# Photoshop Elements tutorial **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 18, 2015, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photoshop-elements-tutorial/710205 "2015-01-18T19:38:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2015, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photoshop-elements-tutorial/710205/1 "2015-01-18T19:38:39Z")
I have Photoshop Elements on my computer. My time is rather limited, especially in these past few years of cohabitation. I hope someone can give me a quick tutorial. I have a couple of vintage magazines, and I would like to scan the pages (I’ll use the copier at work to scan and email me the results, then save the .pdf files as .jpg files. – I’ve done this before). Next, I want to assemble the images into a magazine layout. That is, two pages wide and as many pages high as I need. One ‘article’ will be two pages wide by one page high. The other will be two pages wide and two pages high. Then the entire article will be saved as a single image. About 15 years ago I had a program on a PC (PhotoImpact?) that was very easy to use. I haven’t had a PC set up in the house in a decade. So quick and dirty: How do I accomplish my goal in Photoshop Elements? (Note: This is for my personal use, and not a violation of copyright laws.) ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2015, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photoshop-elements-tutorial/710205/2 "2015-01-18T20:14:02Z")
First I’d not convert to jpg due to compression losses. Save as tiff or psd format. Create a new image the size you need to fit your images. Put each image on a new layer so you can shift them around. Save the results as a psd file. Then you can flatten the layers for printing of desired. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2015, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photoshop-elements-tutorial/710205/3 "2015-01-18T20:16:08Z")
> [@GaryM](#): > > First I’d not convert to jpg due to compression losses. Save as tiff or psd format. I’ll see if Outlook will let me do that. > [@GaryM](#): > > Create a new image the size you need to fit your images. Put each image on a new layer so you can shift them around. Save the results as a psd file. Then you can flatten the layers for printing of desired. How do I do that? ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2015, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photoshop-elements-tutorial/710205/4 "2015-01-18T20:44:15Z")
You always create and manipulate images in a graphics program in its native format. You should be able scan the image as a .jpg file. Then open it in Elements and immediately create a master in the .psd file format. Only work on it as a .psd file. When you are ready to produce your final “published” copy, then save the copy as a .jpg. ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2015, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photoshop-elements-tutorial/710205/5 "2015-01-18T21:47:13Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I’ll see if Outlook will let me do that. > > How do I do that? Be in expert mode! File, new. Then they’ll be a dialog box where you can select size etc. Make the background transparent so you’ll have no issues with artifacts. Open the layers panel. Create a new layer and paste in your first image. Create a new layer for each additional image. Then you can move and resize them to suit your needs. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photoshop-elements-tutorial/710205/6 "2015-01-20T03:58:20Z")
OK… I have two ‘layers’. They do not display at the same time. I double-click to see which one I want. I opened a New =\> Blank file, defining it as 20 inches wide and 24 inches high. I clicked on the first image and dragged it to the blank file. It went to the middle. I dragged a box around it so I could move the image to the top. It won’t move. I typed ‘move’ into the Help box, and there were no results. So how do I move the image to the top of the new page, so that I can move the second image below it? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photoshop-elements-tutorial/710205/7 "2015-01-20T04:08:09Z")
Never mind… For now. I think I figured that part out. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photoshop-elements-tutorial/710205/8 "2015-01-20T04:45:40Z")
Sizing. When I look at ‘actual size’ in Photoshop, the image is HUGE. I can only see bits of it. The width is 9900 pixels. The TIFF file is almost 400 MB, and the same-size JEPG is over 13 MB. A smaller JPEG is under 9 MB. What I want to do is get it an image large enough so that I can read the text on my 17" screen, and small enough so that I can upload it to a site where I can pull it up and refer to it. The image is of four magazine pages (8½ x 11) in a 2 x 2 layout. What size should I make it? ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photoshop-elements-tutorial/710205/9 "2015-01-20T04:48:47Z")
Use the native PSD file format. TIFF files are humungously huge. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photoshop-elements-tutorial/710205/10 "2015-01-20T04:52:43Z")
What about JPEG? I don’t know if I can upload a PSD file. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photoshop-elements-tutorial/710205/11 "2015-01-20T05:04:22Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > What about JPEG? I don’t know if I can upload a PSD file. The PSD file format is the native Elements / Photoshop file format. You create and manipulate images in the native format. When you have a final copy, you save that copy as a JPG file. The JPG is what you insert in your document, upload to a web page, or distribute as a stand-alone image. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photoshop-elements-tutorial/710205/12 "2015-01-20T05:10:45Z")
It’s been a long day. Brain isn’t functioning. What I want to do is have an image I can bring up on my computer, that is small enough to upload to, say, Facebook, where I can find it, and that is big enough to read. I have a TIFF file and a JPEG file. I can save it as PSD tomorrow sometime. Once I do that, how to I get the result I want? Sorry to be dense; but as I said, I used PhotoImpact over a decade ago, and it was much easier to use than Photoshop. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photoshop-elements-tutorial/710205/13 "2015-01-20T05:56:33Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > It’s been a long day. Brain isn’t functioning. > > What I want to do is have an image I can bring up on my computer, that is small enough to upload to, say, Facebook, where I can find it, and that is big enough to read. I have a TIFF file and a JPEG file. I can save it as PSD tomorrow sometime. Once I do that, how to I get the result I want? > > Sorry to be dense; but as I said, I used PhotoImpact over a decade ago, and it was much easier to use than Photoshop. I used to use Paint Shop Pro, before Corel bought the copy and ruined it. 🙂 Same would apply. [ol] [li]Scan your document as an image, preferably as a JPG master image. TIFF images are just too damn big. Save your scanned original JPG master someplace safe because you will **never manipulate it** , other than to create a new PSD master.[/li][li]With your scanned JPG master image, open it in Elements and **immediately save it** as in the native PSD file format master.[/li][li]Now make whatever changes you want in the PSD image master.[/li][li]When you have the image you want, save the final copy as a new JPG image (making sure you give it a new file name unrelated to the original JPG master).[/li][li]Distribute the new JPG image as you see fit.[/li][/ol] If you don’t like your final JPG image, go back to your PSD master and rework it. Repeat steps 3-5. But if you now find you can’t work with your PSD file to manipulate it (well, because it’s just f_**ed because you don’t like what you did), discard it (but don’t delete it yet) and repeat steps 2-5. If you are successful, delete the older f**_ed PSD master image (but check twice you are deleting the older f\*\*\*ed image and not your newer PSD image).[URL=“[http://boards.straightdope.com//www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/](http://boards.straightdope.com//www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/)”] ---
**Author:** ![bluezooky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@bluezooky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bluezooky)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photoshop-elements-tutorial/710205/14 "2015-01-20T06:34:33Z")
Rather than mess around with layers I would increase the canvass size of the first image so you can copy and paste the other pages wherever you like, once you finished editing you can crop and resize the image to a suitable page size and resolution.