{"id":8719,"date":"2025-01-14T00:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-14T05:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yourscrappingcafe.com\/home\/d19521157\/public_blog\/?p=8719"},"modified":"2025-02-23T14:09:06","modified_gmt":"2025-02-23T19:09:06","slug":"going-slowly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yourscrappingcafe.com\/home\/d19521157\/public_blog\/going-slowly\/","title":{"rendered":"Going Slowly"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We\u2019re two weeks into the new year and as usual a lot of people are psyched up for a bigger, better year \u2013 especially after all that went on in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I love fresh starts. Whether you\u2019ve made resolutions, set goals or intentions, or you\u2019ve simply gotten back into normal activities after the holidays, one thing seems to be on everyone\u2019s mind \u2013 GO!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a new beginning and in order to start, we just have to go. It\u2019s a useful, motivating word when you want to start anything. However, I have another one to add to it \u2013 SLOW. Yes, go, but take your time, GO SLOW.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I recently discovered a song by Danny Gokey that helps remind me that I don\u2019t have to work so fast all the time. It also speaks to seeking stillness in God\u2019s presence. If we don\u2019t take some time to breathe, we\u2019ll collapse. It\u2019s impossible to find fulfillment in constant busyness. I\u2019d encourage you to take a listen to \u201cSlow Down<\/a><\/strong>\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Slow<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Given that advice to slow down, I thought I\u2019d take a few weeks to ease into tips for this year. So, for the next few weeks I\u2019m going to be giving you some quick & simple tips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Modify A Selection<\/h3>\n\n\n
\n
\"Modified<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Over the last couple years, I\u2019ve written multiple posts that involve making a selection in Photoshop Elements (PSE). It hit me the other day that I\u2019ve never shown you how to modify a selection once it has been made. And I\u2019m not talking about \u201crefining\u201d the edges, adding to or subtracting from the selection. This is more about resizing your selection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note:<\/strong> Reminder, I use PSE 2024. If you use an older version, some of my screen shots may look different than what you see on your screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m going to start with this hot air balloon<\/a><\/strong> photo from Pixabay:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Hot<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I then make a selection around the balloon. When I zoom in really close, I can tell that the selection did not go completely to the edge of the balloon:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Balloon<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

There are other spots that will need some refining but right now, I\u2019m more interested in the balloon edges themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Expand\/Contract Your Selection<\/h3>\n\n\n
\n
\"Expand<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

With the current selection of the balloon made, all I have to do is go to the top tool bar and click Select->Modify:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Select<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

You can see there are 4 options. Today I\u2019m only going to talk about Expand and Contract.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since I want the selection to contain more of the balloon\u2019s edge I will click Expand. PSE then opens the Expand options box:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Expand<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

For me the Expand By value showed up at 40 pixels. I am not certain if this is a default so it may reflect something different for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If I hover my cursor over the colon where it says Expand By, the cursor changes to what I call the size slider icon which looks something like this:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Slider<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

If I now click and drag my cursor to the right, the number (40) will increase. If I click and drag my cursor to the left, that number will decrease. Sadly, PSE does not provide a \u201cpreview\u201d of the modification as I\u2019m dragging. So, that means I really have no idea how big\/small the change will be until I confirm the expansion by clicking OK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In most instances, it\u2019s easier if I just set the Expand By value to something very small such as 2 and then click OK just to get started:<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Selection<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

That actually looks pretty good. I can now do whatever additional modifications are necessary before I create a copy of this selection, or apply any other effects (colorize, blur, adjustment filter, etc.) to the selection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m sure you can guess that by clicking Select->Modify-> Contract, I can make my selection smaller:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Contract<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

For this example, I\u2019m going to go with the Contract By value (20) that displayed for me. And here\u2019s how that turned out:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Selection<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Using either Expand or Contract is a quick way to select more or less of your image without having to use some of the other selection tools. In most cases with the primary selection modified using this method, you may still need to make other additions\/subtractions to completely refine the edge. But this option should give you a good head start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But if you are making a selection around a relatively simple shape this may be all you need to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some Additional Tips<\/h3>\n\n\n
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\"More<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Using this method to expand your selection can come in really handy if you\u2019re trying to create a shadow on its own layer. If you\u2019re not sure how to do that refer back to my \u201cStitching Realism<\/a><\/strong>\u201d post when I explained how to put shadows on a separate layer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using Contract is a great way to eliminate fuzzy edges around your selection or even remove a border that may be around the selected image. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks for reading this week\u2019s Tuesday Tip. Remember, if you have any suggestions or questions please don\u2019t hesitate to “Message Me<\/a><\/strong>“. Check back next week with another tip using \u201cSelect->Modify\u201d! Click \u201cFollow Me<\/a><\/strong>\u201d to stay in touch. I hope you have a wonderful week!<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Stay<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re two weeks into the new year and as usual a lot of people are psyched up for a bigger, better year \u2013 especially after all that went on in 2024. I love fresh starts. Whether you\u2019ve made resolutions, set goals or intentions, or you\u2019ve simply gotten back into normal activities after the holidays, one thing seems to be on everyone\u2019s mind \u2013 GO! It\u2019s a new beginning and in order to start, we just have to go. It\u2019s a…<\/p>\n

Read More Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8732,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_wp_convertkit_post_meta":{"form":"0","landing_page":"","tag":"0","restrict_content":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tuesday-tip-day"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yourscrappingcafe.com\/home\/d19521157\/public_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yourscrappingcafe.com\/home\/d19521157\/public_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yourscrappingcafe.com\/home\/d19521157\/public_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yourscrappingcafe.com\/home\/d19521157\/public_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yourscrappingcafe.com\/home\/d19521157\/public_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.yourscrappingcafe.com\/home\/d19521157\/public_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8719\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yourscrappingcafe.com\/home\/d19521157\/public_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yourscrappingcafe.com\/home\/d19521157\/public_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yourscrappingcafe.com\/home\/d19521157\/public_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yourscrappingcafe.com\/home\/d19521157\/public_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}