Adobe Photoshop- It's Easier Than You Think!

I've recently started to play around with Photoshop 6.0 and in a short time, I've actually learned quite a few neat tricks! I think the program might intimidate some people at first glance. For those of us who aren't techno gurus or graphic artists, this is completely foreign territory. But if you are even remotely creative, you will become ADDICTED once you get the hang of it. Now, I am by no means an expert, but I've learned enough to do what I want, which is to create funny pictures out of existing ones. You know, like cropping your head onto a celebrity's body or something? You've all seen examples of it on the internet and television, but you can do it too!

You don't have to run out and buy a $400 program like Photoshop 6.0 like I'm using (and that's an old version!). In fact, you can start free in just a few minutes. Got to: www.adobe.com and get a free 30-day tryout of Photoshop Elements 4.0. They have a Mac version as well as a Windows version. You register for free and you don't have to enter any credit card information or anything like that. It's completely no hassle, no strings attached.

This free download of Photoshop Elements 4.0 is what I started with and it is so user friendly, you won't believe how quickly you'll be creating photos. There's even a slideshow program in it if you want to make a little movie of your pics with music. I've created slideshows as gifts for my husband and he loves them. It's such a great creative outlet. With the "Magic Extractor" tool on PE 4.0, you can easily crop the most detailed part of a picture and paste it onto another. With lots of other easy-to-use tools, this new creation can become seamless with just a little patience.

I am always busy taking digital pictures of my baby son and creating new ones. For instance, because I'm a big nerd, I Photoshopped his head onto the head of baby Kal-El from Superman: The Movie. It's silly, I know, but you can do anything you want. For those of you who are interested in digital scrapbooking, this program is invaluable. Go see for yourself and discover a creative side you didn't know you had.