Adobe Photoshop Elements newbie questions

[PhotoGirl]

Hi everyone,
I have some newbie questions regarding adobe photoshop elements 12. This is my first photoshop software, so my questions are really basic.
I know you can print off a photo if you have a printer attached to your computer. But I don’t. I usually bring my photos into a store and get them done. Will I still be able to do that? Can I copy my photos onto a CD and bring it to a store and get them developed there? And if so, how do I do that. I saw there was a CD/DVD burner option, I am guessing that is the option I would use?
I made an Adobe ID, but I haven’t had to use it again to sign in/out. I haven’t seen a sign out option…what is the Adobe ID for?
When I first entered the Organizer, I had mp3 songs clips already in there (I think in the All Media section) I am guessing they are sample clips?
When I do photo edits, I would like to not work on the original; I’d like to save the original and make any changes on a copy of the original. How do I do that?

Thanks for any advice you can give me

[GB1]

Hi everyone,
I have some newbie questions regarding adobe photoshop elements 12. This is my first photoshop software, so my questions are really basic.
I know you can print off a photo if you have a printer attached to your computer. But I don’t. I usually bring my photos into a store and get them done. Will I still be able to do that? Can I copy my photos onto a CD and bring it to a store and get them developed there? And if so, how do I do that. I saw there was a CD/DVD burner option, I am guessing that is the option I would use?
I made an Adobe ID, but I haven’t had to use it again to sign in/out. I haven’t seen a sign out option…what is the Adobe ID for?
When I first entered the Organizer, I had mp3 songs clips already in there (I think in the All Media section) I am guessing they are sample clips?
When I do photo edits, I would like to not work on the original; I’d like to save the original and make any changes on a copy of the original. How do I do that?

Thanks for any advice you can give me

Photogirl,

I don't use Elements, but your questions seem related to most applications so will give them a try.

You can always burn a CD even without Elements, you just need to know where your images are on your disk/drive (Elements might have a function that makes this a little easier). I would recommend saving the files to a USB thumb drive - less hassle, no waste. Just find out where the files are on your drive and copy them to the thumb drive.

Your Adobe ID is used to log into Adobe's website, which I believe you'll have to do to access any of their resources. Once you sign in it might remember you, which means you won't have to re-login every time.

Can't be sure on the mp3s, but yeah sounds like they're sample clips, or possibly audio files used in tutorials.

Agreed: always keep a copy of your (unedited) originals. That being said, it's then more about process of how you want to go about saving, editing, etc. There are many ways you could decide on: for ex, you could first make copies of the originals using Windows Explorer and save them to a special folder (named "Originals" or ?), then work on the others. I tend to open the original in PS and if I like it and want to edit it I save it w/ an "Edit1" after the name. For instance, if the original file was named DSC_1234.jpg, I would name the modified file DSC_1234_Edit1.jpg. The only danger with that is forgetting to do that and overwriting the original with the changes by mistake. I haven't done that in awhile because I'm so used to my process now.

Hope this helps
-GB

[PhotoGirl]

Thank you GB1 for your reply

I hadn't thought of using a USB thumb drive; I think I will do that.

I had another question I had about saving edited photos (and I don't know if it is the same for all photo editing software) but on Adobe it saves the edits as a Photoshop Document. So, instead of it saying .JPEG it says .PSD at the end of the file. How does that work? I thought you can only print out photos (at stores, or post them on the web) as a JPEG?? I tried to change the file to JPEG but it said I had to 'copy' it? I am a little confused LOL I just don't want to work on my edited photos and then have problems printing or posting them.
thanks for any help you can give me

[GB1]

Thank you GB1 for your reply

I hadn't thought of using a USB thumb drive; I think I will do that.

I had another question I had about saving edited photos (and I don't know if it is the same for all photo editing software) but on Adobe it saves the edits as a Photoshop Document. So, instead of it saying .JPEG it says .PSD at the end of the file. How does that work? I thought you can only print out photos (at stores, or post them on the web) as a JPEG?? I tried to change the file to JPEG but it said I had to 'copy' it? I am a little confused LOL I just don't want to work on my edited photos and then have problems printing or posting them.
thanks for any help you can give me

Well... I think this may be a question for other Elements users to answer, as I don't know the specifics on its Save operations. With Photoshop, much to my annoyance, it often decides to save as a .PSD (Photoshop Document) by default; you have to select JPG from the file type selector.

In general however, if you use layers and want to save the image file so that all the layers are available next time you open the file, then you must save as a PSD. When you save as JPG or any other image type (besides PSD), it doesn't understand what a layer is, and 'collapses' the image to a single layer. That's what you will see later when you open the image as a JPG - just the final image/layer.

So as you can see, the PSD type is specific to Photoshop and its siblings (like Elements). Its like a special file to hold all the 'stuff' Photoshop creates while you work on an image.

You do need to save the image as a universal format to print, the most popular being JPG. Not sure way it's asking you make a copy .. hmm. Try again and see if you can ask it to save as a JPG. There may be another way of doing it too.

G

[PhotoGirl]

Thank you for your reply GB1 I have heard that I may need to make a Copy or Duplicate of the photo and work on the 'copy' which it will then save it as a copy and that's how it will be saved as a JPEG.

I haven't tried it yet, but I will see if that works. I have a USB question, I don't have a USB, so I was wondering, is a USB and USB thumb drive the same thing?