If you’re like me, I always seem to want more from my layout than it seems to be able to deliver. Even the last two large additions to my “Train World” didn’t seem to satisfy that itch for “something more”. It’s not running the trains, or even the scenery that seems to be not enough. It’s the limited options for photos that always seem to hold me back. How many shots of the same spot can you have? What’s a guy to do?

There’s a simple answer to that question. Create a world that doesn’t exist! I have to admit that for an old guy like me, entering into the 21st century isn’t the easiest thing in the world. After all, I can still remember the very first hand held calculator I ever had. And that was in collage! (It only did addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division and was larger than the sandwich I had for lunch) Anyway, I’ve decided it’s high time I caught up with the kids in junior high school and learn more about digital photography.

I had to get a better digital camera, but that was easy. Then the most important step on the road to “digital literacy” was a computer program called Photo Shop Elements. Wow, what a wonderful tool. And after a few “false starts” and some hours playing on the computer I can now create worlds that don’t exist in real life. Just think, complete mastery of a place that only exists by the grace of electrons. What a wonderful time we live in!

Let me take you on a little introduction to some of the things that this program can do for you, and show you how easy producing fun photos can be. The first thing you’ll want to do after getting a digital camera and the Photo Shop Elements program, is buy a book on how to use the program. The information that comes with the program is not nearly as complete as you need to get the full potential out of your investment. There are a number of very complete “how to” books on the market that will do the job just fine for you.

Now, on to Photo Shop Elements! To start, there are two main screens for processing your photos. We want the “standard edit” screen for what we’re going to do. You’ll also need the “Palette Bin” open. Another important thing is knowing exactly WHERE you’ve saved the photos you’ll be using. I’ve wasted WAY too much time looking for that “special” photo that I just had…. (Now, where did I put that thing…) The more carefully you set up your filing system, the easier working with this program will be.

You use the “Open” tool to import the photos you’ll be using, working from the back of the new photo toward the front. Now it’s time to start putting things together. Bring up the photo with the “subject” matter on the working area. From the left hand tool selection choose the “Polygonal Lasso”. To use this tool, simply move your curser to some point close to the area that you want to keep and left click. Move the line around your subject left clicking here and there to make a “box” around your subject photo. To close the box, move your curser to the start point and the Lasso Tool will make funny little circle next to it when you’re close enough. Left click again. If you did it right, the line around the subject photo will change to a moving dotted line. Connecting the Lasso line takes a bit of practice, so don’t get discouraged if it doesn’t work the first time.

Once you have the subject photo “lassoed”, move your curser up to “Edit” and select the “Cut” option. Now open your background photo in the work area. Go back to “Edit” and choose the “Paste” option. You should now have the subject photo sitting on top of the background.

At this point move your curser back to the left and select the “Move Tool” option. Take hold of the corners of your subject photo with your curser and move them around until the scene looks the way you want it to. Now go back to the left and select the “Crop” tool and get rid of any picture you don’t want. Hit the little “check” mark at the top of the photo to finish the cropping. If you don’t like what you see, simply take your curser up to the “Undo” arrow and move back. Simple.

The next step is “cleaning up” the edges of your subject photo. Move your curser over to the left again and select the “Eraser Tool” option. You might want to move in closer on the subject photo by pressing the “Ctrl” and “+” buttons. To move out, press the “Ctrl” and the “-“ buttons. Take some time and play with the eraser tool to remove all of the old background from the subject photo. Take your time doing this, as the more carefully you clean up the edges of the subject photo the better the final photo will look.

Things are looking better with the photo, but the locomotive needs some smoke. I scanned in some shots of smoke from old calendars I had laying around to use “someday”. When choosing smoke, think about the direction the light is shining. Is it the same as the rest of the photo? Use the same steps as above to cut, paste, move around, and clean up the edges of the smoke.

You’re not quite finished yet. To make things look better, you need to go back to the left side with your curser and select the “Blur Tool”. You use the Blur Tool to soften the edges of both the smoke and subject photo where you removed the background. Play with this tool to see what affect you like best.

Just a little more and you’re finished. To really make the photo look as real as possible, you need to add some “details”. Think about what direction the light is coming from. What would you expect to see in “real life”? Shadows, of course. Also you would expect some steam leaking out from the locomotive. To add these details, go back to the left with your curser and select the “Brush Tool”. When adding these details, remember to change the color selection to your needs. Take some time with this step, as these last little details will make or break the finished photo.

Finally we’re down to the last step. I would suggest you save the photo “as is” before this last step. To finish things up, take your curser up to the top and select “Layer”. Move your curser down and select “Merge Layers”. CAUTION!! Once you merge the layers, you can NOT change things any longer!

You might be asking: Then why merge the photos if I can’t change things after merging the layers? Because the photo before being merged is a HUGE file. You can’t really do anything with a file that large except work on it. Of course, if you have a huge hard drive, you might not care.

One last thought about the Photo Shop Elements program you might have some fun with. The “Rubber Stamp” tool can be used for all kinks of things. In this example, I’ve been going to school where an old track ends before the road. You can tell the tracks used to travel way off into the distance. But in real life, they have been gone for many years.

Using the Rubber Stamp tool, I can lay the tracks back down just the way they used to be. Ah, how easy it is to set the clock back in time!

Thinking about how fun our hobby is now I can’t help to wonder about what might be coming in the future. It’s been a long road for me to catch up a bit to the 21st century, and I can only think it’s going to get better.