessicasprague.com and pay for her beginner's course in pse ....you can watch it over and over, she is so kind, a great teacher and gives you lots of freebies to play with...I spent about $80 on three courses and I still have more I can go back to and learn on them. Love her site, she always has specials so you might get on her mailing and wait for a half off sale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anneofalamo Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 (edited) I love Adobe products, and 4 years ago was clueless to photoshop! I am now an addict and believe anyone can use Photoshop!!! Adobe has 1000s of free tutorials, as does youtube I make good money making pages and things for designers of Digital scrapbook kits. It is a part-time job that I can do while the kids are crunching numbers and experimenting on soap and such in my kitchen! lol You can see some of the things you can do with PS! http://anneofalamo.blogspot.com/ I just moved into CS5.5 and gak! wow wow wow, I don't even know what 3/4 of the bells and whistles are, but I have fun ringing them! You can do it!! It is fun. Masks are like a way to erase things but really you are masking...black is taking it away, white puts it back. it is just a mask the original pic is still there. The best is to find someone who has tutorials that speak your language, I like it when they say things like the doodle bug button that makes little marching ants go around your image...it works for my brain google: Free PS10 tutorials...and enjoy! remember in adobe, control z is your friend, it is the UNdo button and then alt control z will go back like 10 steps!! bless those 3 buttons!! Edited January 12, 2012 by anneofalamo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThisIsTheDay Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 I've taken thousands (15?) of photos. I'm not a huge photo editor other than the basics, but if I were looking to get more serious, I'd use GIMP instead of paying for Photoshop. It's very similar, except that it's free. You download it online. I've used it a few times to insert missing soccer players into team photos, and to insert dh and myself into a few political photos. Endlessly entertaining, if I had endless time.:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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