Getting familiar with your digital camera

Although we recently had a class on getting to know your digital camera, many in the group have brand new cameras this time. Since our meeting this month will focus a lot on the individual cameras that people bring to the meeting most of our notes will be posted after the meeting. Here are a few items I expect to touch on. You have a camera, now what? Once you have the digital camera, you will need a few extras. A 1...

Open Adobe PDF files in Firefox

Adobe Acrobat files (PDF) don't open properly in the Firefox browser window. However, one of the main advantages of Firefox is the vast library of add-ons to the browser called extensions. Here is a great one called the PDF Download extension you need if you use Firefox.

Gadgets yield more gadgets

I have helped several people buy new computers lately. I don't sell computers or any other hardware so I am more of a personal shopper than a salesman when it comes to guiding people through their purchase. I think it's funny how gadgets always seem to yield more gadgets. Here is a short flowchart of how this process works. 1. A client calls and says that they need a new computer. They ask my advice on what they...

Amazing Photoshop Elements: Toolbox

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 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...

MSCONFIG: These items are unneccessary

We talk about the Microsoft Configuration Utility (msconfig) so much, that we have a t-shirt available for it in our store. Msconfig is accessed by: Click Start Click Run Type:   msconfig Click OK Once in the utility, you want to click the "Startup" tab. Here is a list of some the programs that can be safely unchecked. After doing so, click OK, and restart the computer as instructed and your computer...

Three Must Have Digital Photo Gadgets

It wasn’t long after I bought my first computer that my wife noticed an unspoken truth about technology – gadgets yield more gadgets. When you buy a computer, you also need a printer, monitor, scanner, power supply, software, digital cameras, etc., etc. While there are a few extras that you need when it comes to digital photography if you get the right accessories right from the start you will likely not need to...

Picasa 2

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. 2. After downloading, install the program by...

Fun with Photoshop Elements

Fun With Photoshop Elements Photoshop Elements is great for making pictures look better, but there are a number of tools within Photoshop Elements that you may not know about. Some are practical, others are just fun. Give layers beveled or glowing edges: This is especially fun with text, but it can also be a handy skill for scrapbook pages or photo collages. This technique works especially well with text – but you...

Elements 3 Features

What’s New In Elements 3   Quirky Features: Not all of the new features in Elements 3 are extremely useful. Although many of the new features are designed to help the beginner, they are too complicated to be of any use. Some of theses new quirky features include: 1. Create - The most useful of the quirky new features, this feature allows you to make slideshows, greeting cards, photo album pages and more....

Photoshop Elements Part III

Adobe Photoshop Elements Part III Layers: What is a Layer? Put simply, a layer is an image stacked on top of another image. A new layer is formed any time you paste or type. You can also manually create a new layer by going to LAYER -> NEW -> LAYER in the menu at the top of your screen. Where are My Layers? You can see your layers by going to Window -> Layers. Use techniques discussed in part I of our Elements...

Photoshop Elements Part II

Adobe Photoshop Elements Part II Tools: Toolbox This box contains all of the primary manipulation tools used in Photoshop Elements. Download this zipped (530k) file for a demonstration program that describes each tool and what it does. If you are not running Windows XP and have not installed a zip opener – here is a free one that you can download and install. Zip Central Little Black Triangle The little black...

Photoshop Elements Part I

Adobe Photoshop Elements Part I This month we will begin a four-part session on Adobe Photoshop Elements. Although we are centering the meetings on Elements, most of the techniques and tools we discuss also apply to programs such as Paint Shop Pro, Ulead Photo Impact and other advanced image editing programs. Getting Started: Before you begin using Elements or any image editing program it is important to get the monitor...

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Learn to Use Your Digital Camera’s EXIF Data

In the olden days of photography, a true student of the hobby would carry a note pad and write down the shutter and film speed as well as the lens setting and information such as whether or not a flash was used. The photographer would then use this information as a reference in becoming familiar with the camera. Even with digital it is extremely important to learn how your camera reacts in various settings. Digital cameras...

Give Your Digital Pictures an Artistic Flair

Whether you use a digital camera, scanner, get your film developed on disk, or just collect digital photos from your friends and family via email, learning to work with and edit your photo’s with your computer is great fun. One of my favorite (and easy) tricks to do with digital photos is convert them to black and white. Black and white photos offer a unique perspective and effect to almost any photo but work...