"Cheating" with Elements: Photomontages on a Budget

[George Tyndall]

If you wish to become expert at creating photomontages--aka collages--from stills and a variety of artwork, which necessarily entails becoming expert at making selections and at using layers, then here is a book that I can highly recommend: How to Cheat in Photoshop Elements: Create stunning photomontages on a budget by Asch and Caplin.*
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*I have the one for 7 (Focal Press 2009) but there is also one for PSE9 and there may be one in the works for 10 (the clapping hands are to encourage such an encore).

[Jayell]

I have the How to Cheat in Photoshop CS5 by Caplin .. and also recommend it highly. He spend some time covering the basics, then moves into all sorts of fun things.

[George Tyndall]

I have the How to Cheat in Photoshop CS5 by Caplin .. and also recommend it highly. He spend some time covering the basics, then moves into all sorts of fun things.

That book is also devoted to collages?

[Jayell]

It's all sorts of special effects .. but the full title is:
How to Cheat in Photoshop CS5. The Art of Creating Realistic Photomontages.

[George Tyndall]

It's all sorts of special effects....

I've been using PSE7 for over 3 years and read lots of other books on its usage, nevertheless, I've discovered all sorts of things--keyboard shortcuts, selection techniques, usage of certain tools, etc--that I'd never previously seen discussed.

In addition, the accompanying CD includes some Layer Styles that the authors created in Photoshop but that can be used in Elements.

And, the CD includes PSD files that can be used to create layer masks in Elements (no need to use the Adjustment Layer workaround).

[Bob]

Photoshop and Photoshop Elements have different tools and capabilities. The books must naturally differ somewhat to accomodate that. But, both books are very similar and cover the essential techniques used to make photomontages/collages/composites. You'll undoubtedly learn things you never knew you could do. If you are doing this type of work, I would definitely recommend getting the version that applies to the product you are using.

Layer masks are finally included natively in PSE9, but actions are available from a number of sources that provide that capability for earlier versions. I even have a set of layer mask actions for PSE in the gallery.

[George Tyndall]

I even have a set of layer mask actions for PSE in the gallery.

Bob, are actions also known as "macros"?

Is the procedure to go to your album in the gallery to find those?

[Bob]

Actions are recordings of steps performed in Photoshop that can be played back later to perform those same steps. Photoshop Elements cannot record actions, but it does use them for many of it's own purposes. Many of the effects in the Effects Palette are actions, for example. Actions intended to be run in Elements need to be created with the limitations of Elements in mind. You can run custom actions installed in the effects palette or, in PSE7 and up, by using the action player in Guided Edit.

Macros are something different. Macros are generally programs that can executed within an application, such as Word, that supports them. As programs, macros can examine values and use logic to control what the macro does. Actions simply play back the steps verbatim. Photoshop Elements does not use macros. Photoshop does have a scripting facility which allows you to write programs (scripts) which can be executed in Photoshop. That's considerably more complex than recording an action.

If you want my layer mask actions, go to the gallery and select "search". Search on "layer mask actions" and it will go right to it. The zip file includes instructions and files to install for each version of PSE. It only goes up to version 7, but version 7 will work for version 8. Version 9 and 10 don't need the actions.