Jay Arraich’s Photoshop Elements Tips


	Learning Effects page three Before we apply another effect, click on the first state in the History palette before the Asphalt effect, and then choose Clear History from the History palette menu (click on the little arrow in the palette’s upper right corner to access the menu).You don’t have to clear the history, but it’s more orderly. You do need to step back before the Asphalt effect, to undo it and start with a clean image. If you ever get confused about which state was before an effect, or if your image gets changed in a way that you can’t seem to undo, close your image without saving, and reopen it. History states are not saved, so you’ll have a clean History palette when you reopen. The Brushed Metal effect requires text, so select the type tool in the toolbar, and add one word, 50 pt or larger. You need to have your text layer selected in the Layers palette before choosing the Brushed Metal effect, and clicking the Apply button in the Effects Browser. Make sure you choose Brushed Metal, and not Brushed Aluminum, which is right next to it in the list.	back next start Appendix Tips Elements Tools Elements Palettes
Tutorials Brushes in 7 Using PS7 Brushes 7 Basics 7 Reference: Tools 7 Reference: Palettes Reference: Effects Selections Channels Basic Layers Basic Pen How Much? Color Management Color Correction Curves, Levels, or Brightness/Contrast? Combining Images Combining Images II Combining Images III Compositing in Photoshop Perfect Blend Multicolor Fill Dodge and Burn Duotones Styles On Masks Organic Textures Abstract Background Make a Frame 3D Wire Text Doodling	As we did with Asphalt, after you accept the effect, I want you to go back to the last history state before you applied the effect, and then walk forward, looking closely at what happens in the image, and in the Layers palette as you click on each subsequent state. Watch closely when the first step, Rasterize Type, occurs. Type, in Elements and Photoshop, is created from from vector outlines. In order to apply filters to type, you have to first change it into a regular, pixel shape (an image). In Elements, the command is called Simplify Layer, and not Rasterize, but you can see what it does by watching your Layers palette as you click on the Rasterize Type state. The next series of states add a new layer, and then proceed to apply five filters to it. If the filter names are all new to you, please see the Appendix for help.
Older Tutorials Quick Mask Rubberstamping More Adjustments Sharpening Filters Color Elements Tutorials Elements Basics Reference: Elements Tools Reference: Elements Palettes How Do I...? Gotcha Pre-Beginner Pre-Beginner II Why Layers? Holes Fade In Playing With Styles Learning Effects Redeye Removal Artistic Filtering Symmetrical Flowers Simulated Alpha Channels Layer Masks Multilayer Masks Displacing Textures	The Levels state adds contrast to the image. Levels can be applied either directly (as it is here), or as an adjustment layer. It alters the tonal range of your image, and is generally used for increasing contrast. Then we come to the Group with Previous command. As promised when we saw this with the previous effect, I’ll explain what it does, this time. Step back and forth between the Levels state and the Group with Previous state. Can you see what Group with Previous does? It limits the visibility, and effects of the top layer to those areas that have content in the bottom layer. The boundary of the shape on the bottom layer determines what you see, and don’t see from the layer above. When it was used in the Asphalt effect, the bottom layer was fully opaque, so the grouping effect was not particularly apparent. It should be much easier for you to see what it’s doing, here.
	Next step is Merge Down, to combine, permanently, the two grouped layers. And, the last state applies a Bevel and Emboss to the type. This is interesting because Elements doesn’t have a bevel and emboss style. You can apply a bevel, or you can apply an emboss, but not both. You could apply a bevel style, and then use Filter > Stylize > Emboss, but the filters are not removable as are styles. What you can do, is copy the style from this effect by choosing Layer > Layer Style > Copy Layer Style. To apply it, select a layer (which can be in another document) and choose Layer> Layer Styles > Paste Layer Style. It may be more convenient for you to save such layer styles in a style library document that you can make. To find out how to do this, see page six of my Playing With Styles tutorial. There’s one more particularly interesting effect that I’ll go through in detail, and then you’ll be on your own. continue on page four
Photoshop Tips Photoshop Books Unreal Nature Shadows and Light FreePhotos Filler Images Elementary School Advanced Elements The Belief Game Animal Rights	Copyright © 2002 by Jay Arraich. All rights reserved. All photographs copyright ©2002 by Jay Arraich jay@arraich.com	next back start Appendix Tips Index Elements Tools Elements Palettes Site Index

Learning Effects

Copyright © 2002 by Jay Arraich. All rights reserved. All photographs copyright ©2002 by Jay Arraich jay@arraich.com

Copyright © 2002 by Jay Arraich.
All rights reserved.
All photographs copyright ©2002 by Jay Arraich
jay@arraich.com