Guided Edit: Saturated Film Effect

PDF Version : https://bit.ly/3NFN4x8

My sister recently took her first real vacation in about 10 years. She and a friend took a driving trip around the Maritimes. My sister was born in New Brunswick, but hadn’t been back there since she was 2 years old… she’s 51 now. So she was more than thrilled to see where her very first home was. She took a MILLION photos, and has given me permission to use them for scrapping purposes. I think you know what I’m going to do with them, right? Anyway, when I was looking for a likely photo for this tutorial, one of hers lent itself to the task.

I’ve played with Guided Edits before and found some I really like to use. I never could think of a use for the one I’m going to show you today – until today. The Saturated Film Effect Edit may be a real game-changer! As you can see, this photo is a bit insipid, but I’m going to fix it.

OMG! I JUST noticed the seagull on the far right, after staring at this photo for hours!

This is the path to the Guided Edit: Guided>Color>Saturated Film Effect.

The text on the screenshot is verbatim from the instructions for the Edit. Each time you click the Add bar, the effect will be increased.

Here’s what it looks like after one click. Give the result a quick but thorough look before you click again.

After two clicks, I’m seeing a nice deepening of the blue of the water, but a less-pleasing change in the colour of the grasses in the foreground.

Yeah… no. The grass after three clicks looks ghastly!

So I clicked on the Cancel button. I’m working on that Copy Layer (the original layer is turned off) and I’ll Mask off the grass and try again.

I opted to use the Selection Brush set to Mask, with a 75 pixel hard round brush. The Overlay is set to 50%. I could go a bit lower and still see my Mask well, but let’s leave it. I’m not going to be too fussy about the individual blades of grass. Here’s what the Mask looks like.

I want the grass to be untouched going forward, so I’ll Invert the Selection by Select>Inverse or CTRL/CMD>SHIFT>I before moving to the next step.

Now that I’ve protected the rocks and water, I can Edit>Cut or CTRL/CMD>X the grass away from the Copy Layer.

Okay, let’s run the Guided Edit again.

Aha! That seems to be the ticket! There’s good definition in the rocks and the shadowed area, the water is a beautiful blue and the seagull is just hanging out. So I’ll click Next.

This is another fork in the road. I need to decide if I’m happy with my results so I can Save As the image, or if I want to keep tweaking in Expert. Y’all know me, so you know where we’re going…

I expected Elements to add a new layer with each click, so I’m not sure where these extra layers came from. But I’ll go with it.

I think I want just a bit more punch so I’ll change the Blend Mode on the topmost layer to Multiply.

Oh. Maybe not that much! But since I have so many other layers, I’m sure I can figure it out. Maybe an Opacity drop will help.

It’s better at 75%, but maybe still not quite there. What happens if I change the second layer there to Screen? Remember, Screen lightens.

I adjusted the Opacity on the two Blended layers until I was satisfied I hadn’t ruined my image. There’s good contrast, the rocks look sharp and the grass looks natural.

Here are the two versions side-by-side. I’m definitely going to use this Edit again!

If you’re planning to watch some fireworks tonight, I have a tip for you for getting the best photos from your phone, courtesy of Chari at Persnickety Prints. Turn off the HDR mode and use Live Photo instead. For Android users that’s called Single Take. Essentially, you’re taking a very short video which will allow you to choose the perfect image. Turn the flash OFF. Hold the phone as steady as possible, then tap the screen to lock the focus. Make sure you have some landscape or monument of some sort in the frame to give you a sense of scale and to add visual interest to your composition. If you’re using a DSLR, make sure you’re using a tripod to eliminate camera shake. Again, no flash. If your camera has a fireworks setting, choose it and the camera will take care of the other settings. If not, set it to Manual, ISO 200, Aperture F/8 and shutter speed at 5-15 seconds. Check the first couple of images and adjust the speed as needed. And have fun!!

Quick Trick: Scroll Through Blend Modes

PDF Version : https://bit.ly/3PxeDv0

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve suggested to try a bunch of Blend Modes on a brush, scribble, stamp or even photo layer. But I never thought to tell you how to do it quickly and easily. Let’s fix that right now! This will be one of the Quickest Tricks I’ve ever shared with you.

Make sure the layer you want to Blend is the active layer. Then just double-click on the Blend Mode control bar. Now you can use the scroll wheel on your mouse, or the ↑ and ↓ keys on your keyboard. It’s really just THAT easy! To turn it back off, just activate another layer. (If you forget to take that last step, Elements will continue to consider the ↑ and ↓ keys to be tied to the Blend Mode function and you won’t be able to usee them to nudge your layers up or down. You’ll figure it out fairly quickly!)

See? Quickest Trick ever!

Are They Scribbles? Doodles? 

PDF Version : https://bit.ly/3PeNvRs

How was your week? Mine was ridiculously busy! We had a bit of a disaster-in-the-making when the top window frame molding in our family room just… came off. There’s a drapery rod attached to it, and it was hanging on to the wall just by a bead of caulk. <horrified> Turns out it was only secured to the wall with pin nails. Now it’s firmly screwed into the studs and everything is back in place. <whispers… my husband is NOT handy… pass me the drill and the screwdriver then step away from the ladder!> Anyway.

I was looking at my private messages and saw another one from Glee asking about using doodles. In May one of the Challenges required the use of either doodles or scribbles. They can be amazing additions to a layout, but how? And is there a difference? What follows is how I use them – and it’s all ONLY MY OPINION so consider what I say accordingly.

Doodles and scribbles are essentially the same thing, with doodles often taking some identifiable form. Some designers create doodles then colour inside the lines to make what looks more like a sticker. I’m not going to say anything much about those; I see them as simply another element to add to clusters. But scribbles? They can add such a cool touch. Scribble/doodle implies the result is sitting right on the paper, so my inclination is to put them in the background, on my (neutral) background paper. I pulled a bunch of scribbles from my GingerScraps stash and will show you what I mean. Keep in mind that you can recolour, change the Blend Mode and/or Opacity or add Layer Styles to all of them to change up the way they work with your layouts.

Scribbles and doodles are casual things, typically something we do with our hands while we’re required to pay attention to something else. When set into the background of a layout, they’re an anchor for everything that touches them and add a nice whimsy. That’s not to say they aren’t useful in a more formal setting. Ultimately, your layouts are YOUR layouts and you can do whatever you want.

Because I’m very visual, I tend to look at the scribble and think about the most appropriate use for it. With this one, oriented horizontally as shown, it almost looks like a scrawled signature. I might put it behind a ribbon or narrow strip of paper. It could also anchor a photo to the background.

I see this one in my mind’s eye tying together a list, a series of word strips or even several small photos.

Look at all that fury! The dark, heavy lines speak ANGER to me, making it perfect for art journaling.

Anybody like a #2 pencil? I have several boxes of them in my craft room. Maybe that’s why I like this scribble so much.

This is the actual size for this scribble when I dragged-and-dropped! I just had to play with it.

When I changed the Blend Mode to Overlay I loved the result. I might decide to Duplicate the layer though to give it just a touch more presence.

I like how sinuous this one is. I could see having several smaller photos overlapping the sides of it but letting most of the visual impact remain.

This aggressive scribble makes me think of people who sign documents with a great big flourish.

I instantly felt happy when I saw this. It’s so bubbly! It could make a sweet anchor for a cluster.

Sorta like this!

I would frame a face in a photo with this one. But my OCD would make me use it in such a way as to get the entire scribble inside the boundaries of that photo. Unless… I went down the realism rabbit hole… Maybe I’d turn it into a sticker by adding a white stroke around it. Then it would be a doodle. 😀

I might use this to underline a title or as a divider between title and journaling. Or. A border!

With a little Rotating, Flipping, Solid Fill Layering and decreasing Opacity I came up with this. It would be equally appropriate as a background paper border or a photo border.

I loved this one so much the second I saw it.

What say you?

This is definitely a background anchor.

It took me a minute to think about what I’d use this with. I think it could overlap the edge of a photo or even give it a don’t-like-this vibe.

But then… how about a very simple siggy?

Or a variation?

I’m going to use at least one scribble/doodle on a layout later today. See if you can pick out what I’ve done when it shows in the Gallery.

Next week is our monthly Challenge Spotlight, when YOU take centre-stage. See you then!