jane bradbury.. a journey in paint shop pro

selections

Happy New Year!

You know that lesson I learned last year (doesn’t that sound a lot further back than last month or last week?), about keeping a text document of my site content? It was indeed a lesson well learned, as once again I overwrote the whole site whilst trying to do that pesky upgrade!

That photograph I used last week of me, not in 1840 of course, was taken around 1973-4. I remember that top I was wearing and at the time, I didn’t really like it. Who would have guessed that the style would be back thirty years later, and I would think it “cool” to wear something like that now!

The original photograph is black and white, and I wondered if I could make a good job of re-colouring the top to fit my remembrance of it. Always, when starting this sort of photo editing, work on a copy of the original: I also duplicate the layer in the new image, so I have an instant replacement if I make a pig’s ear of it!

I’m using the Change To Target tool with a default brush tip and Mode=Colour: I tested out a few blue shades and decided that R53 G91 B129 looked “about right”. Yes, you have to be very precise when using Paint Shop Pro! I also created a Selection around my shirt top, using Point To Point with Feather=10 and Smoothing=4.

today’s tip

Save your selections, if you know you will be using the same area again: it’s something I don’t do often enough. Go to Selections>Load/Save Selection>Save Selection to Alpha Channel to open the dialog box. The image name appears on the left and I leave it unchanged: I leave the Selection name unchanged, too. If I have more than one selection for this image, the number will change automatically: plus there is the preview of the selection so that I can see the shape and pick the right one. Now when I need that selection I can use Selections>Load/Save Selection/Load Selection From Alpha Channel.

I removed all the other background from the photo with the blue colour: this enabled me to duplicate the blue layer and add a Blend Mode=Soft Light, adding just a touch more colour, without affecting the rest of the photo. The final photo is an accurate representation of the blue top, or at least my memory of it. I’m just musing about selections: do you use them and save them to either the alpha channel or to disk? I’m sure I could make better use of selections, so I'll give it some more thought.

Posted by Jane on January 02, 2009 11:06 | 0 comments | Permalink |

more time

I have tools in Paint Shop Pro that I have never used, do you? This is the reason there is always something new to learn; I haven’t used any tool in PSP to it’s full potential. There some tools I use a lot, e.g. Inner Bevel, Drop Shadow, and Texture, but with all the possible permutations in those three tools I’ll never reach a complete knowledge of them. A change in source texture or image always produces a slightly different effect.

Isn’t that just amazing? Every day I have the opportunity to learn a new technique or effect, just by playing around in Paint Shop Pro! It does sound ideal, written here, but if you’re like me it doesn’t work out like that. There is a saying, “Necessity is the mother of invention,” and it’s true: if I have a tutorial or deadline to meet I’ll have no trouble working out new ideas. If I’m just doing something for myself, I don’t seem to have the same drive to improvise.

time machine 

One of the unused tools in my Paint Shop Pro X2 is the Time Machine. I remember when it was introduced in PSP XI and I decided not to upgrade because it didn’t seem a good enough reason for leaving PSP 9 behind. In the last two years of tutorial writing and designing, I haven’t used it once.

I tried it out today: here’s me circa 1840. I quite like the effect: I’ve not seen many original photographs from the 1840’s, but it looks like a couple I have in my album. It is certainly a quick way of getting an aged photograph for heritage albums, but as I wasn’t born in the 1840’s there’s not much call for me to use it, unless it was for a specific project.

Have you used the Time Machine? Did you find it useful? What tools do you have, languishing untouched in your Paint Shop Pro?

 

 

Posted by Jane on December 19, 2008 09:20 | 0 comments | Permalink |

time please!

If there is one downside to digital scrapbooking it is the instant gratification it brings. Go shopping at many of the digital stores and downloads are available as soon as you have paid. Papers and embellishments are usually so well crafted that they simply need placing on the page: all you need is the photograph.

There is nothing wrong with that, nothing at all. In our busy lives, we need quick ways to record our memories; there isn’t time to mess about! I found that the same attitude followed me into designing, and that wasn’t so good.

I found myself wanting instant results: one brush tip, with some Variance added, should produce exactly the “look” I am after, because I don’t have time to spend building the effect. There are times that worked for me, but mostly I knew I was cheating myself. I know my best work came when I spent the time to build the effect I wanted layer by layer, or created a custom brush tip or texture.

taking the time

Last year was the first time I came across the blog of Tim Holtz, and subsequently his 12 Tags of Christmas. He has just finished this year’s 12 Tags and, to me, the amount of time and effort he puts into these tags is amazing. I remember thinking last year, “Why take all this time, why use all these different techniques when one quick swipe with an ink pad would probably do?”

This year I have followed along, making my own versions of the tags digitally. It has been a great experience, one I still have to finish; I’m only up to tag #9! I have spent time experimenting with the tools and effects in Paint Shop Pro, trying to imitate the way inks work on a surface. The key is time: to recreate the look and texture of ink on paper I layered effect upon effect until I was satisfied with the appearance.

Taking that time to build an effect really does make a difference, both on the screen and when printed. I have printed eight of my tags and the colours and depth are the best I have done – so far! I’ll share my ideas over the coming months in more depth, but here is one effect that actually didn’t take much time at all. In the original version the white area of the tag is done first and stamped over with the other colours of ink. To create the icicle effect the white areas are wiped with a damp cloth, giving the streaky look.

today's tip

I waited until the tag was finished before I added my white areas. I used Brush Tip Distressed 3 (so it says in my list), but it is also Corel_01_040. All the Brush tip settings were left at their default values, I changed only Size=16. In the Brush Variance Palette is changed the following values: Size=7, Rotation=272, Position Jitter=10% and Impressions per step=4. Once I had painted around my tag I used Blur>Motion Blur>Angle=180 and Strength=100.

For me, it’s all about balance: producing quality digital scrapbooking products, and pages, is the goal and sometimes that will require taking the time to get it “just right”, and sometimes it will happen quickly and easily. When you are designing, do you have time to work on your effects? When you are scrapping, do you use everything “as is” or do you take time to add your own touches to the digital products you buy?

Posted by Jane on December 12, 2008 08:57 | 0 comments | Permalink |