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photolesa.com
The creative tutorial home of image wrangler, Lesa Snider.

Step by step tutorials

Welcome to the home of the step by step creative online tutorial. Here you will find detailed, easy-to-understand steps accompanied by screen shots. These tutorials are liable to be about anything from my current project to something that drove me nuts trying to figure out. It is my hope that the things I can convey here will save you time and frustration.

If there's something that you'd like to see written up, please feel free to let me know

Swirls of Summer

Cookie Cutter tool + Custom Shapes = fun photo frames

I'm continually amazed at the functionality and goodies buried within Photoshop Elements. Take the Cookie Cutter tool for example. It's sole purpose in life is to place your photo inside a shape, just as if you'd taken a real-life cookie cutter and firmly pressed it onto your photo: you get a "cut-out" photo with that shape (scrapbooking, anyone?).

Now, at first glance the built-in Cookie Cutter shapes (which are really Custom Shapes) probably won't light your fire. There's a heart, a butterfly, a snowflake and 27 other non-exciting choices:

scoreless-slow
Holiday Cards How to make your text see-through Hollow Text
Creating duotones with Elements' QuickFix mode Delicious Duotones The magic of selective blurring Softening Freckles
Placing an image within an image Simulating Pictures, Part 1: Flat Screens Posterizing your way to creativity Creating Cartoon Art
The No-Name Photo Effect How to recreate the effect of a popular new lens Blurry Background a la Lensbabies
Ordering business cards online Lesa's Top 10 Search Engine Optimization Tips
Use the Extract Filter for complex selections Selecting Frizzy Hair Turning a photo into an illustration or watercolor Fall Painterly Effect
Classy Thumbnails Fun with Blend Modes
Burn baby burn! Black and white photos with just a touch of color Partial Color
How to change the color of drop shadows Shadow Dancing How to create a grayscale image with just a touch of color Selective Color
Making a macabre collage with Darker Color A Stroll Down Blend Mode Lane, Pt. 5 Getting "Smart" with GoLive
Filter your way to a flurry of snowflakes Let It Snow! How to create a blurry background Post Selective Focus
The Basics of Design Fast uploading
The Skinny on Scanning Managing Photos with Bridge CS4, Part 2
Using the Crop tool to increase canvas size Playful Panoramas
Creating a beautiful fade from original color to grayscale Fading Color Pixel Super Sleuthing
Photoshop CS2 Survival Guide Mastering Multiply A Stroll Down Blend Mode Lane, Pt. 2
Soft Edges Zapping contrary color casts with Hue/Saturation Gettin' the Red Out
Retouching People Use your local library
Creating Favicons Using the Color Replacement brush to zap stubborn red-eye Serious Red-Eye Fixer Upper
Joys of Optimizing JPEGs Let Your Graphics Do the Talking
Oversharpening trick makes retouching eyes a snap Super Sparkling Eyes Sensational Serigraphs, Pt. 2
How to Crop and Straighten Multiple Photos Get it Straight! How to add soft or hard round edges to your photo The Secret to Round Edges
Turning sub-par images into an emotional piece of art From Photo to Pencil Sketch Painted Edges in Elements
Fall Digital Scrapbooking Fun, Part 1 Secret Layer Masks
How to repaint an object using the Hue mode Quick Color Change Top 11 Keyboard Shortcuts

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