Who Knows Photoshop (HELP!)

[N_Jay]

All I want to do is collor a image that is black on a transparent background.
Anyone able to give dump old me simple directions. (Ugh)

I have looked at the help, and just don't get it!

[RikiShah]

I could actually help you with that. My dad is a photographer, but he's not home right now....but I'll ask him how to do that....

[krygny]

It's been a while since I've used PhotoShop and I don't have it installed on my current system. But as I recall, not all image formats support transparency. I know .gif does, but I think .jpg does not. It won't let you do something that's unsupported by the format. Don't know if this helps.

[john802]

Originally posted by N_Jay
All I want to do is collor a image that is black on a transparent background.
Anyone able to give dump old me simple directions. (Ugh)

I have looked at the help, and just don't get it!

There are so many ways of doing it. Here is one method of doing it:
1. Open Photoshop
2. Go to Image >Mode>Grayscale
3. Click Grayscale>Discard color Info? will show up> click ok
4. Click Image again > Mode > Duotone (the default setting type is
Monotone).
5. Once you change the type to Duotone, click the black object and
it will open a new window called color picker.
6. Just play around with the color you want and click ok.

I hope this instruction helps.

[N_Jay]

Originally posted by john802
There are so many ways of doing it. Here is one method of doing it:
1. Open Photoshop
2. Go to Image >Mode>Grayscale
3. Click Grayscale>Discard color Info? will show up> click ok
4. Click Image again > Mode > Duotone (the default setting type is
Monotone).
5. Once you change the type to Duotone, click the black object and
it will open a new window called color picker.
6. Just play around with the color you want and click ok.

I hope this instruction helps.

OK, I will give it ONE MORE TRY! (You have know idea how many hours I have wasted on this SIMPLE thing)

Why is it that Photoshop does not work like ANY other windows program? I feel like I am working on a Friggin MAC (Sorry Jay)

[jay]

Originally posted by N_Jay
OK, I will give it ONE MORE TRY! (You have know idea how many hours I have wasted on this SIMPLE thing)

Why is it that Photoshop does not work like ANY other windows program? I feel like I am working on a Friggin MAC (Sorry Jay)

I feel your pain. Whether it's Adobe or Corel or whatever, the programs aren't intuitive. Even the dumbed down Photoshop Elements isn't dumbed down enough for me.

[N_Jay]

Originally posted by N_Jay
OK, I will give it ONE MORE TRY! (You have know idea how many hours I have wasted on this SIMPLE thing)

Why is it that Photoshop does not work like ANY other windows program? I feel like I am working on a Friggin MAC (Sorry Jay)

Nope, still same thing.

I change the image to RGB, then I go to replace color.

The HUE and SATURATION sliders do nothing and the LIGHTNESS slider takes me to various shades of gray.

If I use the color picker to pick the shade I want from teh "swatch", they the sliders adjust that color but do nothing to the image.

If I use the color picker to pick the black from that image, I am back to adjusting the black to gray and not changing the color.

I think i might just dump Photoshop and find a freeware image editing program. Any sugestions?

[RipRocK]

Photoshop still is the best graphics editing program out there. Unless you got it for free, you should stick with it. A friend of mine's a graphics designer/artist and she swears by it.

If you know how to use the newsgroups, you can post your question in photoshop related newsgroups, such as alt.graphics.photoshop and comp.graphics.apps.photoshop. Might wanna check out groups.google.com and do a search in there first. I just downloaded the headers in that group and they both seem to be very active and lively groups. Just make sure to enter "photoshop" in the Newsgroup field along with the keywords you enter in the top field for "Find messages" section.

But if you come up with nothing and you're not familiar with using newsgroups, just lemme know and I'll post your question for you. If I do, is cut & pasting your original question good enough? I've never used Photoshop before.

[N_Jay]

Originally posted by RipRocK
Photoshop still is the best graphics editing program out there. Unless you got it for free, you should stick with it. A friend of mine's a graphics designer/artist and she swears by it.

Oh its a great program, and bet all the graphics people love it. It probably speaks their language.

I am just swearing at it rather than by it!

I have both Photoshop and Elements.

Neither is intuative in any way, and both have help files that are almost worse than not there.

This should be an easy step.
1) Select either image or object to recolor.
2) Select the color or area to be recolored.
3) Select the color to replace with.
4) Go, OK, or whatever strange proceed word they care to use.

I actually found a menu item to "colorize" an image (WoooHooo!)
(Of course it is not in the "Recolor" menu (Duh, that would be too easy a placve to hide it)

That lets me color the object (by adjusting sliders)
Now how do I use the color pick tool to actually select the color I want? God (and a few Photoshop wizzess) only knows!

Originally posted by RipRocK
If you know how to use the newsgroups, you can post your question in photoshop related newsgroups, such as alt.graphics.photoshop and comp.graphics.apps.photoshop. Might wanna check out groups.google.com and do a search in there first. I just downloaded the headers in that group and they both seem to be very active and lively groups. Just make sure to enter "photoshop" in the Newsgroup field along with the keywords you enter in the top field for "Find messages" section.

But if you come up with nothing and you're not familiar with using newsgroups, just lemme know and I'll post your question for you. If I do, is cut & pasting your original question good enough? I've never used Photoshop before.

Tried posting to a couple of PhotoShop groups, no answer!

[Ziploc]

Originally posted by jay
I feel your pain. Whether it's Adobe or Corel or whatever, the programs aren't intuitive. Even the dumbed down Photoshop Elements isn't dumbed down enough for me.

__________________________________________________ ____
Originally posted by N_Jay
Oh its a great program, and bet all the graphics people love it. It probably speaks their language.

I am just swearing at it rather than by it!
__________________________________________________ ____

Most folks I know--casual users--misjudged the difficulty of achieving their desired results with Photoshop, which of course was designed and intended for the needs of professional graphics artists. I work closely with graphics folks, and even they must receive specialized training before they can take advantage of Photoshop's capabilities. So far, I haven't felt the need to put the necessary time and effort into learning Photoshop--fortunately, I can do most everything I need with the photo-editing software that came on my PC (ArcSoft PhotoStudio).

[N_Jay]

Originally posted by Ziploc
Most folks I know--casual users--misjudged the difficulty of achieving their desired results with Photoshop, which of course was designed and intended for the needs of professional graphics artists. I work closely with graphics folks, and even they must receive specialized training before they can take advantage of Photoshop's capabilities. So far, I haven't felt the need to put the necessary time and effort into learning Photoshop--fortunately, I can do most everything I need with the photo-editing software that came on my PC (ArcSoft PhotoStudio).

Well if I was trying to recreate a suble accent, with just the right shading and shadow to provide a stunning 3D effect, I would agree with you.

I am trying to do a very simple task. Replace the black in an image that has no other color with a particular shade of blue.

What amaizes me is the complexity of the menu for simple tasks and the lack of logic in menu item locations.
P.S. This is PS Elements, so it is already "Photoshop for the rest of us"!

[terraambient]

This is not an easy program for people not trained on it.

Is this what you are trying to do? This is on a MAC, but it should be about the same.

1. This is your image:

http://www.terraambient.com/picts/Picture1.jpg

2. Select your LASSO TOOL from the tool box.

http://www.terraambient.com/picts/Picture2.jpg

3. Click on the black area with the lasso tool. You'll see the lasso around your image.

http://www.terraambient.com/picts/Picture3.jpg

4. Double click on the front color box in your tool bar...

http://www.terraambient.com/picts/Picture4.jpg

5. ... and the color select menu will come up. Select your color and hit "ok."

http://www.terraambient.com/picts/Picture5.jpg

6. Go to your "EDIT" menu, and select "FILL..."

http://www.terraambient.com/picts/Picture7.jpg

7. this will bring up the fill menu. Choose forground color (the front box).

http://www.terraambient.com/picts/Picture8.jpg

8. your filled image.

http://www.terraambient.com/picts/Picture9.jpg

hope that helps.

[terraambient]

...uh...

not sure why the images arent coming up with the discriptions....

but you can click on them.