Hidden Power Support - - New to the Forum

aragorn · #1 03-25-2007, 01:24 PM

This is my first post so I will try to be brief. I recently purchased PE4 and have been trying to get to grips with it and so far it is going reasonably well. I am using Adobes own book "Classroom in a Book" and I find it to be well written. I also bought Barbara's book, which brings me to my question. I have downloaded your free tool set to try out, also I have downloaded but not installed Grants tools. Is there any need to have both sets or is it better to just have yours?

My second question, do I have to uninstall the free tools if in the near future I decide to buy your complete set of tools, and is there any special uninstall instructions that I have to follow?

Thank you for your time and look forward to reading and posting on this forum.

Richard_Lynch · #2 03-25-2007, 01:32 PM

Just to let you know, 'Adobe Press' has the Adobe name, but it is not an Adobe product. They want you to think that so they sell a lot of books.

My set of tools was the original set, and Grant copied -- for whatever reason. His gained popularity because I could not speak about mine in many forums because I was an author, and he could tout his wherever he pleased. Quite frankly, the differing advantage led me to do a lot less for Elements users than I could have. Because I am an author and am perceived as having 'something to sell', even my free tools are not free for me to announce. Not to be boastful, but as I started with Elements 1, I know more about creating these than anyone...I just wish I were free to announce them. Because I can't announce, I tend not to bother. Otherwise I'd have a lot more tools available.

But to sum up...you don't need "Grant's Tools" and mine (he even stole the idea of 'tools, BTW'). Mine do as much and more.

aragorn · #3 03-25-2007, 01:41 PM

Thank you for the quick reply, and I understand all that you said.
Can you please tell me if I have to uninstall the free set of tools before I install the paid for version?

Again, thanks for the quick reply.

Richard_Lynch · #4 03-25-2007, 01:53 PM

There may be some functionality overlap, but there is no reason to uninstall before installing the larger set. I make my tools so they do not conflict.

niagaragirl · #5 03-25-2007, 05:00 PM

Richard,

Thanks for the post. I use Ele 5 for Raw processing, but there I times when I would like to use a layer mask and a channel mixer without having to dump out of Ele and into PS 7. I have found a way to fudge a layer mask in Ele, but it would be easier with a little bit more of a seamless process, since sometimes a simple layer mask is all I have left to do. Thanks for the link/tips.

Richard_Lynch · #6 03-25-2007, 05:37 PM

Even the free tools cover that. Hope they help.

camner · #7 04-07-2007, 10:11 PM

I'm a bit surprised that it is considered a conflict of interest to announce one's own tools if one is an author. Your tools are simply phenomenal! I've seen nothing like them anywhere else...

aragorn · #8 04-08-2007, 04:13 AM

Since I first posted this thread I have purchased the "Hidden Power of Photoshop Elements 4" and at present I am giving it a through once over before reading it in earnest and I must say that it looks as though I have forgotten a lot about photography. I have done some experimenting and have been learning the basic tools in PE4 as a way of learning the software and as you say it can become quite addictive. I have a load of shots that I have to download and I have no doubt that the book will come into its own when I start using your book. Having said all that, I do agree with (camner) about your tools, I too see no reason as to why you cannot trumpet your own work. I think it smacks of small mindedness IMHO.

Richard_Lynch · #9 04-08-2007, 05:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by camner

I'm a bit surprised that it is considered a conflict of interest to announce one's own tools if one is an author. Your tools are simply phenomenal! I've seen nothing like them anywhere else...

Forums do not like you 'advertising'. They either believe it is a priveledge to pay for, or they think it might lead to spamming a list. I have tried to work out 'one-time' announcements of things in various places, and that has worked OK...but others with free tools and no paid products have free reign--a marketing inequality. I can't post about even my free tools in many places because I am recognized as having other products. It is so frustrating I almost gave up after Elements 3.

Richard_Lynch · #10 04-08-2007, 05:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aragorn

I think it smacks of small mindedness IMHO.

I have understood the point in most forums and the rules about spamming. The things that are suggested are 'advertising' (paid), or disassociating the free products from the paid ones completely (different branding and no mention of other products). Well, if I have to pay for advertising the price has to go up (which I'd prefer not to do) and if I have to disassociate the tool sets from the freebees entirely, I end up competing against myself.

It is a pretty extreme frustration.

camner · #11 04-15-2007, 02:12 PM

I'm a bit chagrined to learn than there isn't a difference between "spamming" and "announcing" to those who run forums. To me there is a large difference between someone who replies to nearly every post with "I've got a great product that will solve your exact problems for only $4999.95!!" and a statement in a forum such as this. This is precisely set up to support your work (and others in other forums, of course), and it seems silly to say that you can't advertise the very products that folks would likely come here to learn about.

But, you have more experience, so you're undoubtedly correct, alas...

Richard_Lynch · #12 04-16-2007, 12:23 PM

Just to clarify, I'm free to say what I want here...Doug N. who runs the forum invited me here just for the purpose, and appears to have the right idea about information being exchanged on forums. However, I see a lot of other people go to OTHER forums to ask questions about my tools where I can sometimes not even answer a direct question without reprimand. (there was a guy bob hill on Adobe's forum who'd not even let me use my email address...)

Try announcing a pay-for-it product on the Adobe site forums and see if the post doesn't mysteriously disappear.

I've been banned from dpreview previously because my signature had my website address.

My posts have been deleted more than once from photoshopelementsuser.com forums, likely because I'm not running with NAPP. (well, er, um, I sortof have had issue with David Cross who I accused of being a cheapskate for offering $50 for an article when I normally get $500).

On the other hand a few sites are great: popphoto.com, retouchpro.com, betterphoto.com

Several more are tolerant but will frequently let me know if they think I'm responding to queries too much. I try to redirect people here.

The thing that gets me is if I mention the tools it is usually the FREE ones...But I do butt in on conversations that are entirely wrong "you can't save a CMYK file in Elements" "Elements doesn't have curves" "can't do color balance" "Can't play actions"...Often advice comes from Photoshop users who have never opened Elements. I just try to set them straight ;-)

The problem is I go in honestly using my real name, instead of sneaking in and posing a stupid lead in like "Anyone ever tried these Hidden Power tools? I found them here: hiddenelements.com -- Joey Daylights"

I'm not good at sneaky...