Photo Braclet | Digital Photography for Moms

I have a few ideas that I want to share today – a hodgepodge post on digital photography and Photoshop Elements!

Photo Printing and Gift Ideas

Have any of you ever used PhotoWorks.com? I’ve always been a fan of American Greetings cards (and their frequent buyer program) and just recently I discovered their PhotoWorks website. They are running a special that ends May 5th- 20% off Mother’s Day gifts. That’s good for those of us (like me) who have procrastinated about Mother’s Day. Enter code Mom20 during checkout.

And just for registering with their website, you can get 25 photo prints for FREE! PhotoWorks has a feature allowing you to import pictures from Flickr to make the process easy.

These guys make everything – photo books, calendars, mugs and mouse pads. Even tote bags and woven photo blankets! Plus they have a nice selection of Mother’s Day ideas. I’m really liking the sterling silver photo charm bracelets and key chains. Adding a new photo charm every year on to a bracelet can make Mother’s Day easy for years to come. I think I just might do that!

Black and White Conversions and Inspiration

How many of you read Photojojo? What a fun website that is.

Their latest newsletter has a great article on converting pictures to Black and White using Photoshop. As is often the case in the Photoshop world, there’s not enough info geared towards Photoshop Elements. Luckily, we have Rita’s wonderful Coffeeshop Free Actions to give us lots of options for B&W conversions. Of course, the article’s ideas can be applied to PSE via workarounds, if the user is enterprising enough. . . .

What I really like about the article is the link at the bottom to websites of inspirational artists and photographers. It’s hard to make a good B&W conversion if you don’t have an idea in mind about what a good black and white looks like. Ansel Adams is the obvious choice for B&W inspiration, but I didn’t know anything about Minor White or the others listed.

Free Action to Create Reflection in Photoshop Elements?

I have an action that I use from time to time that creates a reflection under a picture. I use it for dreamy shots of my kids, and it might also be useful for product shots for those on you who sell on Ebay or Etsi. Would any of you be interested in a version that runs in PSE? I’ve been playing with it a bit, and making it PSE compatible will take some time. It will take a bit of work on the user’s part too. But it’s a nice effect. Let me know if you’d use it.