A Welcome Note To New Members (and anyone else who wants a warm welcome)

[jeaniesa]

I’d like to extend a big WELCOME to those of you who are new here at RetouchPro. My name is Jeanie and I’m your Moderator and friendly assistant in the Critiques/Opinions/Help Requested section of the RetouchPro Forums.

I think you’ll discover, just like I did, that RetouchPro is a great place to hang out! There is a ton of information to be found by wandering through the forums (and the rest of the site!) You won’t be the first person to get lost looking through old threads – only to look up and discover that 3-4 hours have passed!

But even better than the information in the archives are the people you’ll meet here! We have some of the nicest people on the web here, so don’t be shy about introducing yourself. You’re sure to get a warm welcome!

To make it a little easier for you to find your way around the forums, I’ve put together some tips and general information. These are all things that you could learn by browsing through the site, but I thought I’d try to make it a little easier for you by putting them all in one place.

1. The Great and Powerful OZ (aka the Janitor) of this site is Doug. He has posted a good overview of tips for participation in these forums, so be sure to check them out. You’ll find him helpful and attentive to any problems you might run into, so don’t be afraid of him! You can reach him either through the “Contact” link on the main menu or by sending him a Private Message (PM).

2. I’m only one of several Moderators here at RetouchPro. I am by no means an expert, but I love to help out in any way I can – just like all of the moderators here. When you click on Forums in the menu bar, you’ll be brought to the Forums main page with a list of the moderators in the right hand column next to the forum section they are responsible for. The easiest way for you to contact any of us is the click on the “Forum Leaders” link at the very bottom of the Forums main page. This will give you a full list of the moderators along with a button to send a PM to each. There is also a PM button at the bottom of every post that anyone makes. If you ever have a question or feel lost and/or confused, please don’t hesitate to send me a PM asking for help. I try to check messages multiple times per day, but some days I’m not able to check as often as I’d like. In any case, I promise to get back to you just as soon as possibly I can.

3. At the bottom of the Forums main page you’ll see a list of forum members currently online. The moderators are shown in bold type; our Wizard (Doug) is shown in bold and italicized type. Clicking on a name will bring you to the profile page for that forum member, where you will find links for PM, e-mail, websites and other info that the member has chosen to share.

4. User CP (User Control Panel), at the bottom of the forum menu panel, lets you change any of your preferences. It also lets you edit your buddy lists and turn off forum notifications. You’ll also find the ability to add and/or modify your avatar, too, under the “Edit Options” tab. An avatar is the little picture you see below many members' names. For more information on avatars, click here. If you choose to create your own avatar (many members have), remember that the rule of “50 by 50 pixels or 20K bytes (whichever is smaller)” is very strict. Your avatar will not load if your image file is larger than that. As always, if you need help, feel free to PM me or post your question in the forum. (If you search on “avatar” in the forums, you’ll see that you’re not the first person to ask questions about it! )

5. The Critiques/Opinions/Help Requested section of the RetouchPro Forums is where you get to ask for personalized help or critiques of your work. Please be as specific as you can when requesting help or feedback. That way, members can focus their comments on what will help you most. If you get feedback that you don’t understand, don’t hesitate to ask for clarification! We really do want to help and if our explanation just confuses you more, then we’d like to know so that we can try explaining in a different way!

Also, in this section in particular, it is very helpful to post an example image that visually shows what you are requesting help with. You can upload one image along with your post; it must be under 100KB in size, so you will find that JPG is probably your best option for format – and you may need to either reduce the quality you save the image at and/or reduce the size of the image. (Don’t worry if you’re not able to get your image to load the first time you try! It happens to just about everyone and you’ll get lots of helpful comments if you’re having difficulty.) If you want to include more than one image, you’ll have to post a reply to your thread to add more. The limit is one image per post, but there is no limit on the number of posts. You may also post a URL to point to an image elsewhere on the web, though if you are able to include an image with your post, that makes it easier for others later on when they are trying to learn from the thread. (This is because in our experience, URL’s are often deleted after members have the information they need.)

6. The RetouchPro Forums are a seemingly endless archive of posts on a very wide variety of subjects. I know from personal experience that the sheer amount of information available can be intimidating. If you’re looking for a particular subject and can’t find it, the first thing to do is perform a search (found in the Forum menu). If you can’t find what you’re looking for, feel free to PM me and I’ll help you look. Or, start a thread on the subject you’re wondering about. If there are other threads with similar info, often times other members will point you to them.

7. Ask questions! Here at RetouchPro, we believe that the only “stupid question” is the one you never ask. If you’ve got a question, you can bet that at least one other person does too. And sometimes, what you think is a “simple question” actually spawns an in-depth discussion that is helpful to everyone.

8. A lot of times, the discussions in threads will wander just like real life conversations. Try to keep in mind that if the thread is on one subject, and the conversation wanders off onto an entirely different subject, any question you ask about that subject may not have the best chance of being answered, simply because someone who knows about flatbed scanners, for example, may not happen to wander through a thread on making your photos look like art. If you find yourself saying, “oh, btw, what about….,” you should start a new thread, in an appropriate place, with a clear title, in order to give yourself the best chance of getting a good answer. (You may also find the moderators will split threads which have wandered off-topic. So, don’t be surprised if you find a discussion you’ve been following has been moved to a new thread with a new topic.)

9. The most unique (and appealing) thing about RetouchPro is that unlike so many places on the Internet, the people here are all nice! We have some of the kindest, helpful, most thoughtful members I’ve ever come across (and I’ve done a lot of “traveling” on the web.) Egos are checked at the door, and respect and courtesy are highly valued here. We hope you’ll feel welcomed and that you’ll want to become a regular part of the RetouchPro family.

As I mentioned above, I’m not an expert waiting to impart all-knowing wisdom to everyone who stumbles across my path. But I do have a desire to help others achieve their goals and hope that I can help someone along the way, either with knowledge or moral support. I have received a lot of support of all kinds from the RetouchPro family and I only hope I can do the same for others.

So, come along and join the fun! You won’t regret it, I promise!

Jeanie

[Blacknight]

I am here because I wanted a warm welcome (the wind is off the ocean, the sky is overcast, and my feet are cold!)

Thanks Jeanie!

[Flora]

Jeanie

I don't consider myself a "newbie" anymore, but I'd like to say thanks for the

big WELCOME

Due to the "time difference", I rarely "overlap" with most of my "new" friends here...but I've always felt welcome!

Blacknight

My mind not only wanders; sometimes it leaves completely.

.....you too?....

[Bandit]

hi, i'm new here at Retouch, I wanted to know if there was a tutorial any where on matching skin tones but then I saw this post and thought hey if your giving out hugs and warm welcomes I might as well put down for some of that.

Thanks jeanie that is a nice touch to make newcomers like me feel welcome

[Trine Sirnes]

Hi Bandit.
I'm quite new here too

If you got to Resources in the menu, or here: Bruce Beard's Hair and Skin Color charts . This might be a help.

Trine

[Bandit]

Thank you Trine,
Your a star, i've spent since 8.oclock this morning looking for this.

[jeaniesa]

Hello Bandit and Trine! So glad you found us here at RetouchPRO! (And I see you already fit right in helping one another. )

Bandit, In addition to the skin and hair color charts that Trine pointed you to, there is a technique using curves that can be used to adjust skin tones when you want to take the skin tone in one picture and apply it to a different picture. Let me know if you're interested in that and I'll start another thread.

Jeanie

[Bandit]

Hi jeaniesa,
yes I would appreciate that as I often work on manipulation of images where people want their heads placed on different bodies...or is that just me.

I'm getting to grips a little bit with the levels but often it just doesn't look quite right so I would appreciate any help you can offer.

Also i'm sure there must be plenty of other people out there with the same problem.

Thanks

[jeaniesa]

Bandit,

I added a technique for matching skin tones here.

Jeanie

[tunney]

Hi Everyone.

I am new to this forum and look forward to try and absorb as much info as I can. I am quite sure that I will gain a lot of positive insight within Photoshop. I also belong to NAPP so between them and this group, my head should be swimming.

Best Regards..

Tunney

[jeaniesa]

Welcome to RetouchPro Tunney!! I think you'll find this site keeps you busy for a long time! If your head starts swimming, you might want to take a break to digest what you've learned before coming back for more. It is a little overwhelming at first, but it's easy to learn quickly on this site. I've learned more here than any other source. It's a great place to hang out!

Jeanie

[Opal]

Thanks for the warm welcome, Jeaniesa...it is most appreciated this cold evening in South Australia.

Hello All.... I'm just a new member as of yesterday and I was told of this wonderful group, by one of your members and a friend of mine, Jade, who sings your praises loud and clear all the way from Western Australia....I know, because I can hear her here down in Adelaide.


I am not a professional restorer, but I would like to be. Though I have dabbled for several years in this area and done a bit of work for family, friends etc...I basically just started playing around and doing what I thought was best with what ever tools I had....but now I would like to get some more expert help in these areas. Thanks for having me. cheers, Opal

[Jade]

Hi Opal ... welcome to this rare group and glad you're participating already. Wonderful first contribution and well done. Great description for PSP8 so I guess I'll have to go download the Beta again. ZZZZZZzzzzzz! Goodnight.

Jade

[CJ Swartz]

I glad that you two already know each other, Jade and Opal, because when I saw something that Opal did in PSP - I thought of Jade right away -- looking for other PSPers on the board.

Sandra (screenname Sanda) is a long-time member on the board from Australia -- in or around Sydney. That's one of the especially wonderful advantages of the internet -- "meeting" people from around the world while sitting in my own home.

So nice to have you join with us to fix and play with photos!

[Opal]

Hi Jade, CJ and Fishboy....thanks for the warm welcome to this awesome group and also the kind words on my first contribution. I agree that it is a wonderful thing to sit in the comfort of your own home, whilst meeting people from all corners of the globe at the same time. I am so pleased that Jade let me know about RetouchPro...some terrific learning experiences to be found here.

As you have already gathered, I am a PSP fan and love even more, the new version 8...awesome. I do have Photo Shop 7 too and Photo Impact, used both sparingly but always end up back in PSP...I am kept fairly busy being a moderator in an advanced PSP group, also do tutorials etc...so sometimes it is easier sticking with what you are comfortable with to save time.

For any PSP'ers who may be interested, I have a tutorial page which include some nice frames done in either 7 or 8.

http://heartcreators.net/ladyoz/tutorials.html
Cheers,
Opal

[justcallhoward]

Hi Everyone,

I've just spent the last 3 hours going through this site and then felt compelled to register so that I could be a part of this great group of fellow ENTHUSIASTS. I've enjoyed very much; reading through many of the posts, examining the challenge entries and looking at tutorials. What I enjoyed most however was the warmth and encouragement shown to one another throughout this site. That, in my mind, is what it's all about.
It's never too late to learn and the love of learning is alive here.
Glad to be here.

Howard

Very late in life, when he was studying geometry, some one said to Lacydes, “Is it then a time for you to be learning now?” “If it is not,” he replied, “when will it be?”

[CJ Swartz]

It's never to late to learn...

That's the truth! I was in my early 50's when I first learned about Photoshop, and when I first joined here -- I thought I knew a good deal about it. After seeing what some others could do, and what they knew, I understood that I still had lots of happy learning to do.

Welcome, Howard! There certainly is lots here to learn from and practice with -- and even better -- to enjoy!

[Ken45140]

I would like to say hello and greetings; I have just registered after looking around this great and wonderful site---I actually have been checking back for days waiting for the server change to be completed.

I am a relative newcomer to graphics programs but have been involved with digital photography and now am getting deeper and deeper into photo compositing and restoration, as well as "adjusting" exposure errors on current phtotos. I have been using PSP7 but have just switched over to version 8 and will be continuing my learning on that version.

This group and the resources seem "ideal" and "ready made" for someone in my position. My abilities and opportunities to contribute will be limited as I climb various learning curves, but I hope to share back as soon as I can.

The "insight" I am interested in hearing more about is whether this is really considered (in an unspoken fashion) a Photoshop board/site? I realize that various other programs are mentioned in some of the titles of subject areas - and I see some PSP users who have recently left messages - but in all candidness, if the vast majority of users are Photoshop users, is the likelihood smaller (even if willingness is there) for PSP users to get help with software specific questions?

In partial answer to my own question, I was browsing at the bookstore through Scott Kelby's book "The Photoshop Book for Digital Photographers", and had the impression (I am still too new to know for sure) that many many techniques and commands are very similar between PSP8 and Photoshop (ver?). While this may be blasphemy to PS users, may I ask if it is not true to a large degree?

Any comments or reactions to my "insight" question? I hope I have not offended nor talked too long.

Ken

[jeaniesa]

Hi Ken,

Welcome to RetouchPro! You certainly have not offended anyone with your question - it's a good one:

is this really considered (in an unspoken fashion) a Photoshop board/site?

This site was created as a resource for anyone interested in photo restoration and retouching regardless of the application they use. That said, I think it is true the majority of us are using Photoshop. However, we do our best to give "generic" advice so that people can "translate" steps to their specfic application. Sometimes we forget and write in application specific terminology, but you should never feel bad about asking questions if you don't understand something!

I do not have a lot of knowledge about PSP functionality vs. Photoshop, but it is my impression that the two are quite similar. I think the terminology may differ more than the actual functionality.

We have a few accomplished PSP users as members, so perhaps they can speak to whether they feel included in our discussions most of the time or not.

HTH, Jeanie

[justcallhoward]

Hi Ken,
Welcome to the site. I'd have to agree that most members use Photoshop but speaking for myself (and I'm sure for many others),
I started out using Paint Shop Pro. I also did a brief stint with Ulead PhotoImact and MGI PhotoSuite. All in all I'd say you can accomplish similar results with each program.
The reason I switched was because of what you pointed out. The vast body of literature from books to web sites to video learning tools focus on Adobe's product. It's still difficult to find tutorials dedicated exclusively to any of the other above-mentioned products.
There will always be die-hard fans of each I believe because of having to learn "new tricks". I am one old dog who got tired of trying to remember how to do the tricks in each program.

I see this site as an excellent resource for learning from each other in the huge study of digital manipulation no matter what tools we choose to use. In the end, it's all about pixels and shaping them to your taste.

I have visited the site many times now and always learn something new. I've come away gratified every time. Hope your expeerience will be similar. Good Luck!

[mrblake50]

Hi Jeanie,

Thank you for the very warm welcome!

Maureen

[sage150]

Hi Jeaniesa and Member's,

I joined the board last night and have been looking at
the various pages on it.I am very new to photo restoraton
but I find it relaxing and lots of fun.I love to colorize all my
old pictures.I am a senior and have many of them.When I
complete a picture of a relative it makes me happy to see it
because it's almost like that person is close to my life again.
Most of the black and whites I have contain folks who are
long gone.I am not very good at doing the techniques to
restoration because I am mostly unknowledgable about them.
This is the kind of forum I know I will be happy in because I
can see that you folks share your expertise with other's.
Any assistance I can receive will be deeply appreciated.
Thank You.

[CJ Swartz]

This is the kind of forum I know I will be happy in because I can see that you folks share your expertise with other's

Sage -- you got that right! You're in a good place, and should be able to improve your knowledge base and your skills at photo editing by reading some of the tutorials, tips, and many helpful threads located here AS WELL AS submitting your work on mini-challenges and the big Challenges. I have learned tons since joining, and I'd already been using PShop for years when I joined.
Welcome to RetouchPro - now pick a place to jump in - the water's fine!

[sage150]

Thank you for the kind welcome C.J. I'm a slow starter but
usually pick up some speed as I go along.

[LidoBlu]

Thanks for the welcome and answering my question. Thanks to everyone else also. This is my first day and for the past hour or so I've been in this forum instead of working. But it's great! I'm happy to be here.

I want to post a photo that I like very much and have anyone and everyone work on it. My question was about file size.
I will be posting it soon with particulars.

I can't go back to get the name correct but I see someone from Italy. Hello from France! Molto lieto I hope I said and spelt that right...

Blu

[caroled]

Hi Jeanie,

Have joined the forum... glad you pointed me in the right direction....

I have started work on my restoration... a rather difficult one for my first try but I am going to plug on... started as you suggested on the green channel.

I was thinking of showing the forum the problem mainly the dark stains that show on the dresses and especially the ties.... some kid painted over the original, or it may have been colored and worn off... I think the former.

Don't know how to up load, what size, etc. On Janee's site I uploaded to my webshot page. Should I do it that way here as well.

I am trying, after starting about 3 times to get some method of what to do first etc... have been reading a lot and trying out various methods...all and all having a lot of fun...

Thanks again


Carol

[CJ Swartz]

Originally Posted by caroled

...I was thinking of showing the forum the problem - mainly the dark stains that show on the dresses and especially the ties.... some kid painted over the original, or it may have been colored and worn off... I think the former.

Don't know how to up load, what size, etc. On Janee's site I uploaded to my webshot page. Should I do it that way here as well....
Carol

Carol,

To post a question about your photo, you can go to the main page of this Help Requested forum and click on "New Thread" (located near the top of the page on the left hand side above the title "threads in forum"). You will need to title your thread, and then explain about your photo -- what problems you want people to look at, and/or what info or assistance you are looking for.

To upload your photo, you need to have a file that is less than 100k in file size -- if it is larger than that, the system won't upload it. You can upload it here instead of having to post a link to another webpage. After you have written about the photo, look down that page (before you press "Submit Reply" to the little tan box on the left side of the page that says "Manage Attachments" -- click on that (a new small window will pop up) and then click on "Browse" to look for your image on your hard drive. Then click "Upload" and see if it is successful -- it will show the name of your file once it has uploaded. Then close that little window, and you can hit "Submit" to finish off.

If you have any questions, lots of us are willing and able to help -- we've all been there at the beginning, trying to figure out where everything is -- in fact, with this new website upgrade, I'm still a bit lost.

[DannyRaphael]

Hi Carol:

Welcome from me, too.

Something that I find helpful in keeping images below the 100KB size threshold is using Photoshop's File > Save for the Web option. With it you can easily see (and adjust) the output file size.

Hope you have lots of fun here. CJ is about the best tour guide you could ever ask for!

~Danny~

[Lucky13]

Well hello all. My name is Barry and I just logged on to the site for the first time about 15 or so min ago. I will poke through forums a bit latter but right now my two little girls are claming on my back “literally” to get me out of the house and start our day.

Please take care,

Barry

[Leah]

Hi Barry - good to have you on board! We're a pretty friendly bunch here - have a poke around in the forums, ask some questions, share some of your own ideas and before you know it you'll be part of the family...