I have been battling Elements - Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0 - all day long! Actually I’m embarrassed to admit that I have owned PSE 4.0 for months now and have yet to make a digital scrapbook page completely from scratch! I can do a few things (a very few things) with ease, but building up and locking(?) merging(?) layers has eluded me. Today, Chuck (Wonder Hubby/Hero/BFF), saw I was about to throw the laptop and then myself out the window and rushed over on his white horse to rescue me.
Chuck and I have very different learning styles. He opens an instruction manual and devours it as if it were a riveting novel. I like to jump right into the middle of something and figure it out as I go along. Thankfully, we own an Apple computer and darn near every bit of software is so naturally intuitive, that my learning style gets me deep into a project before I need to pull up a Help Menu - if at all.
So Chuck started at square one with Photoshop Elements. Eventually he found a nifty little tutorial on creating a collage page, which on the surface, is the most basic of scrapbook pages. He printed it out and we sat down together to follow it step by step. Within minutes, even with my brilliant, former computer software teacher husband by my side, we got exactly the same frustrating results I have been getting all along!
It isn’t at all how Chuck had planned to help me, or what I had hoped the outcome would be. But Boy Howdy, he made me feel so much better! I no longer feel like a complete idiot. And that is just one more reason why I love my husband.
As for PSE 4.0 ----- FEH!
Well, at least for tonight...
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
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4 comments:
Thank god there is someone else in the world like me - manuals PAH! I spit at them.
Then 12 hours later in tears of frustration, someone will come along and say " have you tried the on switch at the back"
I am having an issue with "Mock-rosoft" at the moment - every since I got an automatic update on Monday, I now have a message each time I switch my on PC, telling me something called a DLL(or soemthing like it) file is in the wrong place or something - well it was ok before! The helpline is open only when I am at work and the online help is rubbish as it assumes that nothing can be their own fault.
So I have decided that I just won't switch it off.. global warming aside, it makes me feel better. Prepare to see me blog this into a proper rant, but in the meantime can I borrow your Husband if he can help, as all my tech bunnies that I rely on have taken the opportunity to take a break over Easter - the cheek!
Catch up with you soon, have a great holiday weekend ;o)
Hey Roo-
Another aspect to our kindred spirits is revealed!
We left "the dark side" and came over to Apple just over two years ago. It was a relief and a revelation. I know Apple has its critics too, but overall they deserve every bit of the praise. I'm not prone to proselytizing, but the next time you throw your PC out the window, buy a Mac!
I look forward to your upcoming rant. As for Chuck, I fear your PC is more contemporary than his experience! But we promise to hold a good thought for you and commiserate as needed!
- Lee
If it makes you feel better, I took a two-day paid-for Photoshop course and I still only have minimal skills. (Although I was able to airbrush things I didn't like out of my wedding photos. What can I say, I now have skinnier arms and Phil's forehead isn't as shiny).
Sometimes those programs are meant to be incredibly difficult, so that people end up doing what I was forced to do out of frustration: pay for a workshop. Thats my theory.
Although now that I think about it- I skipped most of day two of the workshop to drive to NYC for a Yankees vs. Oakland playoff game...so maybe its my fault...
Good luck with PSE!!
Thanks KRL---
It's so good to know I am not alone in my frustration!
The killer is when we manage to do something right and we have no idea how it happened nor how to replicate the result!!!
I'm not a classroom kind of gal, but I have thought it may be the only way out! But it makes me crazy to pay as much for a class (or DVD tuutorial) as I did for the program itself!
I'll - er - WE'll keep giving it a whirl...
Love,
Auntie Lee & Uncle Chuck
P.S. Do they have a real-life airbrush add on? Now that I would pay good money for!!!!
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