Photoshop Elements 8 for Mac - install on two home computers?

[breadmama]

I want to get started with this program, but can't seem to find anywhere if there is only a license for one computer, or if I can install it on our two computers?

Any advice? Any helpful hints of how to teach myself ot use this program once I install it?

Thanks!

[blazedog]

Technically one is permitted to install software on more than one computer provided that you are the only user -- the analysis being that one might use Word on a laptop and word on one's desktop.

However, it depends on the wording of the EULA (license).

In the real world, I don't know anyone who doesn't install software on more than one machine whatever the wording of the license is.

In my experience, what software companies audit are user licenses for commercial establishments in which there is egregious over-installment -- i.e. a company needs to purchase sufficient licenses for all of the employees accessing the specific software. This is one reason why companies will sometimes limit some software to employees who can justify their use -- because the company is trying to limit the cost for licensing.

As for the actual software, I don't have a specific suggestion in terms of a manual. I think a lot depends on your learning style. I used to like the Dummy books for getting up to speed quickly and then one can acquire more sophisticated techniques.

I do have to confess that I have never had much luck in mastering Elements because I don't needs its capabilities often enough so that I keep "forgetting" what I learned when I come back to it. Depending on what I need to do, I use iphoto as well as Print Shop because most of what I am doing is pretty basic cropping and improving lighting or whatever.

[Hammster]

Here's a link to a Photoshop Elements forum. Pretty helpful place.

[breadmama]

You've answered the basics! Now I can get started! Being overwhelmed, that is...I think I'll be learning this at a slow pace - but at the bae minimum I'll be able to use some cool scrapbooking templates with it, and that is primarily why I bought PSE. I figured I'd grow into it as I found more time to experiment.


Also, one of the Apple guys showed me the way to set preferences so I could edit in PSE while working in iPhoto - and saving the changed photos in iPhoto. That was what made me decide to go ahead and buy it. I was hesitating because I didn't want to be jumping between two programs and try to track PSE-edited photos...I wasn't looking for more complication to add to my life...

Hammster, we have been watching The Music Man to inform the family what your sig line refers to...and now we can't get "Shipoopi" out of our heads! :-)

[blazedog]

Originally Posted by breadmama

You've answered the basics! Now I can get started! Being overwhelmed, that is...I think I'll be learning this at a slow pace - but at the bae minimum I'll be able to use some cool scrapbooking templates with it, and that is primarily why I bought PSE. I figured I'd grow into it as I found more time to experiment.


Also, one of the Apple guys showed me the way to set preferences so I could edit in PSE while working in iPhoto - and saving the changed photos in iPhoto. That was what made me decide to go ahead and buy it. I was hesitating because I didn't want to be jumping between two programs and try to track PSE-edited photos...I wasn't looking for more complication to add to my life...

Hammster, we have been watching The Music Man to inform the family what your sig line refers to...and now we can't get "Shipoopi" out of our heads! :-)

I think the best way to master the program is to have stuff that you actually want to do and then work with it. I bought a MAC scrapbook program but never wound up using it.

Is there a special way to save to iphoto -- Right now if I edit in Elements, I save as a jpeg and import to iphoto. Is there an automatic way to do it?

[breadmama]

In iPhoto preferences, choose the third choice in the Edit photo menu on the General pane. I think it might have said external editor - now mine says PSE so I can't quote it exactly. You'll have a choice to choose another application.

I tried it out, opening a photo in iPhoto by right clicking on it to get the edit using external editor command. A PSE window opened up and I did a simple crop, saved it, and closed the window. I clicked on a different photo in iPhoto, and then saw the cropped photo replace the original in the iPhoto collection. Wahoo! I also tried it without saving it, and it didn't transfer to the iPhoto collection. Go figure...

If you select a photo in iPhoto, and choose iPhoto's edit tool below the photos, it will edit as usual in iPhoto.

Does that make sense?

That's officially the first thing I've done with my new PSE program...now I'm off to watch a tutorial.

Laurie

[blazedog]

Thanks but using Photoshop Elements as the editor isn't my issue (FWIW you can also open any program by just dragging a document (or photo) over the icon of the application in the Dock).

I thought there was perhaps a shortcut to go in the opposite direction - from Elements to iphoto. Because of the way in which iphoto organizes the photo library, the only way I have to discovered to add a photo from Elements to iphoto is to save as a jpeg to the desktop and then drag into iphoto where it becomes a part of the library.

Since I use iphoto to organize my photo library, it limits my use of Elements since I then have to go through the extra step. It would be nice if there were a more sophisticated imaging program that worked directly with the iphoto library database.