TUTORIAL DISCUSSIONS

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Horus
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TUTORIAL DISCUSSIONS

Post by Horus »

This section is for any posts relevant to the PHOTO TUTORIAL thread, you may post your questions, solutions, answers or anything relevant to the tutorials. Or just examples of what you have achieved using the tutorials for others to admire or comment upon. :D


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Post by Horus »

OK folks I thought that maybe we should start this off by dealing with some of the more basic things in Photoshop. No doubt like the rest of you, I obtained the program and just jumped in with little or no knowledge of it or how it actually works. So we then do a few things and marvel at how good it is, but fail to grasp the basics from the very beginning, so hopefully we can all start to put those matters right and get to grips with some basics before moving on to learning fresh stuff, which of course will be more fun than the boring stuff we have to deal with initially.

Now at the offset I have to say that although I do use a lot of different graphics programs and am in fact qualified to teach some, such as the Microsoft Office Applications and the Engineering AutoCAD design packages, I do not have all the answers for Photoshop and will only be passing on my own knowledge and hopefully helping you to understand it better and then have some fun with your pictures. It is not intended to be intense or an examination of your ability, it is a group self help topic, so no one should feel embarrassed about asking questions. I may not always have the answers, but between us we should be able to solve a few problems and improve our skill level a little more and have fun doing it.

Depending upon your own experience some tutorials may seem a bit basic, so I ask you to bear with me as we try to get everyone on the same level of understanding.

As it is a basic requirement of understanding what we are doing in Photoshop, I will post the first tutorial explaining something about Layers.
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Post by Kiya »

So far so good, your explanations on layers is pretty clear. :)
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Post by Horus »

Thanks Kiya, :D when everyone is happy we will move on a bit further :)
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Post by Kiya »

Great idea to give Layers a name instead of Layer 1, 2, 3, 4....... makes it easier to go back & do any adjustments, for me anyway ;)
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Post by Horus »

I always rename my layers, but usually after I have added a couple more and have a better idea of what I want to call them. I usually pick myself something descriptive that will prompt me to swap over to that particular layer when I add further detail or make changes, so I use names such as 'Outline' or 'Flower' as these are quite descriptive of what you have on that layer.

As you all progress you will see just how easy it is to forget and put additional information on the wrong layer. :( You may not think it is so important, but if your were doing an outline and it was in black and at some point you had added afew extra lines here and there, but put them on other layers. Instead of just selecting your 'Outline' layer and changing the line colour to say Blue, you would suddenly find out that only parts of it turned Blue and the rest stayed as Black because it was on a different layer.

So as well as having a good layer name, it is important to think about what you want to place on any particular layer, if in doubt just create another layer if you are not sure where to place the additional artwork, you can very easily 'Merge' it with another layer later on if required.
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Post by LovelyLadyLux »

I've read Tutorial #1, makes good sense. I'm working with Corel Paint Shop Pro #2 and tutorial #2 gave me some progress into the layers in that I now know before I can even turn ON layers I have to select a photo. That is progress for ME! ;)

Corel layers are already named New Raster layer, New Vector layer, New Art Media layer, New Mask Layer, New Adujustment layer


AND my laptop is now overheating (no idea why 'cept old age) which is making the program jump all over and I'm getting scrolling iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii everywhere.......soooooooo haven't been able to do much. But I'm in there and following..
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Post by Bearded Brian »

As usual I was late for class but I'm up and running on basic layers now.
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Post by Horus »

LLL glad you are making some progress :)
Even though PSPX2 automatically gives names to your layers, (as does Photoshop) you can still rename them if you wish by using the method I described. :)
As to your laptop overheating, make sure that the fan on the underside (or the vents) are not covered or full of fluff, they often are after lots of use.

Brian you will have detention if you turn up late for class again! :) :lol: :lol:
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Post by Bearded Brian »

Sorry Sir. But the sun melted the internet cable - bet no teacher has heard that excuse before :)
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Post by LovelyLadyLux »

Now that the weekend is here I was hoping to take a look at the layers tutorial. the fates are against me in that all the photoediting stuff i have is on the laptop that died.........AGHHHH!!!!!!!
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Post by Horus »

That's a shame LLL :( can't you get someone to transfer it over for you? failing that you need to either ask a friend if they can fix you up, or down load one of the free trial versions. :)
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Post by LovelyLadyLux »

I'm working on it H. Just suprised myself when I sat down to work on layers only to find I didn't have the program! AGH! When I took that photo course a while ago I bought a program called Lightroom. I never installed it on the old laptop so am thinking of going to this program for this laptop. Will sort it this weekend cause I want to learn layers so bad I can taste it........the creative juices are flowing! ;););)
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Post by Kiya »

LLL hope you get it going, I'm waiting for you & others to catch with Horus' tutorials so we can all do it tog at the same level :)
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Post by Horus »

We will wait until Brian gets back from his holidays in case he wants to join in, :) otherwise we will have to put you back on private tuition again Kiya :lol:
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Post by Bearded Brian »

Although still on holiday my activities around Luxor, VOK, Aswan have been curtailed due to my hospital stay so I'm ready and waiting for the next tutorial. Might be off to the sea-side for some R&R but that will only be for a short while and unlike Yorkshire or the hospital they may have internet over there.
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Post by Horus »

Glad to see you are up and about again Brian :) I did not want to say anything until you mentioned it yourself ;)
I hope that all is OK with you now and you are feeling on top form, just take it easy and get some R & R as you have said in your post, you can always take Keefy along as a guide and nursemaid :lol:

Anyway if everyone is happy so far, then I will move us on bit more. :)
Unfortunately we do have to get some of the boring basics out of the way first. :(
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Post by LovelyLadyLux »

Boring basics are not boring at all. Am still 'struggling' with this new laptop. Keyboard keeps 'automatically' changing font size....

I knew about the over all grid but only thought it was for straightening up the photo (as in Picassa). Never even thought about it being for anything else.
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Post by Horus »

You will find that the more you do with photo manipulations the more useful the grid becomes :) Once evryone is happy with using a grid and turning it on and off, plus changing grid sizes, we can learn a few simple drawing methods that make use of the grid. :)
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Post by Grandad »

"Please Teacher" he says, raising his hand in the air, "can I make an observation?" :lol:

Bit of a 'no brainer' comment but it is worth switching on both the ruler and the grid and clicking on your zoom to see how the two scales open and close in synch with the zoom.....Just to emphasize the point that once set, they always stay in proportion and locked to the scale of your open picture (until you change the settings that is!) :lol:
:gg:
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