10 Terrific Photo Techniques

[DorrieH.]

I've signed up also, and I have noticed a couple of small errors in the videos and the PDF file. I have notified Mary also. Linda mentions using Ctrl J to transform instead of Ctrl T, and says to press the D key if your foreground color is not white. I think she means the X key. This is not big deal as the videos are very informative and well done.

[Linda Sattgast]

We're fixing the Ctrl J error. (Drat. How did that one sneak in?) But the other one is not an error. When a layer mask is selected, pressing D resets the Color Chips to white over black. Try it!

[DorrieH.]

Well, I guess I learned something here. Thank you Linda for straightening me out, but 1 out of 2 wasn't bad.

[selra]

I, too, started looking at the videos for the 10 Photo Techniques and am puzzled. What is the advantage to using the method in the video (#1) to erase telephone lines as opposed to using the spot healing brush?

[muskokan]

I am trying the first one but since I have Elements 8 I do not have a layer mask icon. also when I click on the up-down arrow it just changes the mode. Handy to know, but not what is required in the directions

Can anyone help?

[Linda Sattgast]

I, too, started looking at the videos for the 10 Photo Techniques and am puzzled. What is the advantage to using the method in the video (#1) to erase telephone lines as opposed to using the spot healing brush?

Hi Jane,

Most of the time it's faster because you don't have to brush so carefully, especially on a color graduated background like the sky.

[Linda Sattgast]

I am trying the first one but since I have Elements 8 I do not have a layer mask icon. also when I click on the up-down arrow it just changes the mode. Handy to know, but not what is required in the directions

Can anyone help?

Hi Grace, did you download the layer mask workaround I gave you at the top of the tutorial class page? If you keep it handy, it's very fast to install when you need a layer mask. (Drag and drop and then merge it down—read the instructions for the exact particulars.)

Regarding the Arrow key, in Windows if you change the Blend Mode, the field stays highlighted or selected, which lets you use the Arrow keys to toggle through the Blend Modes. Most of the time that is useful, but not in this case. Press Enter to get out of the Blend Mode field or click somewhere else in your program. Then the Arrow keys will work!

I use a Mac which doesn't keep the field highlighted, so I wasn't thinking about what would happen with Windows. I'll add that as a note in the classroom. Thanks for bringing that to my attention!