Newbie! I need Scrapbooking 99 - not 101

[Lorelei]

Hello, I am so excited to start digital scrapping (Adobe PS)! The problem is that when I go to the beginner pages, it says things like "make sure your pages are on separate layers," but I need step by step instructions for how to do that. Does anyone know where to get that kind of info? I am using the 30 day trial, so maybe I would get more instructional info from the purchased version? I just want to make sure that I can understand this before purchasing.

[Starling]

I suggest you print out the Beginner's Tutorial you will find the the tutorial section and try to do it step by step. Sometimes difficult concepts become obvious if you work through the steps.

A lot of people have problems with the idea of layers. One of the best ways I've seen it explained is that if you were doing a paper layout, you would have each item on its own piece of paper and you would be pasting it down. Pretty much the same thing happens in Photoshop. Your background "paper" is one layer. Each of your photos is another layer. Any element or "object" you add to the layout will be another layer.

Sometimes more than one thing will end up on a single layer in the program by accident. As long as each thing is on its own layer, you can move it around, and do other things to adjust that one thing. If more than one thing is on a single layer, when you try to move one, everything on the layer will move too.

The basic tutorials here are actually very good ones. There are others at other digital scrapbooking sites, but these are the best ones I know about.

You can always come by and ask questions here.

[Margie]

great news! you ARE IN scrapping 099 right now! :) there are thousands in these forums that will love to help you get going! unfortunately, you will get no instructions with the purchased photoshop. it's a graphics program, not a scrapbooking one, so that won't be super helpful. but the members here will! :)
just go through the beginner tutorial until you're comfortable to tackle the others and ask anytime you get stuck. there's always someone here (24/7 even) so you should be able to get unstuck pretty quickly!
you'll see the layers palette on the top right of your screen. if you open a photo, it will say background and show a little thumbnail. if you start with file, new, you will see a background that is blank. open a photo and drag it into that first new window and you'll see background and layer 1. if you would choose the paint tool and start painting, it would paint on your photo layer (which you don't want), you would want to say layer, new layer THEN start painting. hth, but just ask anytime you get stuck! :)

[Margie]

and i forgot to mention a great resource! there are newbie chats on certain fridays. not sure which so check the calendar! but emma loves to help newbies along in the beginner tutorials. this is the perfect place to get personal help instantly!
http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/forum/calendar.php?do=getinfo&e=248&day=2005-3-25&c=1

[Emma]

YES! You're in luck because it's THIS Friday night at 10pm Eastern in the chat room. Please join us! It's totally like DSU 099, easier than the tutorials, yet with more instruction on WHY you're doing something, and live people to ask questions. Everyone is invited, to start, to learn some new trick, or to help out others. We have all sorts of people showing up, not just newbies, all focused on helping others get started.

And Margie's right, the tutorials and forums are great for any questions, just ask and we'll help each other out.

Ask, ask, ask, lots of answers to go around. And don't forget, the DSU 110 class in the U start at the very, very bottom and works you through. The Beginner chat is designed to get my students ready for the start of term, giving them a little more confidence and ability when doing the lessons.

Take a look at the Layers Tutorial too.
http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/university/tutorials/ps_layers_ep.shtml

And the previous advice of just following the instructions in the tutorial is great advice. Just hold your nose and dive in, don't think too hard. You don't have to undersand everything you're doing right now, just do what the instructions say and ask, ASK if you run into ANY trouble.

hth, don't be a stranger!

[valeri]

Oh you should attend Emmas beginner chat. She is the BEST newbie teacher in the world. Post any questions you have in the forums too!!

[Lorelei]

Thank you guys. I'll be sure to be there for the Friday night chat! However, the layer tutorial is still a step ahead of me. I understand the view point, but what I don't understand is how do I get from 0 to having all of my layers in the layer pallette. I can get a background screen and texture it, but I don't get how to 'put' it in the pallette as the first layer, then the second, third and so on, so that i can eventually put them together. I am literally starting from 0. It won't take long for you guys to get sick of me.

[Margie]

oh you'll get there! you will enjoy the chats though. to get the different layers, start with your background. then do file, open and choose a photograph. then you'll have two windows open. you can click on the top of each to activate it (the top bar will turn blue to show which window you're working on). if you don't see two windows, your last window may be maximized, so click on the dash (there's a dash, two boxes, then x just like at the top of the browser window you're reading this in). when you see both windows, use your mouse to click and drag the photo into the background window. then you will see two layers, your background then the photo. you can drag any number of things into your layout. try that and let us know if you get in... :)

[Emma]

Yes, to get new layers you have to manually make them by either copying/pasting or moving another image onto the background (will paste itself as a new layer) or by clicking the New Layer icon in the layers palette (also Layer>New or Ctrl-Shift-N)

In the First Page tutorial, there's only one spot where you need to even look at the layers palette. That's why I said just "close your eyes" and follow JUST the instructions. It was written for people who didn't understand layers, so the order of the creation is such that you don't have to move around in your layers palette until the very end, after your photos and all that are on there.

Give it another try, and don't "think" too hard about the why, just focus on exactly following the instructions. Then on Friday you will get more why as we create a very simple "junk" layout for educational purposes only :D

See you there! My husband is getting home on Friday, he's been gone since Feb 27th!!!! But he's taking my toddler camping that night with the Father/Son group from church, so I'll still be free.

Keep asking as you go through it, but do it again and tunnel-vision to JUST the instructions, nothing else. You'll learn more as you do the tutorial again. Use it to create several pages, just need to get your first one down.