One of many questions I get not only in class but from strangers in the street. (And you thought that you ran into strange people on the street) is “Before I can even get started on editing my photos how do I get the images from the camera and into computer?”

For years we have been trained by camera makers with film to load the camera with a new roll and when you can’t advance the film any more to rewind the film and take it to the local drug store and wait for the prints. With digital we can not only shoot but view the images on the back of the camera. For those that want a print then we take out the camera card, go to camera desk at the local department store and upload them for prints. So at this point we are still in the shoot and print mode.

However for all the normal people out there (you geeks and photographers do not fall into this group) it is just a bit of mystery for getting the images into the computer for not only editing but sharing in emails. So for the normal people here is a new term and gizmo for just this function.  The gizmo (a real computer term) is called a Card Reader. These are simple USB devises that just hook up to the computer which you put the cards into and the computer will see it and upload the images to the computer. (See Below)

A couple of Card Readers

These can simple one card type of readers to 7 or 11 in one readers.  Now I know every camera comes with a USB cord for uploading right from the camera I really don’t like these for a couple of reason. First uploading from the camera can be slow and there has been a couple of reports that an energy spike from the computer has caused problems in the camera. To me I would much rather lose a $10 card reader and maybe a camera card than a $300 (or more) camera.

Here is even more good news for those who have purchased a printer in the last few years. Many of these new printers have card readers built in. Once you have put the card into either of these readers most computers will automatically see the card and give you the choice of uploading and saving the images to the computer.

So to keep the posts short for now just upload the images to a folder where you can locate them later like the iPhoto or Images folder. For a bonus tip I even suggest a separate folder for each time to help in finding the images. If they are of special event like a birthday or trip then make the folder name that has event and a date like Buffy’s Birthday 6/10 or Yellowstone 09. Then when you look in the main folder you can more quickly find the images you want.

Next posts will include how to better organize the images and even set up quick ways to find the ones you want with just a few key words.

As a Photoshop and Digital Photography teacher I have written many workbooks for my classes from Basic DSLR operation to full Photoshop classes. Lately I have been getting requests from other teachers for these workbooks for their classes.

Well at first I was just going to give them away till my loving wife said “Are you crazy!!!!” So I will be setting up links on this and other websites for the workbooks in various formats so teachers (and people who are interested in knowing more) can purchase and download. The prices will be low so even a teacher can afford them.

With a new year I promise (pie crust promise???) to try and post more lessons in both Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. With a new version of Photoshop promised for this year, CS 5, and Photoshop Elements just came out with Elements 8 for both Mac and Windows.

The main difference between Elements Mac and Windows is the file browser. Window is still the Organizer while Mac has the Bridge from CS 4. I wish it was the same for Window for those of us who work in Raw files. With the Mac and Bridge you can access the full version of the ACR or Raw Converter by right clicking on the image for the drop down menu.

A few months back (Gee were we ever that young?) I posted on how to make copies of images in different formats in both Photoshop and Photoshop Elements (PSE). This was one of my favorite tools called the Image Processor.

This tool worked pretty much the same for both but in the newly released PSE 8 it changed. It is found under File>Export New Image. You can still pick the type of file copy you would like, Tiff, PSD, Jpeg, but now when you pick Jpeg you get a sub set of fixed sizes like a web size of 800 x 600 but if you have a custom size in mind you need to click on the Custom for it. Not a big deal but a little confusing for those of us set in our ways.

There is a new Photoshop User Group starting in Fort Collins Colorado at The Center for Fine Art Photography. For those who have never been in an user group before this is a loose knit group of Photoshop fans who get together to talk and share tips, tricks, links, and mostly talk about everything Photoshop.  There is a leader chosen just to keep things going but mostly it is a great chance for people to talk about that software we all love and curse over.

If you are interested go to the Adobe Photoshop User Group website or chick here for the Fort Collins Photoshop User Group. Once there click on the Join Group icon to become part of the fun. This group is open to anyone in  northern Colorado or southern Wyoming who would like to come down once a month at our f Stop Coffee Shop. We are even open to those brave souls who would like to drive up from Denver or Boulder on a Colorado Freeway.

I love layers, it is great that I can do so much to an image that if necessary (mostly from clients) something needs to changed I just go to that layer and rework it. Here is quick tip for creating a Merged Layer with all the work layers intact. We call it the Left Hand Keyboard dance because it seems to use mostly all the keys on the left side.

So here is how you do it. Go to the top layer on your PSD or Tiff. Hold down the Shift + Ctrl + Alt + E (for the Mac Lover Shift + Command + Option + E) and a new layer will appear with all layers merged into one new layer at the top. This is very helpful for a number of things. A Copy of everything or a workable layer for sharpening or more effects. With this merged layer you can even drag it over to new image for a copy image.

When you start with Photoshop you learn by clicking on tools and using them. Need another tool just go to the tool bar and click on it. Simple but what a lot people don’t know is that with many of the tools if you hold down the Alt (Ok you Mac users the Option) key you can get more from the tool. For example if you are using the Clone tool you know to hold down the Alt key to take a sample but did you know that when you are using the Quick Selection tool and it is in the plus or add to selection mode and you hold down the Alt key you are now in the subtraction mode. This works also with the Marquee tool for add or subtracting from the selection.

The Alt key also works with many of the sliders. If you are making an adjustment with Levels and want to know when you are clipping your highlights just hold down the Alt key while moving the highlight point (that little white triangle under the histogram on the right). The image will go white and when you start to move it to the left the highlights that are being clipped (blown out) start to show up. The same will happen if you hold down the Alt key with the Black point (the black triangle on the left side under the histogram). The image will go black and start to change when you move it the right.

This also works in Camera RAW ACR for Sharpening. Holding down the Alt Key while moving the sliders will show you Masking and Detail in the overlay mode.

So if you are bored and want to see what might happen if you hold down the Alt key try it with tools and sliders. Many time you might be surprised.

One of the great things about Photoshop is that there is always about a dozen ways to do something. The thing that drives me crazy about Photoshop is that always seems to be about dozen ways to do something.

I do not like in camera conversions to Black and White because there is no one setting that will work great for both people and landscapes. Plus once the conversion is done you don’t have a color image to go back to.

Here is what might work well for those who want to do black and white with more control.

Starting with a well exposed color image (RAW or Jpeg) add an adjustment layer for any conversion. Then you always have a color image to go back to for any reason.

(These tips also work with Photoshop Elements, The exception being the Black and White adjustment layer. However in Elements under Enhance is Black and White adjustment which does the same thing. Just be sure to have a copy of the color image or a second Background copy layer for the conversion)

Any adjustment layer works off of the image below it. So in the case of Black and White it is working off the COLOR image below. Just doing a desaturation of the colors is really one of the lowest common denominators of making an image black and white. All Photoshop is going to do is look at how bright or dark a color is and give it a gray value. This is the same thing that is going on with an in camera setting of Black and White.

So what can be done? In the old days of film we would put color filters in front of the lens and using black and white film get different looks. Red filters would give us a dark sky and deep contrast with landscapes. Think Ansel Adams running around a national park kind of look. For people we would put a green filter on the camera and get really nice skin tones.

You can still see these effect just by going to Channels and looking at the RGB channels of Red, Green, Blue and how they make the image look. You can even just use one of these channels for your Black and White look or as a good starting point.

So getting back to the Adjustment Layer for more control over the image click on that little Circle that is half black and white and look for Hue and Saturation. You just add two of them to the image. The top one is just to desaturate the image with pulling the slider all the way to the left. Then go to the middle one, click on the colorize box and move the Hue slider back and forth. What you are doing is just putting a million different color filters on your image for any look that appeals to you. You can move the saturation slider to increase or decrease this affect.

If you have CS 3 or 4 then you have an even more powerful way to change the look of your image. It is the Black and White Adjustment layer. With this you have a number of preset filters you can use and a number of sliders for changing the look of the colors under it for darker or lighter tones. However just like a late night commerical for the Chop Wow “Wait there is more!”. If you move your cursor over the image and click and drag you can lighten or darken the tones under it for even more control in just those tones. As I noted this is not in Photoshop Elements but outside of the cool cursor effect you can move the sliders for more of global effect and it has some pretty nice presets too.

Windows users are use to getting beat up by Mac users on style and coolness. We are like the AV club, sure we know a lot of stuff but we get no respect.

Well there is a cool thing that only the cool kids with a two button mouse and scroll wheel can do that the one button Mac mouse can’t. If you hold down the Alt Key  you can Zoom in and out of your image without going over to the Zoom Tool. (Ok Options key works for Mac but only if you have a scroll Wheel) or you can go into the Preferences and there will be a check box for this funtion and you don’t even have to hold down the Alt key.

Thought I would add a new feature to the Blog of Friday Fix it where I will share questions from students and professionals  on problems they have with Photoshop or photography.

One of the members of the Photowalk a couple weeks ago was asking about doing panorama shots. These are those long narrow shots of the landscape. With Photoshop you can stitch a number of images together and it does a great job of putting these images in order with a nice blending of exposure. However his question was when he has done this the image is very long and narrow.

I shared that a better way to get these shots is to turn the camera vertical with about 10% overlap at the edge. You will get more image and a better pano.  Also the best of all possible worlds is to shoot in manual mode so that you won’t get any changes in expousure or depth of field. But if you really want or have to shoot in program mode to do it with the A (or for Canon shooters AV) setting on. This is Aperture priority where you pick the f stop for the shot. This keeps your depth of field the same even if the shutter speed changes for a more balance expousure.

Have a great weekend