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13 - End of Class Question& Statement 20 - Don't Lose Your Flash Drive |
Go to Photoshop Elements or Photoshop?.
You should have Photoshop Elements installed on your computer.
If not, your highest priority should be purchasing and installing the program.
If you have Photoshop Elements 1.0, 2.0, or 3.0, you should upgrade.
There's a large difference between these earlier versions and the later versions.
Photoshop Elements 6.0 is the most current version, as of October, 2007.
If you have Photoshop Elements 4.0 or 5.0, you don't have to upgrade to 6.0.
Photoshop Elements 4.0 is the most current version, as of October, 2007.
If you have Photoshop Elements 3.0, you should upgrade to 4.0.
Photoshop Elements 6.0 for Mac will be coming out in early 2008.
Students at ICP use Mac computers in class, and Windows or Mac computers at home.
ICP offers a Mac class for Windows users.
I also have a tutorial about using a Mac.
Go to How to Use a Mac.
Most students don't need the above tutorial.
If you can learn the following, you won't have any problem using a Mac computer in class.
On a Mac, the Command (Cmd) key is the same as the Ctrl key on a Windows computer.
This writer believes that the tools you use are the least important ingredient in photography.
However, an inordinate amount of time is often spent talking about which tool is better, such as the Windows versus Mac debate.
Any such debate is limited to no more than five minutes of class time.
If you're identity is based on which computer platform you use, you may have difficulty being in the same room with people who use the other computer platform.
If you can cope, you're welcome to be a student.
If you're unable to work with users of the other computer platform, please drop the class.
If you've been using another editing program, such as Picasa, be aware that you're leaving your comfort zone.
That is, you have a mastery of the old program.
You don't have a mastery of Photoshop Elements—yet.
Therefore:
• You may be grumpy.
Trust me.
I've been teaching a long time.
You'll learn Photoshop Elements.
• You may be questioning how good Photoshop Elements is compared to your old program.
Be assured, there are millions of Photoshop Elements users who would agree with this analogy:
Going from your old program to Photoshop Elements is like going from a tricycle to a 10-speed bike.
The class is for beginners and those with some experience with Photoshop Elements.
Intermediate students may be bored with the first class.
Later classes will be more useful to you, especially if you communicate your needs to me.
Walk to Paradise Garden
By W. Eugene Smith
If you're not confused by Photoshop Elements—you're either an idiot savant—or are very ill.
In a beginning photography class, I explain to students that they should expect to be confused for about three weeks.
Photography is a system, and the entire system can't be taught all at once.
I say, "After about three weeks, things start to fit together."
Photography "clicks" into place all of a sudden.
With Photoshop Elements, the period of confusion may last longer.
Not always, but it may.
If you haven't been a student for a long time, you're probably not used to being confused.
Expect confusion.
If you're an advanced photographer, you won't necessarily have an easier time with Photoshop Elements than a neophyte photographer.
Expect confusion.
You will pass from the darkness into the light, like W. Eugene Smith's children above.
As a teacher, I've had to adapt my Paulo-Freire-teaching style to better fit a Photoshop Elements class.
You must also adapt to a class where rote learning is required.
I'm going to compare two types of photography classes—to two types of French classes.
A class about French culture is entertaining, and hardly ever, frustrating.
Likewise, most photography classes are entertaining with little frustration.
In contrast, a French-language class is not as entertaining, and involves frustration.
You know that you're going to have to go home, sit down, and memorize irregular verbs.
That's not fun, but you know you have to do it.
Likewise, in a Photoshop Elements class, you're going to have to do some rote learning.
For example, you have to learn how to make your photograph bigger-and-smaller on the screen.
You have to go home, sit down, and practice how to make a photograph bigger-and-smaller.
That's not fun, but you know you have to do it.
Doing is the best way to build a good Photoshop Elements foundation.
The class consists of, at most, a half hour each of lecture and review of assignments.
The rest of the class time is spent doing Photoshop Elements.
However, your experiences in class fade rapidly.
You must reinforce what you do in class at home.
Do your homework.
Photoshop Elements is not linear.
We start by becoming oriented to the different parts of the screen, how to open and save photographs, and how to move around a photograph.
Then, we learn about the key concepts of Photoshop Elements:
• Layers
• Selections
• Levels
The above concepts are your Photoshop Elements foundation.
If you learn them, you can build on the foundation with aplomb.
There are two aspects of Photoshop Elements that are linear.
You'll learn about Workflow.
And, below, you'll learn that you must do every step of a Photoshop Elements tutorial, in order, and properly.
Along with learning how to use Photoshop Elements, you must develop your Photoshop Elements eye.
When you look at a photograph, you must answer the following question.
What needs to be done to a photograph?
You'll become able to answer the question as you receive comments about your own work, and observe the efforts of your classmates.
The last two or three classes are devoted to students working on their own photographs.
This will give you even more opportunity to cultivate your Photoshop Elements eye.
Toward the end of the semester, a student or two will ask:
Why didn't you teach me about __________ ?
Of course, you can't learn everything all at once.
At the end of a semester, or in an e-mail a few weeks later, a student or two will say:
I didn't realize how much I've learned.
You'll learn how to use Photoshop Elements!
Photoshop Elements is deceptive.
During the first class, Photoshop Elements will look easy.
When you go home you expect a kaboom.
Instead, you may get a kerplunk.
Why?
In class, you've got a helper.
• I'm prompting you to do each step.
• You can glance at the big screen to see the step.
• I'm walking around to check everyone's progress on their monitors.
Photoshop Elements is easy.
But if you miss a step—you'll get a kerplunk instead of a kaboom.
You have to be an extremely detail-oriented person for a couple of classes.
Even if that's not your nature, that's the way you have to be at first.
Use the checkboxes in the tutorials to make sure you do each step.
Each step that you check off is a brick for a solid foundation for Photoshop Elements.
Yes
No
You may be tempted by tools, filters, effects, and so forth.
Avoid experimenting.
If you experiment, you'll have fun.
But you won't be building a good Photoshop Elements foundation.
Wait a few weeks, then experiment.
Do the tutorials, step-by-step.
Please communicate with me if you have a difficulty with the class.
I'm not always able to identify a student who is having a difficulty unless the student "comes out."
If you're stumped, stuck, or stymied, please contact me:
• Before class
• Ask Jim
I can sympathize with students who remain closeted with a difficulty.
Mrs. Groves, my 7th-grade math teacher, helped me to become less self-reliant.
But, I'm still not as good as I should be in that regard.
Self-reliance was heavily promoted in my family.
And, the mass culture in the United States is largely individualistic.
Reliance on others is not encouraged here as much as it is in other cultures.
However, please try to come forward.
If you do, you'll be able to work more closely with a teacher who has helped students with:
• Diverse learning styles (ADD, etc.).
• Challenges (back problem requiring the student to lay on the floor throughout the class, etc.).
• Personal issues (death in the family, etc.).
Again, please communicate with me.
Reading about Photoshop Elements is helpful.
You'll receive hardcopies of many of the Photoshop Elements articles and tutorials from the website.
The articles reinforce topics covered in class.
The articles include topics not yet covered in class.
Skim the articles and read about what you've learned in class.
Return to read about more advanced topics as you encounter them in class.
The tutorials, hardcopy and online, will guide you at home.
Photographs are often deleted from the hardcopy versions of the tutorials because they don't reproduce well.
Go to the online tutorial to see the photographs.
As mentioned, use the checkboxes in the tutorials to make sure you do each step.
By Mathew Carey Lea (1823-1897)
When you do a tutorial at home, don't start with a photograph that you'd like to work on.
Instead, start with a photograph that's easy.
For example, if you want to darken a sky (burning in), select a photograph with a sky that doesn't have buildings or trees.
As mentioned, check off each step as you go along, so you don't miss one.
As described, if you start to experiment, and stray from the tutorial, you won't learn much.
Use the tutorials on the website as you work with Photoshop Elements.
The tool icons are confusing at first.
To make it easier to find a tool, a link to an image of the tool follows each mention of a tool.
Zoom tool
If you click Zoom Tool Icon, above, a window will open with the image of the tool.
You'll know exactly which icon to look for in the Toolbox palette on the left side of the screen.
Some tools are part of a tool family, such as the Brush tool family.
• Check if you missed a step.
• Click Troubleshooting in the Photoshop Helpers menu to the left.
Diagnose the problem with the list of solutions.
The most common solution is to make sure the right layer is active (highlighted).
• Click Ctrl + z (Undo) until you return to the point where the program is functioning properly.
• Feel free to contact me.
Go to Ask Jim.
Use a USB flash drive to bring your photographs to class, rather than using discs.
You can save your work much more easily with a USB flash drive.
If you're not familiar with these devices, go to:
• How to Bring Your Photographs to Class
• How to Transfer Photographs to a Flash Drive.
When you're packing up to leave, it's easy to forget your flash drive.
If it has a cap or a tether, place these items near your bag as reminders to remove your flash drive from the computer.
Chris Spurgeon has a unique reminder method.
Also, pockets may not be the best places for flash drives, as pockets get washed.
If you use a laptop, you may want to purchase a two-button mouse, with a scroll wheel.
A mouse is much easier to use than a track pad for certain Photoshop Elements actions.
The numbers in boxes, and the icons, can be hard to see in Photoshop Elements.
You can magnify the screen.
You can use the Windows Magnifier to enlarge the screen wherever the cursor is located.
Below, the opacity percentage is being enlarged.
To open Magnify:
1) Go to the Windows Start menu by clicking the start button, pressing Ctrl + Esc, or pressing the Windows key.
2) Press r, or click Run.
3) Enter magnify.
4) Click OK.
5) Minimize the Magnify window.
You have to enable the zoom feature.
Do the following.
1) Go the Apple menu > System Preferences > Universal Access.
2) Click Zoom On in the Universal Access window.
Or, press Cmd + Opt (Alt) + 8.
To use the zoom feature, do the following.
1) Press and hold Option (aka Alt) + Command (Cmd).
2) Press the plus (=) key to enlarge, and the minus key (-) to decrease the magnification.
| Opt + Cmd + - (minus key) | Zoom Out |
| Opt + Cmd + = | Zoom In |
Have a look at these free or low cost programs.
If you miss a class, please use Ask Jim to find out what you need to read and do to remain in-step with your classmates.
You may be able to make an appointment to meet with me before the next class.
While this will be helpful, fifteen minutes with me will not be enough.
You must read and do, as well.
The week after a missed class is not a vacation week.
