Don’t have PSE 7 yet?  Don’t stop reading! Details about my Photoshop Elements 7 giveaway that will take place in December are at the end of this post.

One new feature in PSE 7 is its access to detailed tutorials and additional creative content delivered every once in a while to the software automatically via the Internet.

Inspiration Browser Tutorials

These tutorials are housed in PSE’s new Inspiration Browser.  Does that name remind anyone else of a ride at Disney, or is it just me?

Anyway, the tutorials are categorized according to level of expertise – there are great introductory lessons for folks just starting out, as well as more advanced and creativity-boosting demonstrations.  Here are some examples:

• Using the Unsharp Mask filter to Add contrast
• Advanced Dodging & Burning
• Whimsical Woodcuts
• Five Insider Tips Every Newbie Should Know

Some of these tutorials are videos, others are PDF.  And some are available to all PSE 7 owners, others are available only to those who bought the Photoshop.com Plus membership.

To access these tutorials, look at the bottom of the Elements workspace for a “Message Pod”, where tutorials related to what you are currently working on are suggested.  You can also click on the tutorial ideas from the Welcome screen that pops up when you start PSE.  And once you have entered the Inspiration Browser, you can look through all the tutorials.

Photoshop.com Additional Artistic Content

For PSE 7 users who bought the Plus membership, Adobe drops new seasonally-based artwork and templates into your software from time to time.  The Welcome screen that appears when you start up your Photoshop Elements sometime promotes these templates and even has a button that says “Check ‘Em Out”.  Don’t be fooled!  Clicking on that button will take you to the Inspiration Browser, but you can’t find the artwork there.  Access it this way:

• Open the Editor.
• Open an image that you’d like to add the new artwork or templates to.
• Click the Create Tab, then Artwork.
• There will be a bar that says “Content” with two double arrows at the far left side of that bar.  Click on those arrows and select “Only Show Photoshop.com Content.”
• You’ll now see a new set of backgrounds, frames, text and other graphics to add to your project.
• You can click on the asset, as Photoshop calls them, and it will be added to your picture.
• Or, to download the asset into your software for future, offline use, you can right click and select “Make Available Offline.”
• After downloading all the artwork that you’d like, click again on the double arrow on the Content Bar and select “Show All Content.”
• You can now use the filter under the word Content to select “From Photoshop.com” and find all the artwork that you’ve downloaded previously.

Now, scrapbooking is not my thing, but I suspect that this artwork will be great for scrapbookers!  I know there are lots of you who can do much better than me, but this is what I came up with using Photoshop.com graphics:

Photoshop Elements 7 Giveaway

Does PSE 7 sound like something you might like for Christmas?  During December, you can enter on this blog to win a free copy of PSE 7 bundled together with Premiere Elements 7 for movie editing.  This retails for about $100-$150 right now!

On December 22, I will compile all the comments made to anything I post during the month of December (one comment per person per post).  One randomly selected commenter will receive this PSE7/PRE7 bundle!  It just might save your Santa some money!