Hi Stacy,
Ok, I got my son and his baby daughter isolated on a layer. I blurred the other layer. Now, how do I get them onto the blurred layer?

I was thinking of using PSE 3 for helping edit my photos that I manually place in my scrapbooks. Digital scrapbooking is a whole other world for me. How does that differ from doing scrapbooks manually? You can tell I'm green as can be about all of this, but I'm willing to learn. Thanks for being so helpful.

Cathy

Cathy,

All you have to do is turn on both the layer with DS and DGD and the blurred layer. There should be a little eye icon next to the layers in the layer palette. And of course the make sure the that blurred layer is below the layer with your DS and DGD on in it. Do you like that result?

PSE has a lot of power for editing photos and lots of great quick fixes. So even if you're just interested in paper scrapping, it's a great tool. The big difference between digi-scrapping and paper scrapping is that you do it all on computer. So you add your paper, photos, journaling, title, embellishments all on the computer and then print out the end result or sharing LOs online or with slideshows. It's really all about how you like to scrap. I'm a self proclaimed techno-geek so I love scrapping on the computer. My local friends think I'm nuts but what's new?!?

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avatar photo by Marja Flick-Buijs downloaded at sxc.hu

Ok, I hope you don't get tired of my ignorance, but what does 'turn on both the layer with DS and DGD and the blurred layer' mean?

Also, how do I save the layers if I want to come back to them later?

Thanks for being so great about helping me.

Cathy

Stacy,
I only have one of the layers in the layer palette. It has the word 'background' next to it. Right now I have the blurred layer in that position. Is the layer with DS an DGD supposed to also be in the layer palette? I still don't understand how to 'put them together'.
Thanks for walking me through this.
Cathy

Cathy,

I've had a busy morning, so let me walk you through this now. To print out your corrected photo you'll want both layers in one file. Let me start at the beginning and walk you through this.

1. open the picture to be adjusted.
2. before you do anything save the image as a PSD. This will help ensure that you don't accidently overwrite the original file.
3. right click on the layer in the layer palette and select Duplicate. This way you'll always have copy of the original image in your PSD.
4. Use the Magnetic Lasso tool to select around DS (Dear Son) and DGD (Dear Granddaughter).
5. Right click on the photo and select Invert Selection. Then hit the Delete key. To really see what you did to the layer turn off the Background layer in the layer palette. DS and DGD should be cutout from the picture.
6. right click on the Background layer and select Duplicate. This new layer will be the blurred image.
7. Go to Filters> Blur> Gaussian and adjust the size of the blur to one that you like. Click Ok.
8. Save your complete image as PSD file. This way the layers are intact in case you want to modify them later. You can easily print from this file too. If you want to give a soft copy of this fixed picture to someone save it as a JPEG.

I think that should work for you but please holler if you're still having problems. I like to help folks out with PSE.

And just to be super clear... my earlier comment to "turn on both the layer with DS and DGD and the blurred layer" just meant that you should have at least two layers and they should both be visible (i.e. have the eye icon next to them in the layer palette).

HTH! Post and let me know how it's going!

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avatar photo by Marja Flick-Buijs downloaded at sxc.hu

aarrgghh!! I am so sorry. (does psd mean photoshop duplicate? Do I click on file and then duplicate?)

Ok, I take the picture to the Edit station. In the layer palette to the right of the picture, it shows this picture as the 'background'. Do I right click on it to duplicate it in the layer palette?

Then what I've done next is use the magnetic lasso tool and I outline DS and DGD with it. Then I've right clicked on that part that is outlined, selected the invert selection, and then hit the delete key. I get the outline of them with a blue background.

Then I click on the duplicate of the original picture again and blur it, but I still only have one layer in the palette. It depends which one I click on that shows it as 'background'.

So what am I not doing or what am I doing wrong not to have two layers? and I still don't understand how I'm supposed to put the cut-out of them on top of the blurred background.
Thank you for your patience with me.

Cathy

Don't worry it takes a little bit to get used to the lingo. Then all the abbreviations and shorthand makes sense.

PSD is the native Photoshop Elements file type. When you click File> Save as, click on the down arrow next to the Format field. PSD is the first file type on the list.

In the layer palette (and you've got that one located correctly!), you right click on the "background" layer and select duplicate. Then you'll have two layers that look exactly alike in the same document. You can work with one and know that the original is fine. Is it possible that when you're duplicating the layer are you telling to create a new document? When the duplicate layer menu pops up just click okay. Then you should have a Background layer and a Background copy layer.

When you're deleting the invert selection it sounds like you worked on the background layer and NOT the copied layer. When you delete PSE is using your background color to fill in the deleted section of the layer. Once you get two layers in one document this will not be an issue.

Boy would this be easier to explain if we were both in the same room. LOL Keep at it. Let me know if the latest explanations help.

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avatar photo by Marja Flick-Buijs downloaded at sxc.hu

You're doing a great job! and Cathy, I applaud you for not giving up! Way to stick to it, you two!!

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