Computer Software Experiments

Hiya,
Lately I've started doing some computer experiments instead of just doing the same old thing. I've found it quite a challenge to be introduced to new software and to be able to work on it just after watching a tutorial on YouTube but it has been fun just to mess with all the tools they have and see how it turns out. So the programmes I have been using are:

• Photoshop
• Fireworks
• Paint.NET
• Photo pos pro

Yet Photoshop is not the only option. I've used Fireworks for many years now and find it to be by far the easiest and fastest way to get ideas out of my head and into pixels on the screen.

Let me be clear: I am in no way dismissing Photoshop or those who choose to use it. I use it for plenty of tasks. Personal preference is the most important factor when selecting your tools, and if your preference is Photoshop, then that’s what you should use.
Photoshop is a wonderful program, but its tool set is vast—it is used for a huge range of applications, from photo manipulation and illustration to 3-D modeling.
Photoshop:
Because i have never used this software before I had wanted to broaden my skill and working practice range by starting something new. SO what I tried to do here was to create the image over image idea by placing an image in a layer and then working with the tools to make it transparent so I could prepare another image in a different layer ready to group them all together and edit necessary parts of the image whilst using the magic wand and the paint bucket.
So this is how it had turned out:

Basically what I tried to create here was the reflections of the trees overlapped over a forest scene image.

Fireworks:

In fireworks what I wanted to do was to minimize the pixels of the quality of the image as well as to do some basic editing for example: grouping, and changing the overall hue and saturation of the image. The tools i used were colour contrasting and shape effects.

So this is how the grouping ones turned out: