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It is important when
creating a web site to have some ability to create attractive
graphics. Most sites will require some minimal graphics elements
to add a professional and pleasing appearance. In addition,
product images have to be displayed to show your clients what
you want them to purchase.
The software package I use for my
image editing is Adobe Photoshop Elements 3. It is a less
expensive version of the comprehensive Photoshop package, which
is widely used by graphics professionals. Elements is a scaled
down version that is still powerful enough to perform most tasks
necessary to put up a small site on your own.
Elements is still a very powerful
package, in spite of being the scaled down version, and learning
to use it effectively is not a simple matter. To do so will take
time, study, and application.
For my use, I have acquired two
manuals that I have found very helpful and want to recommend to
my readers. These are "Photoshop Elements 3 Solutions", by Mikkel
Aaland,and "the Photoshop Elements 3 book" by Scott Kelby. I find
them both helpful, and find it helpful to have them both.
The books are different in their
organization, which makes it easier to find a solution to a
specific problem that I might be having, and the authors offer
different approaches to dealing with common problems.
A couple of illustrations might
be useful.
Teeth Whitening
A common problem in working with
photos of individuals is cleaning up the appearance of teeth in
a nice smile. A little effort with this issue can make an
ordinary photo look really great. Both books offer step by step
instructions to repairing this problem, but their approaches are
totally different.
Scott Kelby takes you through
selecting the teeth as a group, then removing the yellow tint
that is common to most smiles, then adjusts the lightness of the
selection to whiten the teeth. Mikkel Aaland offers two
approaches, one uses a “dodge” tool to “paint” the teeth, and
the second uses a selection tool and a “liquefy” command to
adjust the color on all the teeth at the same time. (Don’t worry
if you are not familiar with the names of the tools and what
they do. It is all explained in the books!)
Performing a Specific Task
Aaland’s book has a Section
titled “Better Product Shots” that takes you thorough the
process of working with images that you are using to illustrate
products for sale. In Kelby’s book, all the same information is
available. But it is not organized around the concept of
improving a product shot. You have to find the steps related to
that activity in various sections on your own. But, Kelby has a
whole section titled, “Showing It To Your Clients”, dealing with
the issues around showing your work to others while protecting
your rights to the work.
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