Question for Sepiana

Pat, does your city or a nearby college have an Adult Education Program? When I started with PSE I took 2 5-month courses (basic and advanced) in such a program and to this day all I have learned since is still based on the very thorough hands-on knowledge I acquired then.

Rita

Hi Pat,

You got sound advice from ritage and fotofrank . (Thanks to both of you for stepping in!) 

If you really want to take a class, I agree with their suggestions to look at offerings by local community colleges and libraries. The courses don’t necessarily need to be on PSE 2019. The last overhaul of this program occurred in version 11. Generally speaking, classes on PSE 11 and above will apply. Minor differences among these versions can be addressed as they come up (new features, removed features, new tools, tool relocation, shortcut changes, etc.)

NOTE: I keep an ongoing list of new features in PSE 11 and above. If you are interested, I can send it to you.

I have known you since the EV days; I am familiar with your work. I sincerely don’t believe you need to take a class. Instead, I would recommend . . .

Post your PSE 2019 questions on this forum. Those of us who have this version can provide help based on hands-on experience. Furthermore, help can be provided by those members who don’t have this version. The "basics" of PSE are a constant.

Check the online tutorials by George Peirson from How To Gurus. They are usually written for PSE 11 and above. And they are FREE!

www.youtube.com/results?search_query=how+to+gurus

Unless you wish to create your pages with Photoshop because you wish to have the fun of doing it, I am going to suggest another direction.

Adorama has books already formatted - you choose a book theme - you upload your photos in the order you wish them to appear in the book - and let them create the book by placing your photos into the template pages in the order you uploaded them.

After you see the result of the book creation, you can customize your book by switching photos around or deleting or you can add additional photos -- and you can add text and titles.

BTW - my Adorama books were beautiful. I got a hard cover (with photo and text on cover) in 8x8 with glossy pages. I got another hard cover with luster in 10x10.  Lay flat design.

The turn around time for the printing was very quick even though I had waited to the last minute and needed them for Christmas. I don't suggest waiting until the beginning of December like I did, though. It was nerve-racking waiting for it to appear.

46 pages long - one 8x8, one 10x10 . This is not a cheap endeavor. Total cost for two books - including box and shipping - was just over $150.  This price was not an upcharge because I used their book template, it was the cost of printing.  Cannot decide which finish I liked best.  Both the glossy and the luster pages were beautiful - printed on very thick paper - almost cardstock.  The cover was beautiful.  It was definitely a high quality product - thus, the price didn't seem all that out of line.

Note: This was before they changed their name to Printique - I do not know if they changed their printing quality, but when I got my books - last December - the quality was printing press quality - not desktop publishing calendar-quality like Shutterfly. The cover and prints and binding were beautiful - the prints crystal clear  According to the website, Printique is what their newly-named photo printing subsidiary is now named.


I purchased a heavy duty box when I ordered the album.  It came with the tissue.  
I could've filled the whole cover with graphics, but I opted to do it this way.  Any smudging
you see, was of my choosing.  Print was exactly as designed.

First of all, many many thanks to all who replied here. Armed with hope I am feeling enthused again about finding what I need to move on in PSE. August/September were tough months as I decided I had to give up video work. It's been undoubtedly the love of my life for the past twenty years, but for lots of reasons, I knew the end was neigh. It was sad but in a quirky, serendipity kind of way one of the videos unexpectedly went viral a few weeks ago (or so they tell me). So I regard the end as more the beginning of something else now.

Thank you everyone for taking time to post all these suggestions. I am most appreciative.

Pat Lee

You are welcome, Pat. Hope it works out for you.

Rita

Oh, my! Is this a small world or what? I kept trying to think of the name of the photographer I took some PSE webinar classes from years ago! It was Lee Otsubo. I learned soooo much from him that I still use to this day. He's a marvelous photographer and an excellent teacher. I definitely will be getting in touch with him. As you say, even if he is not doing classes now he might be able to recommend something.

So the PET magazine issues are now available free-for-all. That IS a treasure.

Thank you so much for all your help with this matter.

I will stay in touch.

I'll add a couple more resources for you to look for: the first is your local parks and recreation department. They probably offer non-credit classes like your local colleges. The other is to check a local museum; the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum here has an art institute that offers all sorts of classes. I recently took Lightroom (which I really like using) and PSE 2019. I just bought 2020 and am still getting used to it.