Photo Embellishment.

[JoJo]

Thanks to Corey i made my grandaughter into an embellishment, I watched & followed your video on making your own embellishments, can't believe i did it, but it worked, little rough around the edges though.
I used adobe photo shop elements a little different to the one you used but i got there,thanks again Corey.
JoJo.

[Corey]

WOW! That's seriously awesome. I think it looks great personally, one cool thing about scrapping is that a little bit of "edge" makes things look homemade and I think that has a certain appeal and character you don't get with super "slick" stuff. Plus now that you've done it you will get better at it and basically be able to pick and choose how much edge you leave or don't leave. Anyhow it looks like that little tyke has come a *long* way and so have you, with Scrapbook MAX! that is anyhow. Awesome post Jojo. I don't mind making videos and stuff for people in my spare time if I know they'll be useful, so seeing your embellishment come about as a result of that video is rewarding for me. :)

[Karin]

I agree with Corey's wise words. And I'll add "creative AND tech savvy"!

Way to go! Looks like you've just entered a whole new dimension of scrapping possibilities... "scrapibilities"...?

Karin :)

P.S. Plus - can you get a cuter embellishment than Breannah?;)

[Jessica]

wow, looks great ! I wanna try that myself !!

[JoJo]

Thanks for all your encouraging words, but i must say i am not real good on the puter unless i have written instructions, step by step as it goes.
But Have a go Jessica it is well worth the effort.
Thanks again Corey.
JoJo

[Corey]

I'll keep that in mind and try to post some more tutorials as time allows. I'm in the process of moving from one home to another so it might be a slow month in terms of extra stuff from me but once I get re-situated I will definitely make a priority out of getting some more video tutorials online. And of course please feel free to post tutorial requests. My main area of expertise which I can provide tutorials for is art, design, layout, Photoshop, etc. :)

Jojo, you sure fooled me. I know lots of people who are great with computers who still haven't built any cool scrap pages. :) It's all relative. At any rate anyone who rolls up their sleeves and tries out the stuff from an online video is well on their way as far as I'm concerned. A little motivation goes a looooooong way. :)

Plus Scrapbook MAX! was specifically designed so that there wouldn't be any unecessary technical challenges. That's how we plan to keep it even as it evolves with new features, etc...

[JoJo]

Do you know if there are any plans maybe to incorperate the same sort of editing tool(magic extraction tool) into scrapmax?
For me i find photo shop is not so user friendly, gives me a headache:)

Anyway happy moving Corey.
JoJo

[Corey]

Probably not any time soon. The problem there is that it's really a super complicated process behind the technology in Photoshop's extraction tools. Adobe's been working on those for years with a huge team of programmers so as designers, we're better off to use what they've created in terms of the technology. I realize it can be tricky to use Photoshop at times but it's worth it to stick with it. I can help with Photoshop questions anytime. :)

[JoJo]

Thought that might be the reply, thanks anyway, will keep in mind your offer off help with photo shop.
Thanks again
JoJo

[Corey]

Cheers. :)

[only1lovesublime]

Hey how would I do that? please tell me

[JoJo]

I did this with photo shop elements 4.0, & with the magic extractor, what a great invention, & a lot of help from corey.
JoJo.

[Corey]

Yes Photoshop is amazing. The things one can do... It's enough to make your head spin. :)

Way back in the day I became an Adobe Photoshop Certified Expert (ACE) and for about 6 months before that my entire life revolved completely around Photoshop 5.0, night and day. In fact, no lie, I had to wear an eye patch (alternating) sometimes to rest my eyes because I was working so many hours. Long story short, even way back then, and even as keen a type as I am, it was still extremely apparent that one could spend their entire life using Photoshop and still not know every single aspect of it 100%. Photoshop is my #1 all time favorite piece of software because of that.

Check out the fine artist Bert Monroy (http://www.bertmonroy.com) for example. Here's one of his pieces which took over 2,000 hours, and it's 100% Photoshop: http://www.bertmonroy.com/home_img/images/hm_damen.jpg

For the record Bert is one heck of a nice guy too. A real class act. Anyhow my point being that Photoshop is very special. The totality of what it can do is not reproduced by any other tool on earth. The magic extractor is just the tip of the iceberg. :D

[Jessica]

wow, I checked the link... it looks just like a picture ! amazing !

[sdth]

Jojo you have a gorgeous grandaughter! This is coming from a grandmom of 5, 3 boys and 2 girls! If you plan on doing much with PhotoShop you might consider taking a Community College class in its uses. I did, and am very glad I did!! I couldn't do with out that knowledge now!:D You did an awesome job on that page, just think what you could do with some formal education on PS behind you!!!;)

[Corey]

Yes Jessica, that's Bert's knack. For fun, check out these other pieces of his, again 100% Photoshop:
http://www.photoshopsupport.com/inspiration/bert-monroy/hamburgers.jpg
http://whereisben.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/oakland.jpg

I love Bert's work. :D

[JoJo]

I visited the link you sent in Corey, that ia amazing it looks just like a photo, don't think i could ever get that good ever. Like i've said before i'm not real puter lit, so i probably would never touch the tip of the iceburg even, but i'm trying.
That's not a bad idea about doing a course, think i would enjoy that if i could take it all in, the old memory is a bit vague at times, but thank you sdth & yes she is georgous isn't she. she just turned 1 the other day.

JoJo

[Corey]

One? What a great age to be. She's got it made in the shade. :D

[Granny]

Wow, those are terrific. Yes, Photoshop is definetely the Cadillac of image software, but, like Corey said, it would take forever to master. And the price is no joke! I have PS7, but...

I started working with Paint Shop Pro instead, because there are so many sites with tutorials. I'm the type of person that learns best by doing. I used to read those huge manual from cover to cover, but I must be getting too old, because I can't do it any more. But I find that doing tutorials from the net it's a lot more fun. You see results instantly, and the repetition helps to retain the knowledge.

My humble suggestion... If you would like to make your own graphics, embellishments, etc., try PSP. Or, PhotoImpact.

Granny ;)

[JoJo]

Thanks Granny.
Do you know if there are tutorials for photo shop elements 4.0, guess i could just go to google, might do that, thanks anyway. I'm ok if i can write easy steps down but if it gets to tech i'm lost:D
JoJo

[Corey]

They're all good programs. Anything you can get your hands on is good IMO. The main thing is to find something you like and enjoy using. PS is definitely not for everyone, and all those other programs have ample strong points too. You definitely don't need to spend a fortune to find what you need. :)

[Granny]

Sorry, JoJo, I don't know. I only use PS Elements for the Wow effects, which are out of this world. I have never searched for tuts for it.

And Corey, you're so right. I wish I had the patience to really learn PS, but allas!, the old brain is to decrapitated... Ops, sorry, I meant decrepit. :o

And truth be told, I use about 10 different programs, including the little old Windows Paint. They all have something peculiarly great that the others don't. :D

So there! Viva la difference!

Granny

[Corey]

Well said. And that's a good reminder, Windows paint is definitely a perfectly good image editor for quite a few common tasks... :)