Tutorial Tuesday (Photoshop Elements)

April 29, 2025 by Jan Leave a Comment

Remember that Pattern Brush?

[Link to PDF goes here when Ginger has time to convert}

A few weeks ago I showed you how to use the Pattern Brush Guided Edit to create your own scatters. And I might have mentioned I’d do another quick tutorial on adding Styles to them for an even more interesting look. Today’s the day! To make it easier for me (you… us) to see what I’m doing, I’ve dropped a piece of neutral solid paper on my workspace. There will be lots of review in this one, so you shouldn’t have to hunt down the original tut.

Click on the Guided button on the gray bar at the top of the workspace, then click on Fun Edits, then choose Pattern Brush.

Now to choose a Pattern. I went with the hearts in the upper left corner of the menu. We’ll use another one later.

Make sure the Action is set to Paint. (If we were making randomly patterned paper we could use the Fill Action.) Set the Size to about 125 pixels, which is halfway on the slider. This particular Brush changes the size and angle of each grouping. In playing with this Edit, I discovered the best way to have the Brush go where I want it, the Scatter setting must be as close to zero as possible. Otherwise there’s a REAL randomness and a lot of overlap. Keep Opacity at 100%. When you use the Paint setting, you’ll see a “ghost” outline of the Brush close to the actual size of the image it’ll create.

When you have a cluster you like, click the Continue Editing button then the In Expert button, then go down to the bottom of the screen and click Done.

Elements has created a Layer Mask with your scatter on it, plus another layer with a Layer Mask that seems to have no role in the task at hand. Feel free to bin it.

On to the fun part! Elements usually has more than one way to access a feature or a command; for Styles, you can click on the Window tab at the top of the workspace then click Styles. OR you can go to the bottom of the Layers Panel and click on the dedicated Styles button. You can see which way I do it. 😀 There’s a dropdown Styles menu attached to the button at the top of the Layers Panel once you’ve activated the Styles, so click it and start looking for the ones you want to try. I went with the GingerBread Ladies’ Indian Summer glitter gloss.

I tried all the reds and pinks, settling on this one. It’s nice, but still a little bleh. So I’m going to tweak the settings.

But before I can do that, I’ll need to Apply the Layer Mask to get to the adjustments.

There it is! Double-click on the fx there on the right edge of the layer.

These are the default settings for the Style I used. Any or all of them can be adjusted, with what’s happening visible on the screen in real time.

I changed the Lighting Angle to 120° (make sure this setting matches the rest of your layout!), added a little Drop Shadow close to the hearts and decreased the Bevel. The difference is subtle, but now the hearts look rounded, shiny and have good dimension. The littlest, outline-only hearts look like they’re glittery.

Next I played with the Star Brush. It only varies the size of the cluster, so all the stars will be in the same orientation. [There’s a way to change the angles, but it’s a multi-step process involving a lot of Cutting and Pasting, and we’re not going there.] If you’re wanting to keep your scatter on the smaller scale, you can stamp your larger “ghost” Brush on another part of your canvas like I have here.

Then I used the Pattern Eraser Tool to make the bigger starts go away. 😉

Katy, the designer Just So Scrappy/Ooh La LaScraps usually creates an array of Styles for her collections. Aimee Harrison always has matching Glitters; LDrag Designs, Wetfish Designs, Karen Schulz and Cindy Ritter too may have some Styles you like. The one I used is Just So Scrappy Lucky Me acrylic gel. Defaults as shown.

I want a bit more of a defined shine to them, so I’ll Apply the Layer Mask.

Once again I changed the Lighting Angle to 120°, added a Drop Shadow, decreased the Opacity of the Inner Glow and dropped the Bevel by 2/3. Now the stars look like they’ve been molded out of acrylic.

You can have a lot of fun experimenting with this Edit and with your Styles. Now, go get ready for [inter]National Scrapbooking Day… it’s coming up fast! Who knows, there might be some Styles up for grabs!

P.S. Thank you all for being so patient with the PDF versions… Ginger‘s been run off her feet with the server change and all the issues that cropped up for that, but she promises to get the conversions done as soon as she can.

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Behind the Scrapbook, Creative Style, Digital Scrapbooking, GingerBread Ladies, Tutorials Tagged With: Tutorial Tuesday

Tutorial Tuesday (Individual Style)

April 15, 2025 by Jan Leave a Comment

Challenge Spotlight: Inspiration

It’s spring in the northern hemisphere and the prompt for this month’s Inspiration Challenge is “full of life“, easily fulfilled with all the spring photos that are popping up like wildflowers everywhere. But for those in the tropics and the southern hemisphere, there are lots of ways to hit the mark too! The Challenge is hosted each month by Carol Wen Xin, aka CarolW Designs. If you click on the name of the Challenge at the beginning of this paragraph, you can see all the inspiring images Carol has provided to stimulate your creativity. Below are some layouts built on the prompt; let’s have a look at how each Scrapper has interpreted the Challenge. [If you’ve participated and your layout isn’t here, it’s because it hasn’t been posted to the Challenge Gallery yet.] Each layout is linked to its spot in the Gallery so if you want a closer look, click on the Scrapper‘s name and you’ll be magically transported right to it.

Our first look is from BriannaScrapper. Her banana plant is absolutely FULL of life! She’s used the same palette you can see in her photos to tie the layout together.

For her layout, lm77west chose some photos of bunnies, a definite sign of spring, to represent life, with a beautiful pastel palette. One thing that caught my eye is how the soft melon colour of her elements replicates the bunnies’ ears wit the sun shining through them. Brilliant!

VariaMoon has tied sunshine and grinning pups with palm trees and warm colours to represent warmth and growth.

More bunnies! Er… children. The nods to the theme dkane included are found in the eggs… and the children. (What’s more full of life than kids?) I like how she’s pulled the turquoise background from her photos into the palette for the whole layout.

Here, echoes77 has pulled her palette from the watercolour bird in the top left corner. The yellow of the narcissus really pops! Signs of spring reflect new life, and the reawakening of what has been sleeping.

ScrappyMara used a very spring-y palette for her returning, reawakening, refreshing nature layout. One sign of spring that always makes me really happy is hearing the frogs singing in the pond behind our house. That’s when I know winter is really over.

I have such a weakness for spring-flowering bulbs. They’re a miracle of engineering! KatL has created a really eye-catching showcase for her photos, pulling colour from them and standing out from the crowd, much like the burst of new growth she’s documenting.

MemmieNelleke has provided us with another example of a natural full-of-life miracle, this pair of mating sooty copper butterflies. By using soft pastel colours and repeating patterns, she send our eyes right to the photo.

Branma has captured the Easter-resurrection-rejuvenation vibe really well here. Wait while I dig out some Cadbury Mini-Eggs… Her photo subject is full of life and it shows in her eyes!

I hope you’ve been refreshed and inspired by this week’s stroll through the Gallery. I know I have. (And I really needed it!)

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Behind the Scrapbook, Challenge Spotlight, Creative Style, Digital Scrapbooking, Spotlight Challenge, Tutorials Tagged With: Tutorial Tuesday

Tutorial Tuesday (Potpourri)

April 8, 2025 by Jan 1 Comment

Greatest Hits: What’s Your Digital Style?

Can we talk about style for a minute? I’ve been giving this a lot of thought lately, as I think my personal style is evolving somewhat. This tutorial originally appeared in October 2019 (as you’ll see as we move through it) and I’ll bet many of you are also seeing a gradual shift in your individual style. Perhaps it’s a function of expanding skills, or maybe an expanding stash ( 😉 ) or even something as simple as maturing. There’s no right or wrong in creating art, so don’t feel like you need to find a niche to be shoe-horned into, do what makes you happy. And if you’re feeling really adventurous, step outside your box and try something new!

We all have a certain style, a concept of ourselves and our environment; that style is reflected in the way we dress, the way we decorate our homes, the way we interact with others… and how we scrap our memories. If you spend any time wandering through the Gallery you’ll know exactly what I mean. There are scrappers whose style is instantly recognizable – you don’t even need to look for the scrapper’s name. But have you ever thought about the basic underpinnings of style? Let’s discuss!

First let’s look at the very popular Pocket Scrapper style. This layout from the GingerScraps Gallery is by ngocNTTD. Pocket scrapping is organized and photo-oriented. It’s one of the most basic of paper-to-digital styles out there, having emerged from Project Life and the various other daily, weekly and monthly project formats. Pages in this style document day-to-day and special events in a clean, grid-based arrangement. Any embellishment will be limited so as not to obscure the all-important photos. As you can see, ngoc has included 10 photos in her layout.

Heritage scrapping is a very popular style, especially for those of us interested in genealogy. Who doesn’t love vintage photos of our ancestors? There’s something very powerful in documenting our past in this way, as craftytam has done in her layout below. These layouts focus on history through the use of muted colours, with a slightly distressed look. Information relating to the life of the subject is a must for these pages, which may be as simple as vital statistics or as detailed as a complete life story. Journaling in hand-written fonts is characteristic.

A combination of these two is the Storyteller style. KatherineWoodin‘s layouts are such perfect examples of this style. Each page tells of a specific event; photos aren’t a requirement but if they’re used, they’re integral to the story being told. There’s a heavy emphasis on journaling, as you can see below. The use of embellishments is dictated by the feeling the scrapper wants to convey.

Classic scrappers rely on clean lines, limited embellishment, precise placement and precise use of words. Layouts are conservative, in several senses – paper scrappers might default to this style because it doesn’t use a lot of “stuff”. In this layout by gethane, the classic style is obvious.

And that leads us to the Modern style. Glori2 has solidly incorporated this style as her own. Modern layouts are the ultimate in clean and simple, which refers to minimalism and not the use of texture and grunge. Embellishments are few, and very carefully chosen. White space is vital to this style, giving the eye many options to rest.

I suppose the opposite of Modern is the Shabby Chic layout. This layout by kabrak1207 is a stellar example of Shabby Chic… muted pastels, vintage elements and ephemera, brushes and worn paper come together to create a visually appealing whole.

The Artist scrapper focuses on the overall image, using paints, brushes, blending and a multi-media approach. Kythe uses a deft hand here, blending not only the photo but also the leaves into her background. Those little ghosts look ethereal and are grounded by the vignette in the foreground. Artist-style layouts don’t rely on journaling to tell a story, and may not include a title either.

The last style is an art-form all on its own. Art Journaling conveys emotion through imagery. There really are no rules in Art Journaling, other than to use it as a way to express things we might not be comfortable expressing in any other form. Rather than putting a feeling into words, the use of word art, word strips, doodles, brushes, paint and textiles are used to tell the story. Intensely personal, this might be the most difficult of all styles to integrate into one’s repertoire, but cinderella has no problem!

I’m still working the kinks out with the new laptop, finding out which files I haven’t transferred when I go to use them and I’m having some trouble getting comfortable with it… and Windows 11. It can only get better, right? But at least my finger works again!

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Behind the Scrapbook, Creative Style, Digital Scrapbooking, Tutorials Tagged With: Tutorial Tuesday

Tutorial Tuesday (Photoshop Elements)

April 1, 2025 by Jan 1 Comment

Guided Edit: Pattern Brush

Today’s tutorial can be built upon in so many ways, and I’ll mention some of them at the end. For now, I’m going to show you a super-quick and easy way to make custom confetti for your layouts. I’ll be using two papers from Jumpstart Designs‘ Sweet Sweet Perfection in my example.

To use the Guided Edit, you need something on your canvas; it can be a paper or a photo. Then click Guided at the top of your screen, and choose Fun Edits. You’ll be looking for the Pattern Brush, which should be where the red box is below.

There are a total of fifteen Pattern Brushes to choose from; they all have potential for some fun looks. For right now, we’ll use the one that resembles bokeh, the first option of the second row of Brushes.

I clicked on Paint and just randomly moved the sliders around. You might want to play with the Size and Scatter settings.; remember you can always Undo [CTRL/CMD>Z] if it isn’t making you happy, change the settings and try again. For confetti or other element scatters, leave the Opacity set at 100%.

Then I proceeded as I would for any Brush, moving my hand in a random pattern across the paper.

Just to show you the other option at this stage, I backed out to just the paper, and instead clicked on Fill, then clicked just once on the paper. This is what I got.

Trust Adobe to know some of us would be bothered by the ones hanging off the paper, and giving us a tool to make it better! The Pattern Eraser Tool can be employed to clean up your results however you choose.

As I said above, this Edit can be used on photos to quickly add bokeh. If you find too much of the photo is obscured you can add some Blur to it. For confetti we don’t need the Blur, so when you’re happy with what you see, click Next.

You’ll be whisked to this screen where you have the option to Save your work or to Continue Editing. Click on In Expert then click on Done.

If you look at the Layers Panel, you’ll see that Elements has added two mask layers to the paper. The layer closest to the original paper layer isn’t actually visible, even if the Visibility is turned on, so go ahead and delete it if it’s in your way. I dropped a patterned paper from the same kit on top of all the layers.

I think most of you know how to Clip papers to the layers below them, but I never assume… So if you’re new, right-click on the top paper layer then choose Create Clipping Mask. Or you can use the keyboard shortcut CTRL/CMD>ALT/OPT>G. **IF you’re using Elements 14 or more recent! If you’re using an older version your keyboard shortcut is CTRL/CMD>G.

To Merge the patterned paper with the confetti scatter, click on the paper layer then hold down the SHIFT key and click on the masked layer. Both layers will be active. Then right-click and choose Merge Layers from the drop-down menu. Or you can instead use the keyboard shortcut CTRL/CMD>E. Once the layers are Merged, you can Resize by grabbing one of the “handles” at the corner on the Bounding Box and moving it in or out.

Pop a little Drop Shadow on the confetti layer to add realism.

Simple!

Can you see using the Guided Edit>Fun Edits>Pattern Brushes for other scatters? You could use a glitter-gel Style on the hearts for bead-like hearts, a glass Style on the little starburst ones to create a gemlike look. What about a wire or metallic Style on the stars? I can see myself experimenting with this one a lot!

My sprained finger is still splinted, but it’s close to healed; the swelling is pretty much gone from the injured tendon. Still some stiffness and discomfort with flexing it, but a bit less every day. I never realised how much I use that finger when I’m typing!

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Behind the Scrapbook, Creative Style, Digital Scrapbooking, Tutorials

Tutorial Tuesday (Individual Style)

March 25, 2025 by Jan Leave a Comment

Challenge Spotlight: Everyday Memories

I seem to have an injured tendon in that finger I sprained, so it’s back in the splint for the foreseeable future. If you spot a typo (or ten), please just ignore them. 🙂 But enough of that! This month I’d like to showcase the Everyday Memories Challenge, sponsored by Miss Fish. Here is her prompt: “Manifesting your dreams in 2025 “You are a masterpiece of your own life, make sure to paint yourself in the colors you love.” (Unknown) This month your challenge is to create a vision board, sometimes known as a dream, motivation, inspiration, manifestation, or goal board.”

The layouts that follow are the ones that have been posted to the Challenge Gallery. There are others that have been posted to the thread that I haven’t included. The images are in the order they were posted, and they’re linked to the Gallery via the Scrapper‘s user name. Just click on it for a closer look.

First up is this vision board by FormbyGirl. She’s chosen to go with a Top 10 list of the things she plans to focus on, and it’s obvious the main one is FAMILY. I love everything about her layout, which has a definitely cheerful and optimistic look to it. The word strips she chose act as captions for her photos, and that sweet element of the woman in tree pose made me smile.

For her vision board, carla has included some goals and some leisure objectives. Her photos frame her clusters and the layout as a whole has a serenity to it.

Guess what demma_b13 has her sites set on. 😀 I like how she’s run the photos for each of her travel goals down opposite sides of the page. Let’s all hope she gets her wish, the one in the lower left corner.

I think scrapmevrouw would get along really well with carla! I like how she’s created a grid-styled layout and the bright colour palette that really draws the viewer in.

VariaMoon is manifesting some personal goals with such confidence! I like the little map fragments used as mats behind her photos.

Ooh, I’m sensing a theme… vacations! It looks like larkd is planning three cruises for this year. The background paper waves, maps and timetables relate to the theme so well. Have fun!

I think we can all guess what msbrad has chosen as her main vision for 2025. What great action photos. I can’t believe David is so grown up!

5grand really took the notion of a vision board to heart and has created an actual clip board! The elements she selected reflect the various goals she has identified via her photos. I can relate to the social media “diet”, I need one too!

It seems memmienelleke took the prompt quite literally. Her passion is scrapping and she painted a portrait of herself. She shares a birthday with my middle child. 🙂

Several of the things I hoped to see in 2025 have already come to pass. My son’s new wheelchair arrived and he has started using public transit to go to his day program! My friend Jenn came to visit with her 8-year-old daughter. And I attended the Peach City Feis – an Irish dance competition. It was amazing, the talent those dancers have. Expect to see some Feis layouts once my finger heals. I guess I should make it a goal to be less accident-prone for the rest of the year.

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Behind the Scrapbook, Challenge Spotlight, Creative Style, Digital Scrapbooking, March 2025 Challenges, Spotlight Challenge, Tutorials Tagged With: Tutorial Tuesday

Tutorial Tuesday (GingerScraps)

March 18, 2025 by Jan 2 Comments

Users’ Guide to the New Forum and Gallery

[Link to PDF version will go here when Ginger has time to convert.]

Have you had a chance to take the new Forum and Gallery for a spin yet? The Store and the Blog are unchanged, so they should feel pretty comfortable. But the new Forum and Gallery are REALLY awesome! The look is so clean and shiny! But some things have different names and some processes are a little different, so here’s a quick User’s Guide.

Let’s start with the Forum‘s home page. This screenshot is pretty busy, but it needed to be. Across the upper right side of the screen there are 7 icons that are direct links; I’ve labeled them in case they’re not familiar to you. From left to right, the link to the GingerScraps Store, the GingerScraps Blog, GingerScraps on Facebook, Pinterest and YouTube, a Contact Us button and a link to the GingerScraps Newsletter.

Right below them at #1, there’s a box where your Forum user name will appear (so you’ll know you’re logged in), with a Direct Messages (renamed from Private Messages) button and a Notifications button so you can quickly check what’s specifically yours. Direct Messages are only viewable by you and the sender, and Notifications lets you know when someone has Liked, Thanked or replied/commented to something you posted.

At #2, you’ll find the Forum access buttons. The New Posts button takes you to all the most recent posts to any Thread; you can click on the thread to see the comments and to make your own. If you’re a self-starter, you can start a new Thread by clicking the red New Thread button and you’ll see a list of all the topic SubForums, which are unchanged from our old Forum.

Featured Content #3 shows the top 3 pinned posts – those our Admins want to make readily visible and available; click on the coloured text and you’ll zip into the Thread without having to look for it. This is where you’d look for info on special events, like the St Patrick’s Day contest.

#4 is where you’ll find all the SubForums. For example the Welcome Wagon Forum contains multiple threads started by our GingerBread Ladies where they share links to little freebies they’ve created for us. As you scroll down the home page, you’ll see all of the SubForums listed.

Just below the Featured Content you’ll find #5, Trending Content. Here’s where you can see at a glance what’s catching other GingerScrappers‘ eyes.

Right at the bottom of the screen you’ll see #6, a list of all members currently online. This might be helpful if you’re wanting to message somebody with a time-sensitive message, or if you just want to know who’s up as late as you are. 😀

I dipped into the Home>Forums>GingerScraps Cookbook>Tutorials just to see what’s been happening there and discovered Grace has whipped up a couple of tutorials: How to LINK products from the Gallery to the Store and…

How to LINK images from the Gallery to threads. These two quick tutorials are important, especially to Creative Team members, so if you need to know how to handle these tasks, they’re right there for you.

I scrolled down to the Challenge Yourself SubForum and opened up the Cookie Jar. It’s laid out really nicely!

Go into the March 2025 Cookie Jar and read Missi‘s post about how the February Challenges will be managed. Right below it is information about Gallery posting to multiple albums, which isn’t currently possible.

While I was there, I figured I’d start my own Cookie Jar post so I could later add the layouts I (might) complete this month. I always Copy Missi‘s text and Paste it into my post. In the old Forum, the colours also Copied, but here they don’t so I changed the number in brackets to my usual red. Oh, and before I forget, look at all the places we can share our posts!! Facebook, X, Bluesky, LinkedIn, Reddit, Tumblr, WhatsApp, email and a direct link are all there.

These icons in the top centre of the post box are going to be crazy helpful! To add a LINK to your post, click the little side-lying figure 8. Ooh, and there’s a keyboard shortcut, as if they knew I was coming. [Another thing to note: This new laptop of mine doesn’t disappear the descriptors seen when the cursor is hovered over an icon when I make a screenshot! I did a Snoopy happy dance when I saw that!]

Add an IMAGE, click the photo icon.

There’s even a SMILIES button.

I didn’t expect to see this! Sometimes a GIF speaks far more eloquently than words do.

This is a formatting icon that sets your Quoted text apart from the rest of the text. It’s very handy.

Let’s take a quick peek at the What’s New tab. Clicking on the little upside down tent symbol opens a drop-down menu. This Forum server has multiple ways to do almost anything.

The Media tab is where you’ll find what we used to call the Gallery. The drop-down lets you access a variety of Media related options. We have our own ALBUMS now!!

Have you ever wondered who posts the most? Or who has the most layouts in the Gallery? Or just how active you are here? Members has got you!

So, back to the Media tab. If you click on the tab itself, rather than the upside-down tent, the left side of the screen will have a list of all the Albums there are in the Gallery. I clicked on Member Galleries, but could have chosen any of the Designers or Challenges just by clicking on the inverted triangle to the left of the album title. That makes navigation really easy.

I opened up the Challenge Layouts Album and you can see the list is right there. Clickclickclick!

If you click on the Add Media subtab on the blue strip at the top of the Media screen, this menu opens. You can scroll down through the Albums list until you find the one you’re looking for. Remember, for now, add your Challenge layouts ONLY in the Challenge Album. Don’t upload your layout more than once. Wait for the add-on extension that Ginger and the tech team are working on.

I’m going to add a layout to the Template #3 J Conlon and Sons Challenge Album for February.

This is the upload screen. I totally missed the change in allowable image size when I was doing this. I only saw it when I was editing my screenshots. We can go up to 1000×1000 pixels and 1MB now!!

Clicking on the Upload File box took me to the last folder of mine that I used. I found the correct folder and the version I saved for the Gallery. I could click on it then the Open button, or just double-click on the image. Notice all the ways I can verify I’m putting my layout where I want it to go.

When the Upload screen reappears, there’s a thumbnail of the layout but it shows the file name I gave it, which is a version of my title. I’ll change the entry so it’s exactly the title. Then I typed all my credits into the Description box. [Please don’t forget to include your credits. Our Designers deserve to be given credit for their work.] When everything I needed to include was there, I clicked Save.

And that’s it! My layout is posted. The title is correct, the credits are there. Fabulous!

There are still tasks I need to do before I’m finished. SO let’s update my Cookie Jar. I always have at least 2 GingerScraps tabs open on my desktop so I can move back and forth between them quickly and easily. I added the Challenge to my list on the Forum tab, then highlighted the name of my layout by click-dragging the cursor over it. I flipped back to the Media tab, Copied the Universal Resource Locator for my layout then back on the Forum tab, clicked on the Link icon as shown. Next, I Pasted the URL into the appropriately labeled box. Then I clicked Insert, and Save.

To add a Copy of my layout to the Challenge thread, I navigated my way to it in the Forum; the Media tab is still open to my layout. I right-clicked my mouse INSIDE the image in the Media tab and chose Copy Image Link from the pop-up menu. Next, I flipped back to the Forum tab, where I’ve got the correct Challenge thread open and waiting. This time I clicked on the photo icon as shown.

I usually don’t Drag and Drop, so I used the Link icon to add my Image Link URL. Feel free to do you, 😉

Once the URL appeared in the box, I clicked Insert then Post Reply.

And that’s how you add your Layouts to the new Gallery, top up your Cookie Jar and make sure your layout joins the proper thread.

I actually haven’t done any scrapping since I finished this layout back in February. I sprained the ring finger on my left hand… buddy-taped fingers really get in the way! Finger’s almost back to normal; although the knuckle is still swollen the pain is pretty much gone. As for the laptop setup, I still have a lot of MIA fonts, and I may end up not worrying about them. I’m finding out all the good things the machine does and getting comfortable with the keyboard. Those kinds of things I can do with just one hand! We have company coming for the weekend and I’m hoping to have a TON of great photos to work with afterward.

Next week, now that I know how the Media tab is laid out, I’ll bring you a Challenge Spotlight. Get ready to shine!!

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Behind the Scrapbook, Digital Scrapbooking, Theres An App For That, Tutorials Tagged With: Tutorial Tuesday

Tutorial Tuesday (Photoshop Elements)

March 11, 2025 by Jan 4 Comments

Greatest Hits: Faking it – Those Incredible Full Moon Photos…

How’s everybody doing on this first Tuesday of Daylight Savings Time? I’m not gonna lie, I’m riding the struggle bus right now. Between inadequate sleep, the gray, chilly weather and all the political nonsense going on, I’m exhausted. Oh, and I finally was forced to switch laptops, which ate up a ton of time and I still haven’t found all the 2500 fonts I have on my old one. Maybe that’s a good thing… remains to be seen. Anyway, we have an astronomical event this week, a lunar eclipse of a full moon – a Blood Moon. Thursday’s eclipse will replicate a sight not seen since 1504! It’s going to be visible across North America from 11:57 pm EDT on Wednesday until 6 am EDT on Thursday, with totality – the best part! – between 2:26 am EDT and 3:31 am EDT. Since I’m in the Pacific time zone, if the sky is clear I won’t even need to stay up late to see the beginning. So what has this to do with a tutorial? Well, let’s have a look!

Have you ever looked at those totally amazing full moon photos where it looks like the moon is rising out of the ocean, or it’s rising behind a silhouetted city skyline and it’s huge and bright? And have you ever wondered how the photographer was able to capture that image? I know how they do it, and after this tutorial you will too. Because it’s all faked!

I have a crystal-clear photo I took of the June 2013 Super Moon and that’s what I’m going to use to show you how I can make it look like the moon was over the mountain when it was quite far away in reality. This photo of the mountain that our subdivision snugs up to has been edited a bit to make the sky a bit brighter and the details a bit sharper. If I’m lucky enough to get Blood Moon photos, I’ll give this another shot.

Tutorial Tuesday (Photoshop Elements)

Oct

2020

Edit

Faking It – Those Incredible Full Moon Photos…

I wasn’t planning to take photos of last weekend’s full moon so I didn’t prepare for it. But then I took the dog out for a potty break and saw it hanging so brightly in the sky with Mars at its shoulder. So I grabbed my pretty decent DSLR, my telephoto lens and my very sturdy tripod and set up on the driveway. Rushing never makes for good results though and every one of the 70 photos I took was out-of-focus. The shots I took of the mountain were better, but pretty grainy. Thankfully I have a crystal-clear photo I took of the June 2013 Super Moon and that’s what I’m going to use to show you how I can make it look like the moon was over the mountain when it was quite far away in reality. This photo of the mountain that our subdivision snugs up to has been edited a bit to make the sky a bit brighter and the details a bit sharper.

Here’s my 2013 moon shot. I used a long shutter, a tiny aperture and manual focus to get it this bright and clear.

To hang the moon over the mountain, I’m going to use a Guided Edit that first appeared in Elements 13. Guided>Photomerge>Photomerge Compose.

Once you’ve activated the Edit, this screen opens. The instructions are fairly clear, even for the uninitiated. It says to drag the photo I want to extract FROM onto the space, so the Moon is going here.

Okay, there it is. All I want from the photo is the Moon, which has a nice, clear, sharp edge, so selecting it from my photo will be easy. I can use the Quick Selection tool for this step. If my desired extraction had more detail, I could choose one of the other options. AND… there are further adjustments that can be made in later steps.

Once I clicked on the Quick button, this tool tip opened to Guide me through the next part. It says, “Create new selection by dragging over the area you need to include.”

It’s hard to see the marching ants in the screenshot but they are there. There’s even a little jaggy part that I’m going to adjust by switching from Add to Subtract and scrape it off.

Done! As I mentioned, there are more refinements you can make to extract your desired image using the Advanced Edge Refinement menu. It’s found just below the red circle.

But since I just basically have a circle, I can move on to the next step by clicking the Next arrow at the bottom of the screen. Elements always drops things right in the middle of the canvas, so it’s great that I can move my moon off the mountain and into the sky.

I decided to make it a bit bigger too, for dramatic effect. But I didn’t go too much bigger because I don’t want it to look completely phony.

Then I had second thoughts and decided to anchor it a bit by tucking it behind the mountain a smidge… after seeing that I had some Hide and Reveal options.

I started that process by Hiding the lower part of the Moon just roughly. I used a hard round brush at 100% Opacity to brush over the area that will end up being hidden by the mountain and trees. It takes several passes to completely hide the parts that I want hidden. Once I had an idea where the trees actually are, I could go back and Reveal the Moon where the trees don’t obstruct the sky. You can see in the screenshot that some of the moon looks more blue than gray – that’s where the sky hasn’t been completely Hidden. I also adjusted the size of my brush tip as needed to make the trees appear “normal”.

I switched back and forth between Hide and Reveal, adjusting the size of my brush tip until I had some natural-looking trees on my mountain. then I clicked on the Next arrow.

If your photos were taken at different times and in different lighting conditions, your composite might look pretty weird right now. Mine’s okay because night is night… But if you find your results aren’t making you happy, there’s still more in this Edit to help you get it right. The instructions say, “Click ‘Auto Match Color Tone’ to blend your extracted object with the background. You can fine tune the results with the sliders.” I highly recommend experimenting with this, because as you know, nothing is final in Elements until you say it is. If you click on the button and it does its thing but you hate the outcome, you can Undo it!! CTRL/CMD>Z should be an automatic movement. It sure is for me!

I didn’t like the results of the automatic process, so I made adjustments with the sliders. The image didn’t need a lot of adjusting to make it look more real. Then I clicked Next.

That’s the end of the Guided Edit. Now I can choose to Save, Continue Editing or Share my finished image. I want to clean up some of the noise by running the Haze Removal tool, so I’m going to click on In Expert and go there.

If you’re not familiar with the Haze Removal tool, I think you should give it a try! It sharpens your images and removes a lot of the graininess. You can get to it by Enhance>Haze Removal, or CTRL/CMD>ALT>Z works too.

It’s still an interactive process. This screen opens up and you can make adjustments to the amount of Haze Reduction it does, as well as the Sensitivity of the action. And if you’re not convinced it’s actually making a difference, you can flip between the Before and After images and see how it’s changed.

There! I think it looks pretty good, all things considered.

What do you think? Are you going to try this one? I think it would be good for adding a person who should have been in the photo but somehow wasn’t or to add someone who you only wished was there. Ooh, or maybe go right into fantasy and add a unicorn or a fairy to a photo of a baby. The sky’s the limit!

Next week, I’ll bring up a Guided Tour of all the changes here at GingerScraps, to help you navigate the new Forum and find the Gallery. See you then!

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Behind the Scrapbook, Creative Style, Digital Scrapbooking, Tutorials Tagged With: Tutorial Tuesday

Tutorial Tuesday (Photoshop Elements)

February 25, 2025 by Jan Leave a Comment

Quick Trick: Dupe a Graphic Novel Look

On Sunday I was with my son while he watched an adventure/comedy movie on Netflix. When the movie ended and the credits started rolling, I noticed the producers had turned some stills into graphic novel images, and the idea for this tutorial was born. Turning a photo into a graphic novel cartoon is really easy! This is the photo I chose to play with.

First thing I did was make two Copies of the photo. You can right-click on the photo layer then choose Duplicate Layer>OK twice of you can use the keyboard shortcut CTRL/CMD>J twice. Your call. [I make these Copies so each manipulation is on a separate layer and can be further tweaked to obtain my desired results.] Then I turned the visibility for the top two layers off so I could concentrate on the bottom, original layer. “Close the eye”. You don’t HAVE to do that if you choose not to.

With the BOTTOM LAYER active, click on Filter>Sketch>Comic…

This is the Filter interface, and the default settings. Comic >> Soften = 4 >> Shades = 5.14 >> Steepness = 1.4 >> Vibrance = 0.5 and Thickness = 1.4. You can move the sliders around to see what each does and choose the look you like best. I kept the defaults.

Next, activate the MIDDLE LAYER and again click Filter>Sketch>Graphic Novel…

The defaults for this one are as shown: Painted Gray >> Darkness = 4.64 >> Clean Look = 4.4 >> Contrast = 0.52 and Thickness = 1.43.

I did some adjusting here. Painted Gray >> Darkness = 3.87 >> Clean Look = 4.4 >> Contrast = 0.82 >> Thickness = 1.21 and Smoothness (1/2).

Then I changed the Blend Mode to Overlay. Click on the bar at the top left of the Layers Panel and choose Overlay from the dropdown menu.

There’s one more Filter to add.

I moved to the TOP LAYER, and made sure my Color Picker was set to Black in the Foreground, White in the Background. [This is important so don’t forget to check! I learned it the hard way.] Then I clicked Filter>Sketch>Halftone Pattern…

The result isn’t super-visible here but if you could zoom, you’d see it easily. The defaults are Size = 4 >> Contrast = 50 >> Pattern Type = Dots.

Ah, there it is! I adjusted the Size to 6 and the Contrast to 40.

Again, I changed the Blend Mode to Overlay. Then I turned the other layers back on.

If I want to, I can adjust the Opacity of each layer, change the order of the layers and make other adjustments as I wish. I think I might go a bit farther with the original Comic layer, and maybe with the Graphic Novel layer too, and make it even more cartoon-y. I can do that by adding another Filter to each layer. But for a 5 minute exercise, it looks pretty good!

See you all in March!!

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Creative Style, Digital Scrapbooking, Tutorials Tagged With: Tutorial Tuesday

Tutorial Tuesday (Individual Style)

February 18, 2025 by Jan Leave a Comment

Challenge Spotlight: Wild About Styles

It’s already the third Tuesday in February – which is almost over! – and time for YOUR chance to shine! Today we’re looking at one of our new Challenges, Wild About Styles, which is hosted by Wetfish Designs. It’s an intriguing Challenge where Wetfish provides a free-for-the-month set of Styles for use in the Challenge; this month the set contains 12 different maps. Yes… Maps. And the goal is to use more than one for your layout. She’s even provided us with a sample layout!

Let’s see how our GingerScrappers used the Styles for their layouts… Remember, each layout is linked to the Gallery so you can take a closer look and perhaps leave a comment. Just click on the Scrapper‘s user name (it’s bold, underlined and in living colour) to jump right to the layout. They’re posted in the order they were uploaded to the Challenge Gallery; there may be others in the Forum thread that aren’t in the Challenge Gallery, as I discovered last month.

Our first participant is nimble4u. She’s used at least 6 – no, make that 7 – of the Styles, applying them to each of the papers from the Tinci Designs template she chose. How’s that for following the rules? 😉 I don’t read Dutch, but she’s obviously travelling.

Alasandra has used so many I can’t keep track. She has applied them to her frames and some of her embellishments; that really customizes her layout. She, too, used a Tinci template (I have hundreds of them, so I recognize them right away) and the theme of her layout is travel, but in a more generic sense.

I’m sensing a pattern… lm44west also applied the Styles to the papers here. Her paper layers don’t have distinct shadows so it’s a bit difficult to separate them. I *think* she’s applied a different Style to each of the characters in her title.

Pixel Palette‘s used a subtle hand for her layout; by blending a large map with a floral paper she’s created movement in a layout about the single most impactful moment in travel history. She also applied Styles to her title and behind her smaller photo.

I could totally see this layout by greenfiend27 on a classroom wall somewhere. It’s literally an “animals of Australia” poster, complete with a map-Styled frame.

KatL has used two map Styles for sure. Her aerial photos are well-showcased with map mats.

With another variation on a theme, pbhill has used several Styles applied to her paper mats… and that great banner! The Styles she chose draw from the colours in her photo.

Katherine Woodin is most of us right now, am I right? So much of the continent is snowed in and freezing. She applied a Style to her background and title, and when I zoomed in I think she’s even blended map Styles into her photos. Very interesting effect.

Anybody who knows msbrad (Michi) knows she LOVES to travel and takes hordes of photos. She was a teacher in another life, so she also follows rules. 😉 Lots of different maps are visible here, even if you don’t zoom in! I love how she’s got a bike with tulips sticker to echo her bike with tulips photo. Made me smile.

Jill went simple, applying a Style to her background then blending a photo into it. She Styled her title, and perhaps the word strip in her cluster. The hiking/camping elements she’s clustered look so real!

At first I thought trinanne had only used a single map Style here – which is PERFECTLY oriented to her subject, but then I took a closer look and she’s applied a semi-transparent map Style to the frames around her photos. That bread bowl… now I’m hungry!

I’ve downloaded the Styles, and now I’m inspired to create a layout. Are you?

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Behind the Scrapbook, Challenge Spotlight, Creative Style, Digital Scrapbooking, Digital Scrapbooking Freebies, GingerBread Ladies, Tutorials Tagged With: Tutorial Tuesday

Tutorial Tuesday (GingerScraps Forum)

February 11, 2025 by Jan Leave a Comment

Greatest Hits! A Forum Roadmap for Newbies

This post originally appeared on May 15, 2018. We have a LOT of new GingerScrappers and new-to-digital Scrappers who might find this information useful. I’ve made sure it’s up-to-date… well, except for the photos. I wish I still looked like that. 😉

Before I get rolling, I should add this explainer for those self-same newbies. When I write a tutorial, I want it to be accessible for everyone, no matter their digital experience or skill level. So I use both images and text, lots of repetition and way TMI sometimes. I also include both Windows (my system) and Mac keyboard shortcuts wherever possible. So when you see “[CTRL/CMD>…]” or “[CTRL/CMD>ALT/OPT…]“, CTRL is for Windows keyboards, CMD is for Mac; ALT is for Windows, OPT is for Mac.

You’ll want to have at least two browser tabs open to GingerScraps so you can move between them as we work through the lesson.

My Profile has a series of options for telling others who you are, and it’s pretty straight-forward so I’m going to skip that part. First I’d like to show you the quickest, easiest and least taxing method of adding a photo to your profile. Since I already have a profile photo, the steps show how to change the photo, but they’re exactly the same for getting one out there for the first time, there just won’t be an image there for you to change. Make sure you’re on the Forum page and click on the Settings button.

On the left side of the Settings page is the menu that allows you to customize to your heart’s content.

Under the My Profile heading, click on the Edit Profile Picture button.

I’m going to pretend that the photos you’re seeing are recent. (They’re not. 🙁 ) As I said, I already had a profile photo so I changed it to allow you to see how easy it is. You can use photos from a website by using the first box, labeled Option 1. So if you have a photo you like posted to Flickr, (or Facebook, Instagram etc) for example, you could copy the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) where the photo is and paste it into that first box. To do that you would open a browser tab to the place where your photo is, highlight the text in the address box at the top of your browser screen then right-click and select Copy (CTRL/CMD>C); then go back to the tab with your Settings menu open, put the cursor in the first box (If you have a photo online…), right-click and select Paste (CTRL/CMD>V). Alternatively, if you have a photo on your computer that you’d like to use, then you’d use Option 2. Click on Choose File next to that second box (If you’re uploading a photo…), then find the photo on your computer.

I’m giving you a peek into my cluttered mind and messy desktop here. Yep, I have LOTS of browser tabs open, all the time, and I have a long list of links on my Toolbar. [2025 update: Nothing has changed.] I’ve found the folder with my photo in it, then chose the photo I want to use. As the screenshot says, SIZE MATTERS. For profile photos, which are the ones people will see when they look at your PROFILE, not your Forum posts, your photo must be no larger than 300 x 300 pixels or 976.6 kilobytes, whichever is smaller. You can hover your cursor over the image in your folder to see the dimensions of your photo so you won’t make the mistake of choosing a photo that will be rejected.

After you’ve clicked on the thumbnail image of your photo, click on Open.

Once you’ve opened your photo you can see how it’ll appear on your profile. I decided I didn’t like this one after all. But if I had liked it, I would have clicked on Save Changes and carried on.

I just followed that first step again to choose a different photo, Opened it and Saved the Changes.

Yes, that’s what I like!

Now we can work on the photo people see in the Forum when you post questions, comments or layouts. This photo is called an Avatar. It doesn’t have to be a photo of you, it can be anything you want it to be. I’m rather partial to Bitmojis myself.

In the same Settings menu, click on Edit Avatar. Here again, you can use an online image, say from Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest. The steps to do this are exactly the same as for the Profile Picture… with one significant difference.

As you can see in the screenshot, I have photos of me, flowers from my garden and memes I found online and saved for later. The photo I chose to use for my Avatar for this lesson is one that was taken at a wedding in Jamaica 10 years ago. I checked to make sure it would work as an avatar by hovering my cursor over it. [I recently updated my avatar to a much more recent, less flattering photo.]

Here’s where that significant difference comes in. The MAXIMUM size for avatars is 150 x 150 pixels, or 1.91 megabytes, whichever is smaller. Since I’d already checked that out, I knew this photo would be fine and I clicked Save Changes.

Let’s do a Signature now. A while back I wrote a tut about creating original signatures for the Forum; you can find it here. I always save my signature files as .pngs so if I have rounded corners, elements extending out from the main part of the siggie or I want a transparent background, it’ll look the way I want it to when I use it. I also save them slightly smaller than the maximum size allowed because I want it to be a footnote, not the focus! For this feature, you will need to post your signature image to the Gallery, where you’ll get the image location data to put it into your profile. Have that Gallery tab open to your siggie. The screenshot below shows the existing signature and the Editor.

I like my signature to be centered at the bottom of my posts, so I click on the icon shown below. To remove my old siggie from March’s Signature Challenge, I clicked on the image that is now blue in the screenshot. Then I hit the Delete button on my keyboard and it went away.

Then I went to my Gallery tab and right-clicked on my May Signature Challenge signature itself. This option box opened up, where I chose Copy Image Address.

Moving back to the Settings menu browser tab, I clicked on the Insert Image link as I’m showing you below.

Then I pasted the data I copied from my Gallery image into the box and clicked OK.

In the screenshot, you can see both the old siggie and the new one. You have the choice of Previewing it or just Saving it.

Here’s a Forum post with both my new Avatar and my new Signature on it.

These methods work identically when you want to post a layout to a Challenge thread in the Forum. I highly recommend having two GingerScraps tabs open in your browser and simply moving back and forth between them, Working Smart, Not Hard. Go to your layout in the Gallery, right-click the image, Copy Image Address then navigate back to the Challenge thread. Select that Insert Image icon, paste the Image Address into the box and click OK. It doesn’t matter if you’re on the first page of a thread or the last, you can compose your post at the bottom of the screen and the site will automatically move it to the end of the thread.

Personally, [you’ve seen my messy desktop!] I use two separate windows when I’m doing these tasks to reduce my post-COVID confusion. [After almost four years, I’ve learned a lot of ways to compensate for the “gift that keeps on giving”. Sadly, my vision changes aren’t that easily overcome.]

I hope the weather where you are isn’t trying to kill you! We’ve had a longer-than-usual cold spell that hopefully is going to moderate by the weekend.