Anna Aden Writes

Change in circumstances, meant I no longer had access to Photoshop and I was dithering about whether to buy Affinity but I decided to wait for the Black Friday sales.  I tried Canva, too clunky and tedious. Then  I found out about Photopea which for a light user isn't bad (see below). So I used that instead. I could have subscribed but I'm a very light user only using it when I needed to do a book cover, therefore it didn't maks sense. But I think it's okay.  Using Canva and Photopea While trying Canva for my cover I got a seven free pass to Canva premium so I used it. I've been a member for years, but for occasional and light use, when I'm doing books.   It has some good premium templates though the layering is clunky, maybe that's why the integrating with Affinity. Who knows. However I was able to get some good ideas. The main issue with me was licensing because I heard Amazon was terminating accounts over copyright infringements, and there was no clear do...

I found chapter 2 which was playing around with masks a bit tedious. As I said the instructions aren't very clear however a good tip with I think is worth remembering is the blending option. It's described below.  These are a screenshot of the 'before' images  Layer Masks Theses were just playing around with masks, nothing serious or interesting. Blending Options According to Caplin 'this is one of the most powerful tools in Photoshop that allow users to hid or show picture elements automatically without TOUCHING A BRUSH OR LAYER MASK'. A good tip was using the underlying layer in blending mode  I think this is best tip so far, and worth playing about with. This is show the firearm in the library and the airplane. 

This book was published 22 years ago! So I am bearing that in mind as I got through it. However I've found it is  not very intuitive and that has nothing to do with age. It's just difficult to understand. It took me a while to find the CD ROM - yes, it's that old - however I'm sure I probably got it about 15 years ago, but it doesn't matter.  Though the files are still the same psd formats, the quickmovie instructional videos did not work because of the age. This was irritating because a lot of the exercises seemed to rely on users following the video rather than the instructions.  It starts off chapter 1 which is Natural Selection and roughly has eight lessons. Regarding copyright I used the images supplied on the CD with the book or from https://www.loc.gov/free-to-use/colors-tell-the-story/ where you can get free stuff. The fundamentals The first project was using the quick mask tool but the instructions weren't very clear, and it took a while to understand. ...

Adobe Photoshop 2024 release - Classroom in a Book by Conrad Charvez I did most lessons except the web ones, preparing for print, editing video and working with camera raw which I didn't think was worth it. I did not learn as much as I think I would have, but I borrowed it from a library so there was no cost to me. I think it's probably overpriced at $64.99 or £51.99.  However the caveat, and there is a caveat, if it was part of a work project, I probably would buy it. After all I did get the 2023 Illustrator Classroom in a Book which cost me £48.99 - I didn't finish it however I got enough skills and confidence to do my book cover featured blow.  Cover from learning the illustrator in a Classroom book I guess depends on how much value a person gets from it, and how desperate you are. I was desperate when I paid £48.99 even though I had access to LinkedIn learning webinars.  Good Selling Points It a good showcase of what Photoshop 2024 can offer but rarely goes in de...