Hi

I'm new to all this image editing stuff. I'm seriously considering buying Album 2.0 and I trying to decide if I should buy the Element/Album package.

For you guys that started with elements and then bought album are image editing features that you like better in Album then Element.

I know Element doesn't do any of the cataloging stuff the Album does but what about things like cropping, resizing, and "quick fix" stuff?

byron_gale

FG,

I run PSE2 and PSA1... I don't do ANY editing via PSA.

I use PSA for it's ability to catalog/tag images. I also use some of the
Creations which PSA does.

My work flow is to find images with PSA, tag them for the specific purpose,
and export them to a folder. Then, I edit them with PSE, as required. If I
wish to keep my edited versions, they are archived and imported into PSA for
future reference.

PSA has some useful features. I like it's red-eye tool, for instance.
However, I don't like the way it approaches file management -- effectively
isolating the user from version-tracking.

FWIW.

Byron

O.K. I know what you mean by version tracking. How does PSE implement it? And does it preserve the "digital negative" the way PSA does or do you edit the original file?

beth_haney

florida_guy - neither PSA nor Elements actually store any image files. Those remain on folders on your hard drive, and it's up to you whether you archive all originals and work on copies or not. Personally, I archive all my original shots and always work on a folder made up of copies that have been converted to a non-lossy format.

I just thought it was important to clarify this right off the bat. Some poor man a couple of weeks ago had misunderstood that and deleted his image folders after he thought he'd moved them into PSA. NOT!!

Since I don't use PSA, I won't address Byron's comment about version tracking. I think I know the answer, but this isn't a good time to start guessing. The important thing is for you to know that neither of these applications will STORE anything.

Beth

Thanks for making that clear although I actually was aware of that if I wasn't it would be very important to understand that.

To cut to the chase here is a complicated scenario of what I'd like to do. Let's say I take a high quality picture of a scene containing a my mom standing between a pretty tree and some pretty flowers....

I'd like to be able to always leave the original in tact as "a digital negative" but I'd like to be able to crop out the tree as one picture and resize it, crop out my mom as another and resize it, and crop out the flowers as another picture and resize it.

When I'm done I'd like to have four images... the original and the three crops.

Further, I'd like to be able to make the crops that exact size necessary to fit a 640x480 or 1024x768 picture etc. In other words when I'm cropping the picture at my option would or would not let me make the crop those proportions.

Am I asking for too much? Do I have to do some of this manually by trial and error?

pete_d

It really sounds like you are looking for a photo editing program and that
is definitely Photoshop Elements!

There is a bit of learning but you will find it am amazing program full of
editing features that will make a simple job of what you describe.

pete

beth_haney

Pete's right - what you describe is definitely a job for Elements. Be careful about buying a package, though. PSA 2 just came out a day or so ago. You'd want to make sure that's what you were getting and not an obsolete version. Elements 2.0 can usually be found for $50 or less, after rebate, if you have a program that qualifies for the $30 back from Adobe. Another version of Elements will be coming out in the not too distant future, too, I bet.

By the way, the sizes you put in your post were resolutions for monitors, so you wouldn't be cropping to those dimensions anyway. You'd want one size for any prints you were doing and another size for anything you wanted to display on the screen. Elements will do both very gracefully, but, as Pete says, there's a definite learning curve - which is why this cool forum exists!

So what part of Florida are you from?

byron_gale

FG,

In your scenario of your mom and the plants...

In PSA, once you did your first crop, you would no longer have the original
image in your photo well, so you would be unable to continue with your
subsequent manipulations. Your original would still be on your HD, along
with the edited version, but PSA will only provide access to the edited.
(You can revert to the original, but then PSA will destroy your edited
copy!)

In PSE, you should make a copy of the original, so that your "negative" is
preserved. Then, on the copy, do your first set of cropping. SAVE AS with
a new name. Re-open your working copy, proceed with second cropping. SAVE
AS with a new name. Rinse. Repeat. 100% manual file management (version
tracking).

HTH,

Byron

Re-open your working copy, proceed with second cropping. SAVE AS with
a new name. Rinse. Repeat. 100% manual file management (version
tracking).

Thanks for the clarification.

In your scenario of your mom and the plants...


O.K. I've cut the tree out of the picture and saved it as a separate image. I am trying to enlarge that image so it could be used as a full screen wall paper for a 640x480 screen and a 1024x768 screen.

I select the image, go to the menu image | resize | image size width and nothing happens.

The other problem is that I don't have the proportions exactly right. If I select width 640 it makes height 478. If I select height 480 I get width 648.

I only got that close by pure luck. How do I tell that dotted line thingy to keep the proporations to 640 x 480?

EDITED: I can't delete this but I'm going to start a new thread called newbie questions because I have another and I'm sure I'll have a few more.