I'm so discouraged! Locked out (program) - Adobe Photoshop Elements

[Lorace Graham]

Hi! I've had an awful day trying to learn and it seems I'm doing everything wrong. I have ordered the book I saw recommended in the forum, but until then, I sure need help.

I brought a bitmap file, a logo of mine, into PSE and did the work I wanted to on it and saved it as a .GIF file, okay?

Then I brought it back in as the Gif and was going to do some other stuff to it, and found that I couldn't make a duplicate layer - all greyed out - and discovered that it was partially locked.

Now what on earth is that? I saved it as a .PSD file and had the same problem when I brought it into the desktop.

I think I'm going backwards. Thank heavens for you guys! The Help file in the program is practically useless, as far as I'm concerned. ha ha.

The greenhorn in the bunch.

Lorace

Thanks in advance.

[Byron Gale]

Lorace,

If your layers palette shows a single layer, named Background, that is the
reason you are having "trouble"...

I say "trouble", because it's normal, and easy to deal with, and you'll
never think of it again.

Elements treats the Background layer differently than other layers, so has
it partially locked, so you can't do certain things to it. You can convert
the background to a regular layer, or simply make a copy of it (my personal
recommendation).

To convert the background to an editable layer, simply double-click its icon
in the layers palette.

I would suggest, though, that you duplicate the layer by dragging it's icon
to the new layer icon in the layers palette (looks like a page with a corner
turned)... you could also use the menu Layer->Duplicate Layer.

If none of this works, then I've mis-guessed your problem... sorry for
that.

Hope it helps, though.

Byron

[Nancy S]

Lorace,

Under Image>Mode, is it set to RGB?

[Lorace Graham]

Byron, Thanks for the reply. But that was the problem, I couldn't convert it to a Normal, nor could I make a duplicate.

But, Nancy, that was it! When I checked the mode it was not on RGB, and the minute I clicked that I was okay, back in business again.

I'll have to read the book some more. I had no idea of that facet of it.

Thanks to both of you. I knew the answer would be here.

Lorace

[Nancy S]

Lorace,

Glad you got your problem solved. Maybe the next time you run into a snafu you'll consider posting earlier...frustration can really ruin anyone's day :)

Just which book is it that you ordered Lorace? For getting quick results a good one (among many) is "50 Fast Digital Photo Techniques" by Gregory George. I would classify "The Hidden Power of Photoshop Elements 2" by Richard Lynch a great book, for intermediate users. The CD which comes with the book has some great add-on tools for the program. There are two other sources on the internet for free PSE add-on tools, see the below links.

<http://www.geocities.com/rnlnero/PE2stuff2.html>

<http://member.melbpc.org.au/%7Epshipley/Download.htm>

Nancy

[Lorace Graham]

I am sure I'm going to love those links, Nancy. Everything you and the others have suggested has been so useful.

I ordered the Photoshop Elements 2 Solutions: The art, etc. by Mikkel Aaland. I ordered from Amazon, my first order from that site.

Thanks, again.

Lorace

ps - if I put every question I have on here, no one else could post. LOL