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meeting

Digital Darkroom Basics

Digital Darkroom Basics

The inaugural meeting of our Digital Photography SIG was amazing. We literally had a standing room only crowd and as with all of your Users Groups meetings the information shared was nothing short of fantastic. Here is some of the information shared at the meeting:

Basic computer requirements

If you already have a computer and it is working great for your purposes, don’t take this as a suggestion to buy a new computer. However, if you are in the market for a new computer and want to know what to look for, here are
my suggestions from the meeting.

Holiday Greeting Cards

Holiday Greeting Cards

Using the techniques discussed this month you can create a stand-alone post card style greeting card, or make the photos on the front or inside of your greeting cards much more personalized.

Although the card above does not look that much like one you would send out for the Holidays, it uses several important effects and techniques that are only limited by your creativity.

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

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. Don’t expect the versatility of a program like Print Shop though.

The Magic of Digital Filters

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.

Solving the Mystery of Layers

Basics of Layers

Here are some of the basics we discussed 

at the Meeting

 

What are layers:

Layers are a feature of Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro and other more complex image editing programs which allow you to compile more than one image within an image.

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.

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 and program interface set up to make the program easier to use.

Top 10 Digital Camera Tricks

Top 10 Digital Camera Tips:
(in no particular order)

1. Use Rechargeable Batteries:
Make sure your digital camera supports them. Look for at least 1800 mAh. Get more than one set.

2. Save those batteries:
The three best ways to save batteries are…
1. Don’t use your LCD except for macro and composition shots.
2. Don’t over use your zoom lens.
3. Don’t connect your camera to your computer (use a media reader).