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retty cool effects, and very easy to create in either Photoshop or Elements. I think I’ll try them myself! Got a whole weekend to fill, after all…. 

Link to Magic lighting effect in Photoshop | Abduzeedo by design

Link to Creating Smoke | Abduzeedo by design

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C1lonewolf, who’s tutorials were, for a short time last year, hosted on the graficalicus site, has created several more for RealDrawPro.

His “Photo to Comic” series is pretty cool - check it out at the DH Creation Station link below: 

Link to Real Draw - Tutorial Series by DH Creation Station

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it’snever too soon to get started on Handy Actions 3.0, right?!

Here’s another Handy Action that just missed the deadline -it merges all visible layer together into a new layer. This is handy for continuing editing while still preserving the original layers.

Grab it down there and throw it at your Add-O-Matic, PSE 5 users. . . .

(What?! You don’t have an Add-O-Matic yet?)

Moved the download over to the Add-O-Matic goodies thread in the forums - downloads from the blog seem to get funky sometimes…. maybe the zip version below will work better?

EDIT: it’s in the new Handy Actions 2.5 now - contact me if you want to get a copy of the upgraded version, or just go check it out here

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next up for an upgrade: Fun Foto FX.

I’ve got several more actions to add to this set, and it’s looking like an early April release.

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One
quick
tipThis is good for creating a splash of color in a black-and-white image:

Open your image - any image will do: a portrait, a cool hotrod, a flower… - and duplicate the Background layer.

Now make the original Background layer active again, and desaturate it with a Hue/Sat Adjustment layer (just drag the Saturation slider all the way to the left).

Back up into the (still colorful) duplicated background layer (probably named “Layer 1″), make a selection of something you want to stand out using any selection tool you like best (the magic wand, magnetic lasso, etc.) - select lips, or eyes, or clothing, etc  - then run the Layer Mask Reveal Selection action, and you’re done!

Alternately, run the Layer Mask Hide Selection or Layer Mask Invert action for different looks:

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The new Handy Actions 2.5 (see below) is proving to be a pretty popular item!

There have a been a few reports (very few, luckily!) of the installation not completing (thumbnails missing is the main report).
Here’s a bit of background and a thing or two to try if the auto-installer doesn’t complete its thing-

Troubleshooter number 1: simply run the installer again. It should make it all the way through on the second pass. I’ve run into this from time to time while testing, and just running the installer twice does the trick more often than not.

The thumbs.psd  file in this pack is the largest yet (weighing in at right around 1.8 Mb) so I think I need to slow the script down and allow it enough time to copy over before moving on to the next screen. This is especially true on older and/or slower machines with several applications already running.

If you have this problem, run the installer again, and hold <Shift> when you restart PS Elements. This will force a rebuild of the Artwork and Effects palette.

Another thing is to run the installer after a system restart, without any other programs running. Windows users have heard this for years - but it’s true. Most installers need as much RAM as they can get to transfer all the files and folders to their destinations, and just a mini interruption can create a corrupt file or path. So restart your system and run the installer again before firing up your browser, email program, logging into AOL, looking at the pictures from your cousin, playing your newest game, watching 24 on iTunes, and all the other cool stuff we do on our computers (if you’re like me) all at the same time!

Finally, to start over completely, run the removal utility below (it will completely remove Handy Actions 2.5 from your PSE 5.0 installation) and then run the Handy Actions 2.5 installer again. This cleans out the registry and removes the folders (and any potential roadblocks), clearing the way for a fresh install.

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Be the first to grab the new set - it’s available now in the Graffishop!

If you have Handy Actions 2.0, this is a free upgrade. Just log into your account and click the your “My Account” page - locate the order that includes your original Handy Actions  2.0 download, and you’ll find that it’s been reactivated to download this set -

What’s new
in HA 2.5?Now there’s a total of 69 actions to help your Photoshop Elements productivity and fun.

There are new Layer Mask Actions (joining the original Layer Mask and Invert Mask actions are Hide All, Hide Selection and Reveal Selection), more Channel Actions (3 Swap Channel actions and six Color Channel Selection actions join the original Blue, Green, Red and RGB actions), a Rule of Thirds action to aid in composition, a few more Photographic actions (a Lomo Effect, an Orton Effect and an Infrared action), a new layout that groups these actions in intuitive categories (Layer mask actions are all together, as are Photo Effect, Selection, Channel and Guide actions) and an intelligent installer that takes the worry and frustration away - just click and go!

*NOTE: Curves, Channel Mixer & Guides commands are not available for Photoshop Elements 4.

The new palette layout is over there to the right - give it a click to see how the new Handy Actions 2.5 pack displays in Elements 5.0 - XP or Vista!

This new installer engine also reduces the clutter by automatically removing earlier versions of Handy Actions as it installs, so you don’t have to have multiple copies of the same actions and effects in your palette.

It’s also still part of the Double-Up Discount, where you can also grab Add-O-Matic for 30% off when you bundle it with Handy Actions 2.5.

Also updated is the Action FX Bundle Pack, which currently includes Handy Actions 2.5, Sketchy-Paint 2.0, Glam Photo 2.0 and Fun Foto FX 2.0 for a great low price.

Stop by the shops and check them out - I think you’ll find it’s the easiest to install and use add-on currently available for Elements - and it really ups the horsepower!

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