Thanks Michel. I'm sorry I'm so slow on the uptake but overall things are making much more sense. Still, a few questions remain. I know I keep asking this, but does this question have a "yes" or "no" answer or is it more complicated? So saving the .pdf as "zip" is the same quality as "none," right? You can add vector layers, that is text or shapes. So any text or images I add are vector layers? (I don't have to import vectors from Inkscape?) And are the text and layers I add resizeable like vectors in PE? So, yes, it's enough to save in other formats like psd, tiff So if I save a file in tiff in PE, the text and images will be in vector (and hence sharper than had I saved in jpeg)? If you create a pdf without flattening, the vector nature of text will enable you to get better text if you have to do bigger or smaller prints. You won't need that if you have kept the original layered psd or tiff. What does "that" refer to? It's important to know that to allow very fast zooming and panning in the Elements editor, the screen rendering is not totally optimized. You get the best rendering onscreen when your zoom factor is 100%, 50%, 25%, 15,5% Only 100% is what you will get in print. Tip: Double click on the magnifying glass on top of the tool palette will zoom to 100% Double clicking on the hand tool will resize to fit screen. Really good to know! Thank you! ... View more

Thanks Michel for the wonderful explanation. And I know I mentioned so many things but let me ask again. (Because this is kind of important to me as it's the main thing I'll be doing for my paperback.) So saving the .pdf as "zip" is the same quality as "none," right? And, regarding the vectors in text, so when I am making an image in PE (and I have PE2019), let's say I open a .jpg file. Then when I do some text is that automatically a vector font? Or do I have to somehow "dedicate" the font or layer as a vector to make it so? I was really thrilled to read what you wrote because Amazon allows .tiff files for uploading the ebook covers, so I can make the cover in PE and then upload the .tiff (instead of a .jpg, which is what I usually do). So I was experimenting in PE and did some text on a .jpg image, then when I went to save it, I got this pop-up. I'm on a Windows 10 PC (Hewlett Packard), so I assume I leave the "IBM PC" checked. And I assume I don't want to check the "JPEG" radio dial. But that's as far as I know as to how to save it to keep the vector functionality in the text. Any suggestions as to the optimal way to fill this window out? One last question:When I make an image in PE (in the "expert" mode), the image looks okay, but then when I open the image in some sort of image viewer, it looks fantastic. So it's a little deceiving to my eye (especially the edges of the text look a little ragged) viewing what I'm working on in the Expert mode. Any way around that? ... View more

Thanks Michel. Sorry, I couldn't figure out how to do that grayed background quoting, so I'll do the underlining (what you wrote) till I figure that out. No, there is no advantage, even if Amazon does not care about the size of the pdf. Same quality. So saving the .pdf as "zip" is the same quality as "none," right? And as far as the vectors go. I love vectors for their clarity. I've used vector icons in a couple of book covers already. I opened the vectors in Inkscape and then pasted them into GIMP. (I am new to PE. Up to this point I have only been using GIMP 2.8 and Pixeluvo, mostly GIMP.)  But regarding what you were saying regarding "keeping the vector nature of the text." Does that mean that any text I make in a .psd file is actually a vector?  And I don't have a printer so I can't do your tests, but from I gathered from what you wrote, not flattening a .psd file before saving as a .pdf preserves the vector nature of the text, while, on the other hand, flattening it turns the vector into bitmap. But  would the flattened .pdf really not be as clear as the non-flattened .pdf? (I would love the clarity of vectors with the text.) ... View more

Thanks Michel. A good deal of what you wrote is over my beginner's head. As suggested by Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing, the process for making a file for a paperback cover is: 1) Make the .psd 2) Flatten the .psd 3) Save as print-quality .pdf It seems to me from what you wrote, that it would actually be best to save the .pdf under the "none" setting. Did I understand you correctly? ... View more

Thank you. Amazon accepted my 40MB cover made with "none." I did another cover today in PE and I took your advice and used "zip." The file was about half the size of the "none" file. I did notice, though, that there was a pre-selected "8bit" in the "zip" selection. I've read about that and I'm sure it's okay. Still, not to beat a dead horse, but if "zip" and "none" are both no compression and if choosing "zip," the file is saved as a pdf (not as a zip file), why do they have the two choices (zip and none)? And I added a subtitle to the cover I did today. The text was pretty small and I wasn't thrilled with the sharpness. Would vector text have been sharper? ... View more

Awesome. Thank you. Questions 1)So "zip" is zip compression, right? (lossless) 2) And "none" is no compression, right? (lossless) 3) What (besides file size) is the difference between zip and none? 4) My book covers are made with 300DPI digital photos but I've added text to them, so the text would be a reason to never use JPEG compression to make the pdf, right? ... View more

Thanks Test. The original was 300 ppi so I think I'm good. The pixel size is 1838X2775. So when it comes to saving pdfs in PE, Jpeg compression (and the various choice within it: maximum etc) compresses the pdf the most, then comes zip compression. And so if I want the least compression, I choose "none," right? And choosing "none" in effect would be the most print-ready pdf, right? ... View more

Thank you, Michel. I flattened the image before I saved it as a pdf. I'm not concerned about opening it and having the layers available, but that's very good to know that I can should I need to. ... View more

Thanks a lot, hatstead. The opacity was set to 100% on the clone tool. I have at least an idea what happened. I cropped the image and when I did, the underlying image was still there. And see how it doesn't line up? Like it's off the amount of the crop. (Who knows if that's what really happened but that's my guess.) And I'm going to ask rayek how it happened to him. ... View more

Hey Rayek. That was really helpful seeing all those combinations. Thanks so much! ... View more

Thanks Hatstead. Now that looks like a hardcover book. Very nice. I'll experiment with it. ... View more

Thanks Mark. Yes, I think the dropshadow is going to be what does the trick. ... View more

Thanks Test. Good to know. I'm not shooting for quite that level of sophistication, though. (Fortunately.) ... View more

Thanks a lot, Jon. That was a very helpful suggestion. Using a dropshadow with a wide size but relatively low opacity made the title blend into the waves more. I think it definitely looks more organic. ... View more

Hi Hatstead. What happens when I follow your workflow with my original image is this: And I need the bucket to be bright red, so that's why I selected the bucket before I followed your workflow. And so since I wanted to tint everything but the bucket I thought I needed to select the bucket and then do an inverse selection so that only the area outside of the bucket would be tinted. Regarding the "washed out" comment (my bad) I was referring to trying to get the proper tint of blue and that by using the brightness adjustment (making it brighter) the blue tint turned to a light gray and looked washed out. ... View more

Wow. Thanks so much, Hatstead. One little glitch, when I did the inverse selection (because I wanted to keep the bucket red) for the selection, it tinted everything, including the bucket, blue. (I'm sure I did something wrong.) But when I just selected the bucket and followed your instructions I was able to move the bucket layer above the Hue/Saturation layer and it showed up red. I wasn't able to get really close to the color/hue I wanted. I seemed to need more gray, and when I brightened it, it just looked washed-out, but this is definitely what I'm after. I'm going to sleep on this version and I may even like this more than the other in the morning. Thanks for hanging with me on this. ... View more

Thanks a lot, hatstead, but I already tried that. For instance, where do you place the color picker? I tried all over and wherever I pick, the tint just seems faint, and it doesn't get the sand darker. What I think I'm missing in mine is the blue tint on the waves. Maybe I'll select the waves and try to tint them, because really, looking at mine, besides that, it's pretty close to the guy's. Appreciate you responding. ... View more

Thank you, Greg. That did the trick. Appreciate it. ... View more

Thanks, hatstead, and thanks for the step by step instructions. That does work great, but with more complicated psds I'm having issues (although I think I'm figuring it out a bit). Forgive me for copying and pasting from my other post, but really this is what I've learned. With more complicated .psds with multiple layers, I'm having issues like 1) I click on the layer I want to move 2) I click on the Move tool 3) When I click on the image itself, the layer switches to a layer higher up on the layer menu and I end up moving that layer instead My workaround is making the layer that shouldn't be moved invisible (the red line through the eye icon) and then I can move the layer/image I want to. I think what's happening is I'm picking up the other layer since it's above the layer/image I want to move. So another workaround would be to have the layer/image I want to move on top of the layer menu to move it, right? Still, this seems pretty complicated. Is there an easier way? ... View more

Thanks Greg. What you wrote works perfectly. And yes, I have "Auto Select Layer" checked and it outlines the image. But with more complicated .psds with multiple layers, I'm having issues like 1) I click on the layer I want to move 2) I click on the Move tool 3) When I click on the image itself, the layer switches to a layer higher up on the layer menu and I end up moving that layer instead My workaround is making the layer that shouldn't be moved invisible (the red line through the eye icon) and then I can move the layer/image I want to. I think what's happening is I'm picking up the other layer since it's above the layer/image I want to move. So another workaround would be to have the layer/image I want to move on top of the layer menu to move it, right? Still, this seems pretty complicated. Is there an easier way? ... View more

Thanks very much, Jeff. I think I've been over-complicating things. For somebody like me I don't think I need to know all the nuances of the configuration systems. I did an experiment and opened a PE-made .jpg in GIMP. I converted it. I made a change. I saved it. Then I opened the file in PE. It had the exact same sRGB profile as when it started. So I'm cool with converting everything in GIMP and I took your advice and chose the "convert to RGB" as the default. One last question. "Black point compensation" is checked in the GIMP default. I read up about it. Says it is an algorithm that adjusts something in certain monitors. I was thinking to just leave it checked. Think that's okay? ... View more

Thanks Jane! I'm getting the hang of it a little bit. (I'm always so impatient.) And I'm sure I'll be posting a lot as I'm suicidally curious. I already have an avatar somewhere. I'll see if I can find it. ... View more

Hi Jeff. My Document Profile is: sRGB IEC61966-2.1 (8bpc) And I've been looking into this a little more. When I open a PE file in GIMP 2.10.8 and get the window (below), there is no choice to be made. GIMP is going to convert it, but it seems to me it also has sRGB, so maybe there will be no color loss? ... View more

Hi Jane. Sorry for the late response. I just found your reply. Thanks for the "content" tip. And yeah, my screen name. That was embarrassing. I tried to set up an account for Adobe Digital Editions many years ago and was very frustrated, hence the screenname. At first I didn't think it was displayed in the forum because while I was logged in it showed my actual name. But then I saw it there when I wasn't logged in. I did indeed hear from a moderator and have since changed it. (BadStar) So is that the deal--you see your real name when you're logged in but it converts to your screename when you log out? And what do other people see when I'm logged in? When I'm logged out? ... View more

Thanks a lot, John, and sorry for the late reply. (I just found your reply.) I'm getting a little used to things here. I was just in such a rush at first. Thanks for the great links. ... View more