better pictures how to

Me too. I have a Cannon Powershot a560.

night shots are hard to mess with, it doesnt necessarily look better, just slightly different

(my old bike)

fml. I dont have time for photoshop. lol. I am going to be on that damn thing forever learing stupid things. Now I want to learn how to put a stamp/watermark for the corner of my pictures and I spent 45 minutes looking around google and trying stuff. shit. (of course I got no where worth mentioning)

that makes 2 of us, I have a pretty decent camera (nikon d60) just no experience and looking at stuff online can get complicated due to me not knowing all the lingo

Yea I know what ya mean, I would have three or four tabs open at once with different explanations of terms to try to make one page understandable.

I suppose its like any other subject though, it just takes time

all the people who take the awesome pictures are being stingy!

If you want to be lazy about it, try searching online for some Photoshop Actions. Actions do all the work for you.

Try this page out http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/10/20/the-ultimate-collection-of-useful-photoshop-actions/

and DeviantArt has a bunch. http://browse.deviantart.com/resources/#catpath=resources/applications/psactions&order=9

and look at this, has a video to show you how to use them. http://www.slrphotographyguide.com/blog/digital-editing/free-photoshop-actions.html

Some are kind of wacky and may require some adjusting afterward, but there are more subtle ones out there too.

Any more questions, feel free to ask.

some nice shortcuts in there. i wish it were explained the processes to get there though, I don’t know if I want to just throw an action on a photo like that

how do I make a border like this (or get an action for that border)?

http://johnphotography.zenfolio.com/img/v3/p632186027-4.jpg

If you go to the HISTORY tab, it shows all the steps.

Sometimes the Actions flatten the layers at the end (in which case you can sometimes just press CTRL Z and the layers will show up) and then you can adjust the layers from there, ie. opacity, blending modes, etc.

I usually have to go back and adjust to my liking because most actions are a bit extreme. Sometimes it helps too if you just duplicate your original untouched photo, and then set that layer on top of your Action layer and simply adjust the opacity.

Like I said though, there are some more subtle ones out there that require very little post-adjustment…I’m trying to find some now to share with you guys.

For borders, try these:

This one is pretty decent


http://img503.imageshack.us/img503/5524/35846227.jpg

is it just my settings or is it permanently like this; the history pane only keeps a few steps. so if I want to go really far back I am screwed and have to start over.

also, when I go to adjust sat/hue or brightness/contrast it NEVER remembers where I last left it, once I click ok and go back to adjust it the numbers are back at zero. Is there a way so it keeps the setting?

Not sure about the adjustments remembering thing, I find that annoying as well.

But as for your first issue, it’s a good idea to periodically take SNAP SHOTS of what you’re doing.

See that little Camera icon? Click it every so often and it will save what you’ve done and you can click on a saved snapshot and go back. Unfortunately, I don’t think it saves the actual steps for a saved snapshot…but saves you from undoing stuff…if that makes sense…

I think I need a ps for dummies book

Or Google.

I paid way too much money to learn the basics of PS in the form of a degree in Graphic Design. I learned more just by finding tutorials on Google and teaching myself. Still learning every day.

Yea I guess, There is just so much out there I am overwhelmed and dont know where to start.

Those ‘you suck at photoshop’ videos are horrible, well the content is good but I cant stand his attitude or ‘funny’ jokes

scam? http://learnphotoshopnow.com/

honestly if you have no idea what you’re doing in ps and you want to touch up photos use adobe lightroom 2. its a lot more user friendly. you dont have all the filters and such but for what it seems like you want to do it would work out fine for you.

well everyone starts off not knowing what they are doing. its only day two…

obviously. but i started off with lightroom which taught me basics like the curve and adjusting settings in a more user friendly manner.
its just a suggestion.

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj47/billkarter/CIMG1742.jpg

Did what newman did, it deffinatly improved (this was just a quick snapshot I was getting rained on haha.