Jeez, George! What a nice touch to add the light streak on the background layer. It really adds a tremedous amount to the whole photo. I just never think of those things and it's great that you do and show us how it's done.
Just watching this one video I learned how to do two other things that didn't even have to do with blurring! Excited to have stumbled onto your video. I subscribed and I can't wait to watch the others. Thank you!
This video is excellent for learning the different tools involved and with creativity at the same time. After finishing your training course, I find these videos much easier to follow. It has allowed me to be more creative with my older photos. Thanks, George!
Thanks John, that is the best way to learn Photoshop Elements. First get my complete Photoshop Elements training then do these TH-cam videos as additional training and practice. George
Thank you! Every-time I watch a video of yours it gets me that much closer to knowing this wonderful world of skillful art. Don't stop, your teaching is very much appreciated.
You're welcome Brian and thank you for your kind comment. As long as people keep purchasing my full training titles on Amazon or my web site I will be able to continue putting up these video projects. Shameless product pitch, but that's the reality. Don't be too worried though, I have been selling my training full time since 1996. George
George Great video, anything to do with glamor portraits is much appreciated. This gets harder than one thinks, not a lot of room for making mistakes. I always say "green trees are much more forgiving than green people." I liked how you handled the light streak in keeping all that work behind the subjects head and of course the use of blending modes and blurs. Appreciate all you do! Rich
Thanks Rich! Doing these controlled focus techniques can add a lot to an image, it allows you to focus attention on a specific part of the picture, in this case the face. Great portrait and glamour effect. The light streak is the same basic technique that I used on the light rays in a forest project, another one of those basic tricks that has lots of applications. th-cam.com/video/KMXaVYbQT-w/w-d-xo.html George
To be honest, I am using the technique you showed in the light rays in the forest every chance I get....LOL......one of my favorite Peirson techniques for landscape! I was a bit surprised when I first started shooting pictures with the sun in the frame, one can get some unique photos if you set your target to some other point. PSE makes all this easier and much more creative, best of all, you have all the control. Thanks for commenting Rich
Outstanding! I have been watching your videos for a while now and I must say that they are are engaging and well done. Your Glamour shot is great. It is an artful approach. Thanks for all of the great editing tips. I've incorporated many in my editing and have shared them with friends. I look forward to your videos in my subscription.
Although I'm hardly likely (to the point of never!) to have any glamour shots, the techniques you used can surely be applied in other images, which as ever makes it fascinating to watch what you do. The problem I have is trying to remember it all!!
Hi! Thanks for sharing your amazing tutorials, they are really helpful! May I ask you a question? Is it possible to do stacking focus technique using photoshop elements 15? I'm really interested to know that because I love macrophotography and I want to do an insects face series. Thank you so much my Guru and keep the good work.
Hi, Focus Stacking is where you take several images that have a very shallow depth of field focus and stack them together as layers to use the in-focus part of each photo to create a picture with a deeper depth of field. As you state this is a technique that is used to overcome a problem with Macrophotography where you get that shallow depth of field. Ideally you would do this in Adobe Photoshop as it has a merge tool just for this, making it real easy. Photoshop Elements lacks that focus photomerge tool so you can't automate this process in PSE. It can be done though manually but it takes a careful eye to pull off the effect. Basically you would take your series of photographs, carefully adjusting the depth of field for each photo to give you a controlled series of photographs with the focus moving from the front to the back of the image over that series of photos. Then bring those photos into Photoshop Elements as layers in one project file. Next put a layer mask on each layer, by default the layer mask will be white and will show everything on that layer. Now hide all of the layers except the top layer and using a soft edge brush paint black on the layer mask hiding anything in that layer that is out of focus. Then make the next layer visible and do the same steps on that layer, and continue on down your series of layers. This will give you your focus stacked image. But as mentioned above it does require some care when making the layer masks to mask out just the out of focus parts, leaving in the focused bits. It really is not that difficult to do in Photoshop Elements, but a lot easier in Adobe Photoshop since that program has the automated tool just for this. There is an advantage though to doing it manually since you can decide exactly which parts of your image you want in focus, whereas in the automated Adobe Photoshop trick everything ends up in focus. Leaving parts of the image out of focus will make for a more creative and attractive look. Great question, I really should do a video about this. George
Hi Mr Peirson, I really like your tutorials. I was following along with this one and I do have a question, I had a very slight glow around the outline of my granddaughter and did not know how to erase it or blend it into the new background. There was a shadow of my granddaughter in the original background. Should I have kept my selection on the very edge or just inside of the selection. Thanks for all your help, Semper Fi, Joe W.
Hi Joe, Thanks! On your image edge glow problem. It is always best to get your selection right on the edge of the object you are selecting. Most edge problems happen when you are taking a light background object and putting it on a dark background so you may need to darken some part of the edge to blend in the look. Here is a video showing how. th-cam.com/video/xsJISxF_k4I/w-d-xo.html Here is another video having the same problem th-cam.com/video/3nSJffeJjIo/w-d-xo.html Hope these answer your question. George
Hello, i have been following this tutorial but using my own picture. Everything is fine till i get to the step where i select filter - render - fibers ... i then get a message which says "elements 14 could not complete the fibers command because no pixels are selected. I have followed every step exactly
Hi, make sure that you are not on an empty layer when you use the Fibers filter. It does not matter what is on that layer but it needs something. Just filling with black or white will do. George
George, I have a question about your photoshop elements training course. In the resources, it won't download a picture or file because there is no program associated to do that. It says to go to my default settings and make an association to open it. I have zip programs but maybe that's not it. What do I need to associate it with?
Hi John, different browsers handle online downloads differently. Some will download on a single click, some require a double click, some will try to open the file if you click or double click. That is what I am guessing is happening, your browser is trying to open the zip file instead of downloading it. Web browsers don't have the ability to open zip files so you would get that warning. Try right clicking on the link and choosing Save As to save it to your computer, then open it from there. George
Got it, George. I was messing with the zip opener and suddenly they all appeared. When I click on them they open in elements. They were already on my computer even though the message that popped up saying the association had to be made. So, they were downloaded. I just didn't know it. I'm not a complete idiot, really. Thanks for your info. Glad it's solved!
Great! No one is an idiot when you are doing something for the first time. I still occasionally make some amazing blunders in my projects, of course you will never see those in the videos. What you see in the videos is usually my 3rd or 4th pass at the project so that the video record goes smoothly. First pass is experimentation, trying out different things to see what I like, 2nd/3rd pass is taking notes and simplifying the steps, 4th pass is the recording. I actually recommend that to everyone, do the project at least 2 times and you will have a much better understanding of the process. George
Hi I can follow you untill we get to filter,render ,fibres and I see "could not complete the fibres command because no pixels are selected" I've clicked on the newly created layer have I missed something ?
Hi Colin, the new layer has to have some content on it. Just fill it with a color, I usually use white. Doesn't matter what, it just needs something there. George
Hi, I am working on a picture from Lightroom to PSE 15. when I tried to make a background copy in the PSE 15, it stated I need to covert the picture to 8 bits from 16 bits. Is it OK do so? is there any problem when I bring the picture back to Lightroom? thanks for the help
Hi, it depends on what you are planning to do with the final image. If you move the image over to Photoshop Elements it will automatically convert to 8 bit since that is what PSE edits in. By doing this you will be losing color information. If you go back to Lightroom and convert back to 16 bit you won't get that color information back again. The real question is, does it really matter? IF you aren't going to be doing much image editing then it probably will not be noticeable, or if you are making the image for use online it will not be noticeable as online images are 8 bit because monitors are 8 bit. So when you are editing 16 bit in Lightroom you are actually looking at an 8 bit image on the monitor, but you are working with 16 bits. Where this is important is if you are doing a lot of image editing, especially working with the values in an image. 8 bit images will tend to start "banding" pretty quickly if you edit them too much, 16 bit images don't have this problem. Also if you are making images for a large blowup print then you may run into some problems by going out to PSE and then back to Lightroom. If any of this is a concern then it is better to do your editing in Adobe Photoshop instead of Photoshop Elements where you can stay in 16 bit mode. The tricks in this tutorial work just as well in Photoshop. So, bottom line, if the PSE step is basically the last step then no problem. Or if you are going to be using the image online without too much additional editing then again no problem. If you are going for a high quality print, or a large print, or are planning a lot more image editing then you may see some image quality loss by going from PSE to Lightroom. George
Interesting. I did not know this. I am starting to use Elements and was thinking of finishing my photos in lr but after reading this I’m not sure if I want to stay with elements ☹️ as my clients print my pictures in big sizes. Not wall sizes but let’s say 20x24 Will that be a big problem if I edit in elements only?
Hi, layer masks are one of the most powerful and useful techniques in Photoshop Elements and the only way to do this controlled gradual blur. Well worth the time spent learning the technique. Here are a couple of other videos using this same basic concept. th-cam.com/video/_-2Sbqh9Z2c/w-d-xo.html and th-cam.com/video/r2j6o3WQjFE/w-d-xo.html. George
Hi Kwei, if at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Here is another soft focus background with a different technique. Maybe this one will make sense. th-cam.com/video/04JcPIYBhuM/w-d-xo.html The important thing though is to never give up. George
🔴 If you enjoy this video show your support by clicking on the Thanks Button
Thanks so much. This is my favorite channel to learn about elements. Thank you!!!!
You're very welcome!
Clear and simple instruction. This is your first video that i have seen, and it was a great help - thank you.
You're welcome Adrian, check out my channel for hundreds more videos!
George
Jeez, George! What a nice touch to add the light streak on the background layer. It really adds a tremedous amount to the whole photo. I just never think of those things and it's great that you do and show us how it's done.
Thanks!
George
Very interesting-a little too advanced for me, but I’ll get there. Thank you.
Thanks, try it a few times and you will get it.
Just watching this one video I learned how to do two other things that didn't even have to do with blurring! Excited to have stumbled onto your video. I subscribed and I can't wait to watch the others. Thank you!
You're welcome Susan, glad to have you aboard!
George
This video is excellent for learning the different tools involved and with creativity at the same time. After finishing your training course, I find these videos much easier to follow. It has allowed me to be more creative with my older photos. Thanks, George!
Thanks John, that is the best way to learn Photoshop Elements. First get my complete Photoshop Elements training then do these TH-cam videos as additional training and practice.
George
Thank you! Every-time I watch a video of yours it gets me that much closer to knowing this wonderful world of skillful art. Don't stop, your teaching is very much appreciated.
You're welcome Brian and thank you for your kind comment. As long as people keep purchasing my full training titles on Amazon or my web site I will be able to continue putting up these video projects. Shameless product pitch, but that's the reality. Don't be too worried though, I have been selling my training full time since 1996.
George
George
Great video, anything to do with glamor portraits is much appreciated. This gets harder than one thinks, not a lot of room for making mistakes. I always say "green trees are much more forgiving than green people." I liked how you handled the light streak in keeping all that work behind the subjects head and of course the use of blending modes and blurs.
Appreciate all you do!
Rich
Thanks Rich! Doing these controlled focus techniques can add a lot to an image, it allows you to focus attention on a specific part of the picture, in this case the face. Great portrait and glamour effect. The light streak is the same basic technique that I used on the light rays in a forest project, another one of those basic tricks that has lots of applications. th-cam.com/video/KMXaVYbQT-w/w-d-xo.html
George
To be honest, I am using the technique you showed in the light rays in the forest every chance I get....LOL......one of my favorite Peirson techniques for landscape! I was a bit surprised when I first started shooting pictures with the sun in the frame, one can get some unique photos if you set your target to some other point. PSE makes all this easier and much more creative, best of all, you have all the control.
Thanks for commenting
Rich
: )
Outstanding! I have been watching your videos for a while now and I must say that they are are engaging and well done. Your Glamour shot is great. It is an artful approach. Thanks for all of the great editing tips. I've incorporated many in my editing and have shared them with friends. I look forward to your videos in my subscription.
Thanks Chuck!
George
Although I'm hardly likely (to the point of never!) to have any glamour shots, the techniques you used can surely be applied in other images, which as ever makes it fascinating to watch what you do. The problem I have is trying to remember it all!!
Hi Peter, this trick is also great for wedding photography and flower photography.
George
Making notes help. Practice along the video. Do it many times.
Hi George that hit the spot thanks
: )
Thank you so much!
You're welcome, and thanks for watching and commenting!
George
Very nice work and so helpful. Thanks George!
You're welcome Dan!
George
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always doing great videos!!
Thanks!
George
Thank you!
You're welcome!
George
Hi! Thanks for sharing your amazing tutorials, they are really helpful! May I ask you a question? Is it possible to do stacking focus technique using photoshop elements 15? I'm really interested to know that because I love macrophotography and I want to do an insects face series. Thank you so much my Guru and keep the good work.
Hi, Focus Stacking is where you take several images that have a very shallow depth of field focus and stack them together as layers to use the in-focus part of each photo to create a picture with a deeper depth of field. As you state this is a technique that is used to overcome a problem with Macrophotography where you get that shallow depth of field. Ideally you would do this in Adobe Photoshop as it has a merge tool just for this, making it real easy. Photoshop Elements lacks that focus photomerge tool so you can't automate this process in PSE. It can be done though manually but it takes a careful eye to pull off the effect.
Basically you would take your series of photographs, carefully adjusting the depth of field for each photo to give you a controlled series of photographs with the focus moving from the front to the back of the image over that series of photos. Then bring those photos into Photoshop Elements as layers in one project file. Next put a layer mask on each layer, by default the layer mask will be white and will show everything on that layer. Now hide all of the layers except the top layer and using a soft edge brush paint black on the layer mask hiding anything in that layer that is out of focus. Then make the next layer visible and do the same steps on that layer, and continue on down your series of layers. This will give you your focus stacked image. But as mentioned above it does require some care when making the layer masks to mask out just the out of focus parts, leaving in the focused bits. It really is not that difficult to do in Photoshop Elements, but a lot easier in Adobe Photoshop since that program has the automated tool just for this. There is an advantage though to doing it manually since you can decide exactly which parts of your image you want in focus, whereas in the automated Adobe Photoshop trick everything ends up in focus. Leaving parts of the image out of focus will make for a more creative and attractive look.
Great question, I really should do a video about this.
George
Hi Mr Peirson,
I really like your tutorials. I was following along with this one and I do have a question, I had a very slight glow around the outline of my granddaughter and did not know how to erase it or blend it into the new background. There was a shadow of my granddaughter in the original background. Should I have kept my selection on the very edge or just inside of the selection.
Thanks for all your help,
Semper Fi,
Joe W.
Hi Joe, Thanks! On your image edge glow problem. It is always best to get your selection right on the edge of the object you are selecting. Most edge problems happen when you are taking a light background object and putting it on a dark background so you may need to darken some part of the edge to blend in the look. Here is a video showing how. th-cam.com/video/xsJISxF_k4I/w-d-xo.html Here is another video having the same problem th-cam.com/video/3nSJffeJjIo/w-d-xo.html
Hope these answer your question.
George
Hello, i have been following this tutorial but using my own picture. Everything is fine till i get to the step where i select filter - render - fibers ... i then get a message which says "elements 14 could not complete the fibers command because no pixels are selected. I have followed every step exactly
Hi, make sure that you are not on an empty layer when you use the Fibers filter. It does not matter what is on that layer but it needs something. Just filling with black or white will do.
George
George, I have a question about your photoshop elements training course. In the resources, it won't download a picture or file because there is no program associated to do that. It says to go to my default settings and make an association to open it. I have zip programs but maybe that's not it. What do I need to associate it with?
Hi John, different browsers handle online downloads differently. Some will download on a single click, some require a double click, some will try to open the file if you click or double click. That is what I am guessing is happening, your browser is trying to open the zip file instead of downloading it. Web browsers don't have the ability to open zip files so you would get that warning. Try right clicking on the link and choosing Save As to save it to your computer, then open it from there.
George
Got it, George. I was messing with the zip opener and suddenly they all appeared. When I click on them they open in elements. They were already on my computer even though the message that popped up saying the association had to be made. So, they were downloaded. I just didn't know it. I'm not a complete idiot, really. Thanks for your info. Glad it's solved!
Great! No one is an idiot when you are doing something for the first time. I still occasionally make some amazing blunders in my projects, of course you will never see those in the videos. What you see in the videos is usually my 3rd or 4th pass at the project so that the video record goes smoothly. First pass is experimentation, trying out different things to see what I like, 2nd/3rd pass is taking notes and simplifying the steps, 4th pass is the recording. I actually recommend that to everyone, do the project at least 2 times and you will have a much better understanding of the process.
George
Hi I can follow you untill we get to filter,render ,fibres and I see "could not complete the fibres command because no pixels are selected" I've clicked on the newly created layer
have I missed something ?
Hi Colin, the new layer has to have some content on it. Just fill it with a color, I usually use white. Doesn't matter what, it just needs something there.
George
Hi, I am working on a picture from Lightroom to PSE 15. when I tried to make a background copy in the PSE 15, it stated I need to covert the picture to 8 bits from 16 bits. Is it OK do so? is there any problem when I bring the picture back to Lightroom? thanks for the help
Hi, it depends on what you are planning to do with the final image. If you move the image over to Photoshop Elements it will automatically convert to 8 bit since that is what PSE edits in. By doing this you will be losing color information. If you go back to Lightroom and convert back to 16 bit you won't get that color information back again. The real question is, does it really matter? IF you aren't going to be doing much image editing then it probably will not be noticeable, or if you are making the image for use online it will not be noticeable as online images are 8 bit because monitors are 8 bit. So when you are editing 16 bit in Lightroom you are actually looking at an 8 bit image on the monitor, but you are working with 16 bits. Where this is important is if you are doing a lot of image editing, especially working with the values in an image. 8 bit images will tend to start "banding" pretty quickly if you edit them too much, 16 bit images don't have this problem. Also if you are making images for a large blowup print then you may run into some problems by going out to PSE and then back to Lightroom. If any of this is a concern then it is better to do your editing in Adobe Photoshop instead of Photoshop Elements where you can stay in 16 bit mode. The tricks in this tutorial work just as well in Photoshop. So, bottom line, if the PSE step is basically the last step then no problem. Or if you are going to be using the image online without too much additional editing then again no problem. If you are going for a high quality print, or a large print, or are planning a lot more image editing then you may see some image quality loss by going from PSE to Lightroom.
George
Interesting. I did not know this. I am starting to use Elements and was thinking of finishing my photos in lr but after reading this I’m not sure if I want to stay with elements ☹️ as my clients print my pictures in big sizes. Not wall sizes but let’s say 20x24
Will that be a big problem if I edit in elements only?
I"m hoping you can blur with a faster and easier approach. The masks are very confusing to me. Thank you.
Hi, layer masks are one of the most powerful and useful techniques in Photoshop Elements and the only way to do this controlled gradual blur. Well worth the time spent learning the technique. Here are a couple of other videos using this same basic concept. th-cam.com/video/_-2Sbqh9Z2c/w-d-xo.html and th-cam.com/video/r2j6o3WQjFE/w-d-xo.html.
George
Oh boy. Will I ever understand Photoshop Elements? I'm beginning to worry I might be a little dumb.
Hi Kwei, if at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Here is another soft focus background with a different technique. Maybe this one will make sense. th-cam.com/video/04JcPIYBhuM/w-d-xo.html The important thing though is to never give up.
George