Photoshop Elements is not as substantial a product as the full versions of Photoshop and not nearly as expensive!
Despite the fact that Elements is missing some of the features of the full Photoshop it is a robust program that will enable you to achieve outstanding results and many of the Photoshop techniques can also be accomplished with Elements.
When you purchase a Bamboo Fun tablet you will find the full version of Elements 5 right there in the box waiting for you.
Does Photoshop Elements Work With Pressure Sensitivity?
Yes, all versions of Elements work with the pressure sensitive tablets from Wacom.
This is how you set pressure sensitivity.
With the brush tool selected there are some options available directly above your file ...
Tablet Options
As you can see, there are options available for Size, Opacity, Hue Jitter, Scattering and Roundness.
At the risk of stating the obvious, all you do is choose the dynamic that you want! The nice thing about these terms is that they describe exactly what the dynamic does.
Size - changes the brush size with pressure.
Opacity - changes the opacity with pressure.
Hue Jitter - it - well - um - does something between the foreground and background colors. You use this in conjunction with More Options directly to the right of Tablet Options
Scattering - this also works in conjunction with More Options and it tends to spray the paint around depending on pressure.
Roundness - with light pressure the brush stroke is like a little line and as you press harder on the brush the stroke becomes rounder.
More Options
The following video demonstrates each one of these options ...
Fun Stuff With Elements and a Tablet!
The first thing we are going to do is some digital dental hygiene. The method is quite simple and makes use of the Clone Tool and then a Soft Light Layer to do some local control.
The subtle changes we make to the image make a big difference!
Let's get going ...
Digital Dental Hygiene
A little digital dental hygiene will go a long way to impressing your friends and family.
You don't want to make their teeth impossibly, glaringly, you need to wear sunglasses to look at them white (like some of those TV commercials).
No - no -no ...
You want the teeth to appear a nice natural white with the underlying tooth appearance still visible.
The digital dental hygienist is in so click on the fine set of teeth to find out how to achieve a nice natural appearance!
The Same As Photoshop
As I mentioned earlier, many Photoshop techniques work just the same and just as well in Elements. The following techniques on this site work with both programs.
Click on any link that interests you to go to that page.
Selecting With Elements 5
Elements 5 added two new and really neat selection tools. They are both effective and easy to use.
Read all about 'em
here
and make sure you scroll down to the bottom of the page for an insightful video on the new selection tools!
Creating Hi-Key Images with Photoshop Elements
Hi-key images are really dramatic and they do elicit a lot of comments. They may look difficult to produce but they are surprisingly easy to create with Photoshop Elements.
Click on the thumbnail to learn how to create hi-key images from your photographs.
A Different Approach To Black and White Conversions
The standard black and white conversion tool in Photoshop Elements is the Grayscale command (Image > Mode > Grayscale). It produces barely acceptable results.
Happily - there is a much better way to convert your color photographs into black and white in Elements - the Gradient Map.
