johnhendron.net: hendron’s digest - a weblog

Day 3 at VSTE was concentrated on getting better (I fell ill Tuesday morning), and concentrating on my own presentations.

The Photoshop class went well. One guy brought his PC. But he supposedly uses both a Mac and PC. For the first time in doing this (3-4 years), I used the presentation laptop. Participants downloaded the photos from here, and we edited and had some fun. In the photo above, we’re bringing 747s and In and Out Burger to Richmond.

I soon left, went back to the hotel, and checked-out. It was a good stay… nice hotel, the Hilton at Virginia Beach. I then returned to the conference center, grabbed lunch, and went upstairs to present on Success with the Read/Write Web.

This for me was a great experience… I never felt I held an audience so well before–everyone seemed to have a genuine interest in what we were sharing, and had genuine enthusiasm. We got some great questions, and so many folks were so kind to come up afterwards with kind comments. I feel fortunate I’ve been able to do some of the things we have done in Goochland… others want this too.

Tom DeWeerd distributed our RSS/Email brochures, and the latest edition of TechTimes to participants. I hope to publish the podcasts I made of my sessions by the end of the week through TechTimesLive.

The article mentioned in a recent blog comment is from Teachers magazine.

http://www.teachermagazine.org/tm /articles/2006/12/01/03classtech.h18.html

What’s missed in the article is the impact blogging can have on students. And it can happen in an educational setting, don’t teachers need to blog to understand it’s power, impact, and reach?

I was too busy today to remember all the details… I’m writing this on Tuesday morning before our presentation upstairs, enjoying a great grainy-mustard-smeared pretzel. Good snack…

Yesterday there was a theme I found in the sessions that focused upon the “Web 2.0″ experience. You may have heard the phrase, “The buck stops here.” And that is what many Virginia educators are discovering as they try and branch out to do some interesting things.

A had a gentleman come up to me after my Google Earth session that told me I had inspired him to do podcasts with his kids… how neat. I created quite a buzz after that Earth session–there was a lot of excitement about the product.

I visited Talaiver and Talaiver for their session on Sketch Up, the companion app to Earth. I definitely see this being a big trend–it will be hot at NECC and likely next year at VSTE as more educators want to integrate the use of this powerful, free software.

But what about the blogs and podcasts? “We’re not allowed… that won’t fly… what do you suggest that isn’t locked down?”

Some school divisions evidently have gone to the extreme, and banned everything to do with online communications. And the message from the luminaries, Prensky among them, is that… NO! Let the kids write, communicate, collaborate.

Safety is an issue. But it’s also an overreaction. Kids can hurt one another with sharp pencils. But we still hand them out, because we feel it’s an important enough tool to learn with, and the risk is worth it. Look how companies are changing now–they’re taking risks too–and are doing some incredible things!

At VSTE 2007’s first day, I participated in three sessions.

1. Student Blogging by Kimberly Berry. Kimberly is my colleague in Goochland and shared her experiences blogging with seventh graders at Goochland Middle School. The presentation was among the first of the conference, and audience members revealed some concern for student blogging: security, control, and what I saw–a fear about what kids might write. One guy told me his concern was that students could use the blogging platform to communicate about gang violence. The obvious answer to that is… maybe not to give blogs to these kids. But then again–are we adequately preparing kids for the future if we are afraid of letting them use communications tools to learn? This is a tough issue that will likely take me a longer time to digest and come to grips with. More philosophizing required.
2. Whospace? by Cammarano, Horney, and Locher. These three did a good job at showing some Web 2.0 technologies and how they’re exploring them in their school divisions. Their resources are found online at pbwiki. I liked this session as it challenged some assumptions I have. One of the presenters suggested we use MySpace in the classroom. I asked him “Have you done this?” No. They had not. In fact, it was blocked at their schools. It was a touchy subject. Some folks spoke up. “As a parent, I don’t want you introducing this to my kid.” The show ended with a shabby introduction to Second Life. They described it as a game. I don’t treat it as a game, I disagree with this label. It’s an online environment. And I currently question its use in schools… I think this environment has potential, but I am not quite sure it’s there yet. They said as much, but it felt like a tack-on at the end of an otherwise interesting presentation.
3. Keynote with Marc Prensky. You can read some of Mr. Prensky’s writings online. I hope to get his book. He was entertaining, a good speaker, and I enjoyed his message. Some of the practical means to which he suggests we change need flushing out, but he admitted as much it’s not easy.

On Monday, February 26, 2007, John will be presenting on GoogleEarth at the 21st annual VSTE Conference in Virginia Beach.

External Links

The following links support GoogleEarth and GoogleSketchUp in education:

• Download Google Earth
• Download Google SketchUp
• SketchUp Pro for Education
• GoogleEarth in Education Ideas
• Google SketchUp 6 Videos (new features)
• Google SketchUp 5 Videos (the basics)
• Google SketchUp 3D Warehouse
• Google for Educators - Earth
• Keyhole BBS Community for Google Earth
• The Google Earth Blog (unofficial)
• Google Earth Lessons (QT Videos)
• Teaching GeoScience with Google Earth
• Modeling 3D Textured Buildings
• Google Earth Education Community
• Google Sightseeing
• SketchUp Training - Go2School
• 5th Grade Lesson on Perimeter

How-To

Placemarks: One interesting thing you can do with GE is to embed placemarks that include links, styled text, and pictures.

1. Add a placemark (yellow thumb tack).
2. Edit details about the placemark.
3. In the description, you can include basic HTML tags to style text for color, bold, italic, insert links, and embed pictures when they have been saved elsewhere on the Web.
4. Choose a custom icon.
5. Click the icon to display styled text.
6. Choose File > Save Place As… to save a KMZ file.

Don’t want to bother moving a graphic to the Web? No problem! KMZ files can hold graphics! Use the img tag in HTML to point to a local graphics file. In Windows, it would be referenced from the C:\ drive. On a Mac, reference it from the root (/). When you save the place, the graphic becomes embedded.

Tools You can make measurements in miles using the path tool in GE.

Paths Paths are a great way to mark a route. You can raise paths above the surface, and color them. You can even add descriptions, which can include graphics and styled text.

You can also animate in GoogleEarth, or “travel.” Create a folder of “places,” then click the “Play” button. GE takes you from one place to another. To change the perspective (N/S/E/W direction, viewpoint), set the view point in the placemark’s information (Get Info > View > Snapshot Current View).

You can also animate along a path. Draw a path, save it, and press “play.” GE follows the path you drew in all its 3D glory.

Featured Content

Want more? GE features special content in the form of links, overlays, and more. Let’s start with the excellent Rumsey Historical Map Collection. Turn it on, under “Featured Content” in the Layers area.

What better way to study colonial times?

The “Geographic Web” area combines embedded links to the Wikipedia and great digital images.

Among the other collections are links from National Geographic Magazine.

3D

GE now features three-dimensional content in the form of terrain and buildings. Now with Google Sketchup, you can add your own 3D content, or load content from the 3D Warehouse into GEarth.

This is my “online handout” for the VSTE presentation on Success with the Read/Write Web to be delivered on February 27, 2007.

Links

• Will Richardson’s Links on Classroom Blogging
• John’s Blog
• Landmark Project
• Podcast Examples
• PM Wiki
• Apple’s Blog/Podcasting Server
• Mrs. Neylan’s Blog
• Dr. Morgan’s Blog
• Mrs. Long’s Blog
• Mrs. Labott’s Blog
• GLND Podcasting Page

Quotes

• First Grade Teacher: I have come to really enjoy keeping my blog updated daily.  I think it helps the parents feel like they get to see a little of what is going on in their child’s day at school without actually being there. Parents have also told me that it has helped them talk to their children about what they have done in school instead of the typical “stuff”.
• High School Teacher: I am all excited about using the camera to show some concepts in the class now.  The little movies on the blog are very nice.  Just wish I could have stayed in the blogging a little longer to practice more.  I have stopped cursing it a long time ago, cause the kids like it so much.  Actually I have gotten more positive feedback from the parents on the blog than any other thing I do.  Guess it turned out okay after all.
• Fourth Grade Teacher: I’ve really gotten in to blogging this year.  And I am trying to come up with ways to make it more interactive for the kids and less of a virtual newsletter. 
• Kindergarten Teacher: I love the weblog. It is so easy and so much fun!
• Marc Prensky: They are used to the instantaneity of hypertext, downloaded music, phones in their pockets, a library on their laptops, beamed messages and instant messaging. They’ve been networked almost all of their lives. They have little patience for lectures, step-by-step logic, and “tell-test” instruction.
• Tapscott & Williams: Millions of media buffs now use blogs, wikis, chat rooms, and personal broadcasting to add their voices to a vociferous stream of dialogue and debate called the “blogosphere.” Employees drive performance by collaborating with peers across organizational boundaries, creating what we call a “wiki workplace.” Customers become “prosumers” by cocreating goods and services rather than simply consuming the end product.
• On wikis, from an administrator: This is one of the greatest things we’ve done… it’s so easy… and everyone here can contribute to the agenda before the meeting starts. I just love this wiki!

Our Rationale

Activities that encourage participation through the creative process are the ones we ought to be trying when using technology. The read-write web (blogs, wikis, podcasts) offer a creative experience.

Our Theme

Our “success” is measured by teacher involvement in using these technologies: podcasting, blogging, and use of Wikis. It continues to develop as they include students in the use of these technologies to encourage higher-order skills, responsibility, ethics, 21st century skills, and a creative outlet.

John Gruber reports about a guy in Mongolia who was unhappy about getting a computer that was not Macintosh. The pursuant discussion of keyboard issues reminds me of my college roommate.

He dumped grape soda in his Macintosh keyboard. I think it was one of those newer Apple keyboards at the time–still beige, but cheap and nasty in comparison to Apple’s flagship keyboard, the Extended Keyboard II.

He bought a new keyboard at ComputerCity. That afternoon, he returned it, but had instead inserted his grape-flavored one. The grape keyboard no longer functioned.

So, like Gruber’s Drexel buddy, another free keyboard.

I recommend some composure, myself.

An interesting article appears in New York Magazine measuring the effect of variations in praise on student work when taking tests.

The gist? Praise students for their effort, not their intelligence.

Today I presented Podcasting 101 to teachers at the Maggie Walker Governor’s School in Richmond. Going through my archives, I found this interesting blog post from my older JohnHendron.net site from 2005:

For those of you not in the know, podcasting is a technique whereby folks create multimedia content (almost exclusively audio, but also video) and folks easily download this content via a RSS newsfeed. The idea, naturally, is to listen to this content on your iPod or other branded MP3 player. The technology has nothing specifically tied to Apple’s iPod, but rather to RSS 2.0 which allows the embedding of attachments in a newsfeed.

At NECC 2005 in Philadelphia the buzz was all over podcasting. It was spoken in kind with words such as “revolution” and the idea of teachers, educators, and of course students “podcasting” (as a verb) was just about poised to happen. The excitement doubled when it was learned that Apple had woven the subscription of podcasts within the lastest (buggy) release of iTunes 4.9.

Here’s a positive aspect of podcasts: they’re more human, more real than simple text… You not only get to read what I say, but you can hear my own voice, too. You get to hear me, and all the nuances and inflections that I might bring to the party with my ideas.

Yet, my friends, I think this podcasting is severly overhyped the more I think about it. Jason Scott has been collecting all the podcasts and already has over 2 year’s worth of content saved up. His “project” has gathered the attention of the national press. But there goes my rub: who has the time or patience to listen to that much content? Someone elsewhere said it best when he said “I think there are more people making podcasts than listening to them…”

Let’s face it, text has audio beat in many ways. There isn’t misunderstanding as long as grammar is good, it’s economical, and we can easily scan the words for the content we need. Scanning audio requires us to know the content beforehand, and skip to the section that needs our attention.

One guy at NECC suggested that searches of audio content may be coming down the pike sooner than later, but still… I can read without headphones, I can use simpler technology to read than I need to listen. With a cheap computer, I can write. With an expensive set up I can podcast (to a level that will please a majority of users), and we both need a fast Internet connection to post and receive podcasts.

I think the fact that podcasting is easy to do, and that just about anyone can do it is exciting, but… I believe that podcasting in education will simply be a emulation of radio shows that are easier to produce, and at a cheaper cost, than real radio. I also believe putting content in a podcast format for digestion by students is interesting, but sadly, we already know audio isn’t the strongest medium for learning and that we don’t learn most effectively strapped to an iPod in a dark room for hours and hours.

It’s cool, yes. But podcasting doesn’t deserve all the hype I saw at this year’s NECC. Let’s see where we are in a year.

Okay, it’s February, 2007. I missed the point, I think, back in the summer of ‘05. It’s the production of the podcast product where the learning takes place. Duh. I hope that point got across today with those teachers in Richmond.

Developing designers for print and web need to understand the components involved in managing color in design. Having previously taught courses in design and web design, I’ve been helping a colleague develop some content for her courses. Available for free is an elementary guide to color management and issues with OS X and Photoshop.

Concepts covered include:

• spot colors
• additive vs. subtractive color
• ColorSync
• Photoshop previews

Blogging allows us to quickly get content on the Web. Blogging editor applications are already emerging for handheld devices and so-called smart phones. With just an Internet connection, we can establish a blog for free, and begin to publish content. Blog content is not only read, but is also interactive, through trackbacks to a reader’s blog, or through comments left to extend the “conversation.” Blogging, however, can also be used to publish podcasts. In the chapters on Audacity and GarageBand, we look at how to record and edit content. In this last section here, we will use the free Blogger.com platform and another free Website, FeedBurner, to publish an RSS 2.0, podcast-capble newsfeed. Using a blog, we use its ability to automatically create RSS newsfeeds to create multimedia content others can subscribe to.

Some weblogs support podcast publishing without “help” from FeedBurner. If your blog does not support RSS attachments, this method will convert Atom and RSS 1.0 feeds into the RSS 2.0-flavor required for podcasting. Publishing using Blogger and FeedBurner is a multi-step process:

1. Create a free Blogger.com blog. If you have a Google Account, setting up a blog is simple. Go to http://www.blogger.com, and sign-in. You can also create a new Google Account from the Blogger homepage. A good name for your blog is the title of your podcast.
2. Upload your podcast file to a web server. You will need some space online to host your podcast. If it is a popular podcast, check bandwidth requirements. Options include a school server that is accessible on the Internet, or a Web space provided by a website hosting company. To get started, you may have space available for free through your Internet service provider (ISP).
3. From the Blogger “Dashboard,” create a new post in Blogger. Describe the podcast in the blog entry space, and link to the podcast file. The link can use the HTML for a hyperlink (<a href="…">Listen to this podcast</a>), or use the link button in the Blogger blog composition toolbar. The title of your blog post should be the title of your podcast episode. Publish the blog entry.
4. Copy your blog’s newsfeed URL (Blogger newsfeeds appear in this format: http://yourblogname.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default). Copy the URL where you see a “Subscribe to Posts” link on your blog.
5. Go to FeedBurner.com. Paste your newsfeed URL into Feedburner, below the invitation to “Start FeedBurning now.”
6. Check the “I am Podcaster!” option before clicking “Next.” In the next screen, sign-up for a FeedBurner account if you do not already have one.
7. Copy-paste the new Feedburner-created RSS newsfeed into a safe place: this is your podcast newsfeed.

While we went through several steps to get started with publishing podcasts through a blog, in the future, you will go through two primary steps in publishing new podcasts. First, upload the podcast file to a server, and second, write a new blog post that includes a link to the podcast file. The RSS newsfeeds will automatically be updated.

Alternatively, for a fee, there are easier solutions for publishing your podcast files. Libsyn Pro (http://libsynpro.com/) is a subscription service that hosts your podcast files and creates RSS feeds. This is a good solution for a school where access to space on a Web server for publishing podcasts does not exist.

(more…)

Adobe Photoshop is an image manipulation program design for professionals in print and web design. Because of the appeal of the program, and the fun in working with visual images, Adobe began, years ago, in cross-marketing leaner versions of Photoshop with lighter price tags, including Photoshop LE and Photoshop Elements. The techniques covered here will apply to many, if not all, versions of Photoshop, beginning with version 5, and upward.

Because Photoshop is a professional-quality, high-end program, it is impossible to become an expert overnight. It’s also impossible for me to provide every detail of what this application can do in one webpage’s worth of space. There are countless tutorials online for using Photoshop, and books on Photoshop continue to be best sellers. Anyone seriously interested in Photoshop should consult these sources. I’d recommend the series published by Adobe, as well as the “Wow!” series of books.

File Formats

Photoshop produces a variety of file formats for graphics. Among the most popular are:

• JPEG (photographs)
• GIF (animation, graphic images)
• PNG (graphic images, photos, transparency)
• PDF (contain embedded compressed graphics)
• PSD (Photoshop Document)
• TIFF (Tagged Inline File Format)
• EPS (Encapsulated Post Script)

Photoshop also allows us to edit images in two color modes: RGB and CMYK. Other color modes available include:

• Lab
• 16-bit RGB
• Grayscale
• Mono-, duo-, tri- and quad-tone
• Index
• Bitmap

The native format for Photoshop files is PSD. I always recommend saving your work in PSD format, until it is time for publication, at which time, you can re-save a copy of your work in an appropriate format. JPEGs, GIFs, and PNGs are good for the web, JPEGs being superior for photographs. The benefit of the PSD file is no compression artifacts, and the ability to save in layers and a variety of color modes. On a Mac, PSD files can now be natively opened and used in OS X, including in applications such as Preview, Keynote, and Final Cut Pro.

Most often, you will want to edit graphics in RGB color mode, which provides 24-bit color. Reserve CMYK for printing only–printing to press. Most inkjet printers, while they print in CMYK, are built to accommodate RGB-mode images for the accurate reproduction of color.

Items Covered in this Tutorial

1. Creating Better Black and White Photographs from a Color Original
2. Cropping and Resizing for the Web
3. Creating a Web Photo Album
4. Changing Backgrounds by Extraction
5. Tinting and Hand Coloring

Creating Better Black and White Photographs

Because color photographs are made up of three color channels, red, green, and blue, simply telling Photoshop to make a grayscale version of a color photograph (go to Mode - Grayscale), compromises the photograph. Each color channel introduces noise artifacts, some more than others. This can leave us with a muddy-looking grayscale image. One of the best ways to get a clean, better-looking grayscale image is to use the Channel Mixer.

1. Go to Image - Adjustment - Channel Mixer
2. Check-on both Preview and Monochrome
3. Adjust the percentages for Red, Green, and Blue
4. Exit the dialog box.

Alternatively, you can add an adjustment layer, and choose Channel Mixer as the type, from the Layers palette. Either way, I tend to favor the green channel with a higher percentage: it offers the best contrast. In low-light images, the blue channel tends to have the most noise. There is no magic formula, but I tend to gravitate towards percentages such as: 35%R, 50%G, 20%B. Your eye should be the final judge, and that’s why we leave the Preview feature on.

Cropping and Resizing for the Web

While most of us think of pictures in sizes such as 3×5, 8×10, etc., web designers must think in pixels: the tiny dots that make up text and graphics on our computer monitors. I promise, it’s easier to think in pixels than it is thinking in metric! While the true resolution of our monitors differ from machine to machine, and platform vs. platform, the theoretical “screen” resolution for images on the web is 72—72 pixels per inch. Because this screen resolution is fixed, Photoshop can only show us one true resolution–72 PPI. Still, Photoshop files can have any resolution: 180-300 for printing, and even as high as 1200 PPI if we choose. Working with images with high resolution (300 PPI and higher) demands a lot of memory and hard disk resources from your computer. Remember this rule: start big, and get smaller; avoid the reverse.

Downsampling (going from a high-resolution image down to a smaller resolution image) shrinks the file size, and the apparent size of the graphic on the screen. Keep in mind, Photoshop makes images look bigger when they are higher resolution, because our screens can only show so many pixels per square inch. When working for the web, always scale down your images to 72 PPI. In fact, unless you plan on doing high-resolution printing, 72 is a good resolution for a lot of work.

Another measure of resolution is screen dimensions. 1024×768 is the resolution of many 15 inch monitors. This means that your monitor can display 1024 individual pixels horizontally, and 768 pixels vertically. This is the grid, then, that displays everything you see. Larger monitor sizes, like a 21 inch monitor, can display 1600×1200 pixels, which means you have more screen real estate to have fun in.

Knowing that many screens out there can fit 1024 pixels across the screen gives you some feel for the size of a pixel. Images destined for the web should be large enough to make out what you want to see clearly, but also, small enough to reduce download times, and small enough not to dominate a web page. One way to avoid huge sizes is to produce thumbnail images: when clicked upon, they reveal a larger, high-resolution version of the image you’ve posted.

JPEG Image, 600×400 pixels (120 KB)

JPEG Image, 400×237 pixels (100 KB)

JPEG Image, 200×134 pixels (88 KB)

Notice the differences between these three images. More detail is obviously available in the large version, but the file size for the large version is overwhelming, compared to the smallest. Switching to a lower quality setting and a grayscale color mode would have saved us significant size for all three images, as well.

When preparing images for the web, I recommend not just resizing to smaller version of a file, but also cropping-in to the most important subject, or element, within the picture. This does two things: focuses the viewer’s interest, and also maximizes the size ratio for a quicker download time.

Let’s start with an original photograph of the author, and his mother. It’s too big for inclusion in a webpage, and the size would offend modem-users visiting our site.

JPEG, RGB-color, (164 KB)

By using the crop tool, and setting our target resolution, I can accomplish two steps at once: reduce my physical dimensions, and retain the focus of interest in comparable size.

Cropping to Size in Photoshop. Make sure the target resolution is 72, and you have specified your dimensions in pixels (px).

The author, with mom, both cropped and resized (104 KB).

When significantly reducing the file size, as I have done here, it wouldn’t hurt to apply some Sharpening (use the Unsharp Mask option under Filters if you have the time, it’s more precise) to increase contrast around hard edges. This will give the photo a little tighter "focus" after downsampling.

When saving your JPEG file, you have several options with regard to file size and quality.

The quality setting is how much lossy compression is applied to the image. The higher the quality, the better your picture, and larger the filesize. The true filesize is shown at the bottom (my filesizes listed here are much higher, because Photoshop adds a "preview" icon to the picture for OS X, and this inflates the filesize). I save most JPEGs for the web between quality 5-7. Remember to save the originals, large size, in PSD format for editing later!

Creating a Web Photo Album

A web photo album is a great way to show-off your digital pictures. There are a lot of packages now that can help you with this. Dreamweaver and Fireworks offer this option, as does Apple’s iPhoto. Photoshop does it, too, and it’s easier to do than you might think.

First, collect large, full-size versions of your photographs in one directory. Have a second, empty directory ready for placing the web pages and resized graphics in, once Photoshop starts its handywork.

Choose "Web Photo Gallery…" under the File - Automate menu.

You can view my web photo album here, created using Photoshop 7. I like the Javascript option that automatically advances the pictures in a quasi-slide show fashion.

Changing Backgrounds by Extraction

By far, the most powerful aspect of Photoshop is its ability to work in layers. One popular technique is to separate the subject of a photograph, and use the subject against an alternate background. In this example, I’m using a picture of a statue from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Open your picture, and choose Filter - Extract.

Using the paintbrush, draw around the perimeter of your subject. Next, fill the interior with the paint bucket. You should see something like the example above. Next, click on Preview, and then OK, if you are happy with the result.

Seen above, the background has been eliminated. The checkerboard pattern is Photoshop’s way of showing us that there is transparency in our image. Next, I find a new background by opening a new image. I drag this background layer from the new document, into the original document with the statue. Then, by swapping the layer order, I have a new, composite image:

A whole world of great fun with images awaits! You can download a final version of the composite, after color correction was applied to the statue, and the background blurred to give the effect of distance between the subject and background.

Tinting and Hand Coloring

Both tinting and hand coloring are techniques borrowed from traditional photography roots, but take on new possibilities in Photoshop’s digital darkroom. Both techniques start with a grayscale image in RGB mode, exactly the type of image we’d end up with after going through the first technique in this set of tutorials.

If all you want is a grayscale image, change your Image - Mode - Grayscale, and save it. However, to do tinting and handcoloring, remain in RGB color mode.

Samples of our original, both in color, and in grayscale.

Next, go to the Hue/Saturation adjustment (Apple/Command-U) and turn on the colorize option. Next, dial up your favorite hue to be applied to the image. This is called tinting. This is the technique used to attain sepia-tone images.

Another, related technique is to apply a gradient, and map it across the 256 different grayscale shades to create, what’s called, a gradient map. In Photoshop 7, it’s located in Image - Adjustments - Gradient Map.

When just two colors are used, the effect approaches what’s called a duotone—when just two ink colors are used to reproduce a continuous-tone image. This is not a true duotone, but Photoshop can produce those too. Both using a Gradient Map and Tinting are easy, quick ways to add some significant difference to your digital pictures.

Hand coloring takes more creativity on your part—it’s time to get out the paint brush. First, start with your grayscale image in RGB mode. Next, create as many new layers as you need for the color you want to apply in the layers palette.

Notice here, how I’ve changed the color blending mode for my purple layer to Color. Do this for all three color layers you have created.

Hand coloring takes patience, but can add a whimsical touch to otherwise ordinary photographs. What’s fun is that you don’t have to stick to the "real" colors. Use the opacity control on the layers palette to control how much color is added. Old black and white photographs used to be colored before color photography had become feasible; with a digital paint brush, you can add artistic touches to your photographs by overpainting color, giving your documents an "electric" feel to them.

Video Tutorials

Check out my video tutorials online for Photoshop Elements 2.0

Download the picture archive for this training at VSTE 2007.

I thought it was curious. I was practicing some music, watching my computer play back its screensaver. Which? The 20th Century Voyage by the folks at Futurismo Zugakousaku. It displays in wonderful transparency images of a globe, and important milestones and quotes from the, well you guessed it, twentieth century. What was quizzical was the juxtoposition of a quote from Picasso (”All Children are Artists”) and a factual statement, a supposed milestone from 1994: “Apple introduces first PowerPC based computer, PowerMac 6100.”

While I love Apple products, is this an important milestone in the history of the twentieth century?