--O.K....I'm dumb. I opened the first image to work with in Hidden Power, and "first rattle out of hte box" I hit a snag.

Working on page 37 with the first image,( lily.psd) when I get to step 3, per instructions, I created the new fill layer/solid color, clicked o.k When I put the slider on the color red at the top of the color line and try to type in 255,0,0 it won't let me insert commas and the color picker turns green when I get the number in (without commas). So what am I missing here? If I am a failure on step three, I'm doomed ! :-(

BTW, am I supposed to save the image on the CD to the desktop before I start working with it, or do I use it directly from the CD?

thanks....chammett

--I think I figured it out. I was trying to type in the numbers in the bottom horizontal box where there is room for a series of numbers. When I just moved the slider to red and the red dot in the big color picker box to the red corner, then I typed in 255 in the "r" box, and everything fell into place. I was able then to proceed through all the steps through the red channel and the green channel, but had to abandon ship due to time. Let me work on this some more and I'll get back to this thread if I need help. Meanwhile, does it sound like I did this right?

*I think the confusing thing was the instruction to type in the "255,0,0". I still don't undestand about that, unless it means to type int 255 in r, and 0 in the other two small boxes by the color picker slider. ????

Am I right here?

I am going by standard notation in the writing. If you have a suggestion that might seem clearer, I would be glad to consider it.

Yes, I understand now that you were using a standard notation or designation for plugging in these numbers. However, as a total new user to Hidden Powers, I had no clue about "standard notation" used in photographic reference.

As an added note BEFORE beginning the "exercises" it would be helpful to have new terminology (and any other standard type notations you might use that I haven't gotten to yet) clarified in some sort of chart like you have at the end of the text for blend modes etc.

Also helpful (and maybe you included it and I missed it) wodld be a suggestion as to whether to work directly from your images on the CD or better to copy and save the image in a folder in Photoshop Elements 2 so it can be easily accessed and used over and over. I did the latter, for better or worse!

I made it through lesson one. Your explanations are very clear and easy to follow. I would like to see prior to each "lesson" a brief description of the practical application....ie: useful for noise reduction , or useful for making the image pop, or useful for bringing detail out of shadows, etc.

I'm not new to photography or to Photoshop Elements 2, but I would say I am technologically challenged at times. Having been a teacher much of my adult life, I assume no knowledge on the part of the learner. Thus my request for any new terms that might come my way in learning post processing of my images.

Thanks for your reply!

As this is a first edition, it doesn't have the maturity of versioning. Hopefully I can make the book better in subsequent editions. The thing about writing computer books: it isn't like writing most things, it starts to get dated immediately. You have to write quickly and do the best you can in a limited amount of time.

I appreciate the suggestions for improvement. My perspective on this was that it would only interest more advanced users, and I guess I have been proved wrong by the response. I definitely made assumptions, and had to to keep the book under the target length. It is part of the reality of writing: there is a budget and page count before I start writing. That many readers have seemed to be less experienced than I expected means I have to fill in some stuff in the next edition, like perhaps adding a glossary and more 'grounding' stuff before the exercises. I don't like a lot of drivel, so I tend to get right to it. I also have a little problem sometimes identifying what is 'new' terminology as I've been at this for about 20 years. Still I am not sure how else I could write RGB values that would make more sense, except, perhaps R:255, G:0, B:0...

You can use the images right off the CD, cause you can't write over them. You might find copying the images to your HD faster...In other words, the CD images won't change on you -- you can use them over and over.

Glad you found it clear. Please feel free to post questions as they arise. The forum is best, as I might not always have time and someone else might -- and things can easily get lost in my email (I get like 400 pieces a day at two different accounts, and probably delete some 780 pieces of spam between the two each day).