Photoshop Top Tips!!

Hi Everyone! It's Jenn (jk703) here and I have decided to visit you all again this month with some more great time saving tips for Photoshop! I started Digital Scrapping in March 2010 and I've been um... obsessed! I love it! Since I've started to spend time with my software and computer a lot, lol, I decided I needed to learn some useful tips! Through the last few months of using the software, I have learned a few tips that have helped me a lot! I thought I'd share some more of my top tips!

For my layout, I am using Chelle's awesome new kit, Choo Choo! It is such a fun, fantastic and versatile kit and definitely not just for train pictures! This is the preview:

Tip #1: Quick Fit

Sometimes, I like to view my whole layout, but I am working too closely. To quickly fit the image you are working on to the screen you are working in -- just click on that little hand 2 times! Presto! Fit to your view!

This is the Hand that I am referring to:

This is what my layout looks like after I double clicked. Perfect fit to my screen, and I can take a quick look see!

Tip #2: Selections are a Drag!

When I create a layout and make a selection, sometimes it is just not in the right location. If you click and drag your cursor using the Marquee Tool, and notice that you are not in the correct area, don't let that mouse button go! Just press the space bar, and then you can drag your selection to the correct location!

My bad selection... (see I didn't get the whole title included):

If you hold that mouse button down, press the space bar, and drag -- you can move it to the correct location you wanted!

Tip #3: Journaling Preview

I pick and choose so many fonts for my journaling that it takes forever! I used to stare at the font, or try it out and then not like it! Well, how about seeing your journaling in every font, and just deciding by looks which one you like!? No more agonizing!

OK, first step is to have the Type Tool your selected Tool. Then click on your journaling to see the dashed box around it, like this:

Next, you will highlight the text that you have written. It will look something similar to this:

Last, you will click on the Character Menu, and locate the font drop down menu. Click inside the Font name, where it says CK Cooper below. Now, just use your arrow keys and scroll through your fonts slowly. Your journaling will change every time you press the arrow key up or down. So easy to preview! You can also change the size and leading as well!

There you go... some more great tips for scrapping quicker! I hope that you've enjoyed these tips, and come back for more! I'd love to hear some of your great tips, so post them in the comments below! Thanks for visiting!

Happy Holidays!

Jenn

(jk703)

Wre-vise, Wre-write, Wednesday: Tell your story in a list.

Pick a memory spark or topic and just start making a list. When editing try to make each item in your list the same format. For example the elements in my list begin with a verb ending in ING. I did add a short summary sentence on the end. Give it a try!
Describe your hometown…
Running around barefoot on the sod fields in the twilight waiting for the fireworks to start.
Cuddling under a polyester patchwork quilt, sipping slushies, watching the men’s softball game—cheering on our dads.
The sweet smell of freshly cut alfalfa, the pungent odor of freshly spread “sunshine”.
Knowing your neighbors—yes, everyone in town, and how everyone is related to everyone else.
Hiking Trenton hill the Saturday before Easter to roll your eggs down the hill. Cheering when the shell and whites fall apart, but the little yolk bounces on and on.
Riding your bike up to the park to catch the bus for summer swimming lessons.
Mosquito repellant and calamine lotion.
Waving as you pass the 12 yr old driving the tractor down the road.
Squinting through the clouds of smoke to pick out some penny candy at Merrill’s Market.
Toilet papering houses with your best friend while her Dad goes inside to “do his home-teaching”
Chasing frogs along the ditch bank.
Going to the CO-OP to get a pop.
Living in Trenton is in my blood: both of my parents were born and raised in this tiny little farming community. In 2007 I proudly added my name as a permanent resident when we built our home…in my home town.

What's your story?

Viewing Fonts on the Fly

—thanks to Designer Digitals for this tip!
As you work with text in Photoshop and PSE, it?s sometimes nice to see what it would look like in a different font. Here?s a quick way to view your message in different fonts.
Get the Text tool and type your message. Highlight the text, then click once in the box containing the font name in the Options Bar. Click the down-arrow key on your keyboard to view your text in the next font in the list. Click the down-arrow again and again to preview your text in the fonts installed on your system. Press the up-arrow key on the keyboard to scroll back up the list. Holding the arrow key scrolls through your fonts quickly.
When you find the perfect font, click the checkmark to confirm the change.

REALLY good book

I just received my copy of "Your Words Your Story". EXCELLENT book for scrapbookers who want more than the name, date, place type of journaling. I've just read a little here and there...more to come later.

Want to use your own handwriting in your book?

There are several free or low cost handwriting font generators out there. I’ve used FontCreator by HighLogic for the past five years. (I used to sell handwriting fonts on E-bay—before it was so easy to create them) I haven’t used their fontgenerator program, but based on my experience with the company, I would expect that it would work well. http://www.high-logic.com/fontcreator.html

The funny thing is although I made a font of my handwriting:

And even in cursive:
It still doesn’t quite look real—what makes my handwriting look handwritten is all the inconsistencies. I don’t always make my L’s the same height. Especially now that I use the computer so much for writing, my handwriting is MUCH messier than the font. But the biggest problem is that my handwriting was difficult to read in blocks of text. I ended up making it large, bold, and double spaced. Still, I used it in at least three yearbooks.

Then I stumbled on this site: http://kevinandamanda.com/fonts/fontsforpeas/category/script-print-mix/
Hundreds of free handwriting fonts! You can submit your writing sample and she may make your font for free. I picked one I like—what I WISH my handwriting was, but still one that is plain enough to read in large blocks of text. My favorite is PeaJay.

you can get it here: http://kevinandamanda.com/fonts/fontsforpeas/index.php?s=PeaJay&x=9&y=20

Have fun!

Light text on a dark background

Light fonts on dark backgrounds are HARD to read. One way to compensate is by using BOLD so the letters are thicker and thus easier to read. I recommend printing a sample of your LO in the exact size you'll print the final--then hand it to someone else to read it. Not knowing the story, they will be a good judge of the readability.

On a medium background, using a shadow--very small--behind the text can also improve readability.

PS. Remember readability in an online gallery or on your screen does not equal readability in print. Always test first!

Playing with Fonts

Besides good photos, few elements energize a scrapbook page more immediately than contrasting type—two fonts that are distinctly different from each other. Contrast adds visual interest, and it helps guide the eye through the layout.
The quickest way to create type contrast is through size variance. By choosing one word to emphasize in the title and dramatically increasing (or decreasing) its size, you create a title that is instantly engaging.
By changing a few key words to a bolder version of the typeface, you create an interesting contrast on your page. Combining fonts with different styles creates subtle yet striking contrast.
I love to do that with titles:
It also works for body text: like turtles below:

Text on a layout

You’ve just typed in your journaling block, and now the moment of truth: Do I center it? Justify it? Align it to the left? The alignment you choose will affect how someone reads your words. Here are some general guidelines to help you decide.
Align to the left when you have a large journaling block. Why? A left aligned text block (also called “ragged right”) is the easiest of all alignment styles to read, especially when you have lots of text. For this reason, most magazines format their text using a left alignment. When in doubt, align to the left. The journaling on my layout here has many lines, so I used a left alignment to enhance readability.
Centering your text is OK if you have brief text. Centering is great when you are using a quote or other journaling with eight lines or fewer. Pay attention to your line lengths. Centered text blocks look more appealing when the line lengths vary, fully emphasizing the centered alignment. Justify your text with caution! Justifying text, or forcing each line to be the same length, is tricky. Why? Because inevitably some lines will have fewer words, thereby causing them to appear more spaced out than others and allowing for larger gaps between words. This creates an uneven, discordant look. If you have similar-sized words, or you’re comfortable shifting words from line to line to adjust the number of words per line, give it a try.
--From Cathy Zielske via Creating Keepsakes.com
Personally if I have little story, I’ll Left align (or right if it is next to the edge of something), but if my story is very long, I think justify works best. For lots of text it is easiest to read—that’s why newspapers and magazines use it. In PSE, highlight the text and use the shortcut Ctrl-Alt-J

Fonts

Face it, some fonts look cool--or even fit your theme, but they don't read well in large blocks of text. Recently I developed a font for my dd to use in a book she was creating about a pioneer trek she took. It was modeled after the Emily Austen font. It looked great--but was extremely difficult to read at sizes under 36 pt! So we scrapped the font and used a tried and true one instead. Some tried and true fonts are: Times, Garamond and Goudy. One of Jessica Sprague's favorites for blocks of text is Century Gothic.Print a sample of the text you plan to use and ask a few people to read it--you'll get an idea if it will work.