HOW TO TAKE CLASSES

After much thinking, burning of brain cells, discussing with friends and former students, this is how I am going to go about offering training on Photoshop Elements 4 or 5.

I am going to list the classes available. I'll add additional topics as requested. You can call and schedule to take any class you want at a mutually agreeable time depending on your schedule and mine. This can be during the week, day or evening, or on a Saturday. Setting up a schedule does not seem to work for everyone, so I am going to try this approach. Essentially, it can either end up being one-on-one training or I may end up with several together. When someone calls to schedule a class, I will post it to the blog and through email. If anyone else is interested, you can join in on that class. Class cost is the same whether I have one or four. This will hopefully work to everyone's advantage. At this point, I am only doing training here at the house and cannot do training off site unless it is for a group of people. I will be scheduling some seminars, which are not hands-on training, but will be in conjunction with other events in the community. All classes are 2 hours long unless otherwise specified. Some are higher because of the cost of consumables (paper, ink, CDs). Please bring your own laptop if you have one. If you specifically want a one-on-one class with no other students, the cost is $20 an hour and you will need to specify this. The only exception is the class at the bottom for former students. Here is the list of the classes:

Introduction to Photoshop Elements 4 or 5—$25
Learn all those technical terms and whether they mean anything to you or not. We'll look at Elements and it parts, discuss file formats and when and where to use them, and other issues important to digital image editing and using digital cameras, scanners, tablets, CDs/DVDs and printers.

Using the Organizer—$25
Learn how to properly import your pictures, organize and tag them, move them between folders, delete them and archive them to CD/DVD.

Resolution, Cropping and Resizing—$25
We'll be working with the concept of resolution and how it interacts with image size and file size as it relates to printing, viewing on screen or in a presentation and sending over the web. Also work on cropping images using good photographic rules of thumb.

The Editor Interface and How It Works—$25
We'll go over all the tools, their functions and options. We will look at all the menu options, how tool options affect menu options and how to show and hide docking items, images and tools and briefly use these tools.

Color Correction in the Editor Interface—$25
We'll learn how to correct low light or overly bright color images, how to fix coloration problems, and get the best contrast and tonality from the image. Nobody wants to be a lobster. You can bring your own images on a CD or Flash drive.

Selection Techniques and Using Masks/Layers—4 hours—$60
This is CORE to using this program to it's fullest, if you don't do anything else, do this! You'll learn to use a Wacom tablet to help make selections. Learning to make selections is fundamental to using Elements and layers. We will be working with Layers in this class.

Retouching Images and Removing Unwanted Objects—$25
Yes, this is the class to give Uncle Charlie a third eye. Seriously, we learn how to retouch faces, objects, and how to remove unwanted things, people, warts, zits, glare from glasses, and such. We'll whiten those teeth without the aid of Crest or Colgate. You can bring your own images on CD or Flash drive.

Scanning and Photo Restoration—4 hours—$60
You'll learn to use the Epson scanner and how to restore old images. Bring at least one or two pictures 4 x 6 or less to scan and work on.

Creating Vignettes and other Special Effects—4 hours—$60
A vignette is a picture that focuses on an object and fades out to the edge (or burns—black). We'll also look at Converting to black and white, Sepia, and colorizing and desaturization. You'll be printing your images to a wide-format printer. Bring several large images (5 x 7 or larger on CD or Flash drive).

Creating Photo Montages (Collages)—4 hours—$60
We'll create a montage of images. You'll be printing your images to a wide-format printer. Bring at least 4 images or more on CD or Flash drive.

Text Effects—$25
Adding text over pictures and placing pictures within text and other creative text effects.

Additional Special Affects, Exploring Effects Options—4 hours—$60
All those fun things we didn't get to the first time. You'll be printing your creations.

Creating Brushes and Downloading Resources—3 hours—$45
Scrapbookers beware! This will suck you in and spit you out years later. Give Rhonna Farrar a run for her money. Those Two Peas have nothing over you after this class.

Working with Your Digital Camera & RAW format—$25
If you have a camera that lets you shoot in RAW, this is for YOU! RAW is awesome and let us show you why.

Color Management—$25
On a PC, this is a critical issue. You want what you see on screen to at least somewhat look like what you print. This process is called calibration. The Mac does it a lot better, but there are options for the PC as well to get to at least pleasing color. We'll show you how.

Using Photoshop Elements 5's New Create Feature—$25
Another great scrapbooker feature as well as some great presentation features. You won't want to miss this class and this is a completely new feature set to Elements 5 catering primarily to the scrapbooking market.

I Thought I Knew, But Now I Forgot—$25 to ??
For any former student. This can be any topic you want. We can cover old stuff, new stuff, work on a specific project or whatever is on your mind. Cost will be determined by how long you need and what additional equipment we might need to use (to cover consumables cost). This class is considered a one-on-one class for any one who is NOT a former student.