A FOND FAREWELL

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Hi Folks,

Owing to worsening physical health problems, I have, by necessity, had to make the decision to cease operating my blog. This is a sad day for me as I really enjoyed sharing my ideas with SPE Community. I am extremely grateful to the Smart Photo Editor Team for inviting me to share my thoughts with you. You can’t make tutorials without learning yourself – so it has been a very rewarding time for me. Creating tutorial videos & administering my blog has given me great sense of purpose and stimulated my own creativity as I near 70 years of age – it has indeed kept me young at heart. Special thanks to Andrew Berend, Tony Polichroniadis & Gary Sleet for their encouragement and support over the years. Likewise to other members of the Smart Photo Editor Team for their support too.

I have engaged with a number of users within the SPE Forum and I would like to thank them as well for their comments, encouragement, advice and friendship. Notably, I would like to offer special thanks to Arwin (SPE User) with whom I’ve collaborated over some time and jointly developed effects – his own effects are brilliant and of late he’s added many superb and unique effects to the SPE Gallery, as too have some more recent contributors – it is very satisfying for me to have played a role in the development of SPE, but even more satisfying to see that future development (from a user’s perspective) is in such good hands.

Wishing everyone KIND REGARDS and hope that your combined creativity brings out even more from an already STUNNING PROGRAM – Smart Photo Editor, which I will continue to use for my own enjoyment.

Here is a little token of my appreciation – over 1,250 new textures which were created from scratch using Corel Paint Shop Pro X7, Photoshop Elements 13 and other graphics capable programs. After the base textures were created I used Smart Photo Editor to apply further textures and effects. Many of the textures include text which came from pre-1900 historic documents which I own and scanned. Please use these textures for any purpose you like in your creative work – no need to acknowledge the source or attribute them to me. It would be great to see these textures used in new effects contributed to the SPE Community. Click on link below to DOWNLOAD individual textures. Thanks to Gary for setting up the Texture Gallery & Zip File Download.

Texture Gallery – View & Download Individual Textures:

VIEW OVER 1,250 TEXTURES

Download All Textures as a Zip File:

ZIP FILE – APPROX 1.5 GB

Example Textures:

Examples

All the Best & Fond Farewell!

Andrew

Seasons Greetings

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Seasons Greetings & Happy 2015

Silhouette graphics by me. Moon (brush) by Obsidawn Dawn – used under commercial license. Background source courtesy imagebase.net/ used with specific permission from David Niblack. Snow effect applied in Smart Photo Editor – effect called ‘Snowsall’ by ArjunAnthroQA. Page curl effect applied in SPE too and is one of my own effects.

Best Wishes,

Andrew

Triptych Workshop & Resource Kit

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Hi Folks,

The animated GIF file below gives you taster of what you can create after viewing the Triptych Workshop Tutorial Video and downloading the accompanying Resource Kit.

For information on the history of the Triptych, see Wikipedia Link

Triptych anigif

You can download the resource kit here:

Triptych Resource Kit and the image here.

Hope you find the video useful & entertaining – please make full use of the resource kit in your creative endeavours including commercial use. All the resources were created by me from scratch with further effects and borders added using Smart Photo Editor – my special thanks go to Superdave and Vivienne Li for their lovely border effects used in making this resource kit.

It would be nice to see some examples of how you use these resources which can be posted in the Smart Photo Editor Forum (if you are a member).

Kind regards,

Andrew

The Card Workshop – Tutorial Video & Resource Pack

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Hi Folks,

Further to my advanced notice, ‘The Card Workshop – Tutorial Video & Resource Pack’ is now available.

Following on from the recent tutorial videos and resource packs showing you how to make your own calendars and how to unlock the full potential of Smart Photo Editor, this video shows you how to create your own cards, birthday cards, get well cards, sorry your leaving cards…and so on. The international A4 paper format was chosen for the purposes of the tutorial, but viewers are encouraged to make their own templates as required.

Here is a TASTER of what you can do with the kit:

anigif

It is quite important to download the ‘Resource Pack’ that supports this Tutorial Video – just click on the link below:

The Card Workshop Resource Pack

Tutorial Video

Hope you find these ideas useful and the video enjoyable.

Kind regards

Andrew

Learn to Unlock the Full Potential of SPE – Part 1 & Part 2 – Video Tutorials

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As a result of creating my recent Calendar Templates, I thought it was time to UNLOCK some of the deeper potential of SPE. I saw that it was possible to go in directions not necessarily explored before through the use of the Fantastic SPE features, such as the Composite Feature. As I explored the possibilities I was AMAZED to realize that, with the aid of a ‘HELPING’ hand, SPE users could take much more control of outcomes and stamp their own personality on their own artwork results. The ideas that are  behind my approach are probably best suited to users who have a good working knowledge of Smart Photo Editor.

The ‘Helping Hand’ comes in the form of a resource pack of over 500 MB of graphic images, backgrounds, overlays, and so on.

To LAUNCH my new approach, I’ve created two Advanced Tutorial Videos (with more to follow) and made available a large amount of resource material under the title ‘Creative Kit One’ (more packs to follow in the future).

The tutorial videos (Part 1 & 2) are aimed at experienced users of Smart Photo Editor – therefore only the KEY elements of processes are shown. It is assumed that the gaps can be filled through the viewer’s pre-knowledge, experience & understanding. It is an ADVANCED tutorial

The videos aim to UNLOCK some of the deeper potential of SPE and are supported by over 500 MB of graphic resources created by me from scratch in a variety of drawing & paint programs. Especially in the ‘Backgrounds’ folders, further processing took place using existing SPE Effects from a variety of contributors including me – to these contributors, I would like to offer my thanks.

The resources referred to in the video can be downloaded here:

CREATIVE KIT ONE zip file

Gary and Adelaida from Anthropics have kindly set up another approach to downloading the resources that will give you more choice – thanks to both Gary and Adelaida! The new ‘Gallery Style’ link is shown below:

CREATIVE KIT ONE – GALLERY STYLE

NOTE

You may use these resources freely for personal or commercial use. No need to link to my Blog, nor acknowledge use of my work. Adapt them to suit your own needs.

After downloading the resources it might be wise to create a folder called, ‘Creative Kit One’ and organize it similar to mine containing 14 resource folders:

* 7 x 5 Frames
* A4 Backgrounds
* Colored Satin Overlays
* Colored Textured Overlays
* Distressed Colored Overlays
* Film Border Colored
* Gradients
* Graphics
* Multi-Colored Overlays
* Paint Marks
* People Silhouettes
* Solid Colors
* Square Backgrounds
* Watercolor Overlays

Learn to Unlock the Full Potential of SPE – Part One

Learn to Unlock the Full Potential of SPE – Part Two

To get the BEST from this video it is important to view Part 1 – ‘Learn to Unlock the Full Potential of SPE – Part 1′. Part 1 is the KEY tutorial that UNLOCKS a fuller appreciation of the POWER of Smart Photo Editor.

Make Your Own Calendar – Free Templates

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I had hoped to create effects to produce calendar pages at the request of users, but unfortunately SPE doesn’t really support the concept of having a fixed size image in which your original image can be posted. I tried all sorts of ideas, but eventually decided that it might be better to to use the Composite Feature, which in fact, gives users more control.

To accompany this Tutorial Video are 8 sets of ‘Calendar’ templates that can be downloaded by clicking on the link shown below each example template.

1. Calendar Crumpled Paper 1-28

Calendar Crumpled Paper

2. Calendar Black 1-29

Calendar Black

3. Calendar Pink 1-30

Calendar Pink

4. Calendar Watercolor 1-31

Calendar Watercolor

5. Calendar Leaf Skeletons 2-28

Calendar Leaf Skeletons

6. Calendar Pastel Splatter 2-29

Calendar Pastel Splatter

7. Calendar Torn Denim 2-30

Calendar Torn Denim

8. Calendar Spilt Paint 2-31

Calendar Spilt Paint

You can download the Masters here:

Calendar Master Blanks

Here is the Code Template:

Code Template

Hope you find the video & resources useful.

Regards,

Andrew

Presentation – New Effects by Andrew Buchanan

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This video introduces my latest series of effects called ‘More effects from me’ numbered 001-100.

It is a presentation video not a tutorial video – it merely shows each effect in the series applied to the same BASE image which is an original photograph of mine that has been processed in Smart Photo Editor to simplify it slightly and limit color variation. The effect used is one that I often use to create base images and it is Penningtons7’s ‘Watercolor’ effect. You should note that the effects are ARTISTIC ones and are offered to use creatively to produce artworks rather than to simply enhance photographs. There are unlimited ways in which these effects can be used and I look forward to see how they are used by others.

Although I applied each effect at a click without any adjustments whatsoever, the effects have a host of parameters that can be altered using sliders including hue, saturation, exposure, contrast, brightness, vibrance, gamma and so on…and many of them have merge sliders to adjust how the different textures within each effect interact with each other. Experimentation should reap boundless rewards. I look forward to using them myself.

The core structure of each effect was created by me and involves multi-textured blends with textures mainly created digitally by me. Occasionally, I used existing SPE effects (including my own) to add to the core structure and from about 071 to 100 I made good use of existing effects to polish off mine. I acknowledge the use of other contributors effects as elements of some of my new effects – I did not record which effects I used, but it will be apparent that I have used a number of border effects towards the end of the series. So thanks to all the contributors in general and more specifically to the contributors whose effects I have used.

I made a PDF document to support this video and to help make the effect series more useful to users. Click on the link below to download:

Effects’ Catalogue

Kind regards,

Andrew

Using the Composite Feature to Take Control of Effects

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This video tutorial is aimed at experienced users who want a bit more CONTROL over effect parameters.

The idea is to apply effects to a BASE image (which could be your original image or a processed original) and save each result for later processing.

You can save singly applied or combined effect variations as required.

Once you have created a few variations you can load the BASE image and apply the image base image variations as layers using Smart Photo Editor’s Composite Feature. This will allow users more scope in changing Blending Modes and Opacity. You can use one layer and one variation at a time or combine variations by using multiple layers.

Prior knowledge is assumed and therefore not all aspects are covered in depth. The presentation speeds through a number of options without prompts towards the end of the video letting the viewer simply OBSERVE the process.

Once you have achieved a particular outcome using the Composite feature you can continue as normal, if desired, to use the effects gallery and apply further effects to your latest result. You can SAVE a result at any time and perhaps use that as a new BASE image. Likewise you can use MASKING techniques to further expand the possibilities. You still have all the other SPE tools available to you after using the Composite feature.

This approach is one of the ways in which I achieve personalised outcomes. Many worry about applying Gallery Effects as it seems to them to be cheating. This approach allows users to put their own stamp on the resultant artwork as they play a major role in the creative process.

It is an exciting approach that reveals many happy surprises as you use this technique to create UNIQUE works of ART!

Enjoy!

Kind regards,

Andrew

 

 

SPE Tips & Tricks – Thinify

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This  short tutorial was created in response to an SPE Forum question that asked about a ‘Thinify’ effect. The video is aimed at  experienced users, but it may also be of benefit to relatively new users who wish to expand their knowledge.

Currently, the functionality of Smart Photo Editor does not include a Thinify tool. However, it occurred to me that we can simulate the effect using the ‘Montage & Composite’ features and, in fact, we can thinify, stretch, and distort our image to change  its aspect ratio. The example in the video applies the technique to a portrait and, although subtly used, it does a good job.

Note, that in some images where the background is important you will need to be careful how you apply the technique as it not only alters the subject matter but also distorts the background. You can avoid this by separating the subject from the background using masking techniques and layers.

Regards,

Andrew

Use the Composite feature to create a Multiple Photo Frame

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My latest video will help more experienced Smart Photo Editor users to create ‘Multiple-Photo Frames’ using the ‘Composite ‘ feature.

This is a new approach that uses templates, masks and frames in addition to a number of the user’s own photographs. In this example the aspect ratio of the photograph windows is 6×4.

Do you want to create this kind of thing

A resource pack is available below allowing users to replicate the tutorial process and this includes the Base Image, Mask Image, Frame Image and Session File.

Resource Pack

It would be nice to hear comments from users so that I can determine whether there is  sufficient demand for ‘Multiple-Photo Frame’ packages in different styles.

Here is another resource pack: Additional Frames arranged in six folders:

  1. Bevel Frames
  2. Brown Frames
  3. Gray Frames
  4. Green Frames
  5. Metal Frames
  6. Pastel Frames

Additional Frames Resource Pack

Hope these prove useful to you – at least they will help you get started and give you a variety of 5-photo frames to play with.

As always, it is my hope that you will develop these ideas for yourself and, in this instance, create you own frames, base images and masks. It would be nice to see some of your results.

Have a good day!

Andrew