Photoshop Elements 9: Make Your Photos POP!

August 24th, 2011 lvs

In Photoshop Elements 9: Make Your Photos POP! online class you will learn to correct your photos for color and exposure problems! This intermediate class focuses on photo correction using Photoshop Elements 9. This class goes above and beyond the skills in the beginning series of online classes, Photoshop Elements 9: The Journey Begins.
Learn to convert your photos to make dramatic black and white images and use levels, color curves, and much more! Learn many sharpening secrets.
If your goal is to improve your photos, Photoshop Elements 9: Make your Photos POP! class for you. Please note that this is NOT a photography class. It is an application class, designed to teach you how to use the tools in Photoshop Elements to improve your photos.
Lesson 1

  • First Class Info
  • What is covered in this class?
  • Full Edit Auto Corrections
  • Auto Smart Fix
  • Auto Levels
  • Auto Color
  • Auto Contrast
  • Photo Filter
  • Using Layer Blend Modes to Fix Exposure
  • What is Opacity?
  • What is Tolerance and why is it Essential?
  • Correcting with Multiple Blend Modes
  • Shadow/Highlights Filter

 Lesson 2

  • What is a Histogram
  • Diagnosing and Fixing Exposure
  • Info Palette
  • Brightness/Contrast
  • Using and Understanding Levels
  • Color Curves Review
  • Isolating Shadows and Highlights for Correcting
  • Straightening Crooked Photos
  • Scan and Divide
  • Desaturate vs. Grayscale: What’s the Difference?
  • Using the Convert to B&W Filter
  • Adjust Color for Skin Tone Command
Lesson 3

  • A Word about Graphics Tablets
  • New Images: Layer vs. Background
  • The Toning Tools: Burn and Dodge
  • Using Burn and Dodge for Shading
  • The Focus Tools: Blur and Sharpen
  • Using the Sponge and Smudge Tools
  • Digital Noise Removal with the Reduce Noise Filter
  • Smoothing with the Dust & Scratches Filter
  • Using Luminosity Blend Mode to Reduce Texture
  • Glasses Glare
  • Fixing Hotspots

 Lesson 4

  • Selection Tools: What are my choices?
  • Select Menu
  • Refine Edge
  • Layer Selection
  • Using the Eraser Tool
  • Using the Magic Eraser Tool
  • Using the Background Eraser Tool
  • The Defringe Command
  • Adding and Editing File Info
  • Saving and Applying Custom Metadata Templates
  • Batch Processing: Using the Process Multiple Files Command
Lesson 5

  • Using Quick Fix Sharpening
  • Sharpening Basics
  • Using Unsharp Mask
  • Using Adjust Sharpness
  • Sharpening with the Emboss Filter
  • Sharpening with the Highpass Filter
  • Using an Edge mask
  • Splitting the Sharpening
  • Contrast Masking
  • Correcting Camera Distortion
  • Creating Poster Size Photos from your Digital Camera
By the end of this course, you will have the skills necessary to be able correct color and exposure problems on your own photos, and you will be able to sharpen your photos so they look their best!
Join Sara Froehlich as she continues to take you through the journey of discovery for Photoshop Elements 9 for Mac and Windows. Sara is the co-author of Microsoft Expression Design Step by Step and had done tech editing for two Photoshop Elements Missing Manual books. Sara’s waterfall photos were used in the book Music of Heartohopia and her artwork has been featured on several CD covers.

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Corel Painter 12 Online Classes

August 15th, 2011 lvs

Painter 12
On May 11, 2011 the Corel Corporation released the newest version of Corel® Painter™ 12. There have been so many changes to this version, it’s almost like a brand new program, and as a result, new lessons are available here at LVS Online Classes.
Current Painter Users: For those of you who are upgrading from previous versions of Painter, there is a new course available which will familiarize you with the program changes, including, but not limited to:
  • The new Panel system
  • The new Document Window
  • Mirror Painting
  • Kaleidoscope Painting
  • Workspace Customizing (It’s better than ever!)
The class is called “Corel® Painter™ 12: Getting Up To Speed“. If you have taken any of my previous classes, be assured that these new lessons will be written with the same level of clarity and clear explanations you have come to expect. As usual, I will do my best to address any questions or concerns you have with this new program version.
Not sure you want to upgrade? The class consists of 5 lessons; in week 1, you will be able to download the first lesson, and in the second week of class you will be able to download all the remaining lessons, 2 through 5. If you wait to download and install the Corel® Painter™ 12 trial until the first lesson is available, you will be able to use the trial for the full 30 days while you complete the lessons, and thereby get a really good idea if this upgrade is for you before you spend your hard-earned money.
New users of Painter: For those who are just starting out with Corel® Painter™ and have purchased Corel® Painter™ 12, I will be offering a brand new set of beginner’s classes. These classes will cover almost the same material as is covered in the other beginner’s classes, but these classes will be specifically written for Corel® Painter™ 12. This first level class which will cover the program basics is Corel® Painter™ 12: New Horizons Part 1
The second level class will continue where the first class ended and will be available for enrollment when registration opens for the late Fall semester. The name of the second level class is Corel® Painter™ 12: New Horizons Part 2.
If you use Corel® Painter™ IX.5, Corel® Painter™ X, or Corel® Painter™ 11, the other Painter class offerings will address your version.
If you have never taken my classes, you may be interested to read what some of my former students have to say about them.
Elaina Moore-Kelly has been teaching Corel® Painter™ classes here at LVS since August of 2008. In addition to using the program on a regular basis, she has also been a Beta tester for the past three versions of the program, Corel® Painter™ X, Corel® Painter™ 11, and Corel® Painter™ 12.

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Digital Painting Online Classes with Maureen

May 29th, 2011 lvs

Digital Painting with PainterI have been painting with Corel® Painter for a number of years and decided to teaching the software a few years ago. It is a delight and pleasure to help others learn this somewhat complicated piece of software and enable their artistic flare to shine through. I’m always inspired by my students and enjoy seeing them grow and improve in their art.
Some students are a natural at painting, and some have to work hard at it, but all in all, they produce very fine work as is evidence by some of their art posted on my blog. I am currently teaching five classes and in the not too distant future, two or three classes in Corel® Painter 12 aptly named Digital Art with Corel® Painter.


Introduction to Painter’s Brushes – 1 & II

Corel® Painter is a great resource for digital painting. Would you like to learn all about Corel’s Painter brushes; how to apply them, mix, create your own and paint with them your very own masterpieces? This online class series is packed with lots of information and techniques and you won’t be disappointed. It’s a great stepping stone to learning about Painter’s fabulous array of brushes

The Art of Collage with Corel® Painter

Digital Collage is certainly a fun style of adding paint with images to create a a great looking image.

PhotoPainting & Portraiture I, II & III

The PhotoPainting classes cover a wide variety of styles of painting from basic cloning to blending images together and painting. There is so much you can learn about painting by taking these photo painting classes.
Exciting new classes coming soon!….
Digital Art with Corel® Painter 12
Corel® has released Painter 12 and it is very different from previous versions of Painter. I am happy to announce that classes will be available that cover all the new aspects of Painter 12 brushes. The class will also encompass all aspects of Digital Art from Basic Painting, Collage and Scrapbooking styles and PhotoPainting & Portraiture, inclusion of Photoshop and PaintShop Pro. There are two classes currently in the pipeline, but maybe three!
As soon as the classes are available, LVS Online Classes will announce them in the newsletter. If you’re not already subscribed to the newsletter, do it now!
I look forward to seeing YOU in my Digital Painting online classes!
Maureen Eves-Lavis is the instructor of several digital painting with Corel Painter classes at LVS Online. The instructor-led online classes are 5 weeks long and run 6 times during the year. The schedule and available courses are listed here. Self-study classes can be joined at any time and do not have instructor support.

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Photography Instructor Al Mierau Gets Published!

May 28th, 2011 lvs

Al Mierau Photography Instructor Al Mierau is the Photography instructor at LVS Online Classes. Several years ago Al met Dr. Robert Berdan, PHD, via Viki Nygaard (an LVS Online Classes instructor) who was doing some work for him. Al was so impressed with Robert’s nature images that during one of his stays in Calgary he decided to meet this renowned photographer. Since that meeting, over the years Robert has always helped Al out whenever he required assistance of any kind.
Robert’s main site is Moods of Nature which is located here: www.moodsofnature.com
Some time ago Robert also started a site where other photographers could get their work recognized. The site is called The Canadian Nature Photographer and is located here
www.canadiannaturephotographer.com
Several months ago Robert asked Al if I would like to join the group of photographers who get published in his online magazine. He has also extended the invitation to any of any of Al’s photography students that he wished to refer. The content for articles does not have to be Canadian, but it has to relate to nature or outdoor photography in some way.
Al just had his first article posted on the The Canadian Nature Photographer site, entitled Drumheller Valley and Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta.
Al has his own renown status with the students at LVS Online Classes. His popularity is due to his friendly, positive and supportive behavior in the classroom. If you don’t believe us, just read what his students have to say!

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PHP Web Designs I Online Class

May 26th, 2011 lvs

PHP Online Class
PHP Web Designs I Online Class is for anyone that is interested in learning the basics of PHP and how to use it in your web pages for interactivity, form validation, and really cool effects.
PHP is a server-side scripting language that’s designed specifically for building web sites. You create pages with PHP and HTML. When a visitor opens the page, the server processes the PHP commands and then sends the results to the visitor’s browser. Learning PHP can open up new possibilities for your web site. Interactive features can be added to your web site including guest books, message boards, forms, surveys, and shopping carts. In this class you will learn the basics of PHP including syntax, variables, operators, loops, conditional statements, arrays, and functions. We will use a lot of simple basic examples that will demonstrate the concepts you need to master in order to write more advanced scripts later.
PHP is free to download and use, which is one reason why it is so popular. You’ll find that the vast majority of Web hosting accounts supports PHP. While many programming languages can be used to build Web applications, PHP is one of the few languages specifically designed for the Web. For this reason, it includes a lot of useful Web-related features including:
  • Easy ways to read and handle Web forms and cookies
  • Functions for creating and manipulating graphics
  • The ability to talk to popular databases such as MySQL
  • Functions for working with HTML
Lesson 1

  • PHP Intro
  • Displaying Output
  • Using Function
  • PHP Tools
  • Error Messages

 Lesson 2

  • Data Types
  • Operators
  • for() loops
  • while() loops
  • include()
Lesson 3

  • Conditional Statements
  • PHP Server Variables
  • Handling Exceptions

 Lesson 4

  • Indexed Arrays
  • Associative Arrays
  • Array Functions
Lesson 5

  • Forms
  • Error Checking
  • Emails
  • Cookies
  • Security
PHP Web Designs I Online Class is instructed by Yvonne Zaborac . Yvonne also teaches Build Your Website, Drupal, PHP Web Design, Podcasting, Web Accessibility, and Web Typography classes at LVS Online Classes!

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WordPress Basics Online Class

May 24th, 2011 lvs

WordPress This WordPress Basics online class is designed to take you through the development of your own WordPress site. We will be doing a site on whatever “G” rated subject that you choose or you can use the material provided to make a Garden Club website/blog.
WordPress is a free, Web-based software program that anyone can use to build and maintain a website or blog. It began in 2003 as a simple open source blogging tool and was originally intended as an easy way to set up a blog. But, thanks to the efforts of a large “open source” community of WordPress programmers working to extend and improve its capabilities, WordPress has become much more than just a tool for bloggers. Today’s WordPress is really a “content management system” (CMS), which means that it can be used to run full-sized, social media-rich business websites or small, personal web sites.
What is a weblog? A weblog, or “blog”, is a personal journal on the Web. Weblogs cover many different topics. Your blog can be used to share information with relatives and friends. It can include recipes, graduation announcements, birthdays, or club news. Basically anything that you are interested in can be shared with others on your blog. You can allow others to post comments on your blog. The sky’s the limit!!
This class is for anyone that is interested in creating a personal, club, or group website and/or blog using WordPress. This class will teach you the basics of WordPress.
Lesson 1

  • What is WordPress?
  • What is a Content Management System?
  • Blogging Intro
  • Building a WordPress Site
  • The Dashboard

    • Reasons to Start a Blog

Lesson 2

  • Settings and Tools
  • The Visual Editor
  • Adding Pages
  • Themes and Widgets
Lesson 3

  • Categories and Tags
  • Adding Posts
  • Images
  • Managing Posts
  • Blogging Tips

 Lesson 4

  • Comments
  • Discussion Settings
  • Moderating Comments
  • Eliminating Spam
Lesson 5

  • Image Gallery
  • Links and Link Categories
  • Menus
  • Polls
WordPress Basics online course is instructed by Yvonne Zaborac . Yvonne also teaches Build Your Website, Drupal, PHP Web Design, Podcasting, Web Accessibility, and Web Typography classes at LVS Online Classes!

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Writing Your Memoirs: Journaling to Essay to Memoir

April 5th, 2011 lvs

Writing Your MemoirsGain knowledge on how to maintain a journal, write a personal essay from a journal entry idea, and develop a memoir from the personal essay, plus the completion of a total of six journal entry, personal essay, and memoir writing assignments.

Writing Your Memoirs: Journaling to Essay to Memoir provides you with step-by-step instructions on how to maintain a journal, draw ideas from your journal entries to create a personal essay, and transform your personal essay into a memoir.

During the five-week course, handouts will be provided to assist you in completing your weekly writing assignments and enhance your memoir-writing skills.

Lesson 1

  • Course overview
  • Brief history of journaling
  • What is journaling?
  • Types of journals
  • Functions of journals
  • Journal entry samples
  • Step-by-step instructions on writing a journal entry
  • Handouts
  • Writing assignment

 Lesson 2

  • Brief history of the personal essay
  • What is a personal essay?
  • Functions of a personal essay
  • Personal essay samples
  • Step-by-step instructions to writing a personal essay
  • Handouts
  • Writing assignment
Lesson 3

  • Guidelines to choosing a journal entry to develop into a personal essay
  • Detailed examples of journal entries and the personal essays derived from them
  • Handouts
  • Writing assignment

 Lesson 4

  • What is a memoir?
  • Personal essays and memoirs: similarities and differences
  • Step-by-step instructions for developing a personal essay into a memoir
  • Handouts
  • Writing assignment
Lesson 5
Part A:

  • From journal entry to personal essay to memoir: pitfalls and how to avoid them
  • Handouts
  • Writing assignment

Part B:

  • Editing your memoir for publication submission
  • Handouts
  • Writing assignment

Writing Your Memoirs: Journaling to Essay to Memoir is instructed by Mary Cox-Pace.

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Tips for Making your Home Wheelchair and Mouth-Stick Friendly: Part 1

April 2nd, 2011 lvs

101 Tips for Making your Home Wheelchair and Mouth-Stick Friendly: Part 1 *SS* 101 Tips for Making your Home Wheelchair and Mouth-Stick Friendly: Part 1 identifies tips for making every room in your home easier to function in from a wheelchair and offers ideas for creating a friendlier environment for mouth-stick users. Confined to a wheelchair and an avid mouth-stick user, the instructor offers practical suggestions derived from sixty years of personal experience.

Throughout the home, a person dependent on a wheelchair and the use of a mouth-stick can often face frustration when attempting to accomplish tasks in every room in their home. Sometimes quick and easy changes can facilitate greater independence, while other times more complex solutions appear to be necessary to achieve the specific goal.

Topics covered in part 1 of this online course include tips for making your kitchen, living room, bedroom, bathroom, and clothes closet wheelchair and mouth-stick friendly.

This self-study course offers tips derived from sixty years of struggling to live an independent life without the use of fully functioning arms and legs. It’s a candid look at ways to gain autonomy in an environment that is possibly unprepared to understand your needs and unaware of some of the many ways to make wheelchair and mouth-stick access available.

101 Tips for Making your Home Wheelchair and Mouth-Stick Friendly online course offers valuable insights and ideas to persons confined to a wheelchair and using mouth-sticks to move and manipulate items in their house. This course also provides insights and tips which may be helpful to the family, friends, personal aides, and healthcare providers of an individual confined to a wheelchair and user of mouth-sticks.

Anyone with an interest in the independent living of persons using a wheelchair and mouth-sticks may benefit from this course.

Lesson 1
Introduction and Independence in the Kitchen

  • Cupboard
  • Utensils and Scissors
  • Plates
  • Pots and Pans
  • Refrigerator and Freezer
  • Counter Space
  • Stove Top
  • Microwave
  • Food Preparation
  • Cutting Board
  • Mouth-Stick Tips

 Lesson 2

Independence in the Living Room

  • Multipurpose Table
  • Lamps
  • Coffee Table
  • Bookcase
  • Entertainment Center
  • Windows
  • Window Treatment
  • Phone
  • Plants
  • Thermostat
  • Air Freshener
  • Mouth-Stick Tips
Lesson 3
Independence in the Bedroom

  • Bed
  • Clock
  • End Table
  • Bureau
  • Phone
  • Curtains and Blinds
  • Electric Use
  • Vanity
  • Clothing Hooks
  • Slippers and Flooring
  • Mouth-Stick Tips

 Lesson 4
Independence in the Bathroom

  • Soap
  • Toothbrush and Toothpaste
  • Wash Cloths
  • Towels
  • Shower Bench
  • Bath Mat
  • Clothes Hamper
  • Mirror and Sink top
    • Nite Lite
  • Phone
  • Mouth-Stick Tips
Lesson 5
Independence in the Clothes Closet Hangers

  • Hooks
  • Shelves
  • Poles
  • Doors
  • Shoes
  • Scarves
  • Coats
  • Floor Space
  • Light
  • Mouth-Stick Tips

By the end of part 1 of this course the student will gain ideas to increase independence in the home for individuals using a wheelchair and mouth-stick.

101 Tips for Making your Home Wheelchair and Mouth-Stick Friendly: Part 1 is instructed by Mary Cox-Pace. Mary is a published author, editor, illustrator, teacher, and National Art Award Recipient. She was born with a birth defect (Arthrogryposis) and as a result is confined to a motorized wheel chair. She types all her manuscripts using a mouth-stick held between her teeth (29 cwam) and does her art work by holding a pen in her teeth. Mary has a PhD in Biblical Studies with special interests in religious freedom and personal growth.

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Photoshop Elements 9: The Journey Begins Part 3 Online Class

March 30th, 2011 lvs

Photoshop Elements 9 Photoshop Elements 9: The Journey Begins Part 3 is the third part of the Photoshop Elements 9 Basics online classes, which covers both the Windows and Mac versions of Photoshop Elements 9. You must have completed Photoshop Elements 9: The Journey Begins Part 1 and Photoshop Elements 9: The Journey Begins Part 2 to take this online course. This online class builds on what was learned in the first and second courses, and picks up where the second class left off.

In this online course, we will learn to use Elements brushes, which are an integral part of the photo editing tools, we’ll learn some advanced layer mask tricks, and you will learn to use the photo editing tools for color and exposure corrections. You’ll also learn the clone and healing tools, which are essential skills if you want to learn to restore old or damaged photos.

Lesson 1

  • Using Elements Brushes
  • Brush Color Modes
  • Making Custom Brushes
  • Saving Custom Brushes
  • Using the Preset Manager
  • Color Replacement Tool
  • Brush Modes

 Lesson 2

  • Using the Crop Tool
  • Using the Rule of Thirds
  • Creative Cropping with the Cookie Cutter
  • The Photo Filter
  • Correcting with the Color Curves Filter
  • Understanding Levels
  • Using the Convert to Black and White Filter
  • Adjust Color for Skin Tone Filter
  • Basic Sharpening
  • Using Unsharp Mask
  • Using the Adjust Sharpness Filter
  • Adjustment Layers
Lesson 3

  • The Healing Tool
  • Spot Healing Tool
  • Clone Tool Basics
  • Working with the Vector Shape Tool
  • Creating a Workflow
  • Advanced Layer Masks

 Lesson 4

  • Photomerge Features
  • Photomerge Group Shot
  • Photomerge Faces
  • Photomerge Scene Cleaner
  • Photomerge Panorama
  • Photomerge Exposure
  • Photomerge Style Match
  • Scanning Tips
Lesson 5

  • Layer Styles
  • Using Layer Styles
  • Editing Layer Styles
  • Downloading and Installing Layer Styles
  • Working with Patterns
  • Saving Pattern Libraries

By the end of this online course, you will know how to use and understand Elements brushes. You’ll understand the clone and healing tools, and will also have the skills to correct your photos and be ready to move on to the next class.

Photoshop Elements 9: The Journey Begins Part 3 is instructed by Sara Froehlich

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Introduction to WordPress Themes

February 9th, 2011 lvs

Introduction to WordPress Themes At the end of the Introduction to WordPress Themes online course students will have created two distinctly different child themes for their WordPress based web site.
WordPress is best known as a blogging platform but in the past year it is gaining popularity as a content management system (CMS). Web sites based on CMS are extremely easy to update and maintain. Adding or changing the content of these web sites is a simple as filling out a form. This simplicity makes a CMS based website, like those based in WordPress, an ideal choice for:
  • people who don’t have a lot of technical expertise
  • organizations with a rotating leadership like school groups, associations and non-profits
Although a very basic WordPress installation is easy to complete, it is very basic. A basic WordPress installation is not going to be sufficient for a professional presence. WordPress is very flexible and powerful -once you understand how to customize it with themes. The content of a WordPress web site comes from a database, it is the theme that displays that information for your readers.
In this introduction course to WordPress themes, we will work on modifying the default WordPress theme to reflect the branding of your group or business. Here are some examples of what you can do to make your theme truly your own.
  • Incorporate your branding colors and logo
  • Take control over how tall your header is
  • Incorporate slideshows into your theme
  • Want a left side bar, a right side bar or none
  • Create a custom footer
Best of all you can do these customizations if you understand HTML and CSS. More in-depth customization requires PHP and best achieved working with a theme framework. In the Intermediate WordPress themes we will work with a theme framework.
Lesson 1

  • What is WordPress
  • Installing WordPress to your web hosting account
  • Introduction to Twenty Ten theme

 Lesson 2

  • Parent- Child Themes
  • Required elements of child themes
Lesson 3

  • Basic Theme Design
  • Importance of Color and Typography

 Lesson 4

  • Suggested elements of Child theme
  • Introduction to page templates
Lesson 5

  • Power of Plugins to add features to your web site
  • Putting the final touches on your theme

Introduction to WordPress Themes online class is instructed by Bean Fairbanks. Bean has served as a small business consultant for over ten years, assisting small business owners, non-profit organizations and community groups by obtaining, organizing and presenting the information that they need to succeed. This has covered the spectrum of needs assessments, satisfaction surveys, web sites, e-commerce sites, newsletters, branding, promotional materials and of course a variety of databases.

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