Flourish -- An Emporium for Photographers
FAQs
General Product Questions
Q. Which of your products is compatible with Adobe Photoshop Elements (PSE)?
A. Each product I sell lists what programs it is compatible with. Generally, all of my brush, template and texture (tapestry, heirloom and worn) sets are compatible with all versions of PSE for PC or MAC. I also offer my Essential Color Pop and Essential BW actions for PSE 5 and PSE 6 for PC. My PSE actions are not MAC compatible.
Q. Do I have to know a lot about Adobe Photoshop to use these products?
A. The products on this site do not require a great deal of knowledge about Photoshop in order to use them. Basically, if you know how to download and unzip a file, and open a photo in Photoshop, you will do just fine. From there, you just need to willing to read the detailed tutorials and help files that come with each item.
Q. Do your products come with instructions?
A. Yes! All of my products come with detailed tutorials and instructions that show you step-by-step how to load, run and tweak each product.
Q. Do I receive a discount if I purchase multiple products?
A. I do offer a discount if you purchase several of my preset and/or action sets at one time. You can see the details here. The discount only applies to items that are purchased simultaneously and cannot be combined with items previously purchased. I currently do not offer discounts on my other products.
Q. I purchased an action set a while ago and now would like more. Can I still get the multiple action purchase discount?
A. No. The multiple action purchase discount only applies to actions and presets that are purchased at the same time.
Q. I currently have a full photoshop version of your actions and I just upgraded my Photoshop. Will my current products work in this newer version of PS?
A. Yes! All full photoshop versions of my products will work with higher versions (CS2 and CS3) of Photoshop. Also, all the CS2 and CS3 versions of my products are the same.
Action & Preset Questions
Q. What is an action?
A. An action is a like a small program that replicates a series of steps in Adobe Photoshop. Basically, when you purchase an action, you are purchasing someone else's more advanced knowledge of Photoshop. You run an action just by clicking a "play" button in Photoshop and then follow any prompts that the action may give you. Actions are simple to use.
In particular, my actions access and apply advanced Photoshop functions to a photo, giving you high-end professional results without having to know how the action did what it did. Additionally, my actions generally work non-destructively, unlike most actions on the market that flatten the image after running. This means that my actions load changes in layers, so you can easily adjust the "look" of the action when it's finished running. This gives you unparalleled control over the final result of the action.
Q. Will actions work in programs other than Adobe Photoshop?
A. My actions will only work in Adobe Photoshop programs. Each individual action set lists the Adobe Photoshop program with which it's compatible. If your program is not listed, then the actions are not compatible with it.
Q. What is a RAW preset?
A. RAW presets are a set of parameters that you apply in RAW editing programs, such as Adobe Bridge, Adobe Camera RAW (ACR) and Adobe Lightroom. Presets can be used to apply editing changes simultaneously to large groups of images at once, and you can easily tweak presets once they've been applied. However, with presets you are also limited to the constraints of ACR and Lightroom in that you can't selectively edit just one part of the image (like cloning or masking). Also, you can apply presets to RAW and jpeg files in CS3 and Lightroom. In CS2, you can only apply the presets to RAW files.
Q. What is the difference between a preset and an action?
A. An action is a like a small program that replicates a series of steps in Adobe Photoshop. Actions allow you to adjust selective parts of an image and ensure that each specific part of a photo looks correct. Actions give you complete, tight control over the final outcome. However, actions take at least a few seconds to run, generally require your input as they run and can only be run on one photo at a time.
RAW presets are a set of parameters that you apply in RAW editing programs, such as Adobe Bridge, Adobe Camera RAW (ACR) and Adobe Lightroom. You do not apply presets within Photoshop itself. Presets can apply editing changes simultaneously to large groups of images at once, and you can easily tweak presets once they've been applied. However, with presets you are also limited to the constraints of ACR and Lightroom in that you can't selectively edit just one part of the image (like cloning or masking). Consequently, presets aren't as flexible as actions and usually require you to open the file into Photoshop to do any close up editing.
In short, presets are fantastic for making basic changes to large groups of images. Presets are fast, very fast. Presets are perfect for creating image proofs and editing studio images. Actions are slower, but give more controllable results. Actions are perfect for personal photos and creating final polished photos for printing.
Q. Does the Complete Workflow contain all your action sets?
A. The Complete Workflow set contains 3 distinct action sets: Essential Color Pop, Essential BW and Workflow. The Complete Workflow set does not contain the Retro, Vintage or Urban action sets.
Q. I've loaded my PSE actions and they don't seem to be working right. What's wrong?
A. If you've followed the install instructions correctly for the PSE actions, they will run without an error. Also, they will load around 6 layers. If you're receiving error messages and only seeing two or three layers when the action runs, then you most likely do not have the actions installed correctly. Usually the problem is with the files that you need to put under your C: drive. Your C: drive needs to look EXACTLY like the screen shot on page 1 of the tutorial. If your C: drive does not look EXACTLY the same, then you don’t have the files installed right. Carefully review the install directions to ensure that you have everything in the right place.
Q. How do I load an action into Photoshop?
A. Each action set that I sell includes a tutorial showing you how to load an action. Additionally, I have a video tutorial that will also walk you through the process. You can see the list of tutorials here.
Q. I have the Photoshop Elements version of your actions, but I recently upgraded to the full version of Photoshop. Will my PSE actions work in the full version of Photoshop?
A. In theory, my PSE actions will work in any full version of Photoshop. However, as I did not design them for the full version of PS, I do not provide technical support for using them in any other program.
That being said, I charge only $10 a set if you would like to upgrade from the PSE action version to a full Photoshop version. If you would like to upgrade, please email me the name, email address and approximate date of your purchase of the PSE action. I will verify your previous purchase and send you an email with instructions on how to upgrade.
Q. I currently have a full photoshop version of your actions and I just upgraded my Photoshop. Will my current actions work in this newer version of PS?
A. Yes! All full photoshop versions of my products will work with higher versions (CS2 and CS3) of Photoshop. Also, all the CS2 and CS3 versions of my products are the same.
Brush Questions
Q. What is a Photoshop brush?
A. A Photoshop brush is like a traditional rubber stamp that you would use in scrap booking. You chose your brush (or stamp) and chose a color and then "stamp" the brush onto a photo or scrap booking page or whatever in Photoshop. You can also resize, rotate and flip a brush (among other things) in Photoshop. Brushes are the basic element for many design projects.
Q. How do I load brush into Photoshop?
A. To load a brush in Photoshop, open your Brush Palette (by going Window-->Brushes). Click on the little triangle menu button in the upper right hand corner of the palette. Then select "Load Brushes" from the drop down menu and browse to where you have the brush set saved on your hard drive.
Q. The brush set I purchased won't load into my version of Photoshop, what do I do?
A. Brush files are notoriously finicky and many times won't load into different versions of Photoshop. That is why all my brush sets include .png files that you can use to manually load your brushes into PS.
To manually load the brushes, open all the .png files included with your brush purchase into Photoshop. Then, for each .png file, go Edit-->Define Brush Preset. That will insert that particular brush into your Brush Palette. You will need to repeat this process for each .png file.
Texture Questions
Q. What is a texture and do your texture sets include actions?
A. A texture is just a jpeg image file. I create my textures from layer upon layer of different items. I include textures with some of my action sets, as you can browse this site and see. However, my straight up texture sets (like the Tapestry, Heirloom and Worn sets) do not include any actions. Instead, they include instructions that show you step-by-step how to manually insert a texture into a photo.
Q. Are the textures in your actions the same as those in your texture sets?
A. All the textures that I sell are unique and different from one another. The textures in my action sets are NOT the same as the textures in my texture sets and vice versa. Each texture is unique.
Q. How do I load a texture into Photoshop?
A. A texture is just an image file. There's no need to "load" it into Photoshop. You just open it as you would any other image file by going File-->Open.
Ordering and Receiving Products
Q. How do I purchase and receive Flourish products?
A. To purchase any products from this website, just add the items that you want to your cart. From there, check out and pay for the products. You will then receive a username and password that will allow you to login to the "My Account" section of the site. You can then download your purchases from your account area.
Q. What do I do if I lose my account login information?
A. If you lose your account login information, please contact us.
Q. Why does it say that my download has expired?
A. When you purchase something from this site, your purchased items will be available for download for about 10 days. After that, the items will remain in your cart, but you will not be able to download them.
Q. I tried to check out and my credit card was declined. Why and what can I do?
A. Occasionally, our system will decline a credit card. Many times this happens to people who are residents of Canada or the United Kingdom because the credit card systems in those two countries don‘t work well with US systems. If your card is declined, please send your payment via paypal instead.
Q. Why does my download have a different Photoshop version name than the one I ordered?
A. Sometimes, the extension of the zip file you download will list a different version of Photoshop from the one you specifically ordered (it‘s a long story why). Don't worry! The zip download does contain the correct version of your product.
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