Ask Liz, Questions & Answers
In the December 2011 Letter From the Editor, we introduced a new feature – Ask Liz. With so many messages filling our customer service email account, I decided to help lessen the load by asking our subscribers to send their more specific editing questions my way. Since then, I’ve received an amazing amount of emails and I wanted to share a few with you:
1. Liz, I am looking for a watercolor tutorial for Photoshop Elements 9 please, as close to a realistic look as I can possibly get. -Rose
- On our website, we have a great tutorial by Liz Ness called From Photo to Painting. She did a great job and the effect is subtle, yet lovely.
- I spent a bit of time scouring the internet and found a fantastic tutorial on creating a watercolor from a photograph. It’s from the Photoshop Essentials website, and though it was not specifically written for Photoshop Elements, every step is possible inside of Elements. After finding it, I tested out the tutorial on one of my own photographs and was very, very impressed with the results. One quick note: don’t forget that you can change the Opacity of all of the layers you create for this technique!
2. Liz, I take a lot of underwater photos and backscatter is a common problem. Do you have any suggestions on good ways to fix it? -Cindy
- Thank you so much for this great question, it’s definitely not one I hear very often – I’ve never done underwater photography, so I’d never even heard of backscatter!
- After scouring the internet for examples of backscatter, I discovered a fantastic tutorial for PSE exclusively that may help with the issue. Take a look at it here on YouTube, but the basic synopsis is this: make a duplicate layer of your background, select and feather sections of your photo and use the Dust & Scratches command (go to the Filter menu, than to Noise) to help get rid of the more obvious spots. It may require some clone stamping and spot healing after you’ve already completed the Dust & Scratches command, but it definitely seems like a much better place to start.
3. Liz, can you point me out to a reference or give me a quick tip on the best way to remove power lines from a photo? – Ron
- Dave Cross just finished a video about exactly this topic – How to Cover Up Power Lines! It’s a fantastic video and has some good techniques that will hopefully help you cover up some pesky power lines.
4. Liz, I really could use a video on how to replace sky when a landscape photo was taken when the weather wasn’t cooperating. Can it be done when there are trees sicking up into the background? -Gene
- Separating a horizon line with trees jutting up into the sky is one of the most difficult things to do well in Photoshop Elements, so I hope I can help you out! Before I make a video about the topic, I wanted to point you to two videos that have already been done that may be helpful:
- Selecting Hair by Dave Cross – Dave does a fantastic job showing you how to select hair and creating a mask. A tree-ridden horizon line is extremely similar to a subject with wild hair, so I would definitely suggest giving his technique a shot!
- Place a Subject Seamlessly on a New Background by Matt Kloskowski – Once you’ve made a selection, Matt’s video does a great job of showing you a few tricks on making it even better.
- Hopefully, with the aid of these two videos, you’ll be able to separate you downer-sky from the rest of your landscape and give it a face lift! Many of the techniques Dave and Matt use can be transferred from portraits to landscapes with a little imagination.
I’ve had such a unique array of emails coming in and hopefully a few of these answers can help out other subscribers on their quests for removing backscatter, deleting power lines, replacing skies and creating photographic watercolors! Happy editing!
To send a question my way, send it to our Ask Liz email address.
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James
January 12, 2012 at 8:03 am
I am a new user and have what is probably a very basic question. When I set up an album for Kodak to process, the first photo has a place for Adding Text (ADD YOUR TEXT HERE) I cannot figure out how to delete the prompt and add my text. Can you help?
James
January 12, 2012 at 12:35 pm
To James from another James:
Try placing your cursor over the word “ADD” and left click. This should cause the entire line to disappear and enable the typing of your text.
This is my best guess. : )
Good luck!
Marie
January 12, 2012 at 4:31 pm
I wish someone would write an article/do a tutorial about smoke photography and then editing them in photoshop elements.
Ella
January 12, 2012 at 6:59 pm
Very informative. I will be checking often.
Anis
January 14, 2012 at 1:54 pm
I am new to this site .I have been elements user since elements 4 .I would like to find useful info and good video on digital work flow , step by step editing from the beginning to the end .
I just bought PE10 and it came with three CDS , i used the first one to load the software , i wonder what the other two were for .Thanks
Steve
January 15, 2012 at 6:44 pm
Hi Anis, I too bought the Elements 10, if you are running Elements using a Windows PC, you must load Discs 1 and 2 to load the program on your computer. If you are running Elements on a Mac (Apple) Computer, you need to load only disc #3. You will find this site extremely useful, the tutorial section of this site has many short tutorials on image processing. I have been a member for over two years and really enjoy the blog, the gallery and videos on post processing. The videos are a members area, meaning you must join and pay an annual fee to view, in my opinion, this is your best money spent aside from purchasing the program. There is also a magazine every two months. You are being taught by the best in the business. I hope this helps. Steve
Stewart
February 17, 2012 at 8:18 am
Steve,
I am also a new Elements 10 user. I only loaded disk 1 on my pc. Why would I want to load disk 2 as it is for adobe premiere trial version and I do not want premiere at this time. Am I missing something for elements that is on disk 2?
Norman
January 16, 2012 at 10:08 am
Liz:
I have been a user of PaintShop Pro for many years. A month ago I decided to also use Photoshop Elements and purchased Elements 10. Your series of tutorials appealed to me so I also subscribed to Elements User. When I received my package for Elements Techniques, I noticed that it included a licensed version of Photoshop Elements 4. Since I already Photoshop Elements 10, is there any reason that I should also install Photoshop Elements 4 to use your tutorials.
Thanks
Norm
Elizabeth
January 16, 2012 at 10:14 am
Hi Norm,
I’m suspecting that what you got was Photo Essentials 4, not Photoshop Elements 4. It’s a program that we sometimes bundle with our subscriptions and you can find more information about it here: http://www.ononesoftware.com/products/photo-essentials/
-Liz
Joel
January 16, 2012 at 4:38 pm
Can some one please help. I am using Elements 10. I am doing a face-swap and the tutorial apparently was written using Elements 9. The procedure requires the use of the “selection brush tool (A)” which is the 3rd tool under the magnifying glass. In Elements 10 that same tool is referred to as the “quick selection tool (A) yet it does not appear to function the same way. I am working with tutorial called “Personalize Vintage Clip Art”. If any one out there knows what I can do I would appreciate the guidance.
Rick
January 16, 2012 at 8:17 pm
Hi Joel,
The Quick Selection tool should work identically in Elements 9 and 10; I don’t think Adobe’s really done anything different with the tool in a few versions.
Just make sure you’re working with the correct tool: The Quick Selection tool shares the palette with the Selection Brushtool. Press the A key until you see the tool that looks like a wand with a dotted ‘O’ shape in the upper left corner. (You can also right-click on the tool and select it from the popup).
Hope this helps.
Rick
Amy
January 17, 2012 at 4:22 am
Love this! Very informative. I hope this becomes a regular feature!
Charlene
January 17, 2012 at 11:03 am
I installed Elements 9 but I didn’t like the changes it made to some features. For example, with the old 8 version I could access several files at a time from My Pictures (Windows 7). With 9, I could only get one if I was lucky. As often as not when I tried to click on a file it would simply disappear. I found this very frustrating, along with a few other quirks I didn’t like. So I uninstalled 9 and reinstalled 8. But it retained the very features of 9 that I didn’t like. How can I resolve this?
Janet
January 17, 2012 at 11:31 am
I have three 3.5 x 3.5 (circa 1971), slightly yellowed and faded color prints of a favorite aunt and uncle. In the photographs that show them separately, their seated figures only take up about a quarter of the image. In one that has them standing side by side, they take up less than half of it and their heads are much smaller.
I have PhotoShop Ellements 10 and am hoping there is a way to bring these images to life. Can anyone point me in the right direction?
Roy
January 18, 2012 at 4:25 am
I have some old photos with completely washed out areas similar to a xerox copy. How can these be restored. Several years ago there was a good guide on the internet, but, it dissapeared.
Hugo
January 20, 2012 at 6:01 am
Hello,
I am struggling to understand what the “resolution” box in the crop tool does. I tried to look for a tutorial but I could not find one. Thank you.
Kornelis
January 20, 2012 at 8:06 am
Liz: Is there any you can change pictures from raw format to jpg’s in the editor of elements 10 or how do you change to jpgs once you have edited your raw files.
Thanks K Louwerse
Janet
January 20, 2012 at 8:20 am
When you’re ready to save, choose .jpg.
Jeanie
January 24, 2012 at 8:46 pm
I’m in the process of trying to create scrapbook page with multiple files. How do I save project and leave open files in project bin and layers open as I left them. I want to return to project with these files open so that I can continue working on them at a later date.
Steve
January 26, 2012 at 1:30 am
Hi Jeanie, I think I can help, if I am working a project and want to save it for work later without losing my work, save it as a psd file. Much of my photography has me working with ACTIONS and Adjustment Layers, many times these actions and adjustments create many layers that I tweak, on images that I am not finished tweaking and want to come back at another time, I save the image as a psd file. Select FILE, SAVE AS, Photoshop, this will convert your saved image to a psd format, allowing you to reopen your work at a later time. I hope this helps.
Fred
January 28, 2012 at 9:22 pm
Hi Liz
I have PSE 9 and am trying to draw an ellipse or circle from the centre. All references I have found say “hodl the alt key down while dragging the mouse” but this doesn’t work for me, it still starts from a corner. Any suggestions?
Sondra
January 28, 2012 at 11:07 pm
I have an OLD round photo that used to be in a sealed convex frame. The photo was in ruins but I managed to get the most important parts scanned. However, because it was in a convex shape, when the scanner flattened the photo it spread part of a crack that ran through a child’s face. This is not a large part just a few pixels but it would certainly look better if I could somehow squeeze the child’s face back together a little bit.
Any ideas?
Ian
January 29, 2012 at 2:34 pm
I am using versiots elements 8
It is only picking a few pictures from a file and in some cass wont even open the file
Pls advise
thanks
Ian
John
January 31, 2012 at 12:40 pm
Hi Liz
I have 6789, how can I get all my photos into 10 when I purchase it
John K
walter
February 2, 2012 at 11:32 am
how does one ask Liz a question? I don’t see any way to do this. I will ask anyway. Is there a way to change the colors when using the pattern stamp tool?
walter
February 2, 2012 at 11:34 am
Is there enough difference between pse 9 and 10 to justify upgrading?
Brenda
February 5, 2012 at 8:03 am
Hi Liz:
I would like to respond to the person who is taking photo’s underwater and backscatter. One way to eliminate some of the back scatter is to remove the light source closest to the lens. One way is to have a camera that could use an attached strobe, such as Sea & Sea or IkeLite. The further away the light, the less back scatter you will get.
GIRIJA
February 7, 2012 at 6:08 pm
Is there a way to get photos automatically from C Drive to Elements, like Picasa 3 does. Thanks.
GIRIJA
February 8, 2012 at 5:55 am
I like to open 200-300 photos at one time to edit them quickly one by one, like in Picasa 3. Is there a way to get photos automatically from C Drive to Elements, like Picasa 3 does. Thanks.
Barbara
February 9, 2012 at 10:53 am
Where do I find different items that can be added to a picture like Christmas hats with pompous?
Fred
February 15, 2012 at 9:46 am
Can a black and white image be used as a mask and if so how?
Sue
February 16, 2012 at 10:40 am
I love your website and magazine. I teach PhotoShop Elements to adult at our local career center. I tell all of my students that if they want the BEST help they can find on PhotoShop Elements, this is the place!
The biggest question I have is do you know if and when they are going to release PhotoShop Elements 11?
We are still using PhotoShop Elements 8 because it costs so much to upgrade all of our lab computers. The last time I bought 8, they released 9 two months later. We usually upgrade in the summer and the last two releases have been in last fall (Oct/Nov.). Do you know if they are planning another release this coming fall? If not, do you have any ideas as to how I can find out!
Judy
February 20, 2012 at 8:18 am
I received a Photo Essentials 4 cd, have it Installed and registered. I was able to open it once and now all the features are unavailable. help.
Saundra
February 22, 2012 at 9:16 am
Picnik has a “pencil sketch” filter that does a very nice job of turning a photo into a very artsy sketch, which unfortunately won’t be there much longer. Using this process on Picnik I have made some coloring pages for a child, using a photo of them. The first step is to convert the photo to B&W, then apply the pencil sketch filter.
I have tried to do this Elements 10 but the end result was very “blocky” looking with thick lines…not pencil sketch like at all. I am probably missing the finer points. Can you help?
Thanks!