The Newsletter for Elements Users

In this issue:

Links
Ooops!
Chuck Beam's Hidden Power Batches
Long Answers
Short Answers
Actions Corner

The Hidden Power website:
http://hiddenelements.com

The Hidden Power forum:
http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=&forumid=142

The Hidden Power newsletter archive: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hpe

Hidden Power Tools (batch and actions): http://hiddenelements.com/freetools.html

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Ooops!
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<<When I bought your book I couldn't put it down. Now I have to go back to the beginning and start the tutorials. Looking forward to another newsletter!>>

Ok, so I missed the month of May. I was planning a major enhancement and just never got around to completing the package because of too many other obligations. I ran out of month. Actually I am still working on it between other things. It was all with good intention. I'll have a special announcement once it's completed. And I'll not miss the June newsletter!

The result, when I have it done, will be Hidden Power Actions III...It should be done this month. I think you'll like it.

HPA3 will bring you the ability to load over 500 actions in 6 categories. I will be adding a few new Hidden Power features that can help you easily achieve some simple, flexible effects (Shadows, Glows, Etc.) quickly. You'll also be able to replace not just sets of 12 actions at a time by renaming a folder but set groups Ð a total of 84 actions! You can still customize any way you want.

One thing I did complete: I actually have the first batch processing set ready to go. They said it couldn't be done, and, well, it's done.

While several people made batch action requests, the first batch set offering is named for Chuck Beam, who suggested several of the actions included there. The following lists the actions in the batch, the names being the description followed by the format the images will save in:

Chuck's Auto LevelJPGm
Chuck's Auto LevelJPGh
Chuck's Auto LevelTIFF
Chuck's AutoLevel-Contrast JPGm
Chuck's AutoLevel-Contrast JPGh
Chuck's AutoLevel-Contrast TIFF
Sharpen .5 Radius 50% TIFF
Sharpen 1 Radius 50% TIFF
Sharpen 1.5 Radius 50% TIFF
Sharpen 2 Radius 50% TIFF
Channel Mixer TIFF
Sharpen .5 Radius 50% JPGm
Sharpen 1 Radius 50% JPGm
Sharpen 1.5 Radius 50% JPGm
Sharpen 2 Radius 50% JPGm
Channel Mixer JPGm

AutoLevel -- applies auto level to every image in a folder

AutoLevel-Contrast -- applies autolevel and auto-contrast to every file in a folder

Sharpen -- applies sharpening with the set radius and % as described to every image in a folder.

Channel Mixer -- lets you apply channel mixing to every image in a folder by opening the Channel Mixer dialogue.

The package and installation instructions can be downloaded from the Hidden Power website ( http://hiddenelements.html/freetools.html ), absolutely free.

SPECIAL THANKS

Chuck Beam for his suggestions, and Chuck and Susan Stewart for testing and feedback!

If you'd like to see other actions in Batch let me know!

1. Foreign Language Versions
2. Level Output Sliders
3. Fade Filter and Luminosity
4. RGB Elements Book Recommendations?
5. Using Picture Package
6. ICC Profiling for Hidden Power?
7. Trouble With Levels Color Correction
8. Masking Wispy Hair
9. Multiple Images on a Page?

<<Does HPE tools work on for example the Swedish version or is it just on the English? I downloaded the free tools for try and I did not get it to work on Swedish version, but on the English version did it work.>>

Not all the tools work on foreign language installations. Because of the way Adobe set up the file structure and referencing, there is a problem in using some of the functionality in the tools and Actions in versions other than English. I wasn't aware of the problem because I only use the English version and the book is only published in English (so far!).

However, I want to help foreign users! If you can get to a C prompt (assuming you are on a PC) and run the following from the Elements program directory: Dir/A:D/A:A/S/B , I can get you a solution...maybe not tomorrow but soon. Send the resulting file to: thebookdoc@aol.com Be sure to tell me what language you are using. I will then make the tools available for those users.

That goes for ANYONE using a foreign version. One note, running this will give me a listing of everything in your elements directory -- just so you know what I am looking at. All it does is create a text file. I can make adjustments by popular demand!

<<I don't recall seeing the Levels Output sliders mentioned in my reading thus far. And yet they definitely are controllable.>>

One of the earliest things I say is that you don't need every tool. I assumed that meaning spread to not every part of every tool will be broadly useful or interesting. I have personally used the output sliders about 5 times in my life. They are useful in limiting the output result. That is, if you want to limit the output range of the image to a specific range, the lower sliders can be used to re- compress the response.

This book is not meant to be one that examines every tool and every button. My hope was to show those you'd really use and make best use of. There are few situations where Levels Outputs come in handy -- and I can't think of a good example off the top of my head.

<<Is the Fade filter a plug-in? Everyone talks as if it is a standard component of Photoshop.>>

I don't remember when Fade was introduced, but I think it was in Photoshop 6. It fades the effect of any filter you apply. It isn't in Elements, but you can imitate it like this:

1. Create a new layer at the top of the layers stack
2. Press CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+E/Cmd-Control-Shift-E (PC/Mac). this will copy the current visible image into the new layer as a flattened result.
3. Run the filter you want to run on the layer.
4. to Fade, shift the opacity.
5. To affect the Fade mode, change the Layer mode.

It is really that simple.

So, say you have an image with a layer you want to apply a luminosity fade adjustment to:

1. duplicate the layer.
2. Run the filter you want to run on the duplicate layer.
3. Shift the opacity to affect the fade.
4. Change the Layer mode to Luminosity.

OK?

[NOTE: I'll be adding a Fade action to Hidden Power Actions III.]

<<I am new to this group and to Photoshop Elements 2. If you could only have one book dealing with Photoshop Elements 2, what would that book be and why. I am retired and have to spend my money wisely. >>

Well, I would recommend the book which this newsletter sprung up

from: The Hidden Power of Photoshop Elements 2. You can get it here
if you haven't already:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0782141781/newwriting/

I would recommend it because I think that most people will quickly outgrow the basic books and rarely ever look at them again. It is my hope that the Hidden Power book is challenging and diverse enough that it is something you can come back to time and again and either take more away, or learn something new each time.

Beside that, there are also tools on the CD which bring you 95% of the way to Photoshop. You will be able to do anything you can in Photoshop, except a few production related things, and for a fraction of the cost. The tools on the CD are not available anywhere else, in any other book, with any plugin, or from Adobe. It is a unique and powerful addition for any user -- alone, I have heard, worth the price of the book many times over.

Hope that helps!

<<I followed the directions on page 223 to create a custom package layout for 4 2X3 pictures on a 4X6 page. The txt file seems correct as follows:

It didn't work. If I want to set up 4 2x3 images on a 4x6 sheet, how does that go?>>

The instructions in the book are right in the example, but the description is wrong. When discussing the positions, it is distance from the left, distance from the top, width and height. Somehow those first two phrases got inverted.

Your custom package would look like this:

I 4 6
2x3
0 0 2 3
0 3 2 3
2 0 2 3
2 3 2 3

Hope that helps!

<<One of the biggest drawbacks to PS Elements as a standalone image editor is that you cannot assign or convert image ICC profiles. Any chance you will be adding that ability to the HPE tool set?>>

Some people may have noticed I have a thing about profiling. My thing about profiling is: If you can't get decent results without a profile, you can't improve those decent results with a profile. A lot of well-meaning yakkity-yak goes on, often from people either pushing an agenda or who have stumbled on a result. Accidents are not part of what I do. If I get a result, I know why -- and not vaguely because I used XYZ profile -- because unless I can describe exactly what it is doing for me, it is a mistake.

I worked for years before there were profiles. I learned to get less complicated results without them. It adds a variable, and therefore complicates the process. Why complicate it first?

I've no doubt people improve some of their output with profiles. I have more doubt that most of them really know why.

I have a feeling, given my attitude, that I'll not work this one out soon. You can, opposed to general thinking, embed the profiles you want using techniques from the Hidden Power book. There may be even more clever ways of doing this using an EXIF editor.

<<I am having a little trouble with applying Levels corrections to my images, though I got the correction to work on the image in the book. Does this work only for this image? I can't duplicate the results and the images look awful when I am done. [example enclosed] I take an image (scanned), use RGB separation from HPE, go to each separation in turn and (manually) adjust levels (via a new adjustment layer), and then use Preview from HPE to put back in the color. The end result is virtually indistinguishable from the original image. The level adjustments I'm making are both in the RGB channel and the in the separate channels. I don't know what the composite RGB histogram measures as opposed to what each channel's histogram separately measures.>>

The image you sent me has the channels separated. I do discuss how to make a levels adjustment, and the method you are using is not the one I suggest...it is possible, sure, but requires applying changes to tone, not color, as channel information is saved as tone. Because you have separated the channels, following the Levels instructions won't work as described in the book (that is done with a flattened image) -- you have to do it differently. In your correction, you have a Levels correction to the green channel. At the top of the Levels palette there is a drop list and you have set this to: Channel: Green. It sould say Channel: RGB.

You only have to change the channel drop list when you are not first splitting the channels. If you do this with a separated image, what should be a grayscale channel will be altered unpredictably, shifting to green (left) or magenta (right) depending on which sliders you are moving.

RGB measures all the information and will keep it grayscale as it should in the separation.

Try this. split the image to RGB with preview. Shut off the blue and red channel. next, shut off the green color fill layer. Then add a levels adjustment to the Green layer. Adjust the RGB...and note that it remains in grayscale (which is desireable). Now change the green channel...and notice the layer changes to a color...this is bad. Grayscale in an image should be even amounts of red, green and blue, and using only one of the channels...turns the channel to a color by offsetting the perfect balance. You apply the color using the separate fill layer for a reason.

"I can get through your book but it doesn't explain the WHY of that particular step (why choose 'screen' instead of normal, or 'multiply' on the fill layer, just as examples)"

I hope I can disagree. I don't explain each step all the time, no. The reason for this is because this is really a book directed at the advanced user. I describe "screen" when it is first used. The text says that it is used to apply the layer as additive light (see step 9 page 38). RGB is light based theory...and the channels have to present as light. As things are discussed, they are put aside -- often rapidly. This keeps the advanced user from getting bogged down -

• and supplies the information for those that may need it. I can't keep saying it, or several things happen: more advanced users (the target audience) get bored, and the book balloons to 900 pages -- and the cost goes up. It is a lot for many people to digest -- and that is poking at no-one, this is not easy, run-of-the-mill stuff. All I am saying is if you aren't familiar with the technique and are not otherwise 'advanced' you may have to go through stuff several times. It may be asking the user to retain a lot of details: don't expect to get it all at once. It isn't necessary, and the understanding will come with time and use.

OK?

<<What I want to do is take a photo of a person with wispy hair and get rid of the background. If anyone can give me a hint of how to start, I'll do the hard work.>>

If you can control the background when taking the image, you are going to have a far easier time of it. Nothing really works like magic (even the Extract tool). However, if you can confine the background to a specific color (or range) you'll be able to knock it out pretty handily using my tools.

You might want to try some manual masking (which quite honestly is often what I do).

Try this:

1. open the image you want to use
2. flatten (if it isn't already)
3. dupicate the background and rename it Source
4. select the whole image
5. Press D to reset to default color
6. Activate the background layer by clicking it in the Layers palette
7. Press backspace to clear to white (you won't see it on screen)
8. Create a new layer. It will be between the background and Source layers. Name it Mask.
9. Activate the Source layer.
10. Duplicate the Source layer and rename it Hint.
11. Change the opacity of the Hint layer to about 50%.
12. Activate the Source layer again.
13. Press Cmd/CTRL+G (mac/PC). This will group the Source and Mask layers. The image will appear at 50%.
14. Choose the paintbrush and a small, round, 50% hard brush (you may need to adjust the settings).
15. Activate the Mask layer, and paint in the areas you want solid.
16. Preview the result by toggling the view for the Hint layer.

If you see what I've tried to have you set up here, you are using the original information as a template to help create a manual mask.

There are a lot of variations and things you can do to speed this up, like using the Magic Wand to select areas outside the hair and then fill an inverted selection, using the polygon lasso to select larger areas, or using the Bucket tool to fill areas (in most cases, use Contiguous, All Layers, Antialias, and a tolerance of 20-50).

Of course, there is always setting this up using Layer Masks (which you can get with the free tools from my website: http://hiddenelements.com ), and when you have the tools from the book, look into using Blend Mask, Saturation Masking, and other selection and masking techniques I include there.

Hope that helps!

PS I have considered adding the Extract tool to Elements, but really never use it myself.


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<< I sometimes want to print say three or four images on an A4 sheet and move them around until I find a layout I am happy with. PE2 doesn't allow you to do that in the way that, say Paint Shop Pro does with its Multiple Image Printing facility.>>

I don't use PSP often enough to know if there is anything comparable to that feature. There is, however, Picture Package in Elements [referenced elsewhere in this newsletter]. This should be able to cover most situations. You can describe a specific size sheet and image placement, then add the images you want to print -- which will resize automatically.

Another method is just laying out what you want manually. You might think this too remedial, but opening an image to 8.5 x 11 at 250ppi and draggin in the images you want, then sizing them and placing them would be what i'd do for a one-time printout. If there is a set pattern you like to use, you need to look into Picture Packages, covered in The Hidden power of Photoshop Elements 2.

OK?

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Short Answers
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- 1 -

<<Is there a shortcut to jump between pencil and brush?>>

Elements: (B)rush, Pe(n)cil

- 2 -

<<My computer crashed and I have to rebuild and reload. I need to reload Hidden Powers, but have no password. I forgot what it is and where to find it.>>

One of my means of pushing people to read the book and not just use the tools was to put the password in the introduction. It's there!

- 3 -

<<From my understanding new tools that were not on the cd can be downloaded from your site or is there another site I must go to?>>

http://hiddenelements.com/freetools.html I will be posting an update with revisions in a few days.

- 4 -

<<I read in your bio that you have written a number of articles on scanning. I have a Epson 3200 flat-bed, I'm interested in restoring old damaged photos and was wondering if any of those articles would pertain and where I could find them?>>

These are in a variety of magazines -- none, I think, online. There may be a chapter from my earlier book Adobe Photoshop 5 how To still on Informit.com...try looking there. It has a few hints.

- 5 -

<<I'm considering a wacom tablet for image editing, 4x5 or 6x8. Is the size important and do they improve the editing process?>>

It depends, I think, on how much of an art and sketch/drawing background you have. I prefer trackballs myself because there is far less wrist action and placement, but there is also decidedly more you can do with a pen. 6x8 will allow you to have better fine control becuase the pen can go further to cover the same ground...to me, that would be the advantage of the larger. If you don't have a steady hand, the small one might actually prove more difficult to use.

1. Problems Unstuffing the Free Tools
2. Free Tools Password?
   

<<Neither of my unzip programs (Aladdin Expander or 1Click unzip) seem to be able to handle a password protected zip file. What software must I use?>>

Enzip is a fabulous free utility for PC that can handle the unzipping. Get it here:

http://www.cpam.freeserve.co.uk/

For Mac, I have had good luck with MacZip:

http://www.haase-online.de/dirk/maczip/download/index.html

or Maczipit:

http://www.maczipit.com/ )

Alladin Expander works as well. Be sure you have the newest version:

http://www.stuffit.com/win/index.html

Hope that helps!

<<I have downloaded the free tools from the link in the newsletter, but cannot locate the password for loading the tools. I have tried the password used to install the cd in the book The Hidden Power of Potoshop Elemnts 2, and that password does not work. What is the password?>>

Sorry, several people have asked this question. I had that password in there for beta testing only so people wouldn't get a version I didn't want circulated, and I forgot to remove it for the release. They are free tools, it really shouldn't have a password!

Anyhow, the password is: hpa2

If you haven't gotten the tools, you can download them from the hidden power site: http://hiddenelements.com

Or there is a way to get them from Adobe but it requires creating a login on the Adobe site:

PC:
http://share.studio.adobe.com/axAssetDetailSubmit.asp?aID=6904

MAC:
http://share.studio.adobe.com/axAssetDetailSubmit.asp?aID=6903

I hope that helps!

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Do let me know about questions and comments, and let me know what you think about the newsletter. rl@ps6.com
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Brought to you by Richard Lynch
in conjunction with The Hidden power of Photoshop Elements 2

http://hiddenelements.com

Get it the book here:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0782141781/newwriting/

Copyright © 2003 Richard Lynch