New, Clueless and Need some Serious HELP!!

[Hollye]

I am very new to this, I have Fireworks and PS, and I cannot seem to get anything to work for me!! Layer!!!!!!! Seriously? That actually does work? I cannot figure out what I am doing wrong and it is driving me crazy!!! I soooo need some help, I would love to do some of my pages digital!!

[Emma]

Welcome, Hollye! You're gonna love digital if that door stops catching you in it as you try to walk through! ;)

First, deep breath! Don't get frustrated. Slow down and leisurely learn a new hobby. We're here for you! :)

Second, have you done the First Page tutorial for PS yet
http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/university/tutorials/ps_basicpage.shtmlhttp://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/university/tutorials/ps_basicpage_graphic.shtml
and the Intro to Layers tutorial?
http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/university/tutorials/ps_layers_ep.shtml

So we can help better, share some specific issues so we can sort things out one at a time. We're glad to help!

Welcome to DSP!

[JuneC]

Hollye,

I have only been at this a few months and the tutorials really are what got me going. I printed the first page tut out for easier reference.

Junec

[clnouri]

:confused: I just started in PS Elements and intellectually get the idea but:

Layers???? Really frustrating because everything goes into my background layer and gets locked. I am about ready to buy a wig from pulling my hair out-Crazy!!! Have you gotten any good advice?

Would love anything that worked for you
Cindy

[Emma]

Cindy, don't worry! This is THE most common problem for first-time PSE users, and easy to fix

You're working with 2 things here: the Photo Bin, and the Layers Palette.

1. The Photo Bin has zero to do with layers. It's a bin that shows thumbnails of all the open images. If you drag an image out of the bin and onto your layout image, it won't paste as a layer. You're just viewing the other image. That's why the layers palette shows background no matter what you do. You're not actually pasting it onto the other image. Both images have just the background layer only, and the layers palette shows that.
I think that the Photo Bin should show an image as soon as you click on it. It views the image whether you click on it, or click and drag it intot he Active Image Area, so why even allow dragging? It's just confusing!

2. The Layers palette shows how many layers are in an image, which you understand. To paste an image as a new layer into another image, you can do one of two things
- Ctrl-A then Ctrl-C the photo image. Go tot he layout image and Ctrl-V to paste it.
- Get both images into the Active Image Area together. If they're both open in the big gray area at the same time and you can see both windows at once, then you can use the Move Tool to drag and drop from one window to the other window.
To do this, you must EXIT Maximize Mode in Windows>Images>Maximize Mode and UNcheck it. Then you can do Window>Images>Tile to see them all together and drag and drop between windows.

Hope this helps and makes more sense. Let us know if that fixes it. And feel free to sign up for the class. The First Page tutorial is a prerequisite, but if you don't understand it, don't let that stop you! That's why we're here :D

Welcome to DSP! Let us know if this is what you need, or if you need clarification

Figs 12a-12d in the First Page Tutorial show what I'm talking aobut with screen shots.

[emdonovan]

I consider myself a reasonable intelligent person. But when I got PSE-3 (my first dip into the digi-scrapping world) I discovered that I was actually a moron. I couldn't make anything work. I couldn't do the tutorial. I couldn't figure out a plopper. (I had injured my back and was laid up in bed on narcotics, so I'd like to blame the drugs!)

I signed up for DSU 160 and between the lessons, the class forums, and Emma's patience and explanations, I am starting to scrap.

Take a class! It will change everything for you.

Good luck!

[Stacey Jewell Stahl]

I'm self-taught in scads of software programs, but PSP was the worst of all of them. Even though I'd worked in layers in Publisher (not to the same extent) I still didn't "get" them in PSP. The tutorials here are a great way to start, and I recommend posting questions when you get stuck. We all started like you: clueless! Don't worry, practice does make perfect!

[Starling]

There is nothing worse than your first attempt to "open a piece of paper" in Photoshop. NOTHING is where you expect it to be if you are a PC user. Maybe someone who knows MACs could figure it out, but I was helpless and clueless.

I am a VERY experienced computer user. I've owned my own computer since 1983. There was a point in the old pre-Windows day when I was good to go on 12 different word processing systems on at least 4 different OS, including a MAC knock off on a Commodore 128. I NEVER buy the beginner books for software. Not ever. Except for Photoshop. I thank God for the Learn Visually set of books. If there is one for your software, go get one. It saved my sanity.

Just thought that if there are any newbies out there going nuts today, they might like to know they are not alone. We have all been there too. :)

[andyapc]

I thank God for the Learn Visually set of books. If there is one for your software, go get one. It saved my sanity.

Starling - what are these? I tried googling them but came up with stuff for academic learning, not software. Do you have a link?

[Starling]

They are books similar to the For Dummies series, but with more pictures. More pictures work really well for a graphics program. Here (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0764541811/qid=1117755169/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/104-0415086-5990316?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) is the link for the Photoshop CS book at Amazon.

[Starling]

I just took another look. Amazon has the book for Photoshop 7, CS and CS2 and for Elements 2 and 3. I highly recommend this series for beginners. I would not have gotten over the learning curve without it.

[andyapc]

Thanks Starling - just checked it out. The one for CS2 isn't shipping yet but it's something I might be interested in. I am very much a visual learner.

[Starling]

Sure, but June 13th is just about 10 days away. No big deal. And sometimes they get the books early.