Elements Work-Around: Photo in a Jar

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Sometimes the limitations presented by Elements versus Photoshop seem insurmountable. But if I play around long enough, I can usually figure out how to take the longest route possible to a Photoshop-worthy result. I do love a challenge… Karen (khampton) asked if I could do a tutorial on radial transparency gradients. She wants to do something like this image from Jaydubbya that she found at OScraps. This is something that only takes a handful of clicks in Photoshop, but wouldn’t you know… Elements doesn’t have anything like it. The Gradient Map Adjustment Layer isn’t as versatile in Elements and therein lies the rub.

I tried a LOT of things before I settled on the steps I’m going to share with you, but I think my efforts are acceptable. I’ve managed to condense the process down to a few steps but please remember that NOTHING you do in Elements is ever final unless you decide it is. Anything you do can be undone. CTRL/CMD>Z is the most useful keyboard shortcut ever!! It costs nothing to experiment. So let’s start.

I found a realistic glass jar in my stash. It came from Aimee Harrison‘s Heirloom Chic (retired) collection. Then I chose a photo from Pixabay that has a sharp image, strong colours and high contrast. I positioned the photo under the jar on a 12×12 canvas – love the extra room to work.

Obviously, if the idea is to put a photo inside a jar, the photo shouldn’t extend past the edges of the jar. So I’ll need to get rid of the parts I don’t need. I used the Rectangle Marquee Tool to chop off big chunks. In this image I’m showing the right-side edge of the selected rectangle just overlapping the left edge of the jar. The removal doesn’t have to be perfect, because the photo will always be behind the jar.

The photo layer is the active layer. To remove that bit of photo, Edit>Cut or CTRL/CMD>X will do it.

Then I’ll do the same thing on the other side.

Rather than just use the Eraser Tool to clean up the photo’s edges, I opted for a Layer Mask. Click on the icon above the Layers Panel that looks like a gray circle inside a blue box. Once the Layer Mask appears, the Color Picker will change to black and white. Choose the Eraser Tool, setting the Opacity to 100% and using a hard round brush from the Basic Brushes that come with the software.

Then just run the Eraser – set to WHITE to conceal or hide – over the parts of your photo you want invisible. If you have an oops, like I sometimes do when the left mouse button sticks and the cursor takes off on its own path, switch the Foreground Color from white to BLACK – which reveals, or unhides what’s been removed – either by clicking on the Color Picker or the X key. Then carefully paint it back in.

Do both sides of the jar and any other areas where your photo shouldn’t be visible.

One could almost be happy with it just as is! But we’re talking about me… so onward.

To avoid confusion and other mishaps, right-click on the photo layer in the Layers Panel off to the right in the blue area there then choose Simplify Layer. That will meld the mask to the photo.

This step is optional, but I like the control it gives me. I turned on the Grid by clicking View>Grid or CTRL/CMD>’. I made sure I had one of the heavy grid lines running through the centre of the image; that’s because the jar curves closest to the viewer right down the middle.

This next step is something I’ve never used before, and when I tried it, I was happily surprised with what it does. Notice I’ve turned the visibility of the jar layer off. Click Filter>Blur>Surface Blur…

I make heavy use of the Preview Pane. To see where the action is, and what it’s doing, click on a spot inside your image and that will bring it into the Preview Pane. Then you can see a close-up of what the commands do, as well as seeing it on the larger image in the background. Move the sliders and watch the change. These settings were what I settled on after many tweaks. Radius is 36 pixels, Threshold is 27 levels.

If you’re using an unembellished, straight, plain jar or bottle, don’t worry about this. But if you’ve got something going on like I do with the leaf and the flower and the raffia, make a Copy Layer of the jar and tuck it away for later. Because you’re going to mess them up! Right-click on the jar layer then choose Duplicate Layer>OK or use the keyboard shortcut CTRL/CMD>J.

Next, with the Eraser Tool still active, change the brush to Drop Shadow Brushes (one of the brush sets preloaded into Elements) and choose one of the square brushes. I’m going to use a BIG brush for this step, 400 or 500 pixels, and with the Opacity really low, 5-10%. This part demands a light touch, so don’t be in too big a hurry!

Make the original jar layer active. The jar has only barely-there Opacity but it does dampen the sharpness of the photo, so I want to make the glass a bit more transparent to let the photo shine. Using the Grid to help with brush placement, I put the crosshairs over one of the lighter gridlines to the left of the jar. Then I brushed along the path shown in the screenshot, ending with the brush going right down the centre of the jar. As long as you hold down the left mouse button while you’re brushing, you won’t get lap marks.

Again, there are some options here. If you’re happy, I’m happy. Go ahead and use your finished image, Save it or do whatever you like. But if you want even more realism, follow along. (NB: *The screenshot below is a composite image showing where the jar layer is most transparent. Yours will not look like this!*) Next I’m going to use the Dodge Tool. It looks like the spatula the optometrist uses to cover up one of your eyes during an eye exam. This Tool lightens whatever it’s applied to without distorting or decreasing its Opacity. Again, this Tool needs a delicate touch so I’ve got the Exposure set to 6% and the size is BIG. One stroke of it down each outer edge of the image might be enough. If not, give it a second run. If the centre of the photo seems a bit pale, switch out the Tool and choose the Burn option – looks like a gang symbol and darkens without distortion – and go HUGE with the brush. Then run it right down the centre of the photo. Stop before you go too far, or back up a step. Less is more here!

The difference is subtle but it looks pretty realistic! And if there were no flowers, leaves or raffia involved, this would be the last step. To turn the Grid off, click View and uncheck Grid, or use the same keyboard shortcut, CTRL/CMD>’ and it’s gone.

On the jar Copy Layer, I added a Layer Mask as described above. Then I removed the entire jar, leaving the rim with the raffia, the leave and the flower. Sharp and clear again! A little custom shadow and it’s good to go.

Don’t forget to save your work!! Click File>Save As… or CTRL/CMD>SHIFT>S then give your image a name with meaning. Select a folder you’ll be able to find later. And choose PNG as the file format to preserve the transparency of the background.

Choose Smallest/Slow for Compression to preserve as much detail as possible and None for Interlace. All done! Now you can use the photo-in-a-jar for your layout.

Have you seen something in a Gallery that caught your eye but you’re at a loss as to how to duplicate it? Send me a message and we’ll figure it out together!

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Creating a Title Echo for Your Layout

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This week’s tutorial was inspired by Ellen (gmae); the directions are based on a video tut by Gina Harper and when I tell you I learned a couple of FANTASTIC Work Smart Not Hard [WSNH] tricks, trust me… they’re going to be game-changers. I’m going to walk you through creating a title with an echo, like the one I created for my Greyfriars layout. And it’s easy!

Start off with a brand new 12×12 canvas; you might notice I’ve got a solid white background here and that’s not my usual MO. Since we’ll be working with text layers the background doesn’t make any difference. I want to be sure you see exactly what’s happening and the contrast will help with that. Select a font for your title. Choose one that is clean and upright (ie a sans serif font), with some stage presence. I’m using Gill Sans MT Bold but Impact, Futura and Avenir would work too. You’ll be using only upper case letters. Set the Size to 100 points, the Color to black and choose Center for your text position.

Type out your title. A one-word title would be best. If the spacing between the letters looks too narrow, the technique won’t work as neatly. If you’re using an Elements version previous to Elements 2019, there is no tool option for kerning (adjusting the spacing of your letters) so you’d then need to put all your letters on their own layer, position them then Merge the layers together. So maybe try a few other sans serif fonts first!

When you’ve got your text sorted, use the Move Tool Align Option to put the text in the Middle of the canvas top-to-bottom and Center it side-to-side.

Next, decrease the Opacity of the text layer to 50%. We’re going to apply a Stroke and I want you to be able to see it.

Add a new blank layer above the text layer. Then CTRL/CMD>click inside the text layer’s thumbnail – that image of what’s on the layer – to Select the edges of the text. That’s how Elements will know where to put the outline. Click Edit>Stroke (Outline) Selection…

Your Stroke settings: Width 10 pixels. Color Black. Location Inside. Leave the other default settings as is.

After your Stroke is in place, Select>Deselect Layers or CTRL/CMD>D to lose the marching ants.

To reduce confusion Rename the Stroke layer to Echo Bottom. Double-click on the layer’s name and type it in the box.

Now choose the Rectangle Marquee Tool; set the Aspect to Fixed Size, W to 12 in and H to 6 in. Basically you want to put that rectangle on half of the canvas.

Set the rectangle at the top of the canvas. The lower edge of it will be exactly at the middle top-to-bottom. Next, click CTRL/CMD>SHIFT>J. This will cut the pixels inside the  rectangle away from those outside it, and create a new layer with them on it. That’s WSNH Tip #1. Rename that new layer Echo Top.

Move the new Echo Top layer up toward the top of the canvas so it separates from the title. Leave a bit of space between the top of the title and the bottom of the Echo. Here’s WSNH Tip #2… Hold down the SHIFT key when you drag an object and it will stay aligned with its previous position, either top-to-bottom or side-to-side.

Since an echo is a less-obvious duplicate of something, decrease the Opacity of this layer to 50%.

WSNH Tip #3! Hold down the SHIFT and ALT/OPT keys when you click and drag an object and Elements will make a duplicate of the object. Think how much this could speed up your scrapping with templates… all those flowers can be quickly duplicated and moved with fewer steps. Mind blown.

You should have two Echo Top layers now, one at 50% and the new one decreased to 20% Opacity.

Now to get the bottom sorted. As you can see, your padawan forgot to use the SHIFT key when she dragged the Echo Bottom layer down. And it’s obvious! I’ll nudge it into alignment before we go on to the next step.

Like for the Echo Top, that first Echo Bottom layer’s Opacity drops to 50%.

All aligned again… Hold down the SHIFT>ALT/OPT keys and drag the last Echo Bottom layer into place.

If needed you can adjust the spacing of your Echo layers so they’re closer to or farther away from the title. Change the Opacity of the lowest Echo Bottom layer to 20% and increase the title layer’s Opacity back to 100%. You’re done!!

What if you don’t want a black-and-gray title? You can change the color by Merging the layers then adding a Layer>Fill Layer>Solid Color and choose a color from your photos or papers. Or you could do what I did and add a Layer Style to the title. Leaving the Echoes gray worked with my subject, so I just put a wrought iron layer style on the title. But really, the possibilities are almost endless. When you’re ready to add it to your layout, either Link the layers together – click the little chain icon on each layer – or Merge them so you can drag them onto your layout all as one piece. Play with it, have fun with it!

When this tutorial posts, I’ll be miles away from home helping my “baby” sister celebrate her 50th birthday. My brother is having a hip replaced in Friday, so I’ll see him too. Have a great week!

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Quick Trick: Correcting Colour Cast

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It happens to all of us. We shoot a whole whack of photos on a special occasion or on a vacation, thinking we’ve got a great collection of memories. But then when we look at them, a bunch of them are just… ugh. Yellow, orange, red or blue casting a pall over the whole image, and every attempt made to fix it gives equally ugh results. Colour casts are usually the result of moving from indoors to outdoors and not changing the white balance setting on our cameras, and vice versa; it can also be caused by light reflecting off nearby surfaces. I’ve shown you some simple ways to improve lighting and exposure, but until just a couple of days ago I didn’t know there was an equally simple way to deal with colour cast. Trying to click on the exact white, black or gray pixel in an otherwise orange image can be enormously frustrating, right? When I tried this trick, I was gob-smacked! Let’s take it out for a run.

This photo was taken at Caesar’s Palace in March 2009. I’ve long-since forgotten what colours were actually present in this lobby, but I’m positive this ghastly golden glow isn’t right.

First step is to make a Copy layer of the photo. This step is ESSENTIAL. You can either right-click on the photo layer and choose Duplicate Layer… then click OK, or use the keyboard shortcut CTRL/CMD>J.

On the Copy layer, apply a Filter>Blur>Average. (I had no clue what this command did until I played with this trick!)

Did you guess it did THIS? (Me neither!) It’s supposed to do this, so don’t panic.

This step is another thing we’ve never played with… Adjustment Layers. Click Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Levels…

Make absolutely sure the Use Previous Layer to Create Clipping Mask IS NOT CHECKED!! The adjustment layer has to be free-floating.

The fly-out menu looks like this. Click on the Gray Eye Dropper icon as shown.

With the Adjustment Layer active, click anywhere inside the photo. The baby poop brown changes to medium gray.

To reveal the new-and-improved image, turn off Visibility to the Blur layer and there it is! It’s magic, y’all!!

To turn all of this into a useable photo, select all three layers by Click>shift>clicking on the top and bottom layers. Then right-clicking, choose Merge Layers or CTRL/CMD>E. If you feel the photo needs a bit more editing, you can do it now.

Let’s do another one. This photo is horrible, but it’s not awesome either. The yellow cast is unattractive.

Copy the photo layer.

Apply the Filter>Blur>Average.

Create a Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Levels.

Make sure that box is UNCHECKED.

Activate the Gray Eye Dropper and click on the photo.

Turn off Visibility for the Blur Layer and check out your results. See how much brighter the blue looks?

I’ll show you what this trick does to a too-blue photo now.

Hmm. It’s better, but I’m still not thrilled by it. So I’ll Merge the layers and do some more tweaking.

For those of you using Elements 14 or more recent, you’ll have the Enhance>Haze Removal command. If you’re working with an older version, I’m planning a tutorial just for you to give you the capability to duplicate this effect, so stay tuned. The keyboard shortcut for Haze Removal is CTRL/CMD>ALT>Z.

The tool options for this command look like this. There’s a large preview to show what the image will look like once committed, and can be adjusted to obtain the best image. There’s a little bit of the original image peeking out along the left side, so you can see how this command brightens and deepens colours and sharpens the image a bit.

What do you think? Is this a LOT easier than using the Enhance>Remove Color Cast command? Is it much more useful? I think so!

Next Tuesday I’ll have another quick title technique for you. And then it’ll be June…………………………….

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Create a Word Art Photo Frame

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Have you ever seen a set of word art frames in a digi-scrapping store and like the idea of them, but not the words the designer has used? Well, that’s an easy fix!

Open up a shiny, new blank canvas with a transparent background. Make it big so you have lots of room to manoever. Mine is 12×12. It can be big while under construction because we can always resize it to fit the layout when the time comes, right? Activate the Custom Shape Tool and pick a shape. I’ll use a square with rounded corners. By utilizing the Tool Options, I can set predetermined dimensions for the shape. In the Rounded Rectangle toolkit, I like a Radius of 150 pixels to give an obvious round edge to the corners but still maintain the “square” of it. As for colours, whatever you like will be totally fine, as long as there’s sufficient contrast for the next step. I’m going basic black and white.

With my predetermined settings all I had to do was click on the centre of my canvas and I had a perfect, 6×6 square with rounded corners in the middle of my canvas. Easy peasy! As I may have mentioned once or twice, the Custom Shape Tool output is ALWAYS a Smart Object – meaning it can’t be manipulated in any way but resizing. (I prefer to think of them as Stupid Objects.) To have the ability to make other adjustments to a Custom Shape, the layer has to be Simplified. But wait!! For this technique, Simplifying isn’t needed! Yes, you read that right… only Simplify if you want to. (But it IS another step.)

Next, pop a new blank layer on top of the Shape layer. The quickest and easiest way to do that is to just click on the sheet of paper icon as shown.

To Select the outer edge of the Shape layer, CTRL/CMD>click on the layer thumbnail – the picture of what’s on the layer. The marching ants will appear, and then the layer’s visibility can be turned off. Close that eye!

Activate the blank layer, where you still can see the marching ants. Change the foreground colour to your other colour. [The X key will let you toggle between foreground and background.] <whispers> you could use the same colour… Jan just likes everything to be easily seen. Then Edit>Stroke (Outline) Selection…

The control box for the Stroke process has multiple settings you can customise. It’ll show you what colour you have in the foreground. You decide the Width of the outline, where the outline will be Located, Blending Mode and Opacity. I opted for 80 pixels, which will give me a substantial but not overbearing outline. I’ve Located it Outside the Selection. If you’re using a shape with sharp corners, put your Stroke Inside to maintain their sharpness.

To get rid of the marching ants, Select>Deselect or CTRL/CMD>D.

Now for the word(s).The font you choose will be dictated by the subject matter of your photo/layout. I went with BrideChalk Sans Regular, a simple all-caps handwritten font and my word is ADVENTURE. I’m using Photoshop Elements 2021, so my font settings may not look like yours. Tracking ( aka kerning) was a new addition with Elements 2019. Basically, it allows for more or less space between characters; this can be a valuable adjustment, especially with script fonts that may not connect the characters together cleanly. In this situation I want space between my characters because I’m going to make my letters heavier. If you find your characters are too close together and don’t have Tracking, you can put them on individual layers and shift them around so you’ve got that room for adding some presence.

I want to make adjustments to this text layer other than resizing it, so BOOM! there it is… Time to Simplify. Right-click on the layer and choose Simplify Layer.

Edit>Stroke (Outline) Selection… is such a useful tool!

This time my Stroke will be 20 pixels and Centered on the Selection. That will put an equal amount of outline on either side of the line and it will be more balanced.

I resized the text to extend side to side and have the lower corners just overlapping the border a smidge. I’m putting it at the bottom, but it could just as easily be vertical and to one side, run across or down the middle, sit at the top… whatever looks right to you. This part is completely personal taste – if you want the word to float, let it float!

I want to add a divider above the word so that it’s framed. To make this step easy and give you control over the results, turn on the Grid by clicking View>Grid or use the keyboard shortcut CTRL/CMD>’. This will help with placement so much! In my Edit>Preferences I set the main grid lines 1 inch apart and the divisions at 4, so there’s a visible line every 1/4 inch.

Add a new blank layer to your layers stack. This will allow you more flexibility once you’ve created your divider – meaning that if it needs to be moved, you’ll be able to move it. Activate the Pencil Tool and set the Size to 80 pixels, the same dimension we used for the border. (Or to whatever you want… this is a guide!) Then choose a spot on one side of the border that sits at an intersection of Grid lines and click there. Hold down the SHIFT key and move your cursor to the other side of the border along the same horizontal line, then click there. Voilà, a straight divider line! To turn the Grid off, go back to View>Grid or CTRL/CMD>’ and it’ll go away

If you’re not happy with where the divider is, nudge it into place. Then CTRL/CMD>click on the border’s layer so the two layers can be Merged into a single divided frame. If you want the word to be connected to the frame as well, CTRL/CMD>click on that layer too before right-clicking and choosing Merge Layers. Keyboard shortcut for Merge is CTRL/CMD>E.

Now to add the photo. I like this Pixabay photo of a man walking on a pipeline so I dragged it onto the canvas between the original Shape layer and the frame, resized it and positioned it.

Once I turned the Visibility for the original Shape layer back on, I could use it as a Clipping Mask.

Now for the fun part! The frame and word art can be transformed in a number of ways, such as clipping a paper or cardstock to it and adding a drop shadow. Or… Layer Styles!! I like the Chipboard Styles from Just So Scrappy‘s Lucky Me with this photo/frame combo.

I really like the Kraft paper edge on this style and think it works really well with my photo.

With the word art separate from the frame, I played with some other Layer Styles and settled on this golden-yellow woodgrain Style from Ooh La La Scraps Nearly Fall. It adds a bevel to the letters.

I played a bit more with it, stretching the text so it touches top and bottom, then Merged all three layers. With the Chipboard Style applied, it looks like this.

I made another sample, this time using Levina Script Regular for my word. The Layer Style is Just So Scrappy‘s Lucky Me Chrome in white. The possibilities are endless with this technique!

I hope you try this one. It’s so simple, but so versatile.

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Template Mash-Ups Revisited

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I was wandering through the May Challenges on Sunday, as I always do on the first or second day of each month, to decide which ones I’d participate in, and noted that Ginger (Dandelion Dust Designs) has asked us to combine two templates into a single layout for her Perfectly Paired Challenge. It’s not the first time she’s gone that route, and I’m sure there are newish scrappers who aren’t sure how to do that. After all, it’s been nearly 5 years since I ran a lesson on combining templates and we’ve embraced a LOT of new GingerScrappers in that time. So let’s have another look.

Templates are amazingly versatile tools. You don’t have to slavishly follow the design for them to help you create fabulous layouts. They’re intended as inspirational guides, with symbols as placeholders. With templates, your creativity is only limited by your imagination. I’m going to show you how to do a template mash-up right here, right now. To have the best results with your template mash-up, you should choose two templates with clusters, photo spots, masks or combinations of those that you really like, with a good amount of white space, so you’ll have lots of options. I apologize in advance for the relative illegibility of the text on the screenshots. They’re from the early days of my tutorial-writing career and I don’t have them saved so I can’t fix them. The text between screenshots is fairly explicit, so I think you’ll be okay.

I decided to use the JB Studios template shown below as my base template. (This template set has been retired.) I like the row of circles with the small cluster, and I really like the little wordstrip cluster in the corner. I made a mental note of what the file was named so I could find it later…

Then I chose this Tinci Designs template for my second one. I had 2 photos I wanted to use. Now, I could have resized the centre cluster, which would have actually worked beautifully, but I wanted my photos to be really visible.

I had to make room for the section of Tinci’s template that I was going to move onto the JBS template so I selected all the layers but the background and the little wordstrip cluster then moved them up almost to the top of the canvas.

See how that gave me a lot of room?

The next step is to go to my second template and select all the layers I want to add to the first one. If you don’t have the Bounding Box turned on, you might want to do that. It will help you move only the layers you want by including the shapes you’ve selected inside it. You can see my Bounding Box in the screenshot below.

Once you’ve selected only the layers you want to copy onto your other template, right click on the Layers panel to open the Layers menu. Then click on Duplicate Layers…

A new menu opens with everything you have in your Photo Bin included. Look down the list until you find your first template. If you can’t remember the file name, look for the .psd suffix. When you’ve found it, click on it.

Your dialog box will look like this. You can rename the group of layers if you want, but you don’t have to. When you’ve got the correct file selected, click OK.

PSE automatically centres everything on the canvas, so this is what the new mashed-up template looked like right after I added the Tinci pieces to the JBS base template. Time to fine-tune!

I moved all the Tinci pieces down so the JBS pieces peeked out above them.  Then I had to figure out what to do with that little wordstrip cluster that HAD to be in there.

Once I was happy with how it all looked, I could get my layout rolling. There were some layers from the original template that were completely concealed, so when I came to them in the Layers panel, I just deleted them. (I always work with copies of everything, never the original. That way I don’t have to worry about losing something I might want again later!)

If you decide to try this out, remember that you don’t HAVE to copy everything from one template onto the other. Choose the parts you LOVE. Forget about the rest. I could have copied just one of the photo clusters. I could have only copied the wordstrip cluster. It’s all about what you like most! Have fun!

If there are enough layouts in the Perfectly Paired Gallery by the third Tuesday of May, I’ll come back and talk about how each layout has mashed up the templates. Sounds like a lot of fun to me!

Don’t forget, National Scrapbooking Day is coming up fast… it’s technically on Saturday, but the festivities have already started. Make a budget and have some hard drive space. You’ll need both!!

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QuickTrick: Improving the Work Flow with Templates

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Hey ladies! I was led to an absolutely amazing resource for “secret” tips on using Photoshop Elements (thank you Kathi, aka granny5pics) and it gave me an idea. The fourth Tuesday of each month, I’m going to show you something I learned from it, complete with screenshots, and I’m calling it QuickTricks. Most of the things I’ll show you will be really streamlined but detailed enough for beginners to get the hang of right away. Today, our topic is an Elements workaround for something easily done in Creative Studio Photoshop versions. I’m still deciding whether I’ll be making it a habit, but I do think it’s Working Smart, Not Hard.

I love using templates as a springboard for creativity. They make a lot of the decision-making less complicated and produce predictable results. And I do find I work quickly when I’m using a template. So you’ll understand when I tell you learning there’s a way to make templates do even more of the work shook me right up! It represents a shift in thinking for me, which is why I’m not sure it’ll be a permanent change for me… but I said that about custom shadows too. So who knows? But enough gabbing. Let’s get to work!

I chose this template from Tinci Designs for this tut because it’s got a few paper shape layers and a couple of photo spots, but not too many. (It’s a freebie from several years ago so I can’t link you up to it. Sorry.)

I work from the background up, just as I would if I was using paper and glue. If that’s not how you work, you’ll see it’s easy enough to adapt the process to your preferred method. The active layer on the template is the very first paper shape layer. Click on the sheet-of-paper icon at the top left corner of the Layers Panel to add a new blank layer above the paper shape.

Now, right-click on the blank layer and choose Create Clipping Mask – yes, with the blank layer! Seems a bit unusual, but trust me. If you’re a keyboard shortcutter like I am, you can click CTRL/CMD>G if you’re using versions 14 and lower, or CTRL/CMD>ALT>G for PSE 15 and more recent.

The blank layer is now indented, and that’s how you know a layer has been Clipped to another layer.

Here’s where the work flow changes. Rather than dragging and dropping a paper onto the canvas then Clipping it to the layer below, we’ll use the File>Place… command. When using this method, it’s not necessary to open all the papers and photos into the Photo Bin. But it does pay to have all the papers, photos and elements in a dedicated-to-that-layout folder.

Elements will go to the last folder you opened anything from; in this example it’s my Perfectly Paired challenge folder. I make a new folder for every layout, adding into it copies of the template, photos, papers and elements I want to use. Everything is in one place. When the layout is finished, I delete all but the layout’s PSD and 2 sizes of JPG to save space. That’s worked well for me and it’s second nature now. Plus, it makes this trick a lot easier to manage that if I had to search through a bunch of folders. Let’s use this gray and white patterned paper from Just So Scrappy‘s Puppy Love for the first paper shape, then click Place.

Like magic, Elements has automatically clipped the paper to the shape; see the paper where there was a blank layer before? It’s so simple!! The paper has a bounding box and crosshairs, as shown in the screenshot. It can be resized, rotated and repositioned however you need it to. Then click the checkmark to Commit the Operation.

Now, this next step is 100% optional. I’m just showing you how to do it in case it might help you with organizing work flow in your mind. Color-coding layers can provide a visual reminder of the task at hand. Right-click on the pertinent layer just under the eyeball icon. That activates the label area and opens this pop-up menu. (Notice what all is in there. We’ll revisit that on another day.) Choose a color you like. Let’s do blue.

The next couple of screenshots are a review. Activate the paper shape/photo spot layer, add a blank layer above it then clip that blank layer to the paper shape below. File>Place… to add the actual paper.

Choose your paper/photo from your folder and click Place.

Make any adjustments you might want to the paper/photo. Then Commit the Operation.

Optional step: Add a label to the layer. To provide yourself with another reminder of the process, you can also change the name of the blank layer to “PLACE paper here” by double-clicking on the name in the layer box and typing it in.

I labeled the photo layers green to distinguish them from the paper shape layers. You can see I’ve renamed those layers too.

Now, to really make this shortcut work for me, I’m going to Save the template. This step would come BEFORE I’ve Placed anything onto the layout but AFTER each of the clipping layers have been added. File>Save As… (CTRL/CMD>ALT>S)

I changed the template’s name, leaving in the designer info but indicating I’ve set it up for auto-clipping. Then I chose PSD as my format, although you could choose TIFF if that’s your method. And there! You’ve got a template ready for action the next time you want to use it. It takes a few minutes up front to get the clipping layers in there, but I think in the long run it’ll save time later. Thoughts?

It’s been a rough week for us here. One of our dogs had a partial bowel obstruction requiring treatment, antibiotics and hand-feeding to prevent vomiting. That was fun… 🙁 She’s all back to normal now, so it was worth it. Then our disabled adult son developed an infection in his foot and isn’t standing on it. He’s heavy and we don’t have lift equipment; moving him around while not injuring anyone is a challenge. More antibiotics, analgesics and frequent position changes for him have kept me on the go. I’m tired… but not too tired to be excited about National Scrapbooking Day coming up on May 7th!! See you in a week.

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