Everyone always seems mystified by Photoshop's layers features.

While layers are very complex, I believe that they are often viewed as being more complicated than they actually are.

A layer is simply a picture or transparent layer placed on top of another picture. Think of it as placing clear plastic wrap on top of a photo. By creating a layer, you prevent any damage or change to the base photo.

Here is a quick list of terms that will help you figure it all out:

Layer Pallette: You can see all of your stacked layers in the Layers Pallette.

The Amazing Photoshop Elements Toolbox

There are so many wonderful things you can do with Photoshop Elements.

You will find many of our tips in our notes from previous meetings.

Photoshop Elements Part I

Photoshop Elements Part II

Photoshop Elements Part III

Photoshop Elements Part IV

This time we will spend most of our time discussing the Magical Photoshop Elements Toolbox.

There are three kinds of tools in the Toolbox:

Hover your mouse over any area in the toolbox to see its name. Hold your left mouse button down over any tool with a little diagonal triangle at the bottom to see hidden tools with similar functions.

Selecting: These tools create "Marching Ants" that indicate that an area has been selected. Selection tools include the Marquee Tool, Lasso Tool, Magic Wand and Brush Selection Tool These are all found in the top 5th of the Toolbox.

Once and area is selected, any changes you make will only apply to the selected area.

Painting: These tools "paint" effects by holding down the left mouse button while moving the mouse in the area you want to change. Painting tools include the Paintbrush, Pencil, Erase, Red Eye, Blur, Sharpen, Sponge, Smear, and Clone Stamp tools.

All painting tools allow you to change the area that you are working on by adjusting the brush size and you can apply affects by making changes in the Options bar (tool bar under the file menu that changes when you select a tool).

Custom Tools: These are tools that don't fit into

The Magic of Digital Filters

In the world of film photography, filters are transparent coverings that are placed over a lens to enhance or alter the image.

Digital filters serve the same purpose, but in a much more dynamic and dramatic way.

DIGITAL FILTER: Almost all image editing programs contain filters although they may be called by a different name such as Effects or Adjustments.

Create Slideshows and Screensavers

Here are some of the basics we discussed

at the Meeting

FINDING THE RIGHT PROGRAM

We discussed Picasa 2 late last year, but since then I have discovered many more wonderful things that can be done with the program. In fact, I now use it more often than any other program for my day-to-day digital photography.

HOW TO GET PICASA:

1. Either click on this button, or go to www.picasa.com and click on the Free Download button.

Microsoft PowerPoint is a program for creating business presentations but many people use it for creating elaborate photo slide shows.

In addition to discussing PowerPoint we also talked about a few PowerPoint alternatives.

OpenOffice - a great free alternative to Microsoft Office

Ulead Movie Factory - for creating Slideshows and movies on DVDs or CDs

There are a couple of others that I failed to mention at the meeting.

SmoothShow - probably the most popular slideshow creator for professions 

What can you do with Picasa 2?

Picasa 2 is a free program made by Google that allows you to organize your photos without any effort on your part.

Besides organizing photos it also has some great creativity tools including gift CDs, slide shows, and blogging tools.

HOW TO GET PICASA:

1. Either click on this button, or go to www.picasa.com and click on the Free Download button.