I just started using photoshop elements 4 and it an all up hill battle for me. I thought the complexions of your actors was just amazing and I can see why a blur function would help that and thanks, I'll use it over and over, but what is sharpen? I'm worried that I don't have it in my version but since I don't know half of what my own program does I thought I'd ask. I don't see a sharpen option. Guidance?

Thank you for the compliments. :) You do, indeed, have the sharpen tool, but it is hidden on the "Filter" menu. To get to the various ways of Sharpening, select:

Filter -> Sharpen

I use plain old "Sharpen" but it *is* a blunt tool. If you're just starting, I'd stick with that but if you're intuitive about how the program works, "Filter -> Sharpen -> Unsharpen Mask..." -- is that counterintuitive name or what?!? -- allows you to control exactly how and how much it sharpens but I'd rather just sharpen, smudge, and delete the white lines. *shrug*

I started with Photoshop Elements 3.0. The most useful tools that PE 3.0 lacked were curves and the ability to add a mask to a layers. Most everything else is about the same. There were a few other differences but they're very minor.

If you're doing what I did, teaching yourself absolutely everything about using PE and you've never really used it before, I cannot recommend enough spending some time over at awmpdotnet's excellent set of Photoshop tutorials. She has an amazing grasp of the program and her tutorials take you on a fairly complete tour of the basics of PS.

If you're looking for tutorials, I collected my favorites and sorted them by info content and why I personally liked them. They're on this graphics intensive page. I'm certainly not the first person to do that and I have links at the bottom to other people's tutorial indices. If you're stuck on dial-up and waiting for 100+ icons to download is burdensome, you're always welcome to go through my memories, instead. I never did finish reclassifying them by WHY I'd added them the way I did on the index but at least you don't have to wait for a protracted download.

If you ever have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask me. I'm a newbie, too, and I don't really know a lot but I am more than willing to share anything I know. And welcome to the Photoshop addiction!

Wow! You've given me so much here. Your collection of examples is amazing. I don't even know where to start!

Thank you! And the sharpen worked great!

Thank you! And the sharpen worked great!

You're welcome. :) Sharpen is a beautiful thing. It's my new best friend.

Wow! You've given me so much here. Your collection of examples is amazing. I don't even know where to start!

It IS daunting, isn't it? otoh, it's also tons of fun so I have faith that you'll enjoy yourself and be turning out pretty icons almost before you know it.