Quick Trick: Smart Brush Tool

The Smart Brush Tool was introduced in Elements 9 – a long time ago. But I only just played with it for the first time and was suitably impressed. So let’s talk about it. The Tool combines the Quick Selection (Magic Wand) feature with LOTS of options and allows you to apply special effects easily and precisely. My example took me about 2 minutes, so it can also be really quick. Some of the All-Purpose menu options are Blue Skies (turns gray skies blue!), Brighten, Increase Contrast, Darken, Make Lips Red and Whiten Teeth. There are several other menus, including Artistic, Black and White, Color, Lighting, Nature, Photography, Portrait, Reverse Effects, Special Effects, Texture and Tint. Each has multiple options in the submenu and I plan to try some of those out ASAP. So how does it work?

This photo is cute, but the puppy is underexposed, thanks to the bright snowy background. Adjusting the photo’s lighting as a whole would require several steps and multiple tweaks to achieve a good result. Let’s try out the Smart Brush All Purpose Brighten and see what it does.

The first thing I noticed is that the adjustments are made in real time – right on the screen. The change is visible in the screenshot! This is the whole workspace; I’ll add some close-ups below. I rolled the Brush over the puppy, not taking any great care. The red outline is simply to remind me that there are marching ants in the screenshot you can’t actually see. If I wanted to make the Selection more accurate, I could, using the options shown in the second close-up below. The effect is applied to a Layer Mask, not the actual photo. That means you can make even more adjustments by adjusting the Opacity or changing the Blend Mode.

Here’s a better look at the details. That coloured illustration is your Menu Picker; the little inverted triangle activates it. The Brush Size slider can be moved at any time during the Selection process, so you can save tweaking later.

You can also flip between the BIG Brush and the Detail Brush while you’re making your Selection. The stack of Brush icons on the right tell you what the Brush will do. The top one is for basic Selection. The one with the + sign ADDS to the Selection and the bottom one SUBTRACTS from the Selection – like an eraser.

If you want even more brightening it’s as simple as making a Copy of the Layer Mask [CTRL/CMD>J] then tinkering with the Opacity.

Here are the three versions: the original, after one Smart Brush Brightening and after I Copied the Layer Mask. For the final version, I decreased the Layer Mask Opacity to 29%. And it literally took less than 2 minutes! I didn’t fiddle with the Selection by outlining all the tufts of hair or Refining the Edge, and the outcome is acceptable for casual use. I could redo it with more attention to detail if I wanted it to be zoomable, but for this tut, I think it’s just fine.

Should I show you some of the other possibilities in future tutorials?

I hope this has provided some distraction from the goings-on in the news these days. Keep your chins up!

Layering Patterned Papers and Loving It

Over the weekend I managed to finish a couple of Challenge layouts – hooray for instant inspiration! – and one of them received a comment I’ve heard before. Jill worte: “Lovely choice of papers, I am always impressed by those who can layer multiple patterned papers successfully.” That started me thinking about my process, how I choose and use those same patterned papers and maybe I could share some tips. This is the layout in question. So let’s talk about it.

There are NO solid papers on there and the papers haven’t been resized. (I can’t say that about many of the patterns I use, but more about that in a minute.)

1. First things first: While you’re getting comfortable with using multiple patterned papers, work with just one kit. Everything has been designed to work together. That makes colour coordination easier and gives more satisfying results. I used a new-to-me kit, ADB Designs’ Emerald Isle for my layout. Once you’ve gotten some practice, you can branch out and use more than one kit; GingerScraps’ Buffet kits all use the same palette, so that’s one way to find good matches. Differing styles of kit can make for really beautiful layouts.

2. I’ve mentioned before that I prefer a neutral background. But that doesn’t always mean solid. The background paper here is one with a very small repeating pattern in neutral colours. The way I describe it to myself is that it “reads as a solid”. Applying some paint splatters doesn’t war with or get lost in the pattern. Using a more obvious pattern for your background means you should have at least one paper selection that “reads as a solid” to layer between patterns. Tone-on-tone can be quite effective as well; the dark green paper I used almost “reads as a solid”, don’t you think?

3. Scale is important. Layering small-scale patterns with more grand ones is a strong strategy. The small-scale print gives the eye a spot to rest. I layered the small green diamond repeating print over the brown paper with gold floral pattern to break up the chaos.

4. On the topic of scale, you don’t have to use the paper in its original size if the look is too aggressive. I will often resize the paper until I get the overall look I want. Constraints to resizing come from the specific paper layer place-holder shape if I’m using a template. Tinci Designs uses a LOT of paper layers for her templates; it’s one of the things I really like about them. (They’re a gift to creative teams – show off ALL the goodies!) I’ve also been known to shrink a paper to 1/4 its original size and create my own version of it by duplicating the paper 3 times then arranging them to fill a 12×12 square. It’s not really cheating…

5. You also don’t have to use the part of the paper that covers your place-holder shape either. Move the paper around – up, down sideways, rotated – until it looks good. Trust your eye!

6. Remember, nothing is final until YOU decide it’s final. If you look at your paper layers and think, “Ugh!”, rearrange them! Go back to the kit and get a couple more options. Turn off visibility to some or all of your other layers to see what it is you’re bothered by. If you were ever a fly on my wall, you’d get used to hearing, “Nope, don’t like that!” That’s one reason I always have the folder(s) for the kit(s) I’m using open on my toolbar until I’m positive my layout is finished.

I’ve been thinking about the wildfires in southern California a lot. The Grouse Complex fire here in 2023 followed a very similar script, and I know the terror and confusion the people affected are experiencing. It’ll be months before they can feel confident the worst is over. If you are (or know someone) affected, just know you have lots of people praying for you.