Using brushes in Photoshop Elements

Two years ago i started going to the Elements Village forum to learn how to use my new Photoshop Elements 7 program. Here is the link: http://www.elementsvillage.com/forums/

One of the queries I had from the beginning was, what is all this fuss about having different brushes? Diana Day was one of my mentors on the site and she was very patient with me, explaining that there are a lot of uses for different brushes. I am going to show you what i have discovered about the use of brushes for me. It is another tool to enhance your photos and if you are addicted like i am to textures, then you may develop another addiction, to brushes.

But first of all I am going to give you some links to some unusual brushes:
They are Diana's list:

http://1lovesdevine.deviantart.com/gallery/


http://7-days.net/index.php?x=PSBRUSHES [lots of silhouettes]

http://84percent.seraphellic.net/

http://aethereality.net/brushes.php

http://amadaun.net/brushes/

http://angelic-trust.net/brushes/allbrushes.php

http://barbarja.pl/free.html

http://beautiful-sin.net/i/brushes/

http://biorust.com/index.php?page=downloads_section&catid=3

http://blinding-light.com/download/brushes

http://browse.deviantart.com/resources/applications/psbrushes/

http://brushaday.com/

http://brushes.500ml.org/indexx.php

http://brushes.deviantart.com/

http://brushes.deviantart.com/journal/2877040/

http://brushes.nenuphar.net/index2.php?p=brushes

http://brushfind.com/

http://brushworx.artflower.de/

http://celestial-star.net/brushes/

http://couleur-rouge.chez-alice.fr/brush.html

http://creativemac.digitalmedianet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=31348

http://darkwaif.lunarpages.com/

http://design.rainharbour.net/brushes.php

http://designfruit.com/jasongaylor/blog/?cat=4

http://designfruit.com/jasongaylor/blog/?cat=4&paged=2

http://designfruit.com/jasongaylor/blog/?p=37

http://digitaldesigncottage.com/category/photoshop-brushes/

http://em-agination.com/mybrushes.htm

http://feel.hironeko.net/resources_brushes.php

http://finessefx.com/downloads.php

http://firestorm.nu/ [must register – it’s free]

http://flyguydesigns.com/

http://fractured-sanity.org/index.php?navi=resources&site=brushes

http://frescostar.ktonix.com/brushes/

http://garcya.us/blog/free-photoshop-brushes/

http://getbrushes.com/ [well categorized]

http://graphics-illustrations.blogspot.com/2007/10/photoshop-brush-corners-free-download.html

http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/photoshopbrushes/

http://hawksmont.com/blog/category/graphic_design/resources/brushes/page/1/

http://hawksmont.com/blog/category/graphic_design/resources/brushes/page/2/

http://hybrid-genesis.net/journal/

http://inobscuro.com/brushes/

http://itsuji.net/brushes/index.php?...&x=setlist.php

http://javierzhx.deviantart.com/gallery/#_browse/resources


Today, I am going to use some of my favorite brushes from Jerry Jones at Shadowhouse Creations. http://shadowhousecreations.blogspot.com/2010/07/shadowhouse-creations-birds-brush-set-3.html
I use them all the time in landscape shots and they look so real.

Here we go: Open up a photo:


I have already made the adjustments that I needed. Go ahead and do the same; that is, adjust levels, correct exposure, saturation, add a texture (optional).

Flatten your picture and then make a duplicate (Ctrl J). Open up the brush dialog box and select a brush set. I am choosing to use Jerry's bird brushes, but you can use a cloud brush or tree brush, whatever you want.

Grab that brush and use the left and right bracket keys to adjust the size that you think you will need. If you make a mistake you can just click on "undo".

Now we are going to flatten and make a duplicate again. I am going to add another tree to the left side of the photo. I had to change my foreground color to match the shade of the tree on the right side. And here it is:



Pretty cool, huh? Really i don't like the tree there...it looked fine before, but I am just showing you what you can do. And since I don't like this layer, I am going to delete it and go back to the original with just the birds.

Play around with your brushes and have fun! Any questions email me:

                                charlotteinkennesaw@gmail.com