Introduction and a Photoshop Tutorial (Vintage Bleach Bypass Effect)

Welcome to my blog! I've technically never really blogged before so we are all in for a big "treat". I am a photographer and a digital scrapper, so that is what you will probably get tired of hearing about, but you may find the occassional recipe or story about my crazy family.

Here's a Photoshop Elements Tutorial to get things started:
Vintage Bleach Bypass Effect
sorry it's so vague, but I did this awhile ago for a photography forum and didn't get any screen shots....

...and here's my steps
Processing (PSE 6):
Cloned branches
Added gradient to sky.
Added a bit of noise to gradient (if you don't add noise to the gradient it will band)
and reduced opacity.
Stamp visible (Ctrl+Alt+Shift+e) - Creates new composite layer
dupl. stamp visible
apply sepia effect and screen blending mode to dupl. stamp visible layer
and drag to top of layers palette
Set original Stamp visible layer to overlay blend mode,
Click on top layer and Stamp Visible
Set top stamp visible layer to multiple, erase center for vignette.
Add texture reduce opacity, gaussian blur over subject. Erase center of texture with low opacity eraser.
Wanted a little less saturation, so another stamp visible, sepia effect again. Lowered opacity. Increased contrast lost by texture with levels adjustment
Sharpened using unsharp mask.
Finally save.
PSE takes too much work, but it does get the job done.

Free texture I used, by Les Brumes can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/33817682@N07/3255202809/in/set-72157613199718163/

More tips on using textures, actions for PSE, and other tutorials can be found here:
http://coffeeteaphotography.blogspot.com/
I love Rita's site...perfect for an Elements Photographer like me because you can use the actions to cut down on the steps.