RAK Survey: What do you wish you knew how to do?

Here’s a super-quick one-question survey for Tuesday! And a giveaway!  

Is there a specific Photoshop technique that continues to elude you? Do you wish you were better at photo editing? At type and journaling well on your layouts? At creating your own digital/hybrid embellishments? At mixing paper and digital? At printing on specific items, such as canvas, vellum, transparency, or ribbon? At using your printer in general? At hybrid mini-albums? At using some of the cool hybrid products out there like water-slide decals and printable rub-ons?

What do you wish you knew how to do in Photoshop?

and

What do you wish you knew how to do on your computer that relates to scrapbooking?

This could include using Word, or digital organization, or page layout, font download/install/management, brush management, etc.

Let me hear it! :D Be as specific as you can, ok? Don’t worry about long-windedness or being too list-y. I love lists!

Also, if you’d like to let me know whether you consider yourself:

• Beginner digi (meaning ALL digi, except maybe mini-albums)
  
• Intermediate digi
• Advanced digi
• Beginner hybrid (meaning you make some blend of computer tricks on your paper pages, or paper and digi pages)
  
• Intermediate hybrid
• Advanced hybrid

That would be great! :D (I know, that makes the survey two questions long… sorry) 

RAK! 

And just to make this little survey worth answering, I’ve got two copies of my BRAND NEW BOOK, Computer Tricks 2 to give away to two random lucky winners!

Post to this thread before 6 p.m. EST on Thursday, Feb 21 for a chance to win. :) Tell your friends as well! I am interested in hearing from newbies and oldsters alike on your Photoshop challenges. :)

Update on Tuesday, February 19, 2008 at 01:59PM by Jessica

Lots of comments pouring in! Post away! Don’t be shy! This is your chance to be heard, and I can help. :)

And for those of you wondering - yes! I will read EVERY ONE. I’ll even print them out. Maybe I’ll even snuggle them. So post! Get your questions out there. :D 

Update on Tuesday, February 19, 2008 at 11:19PM by Jessica

I love you guys. You’re laying it out there bigtime, asking tough questions. Asking real questions. Jared and I are wondering how we capture and parse this data. Yes, that is how geeks spend a romantical evening at home. Figuring out how to capture and parse YOUR data, friends! Bring it on! We’ve got candles lit and everything. You have until Thursday, 6 pm EST.

Comments

[Jamie Bare]

I would love how to make more of my own stuff. Fancy word art, paper, etc. I have to say that you are so fabulous. I love all of your ideas and tell all of my friends about your website and books. Thank you for sharing your ideas with fellow digi scrapbookers.

[sara]

First, thanks so much for the tip on ACDSee... I downloaded it and it has made me see so many things I forgot I had. Now I just need a new computer that doesn't run so slow when I have it open! :) I started digital scrapbooking a few years ago because I have a physical disability and cutting and leaning over a table was getting too hard for me to do. I LOVE digital and I love the way it looks. I didn't know what I was doing when I started, so I started doing 8.5x11 pages in Microsoft Publisher. It is really so fast and easy for me to do that way. I now have Photoshop CS2 and am obsessed with it... fixing pictures and such; love actions... but still do my layouts in Publisher. When I get brushes, I just use the .png files in Pub. I know how to install them in PS, but don't know what to do with them. Like, how do you make the beautiful sweeping color designs in them? I'd like to do that, save them as a .png and then put them on my layouts in Publisher. Also, am I so wasting my time doing it this way? It's just easy for me, but I feel like I may be missing out? Thanks for reading this LOONNNGG comment :)

[Tracy]

I consider myself to be a beginner/intermediate digi scrapper. I know enough to make pages but that's about it. I've studied on brushes and a few other things. The more I learn, the more I find I don't know!!!
I'd like to learn more about flattening images, merging layers, saving different files. For instance if I try to Save For Web, I get a message telling me something ...I forget what but I usually cancel and go to irfanview to save it. I've read different things on MBs but there is just not enough in the posts to make sense to me! Could be I'm just not able to comprehend that well!!! I guess I'd like to know how and why to save my projects in different ways.
Another thing is masking. What is it exactly and why do it?

[Dee Kasberger]

Hi - Font and brush management - I only want the ones that I am actually going to use! Also, I tend to use alot of the same basic layouts over and over and I would like to make templates for them in photoshop. I have photoshop CS and I just got the bamboo tablet so any tricks, ideas using that would be fabulous also. I really enjoy reading your blog, I just found it a few weeks ago and your photoshop tutorials are great!!! I have tried to fuddle my way through for years now and I am very excited to go through every one of your photoshop Fridays :)

[Mary]

Hi Jessica!
I loved your first book and can't wait to check out your second book. I would consider myself an intermediate digiscrapper. I would love some help with photo editing. Do you know anything about noiseware plug-ins and how they are used?

Thanks for all your inspiration! :)
Mary

[violetkey]

Good questions!

Not sure how to categorize my self. I'm an advanced Photoshop user but I'm a beginner digi. Only realizing there was this world several months ago and feeling relieved that to enjoy the look of scrapbooking I didn't have to buy a thousand different little pieces for hands on layouts.

The things that still elude me about Photoshop:
- How to make brushes, i can load and use others fine but haven't mastered making my own.
- Learning batch processing would be helpful too.

Computer things related to scrapbooking:
- Photo watermarking for the purpose of online posting. I'm wondering if there is something that wouldn't distort the picture but would be difficult to pick out if taken from the web. I've seen several that have them in the corner but i always think that would be so easy to crop out and still keep the appeal of the photo.
- Photo organization. I've tried to keep them organized in folders with categories but I think i need help from a program. I would love to be able to tag my photos for quick searches.

Thank you for taking the time to be interested in how to help your readers!

[Becky]

I'd love to know how to make felt elements. I'm patiently waiting for your deep into digi class, so I guess I'm somewhere between intermediate and advanced.

[Hiroko]

I started to dabble in hybrid scrapbooking last year but I still don't like the flat look of digi. It looks great in photoshop but once it's printed, it looks too flat for me. I would love to learn how to avoid that and to keep the layout more dimensional. I work with CS2 but will be upgrading to CS3 this month. Thanks!

[Suzanne]

Oh heck, where to begin?! I can do basics (papers, photos, adding elements, changing colours/layers, adding text).

Need help with brushes, actions, masks especially.

Also the easiest way to unzip everything (I am doing all downloads individually, is there an easier way?) and simplest/quickest way of adding keywords and organising. I have PSE5.

[JoAnn]

I wish I knew more about so many things, but right now, it's "hybrid" and how to combine the two! Oh- and why did I save two layouts in both .psd format, and jpeg, but they are only blank white files now and I can't recover them after hours of work!!!!!!!!!!!!! YIPES!

[Ann Marie]

I'd like to know how to do all the cool stuff you do in Photoshop, but in GIMP, b/c it's free and I have it (I am not a big fan of downloading 30 day trials of free PS b/c 1--it's only 30 days and I know I'll be hooked once I try it and 2--I won't just keep downloading the free trial, I just can't do that. lol).

I'd consider myself a beginner digi--I was so proud of myself when I figured out how to use a digi frame on a photo, you woulda thought I walked on the moon. I do some simple photo editing and computer journaling/title tricks in Word/Paint, though.

AnnMarie

[Holly]

I would love to know how to remove a person from a picture.

[Anne]

Hello Jessica
Greetings from the beautiful Valencia region of Spain!

I would say that I am at an intermediate to advanced standard in digital scrapbooking.

The things I would like to know more about are masking, use of the pen tool and of smart objects and techniques for producing composite images.

With regard to use of the computer in relation to scrapbooking I need to make better use of my scanner and become more proficient in getting the best out of my Epson 2100 large format printer.

In general, I would also be glad of tips on how to incorporate scrapbooking techniques into my web designs.

Many thanks for all your help and inspiration.

Anne

[Anne]

Hello Jessica
Greetings from the beautiful Valencia region of Spain!

I would say that I am at an intermediate to advanced standard in digital scrapbooking.

The things I would like to know more about are masking, use of the pen tool and of smart objects and techniques for producing composite images.

With regard to use of the computer in relation to scrapbooking I need to make better use of my scanner and become more proficient in getting the best out of my Epson 2100 large format printer.

In general, I would also be glad of tips on how to incorporate scrapbooking techniques into my web designs.

Many thanks for all your help and inspiration.

Anne

[Ellen]

I wish that I knew how to convert RAW images in PSE5.

and

I wish I knew how to take a digital photo and click and drag it onto a specific shape and have it automatically format to fit the size of the shape, without cutting off someone's head, or distorting the original image. Similiar to what happens when you use the collage tool in PSE5. Maybe more information regarding scrapbook page layout would help?

I consider myself a beginner digi. I'm pretty computer savvy, and I love to scrapbook, but I haven't done much with digitial scrapbooking other than journaling - I'm too much of a perfectionist to handwrite it.

Thanks!

[Kate]

Hi Jessica,
I've only just found your website and think it's brilliant! There is so much here to learn, thank you for sharing your knowledge and expertise and for being such a source of inspiration.

I have only been doing digital scrapbooking for a few months and am totally addicted! I have never done hands on scrapbooking. I've managed a few layouts with the help of some tutorials from various places. Now that I've discovered your website I'm going to set about gleaning all the information I can from your tutorials. I'm sure the answer to many of the things I want to do is already on your pages.

Firstly I would like to know about general organization of things like my downloads - how to find papers and embellishments when I need them without having to wade through everything I've got. Also downloading and organizing fonts and brushes and also making my own. I would also love to know about actions, masking and blending.

I'm using PSE 4 on my new Mac which I'm just getting used to. Hope to upgrade to PSE 6 when it comes out for Mac. I'm certainly going to buy your first book and who knows, I might even acquire your second one!!

I'm so looking forward to learning everything I possibly can about Photoshop and digital scrapbooking.

Best wishes,
Kate

[Emily Barklage]

I consider myself a decent photographer and can make my way around PS CS3 yet I still don't understand how some of the "famous" scrapbook photographers achieve that dreamy, perfectly-lit look through PS. I would LOVE one specific tutorial that takes me from beginning to end on how to do that.

Honestly, I don't like the look of digi scrapbooking and the appeal of scrapbooking to me is creating with fabric and embellishments, etc.

[Pooja]

hm. i'd consider myself somewhat advanced...
i'd really like to learn how to create your own actions.

[Katrina]

I would love to figure out how to type in a circle shape. So that the words go right around the diameter of the circle.

Katrina

[Yohandy]

I'm a beginner at scrapping in general. I'd love to learn how not to be afraid to just delve in and do it. I don't use photoshop (although I am considering it). What I'd like to learn most is how to pick which digi products to use when making a layout. There are just many options out there that I get totally overwhelmed. And I'd like to learn how to use all the digi stuff I have to make hybrid projects that will be enjoyed.

[Barb in Florida]

Enjoying this site. My biggest obstacle at the present time is how to make a HEADER for my Blog and to Change the BACKGROUND layers so that I can make it more unique. Is there a tutorial? Thanks so much!

[lucy]

just wanted to say how great the magazine is. I tried out one of your tech. & loved the results. Please take a look. Thanks for all your tips.

http://lucyscraftylife.blogspot.com

[lori gardner]

this shows you how often I get time to blog... Hi Jessica! I your new book and just wanted to say how wonderful you do what yo do...

[Mimi]

Hey! Can you tell me how to have rounded corner?