Teach Yourself VISUALLY Photoshop Elements 12 E-Book

Mike Wooldridge

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Serie: Teach Yourself VISUALLY (Tech)
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 335

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013

Beschreibung

Are you a visual learner? Do you prefer instructions that show you how to do something -- and skip the long-winded explanations? If so, then this book is for you. Open it up and you'll find clear, step-by-step screen shots that show you how to tackle more than 160 Photoshop Elements tasks. Each task-based spread covers a single technique, sure to help you get up and running on Photoshop Elements 12 in no time. You'll learn to: * Use both the Organizer and Editor * Import photos from various sources * Enhance lighting and color * Restore old photos and add effects * Save, back up, and share photos Designed for visual learners * Two-page lessons break big topics into bite-sized modules * Succinct explanations walk you through step by step * Full-color screen shots demonstrate each task * Helpful sidebars offer practical tips and tricks

Leseprobe

Teach Yourself VISUALLY™ Photoshop® Elements 12

Published byJohn Wiley & Sons, Inc.10475 Crosspoint BoulevardIndianapolis, IN 46256

www.wiley.com

Published simultaneously in Canada

Copyright © 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

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Credits

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About the Authors

Mike Wooldridge is a writer and software developer based in the San Francisco Bay area. He has authored more than 30 books for the Visual series. For more information about him and his books, visit www.wooldridge.net.

Brianna Stuart is a writer, editor, and busy mom based in the Seattle area. She is also the author of Creating Web Pages Simplified, 2nd Edition and Teach Yourself VISUALLY Photoshop CC.

Authors’ Acknowledgments

Mike and Brianna thank Sarah Hellert, Scott Tullis, Dennis Cohen, Carol Kessel, and everyone else at Wiley for their help with this book. Mike dedicates this book to his photographer wife Linda, who provided most of the photos in the examples, and his son, who loves posting photos to Instagram. Brianna dedicates this book to her husband and three-year-old twins, and her amazing extended family.

How to Use This Book

Who This Book Is For

This book is for the reader who has never used this particular technology or software application. It is also for readers who want to expand their knowledge.

The Conventions in This Book

Steps

This book uses a step-by-step format to guide you easily through each task. Numbered steps are actions you must do; bulleted steps clarify a point, step, or optional feature; and indented steps give you the result.

Notes

Notes give additional information — special conditions that may occur during an operation, a situation that you want to avoid, or a cross-reference to a related area of the book.

Icons and Buttons

Icons and buttons show you exactly what you need to click to perform a step.

Tips

Tips offer additional information, including warnings and shortcuts.

Bold

Bold type shows command names or options that you must click or text or numbers you must type.

Italics

Italic type introduces and defines a new term.

Teach Yourself VISUALLY™ Photoshop® Elements 12

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Getting Started

Introducing Photoshop Elements 12

Understanding Digital Images

Start Photoshop Elements

Explore the Editor Workspace

Tour the Organizer Workspace

Switch between the Organizer and the Editor

Introducing the Photoshop Elements Tools

Switch Editor Modes

Work with Tools

Work with Panels

Set Program Preferences

View Rulers and Guides

Chapter 2: Importing and Opening Digital Images

Get Photos for Your Projects

Import Photos from a Digital Camera or Card Reader

Import Photos from a Scanner

Import or Search for Photos from a Folder

Open a Photo

Create a Blank Image

Save a Photo

Duplicate a Photo

Close a Photo

Chapter 3: Organizing Your Photos

Introducing the Organizer

Open the Organizer

Create a Catalog

View Photos in the Media Browser

View Photos in Full Screen

Display a Slide Show in Full Screen

View Photo Information

Add a Caption

Work with Albums

Find Photos

Rate Photos

View Versions of a Photo

Remove a Photo from the Organizer

Chapter 4: Using Advanced Organizing Tools

Perform an Advanced Search

Work with Keyword Tags

Define People in Photos

Define Places

View Places

Define Events

Using Smart Events

Work with People, Place, and Event Tags

Apply an Instant Fix

Stack Photos

Find by Visual Similarity

Chapter 5: Applying Basic Image Edits

Manage Open Images

Magnify with the Zoom Tool

Adjust the Image View

Change the On-Screen Image Size

Change the Image Print Size

Change the Image Canvas Size

Work in Quick Mode

Apply an Effect in Quick Mode

Add a Frame in Quick Mode

Crop an Image

Rotate an Image

Undo Changes to an Image

Revert an Image

Chapter 6: Making Selections

Select an Area with the Marquee

Select an Area with the Lasso

Select an Area with the Magic Wand

Select an Area with the Quick Selection Tool

Select an Area with the Selection Brush

Save and Load a Selection

Invert a Selection

Deselect a Selection

Chapter 7: Manipulating Selections

Add to or Subtract from a Selection

Move a Selection

Apply the Content-Aware Move Tool

Duplicate a Selection

Delete a Selection

Rotate a Selection

Scale a Selection

Skew or Distort a Selection

Refine the Edge of a Selection

Feather the Border of a Selection

Chapter 8: Using Layers

Introducing Layers

Create and Add to a Layer

Hide a Layer

Move a Layer

Duplicate a Layer

Delete a Layer

Reorder Layers

Change the Opacity of a Layer

Link Layers

Merge Layers

Rename a Layer

Create a Fill Layer

Create an Adjustment Layer

Blend Layers

Add a Layer Mask

Edit a Layer Mask

Chapter 9: Enhancing and Retouching Photos

Quickly Fix a Photo

Remove Red Eye

Retouch with the Clone Stamp Tool

Remove a Spot

Sharpen an Image

Merge Group Shots

Recompose a Photo

Create a Photo Panorama

Fix Keystone Distortion

Chapter 10: Enhancing Lighting and Color

Adjust Levels

Adjust Shadows and Highlights

Change Brightness and Contrast

Using the Dodge and Burn Tools

Fix Exposure

Using the Blur and Sharpen Tools

Adjust Skin Color

Adjust Color with the Sponge Tool

Replace a Color

Turn a Color Photo into Black and White

Add Color to a Black-and-White Photo

Adjust Colors by Using Color Curves

Apply the Auto Smart Tone Tool

Chapter 11: Apply Guided Edits

Restore an Old Photo

Improve a Portrait

Shift Colors

Apply a Lomo Camera Effect

Add Motion with Zoom Burst

Miniaturize Objects with Tilt Shift

Turn a Photo into a Puzzle

Apply a Reflection

Put an Object Out of Bounds

Apply a Low Key Effect

Chapter 12: Painting and Drawing on Photos

Set the Foreground and Background Colors

Add Color with the Brush Tool

Change Brush Styles

Using a Brush to Replace a Color

Adjust Colors with the Smart Brush

Draw a Shape

Draw a Line

Apply the Eraser

Apply a Gradient

Add Content from the Graphics Panel

Chapter 13: Applying Filters

Blur an Image

Distort an Image

Turn an Image into a Painting

Turn an Image into a Sketch

Add Noise to an Image

Pixelate an Image

Emboss an Image

Apply Multiple Filters

Chapter 14: Adding Text Elements

Add Text

Change the Formatting of Text

Change the Color of Text

Create Warped Text

Add an Effect to Text

Add Text along a Selection

Add Text in a Shape

Chapter 15: Applying Styles and Effects

Add a Drop Shadow to a Layer

Add a Fancy Background

Add an Outer Glow to a Layer

Add a Fancy Covering to a Layer

Add a Watermark

Apply a Photomerge Style

Apply an Effect with an Action

Add to Favorites

Chapter 16: Saving and Sharing Your Work

Save a Photo for the Web

Convert File Types

E-Mail Images with Photo Mail

Print Photos

Create a Slide Show

Create a Photo Book

Share Photos on Facebook

Share a Photo on Twitter

Export Photos

Export Photos to Adobe Revel

Back Up Photos

Chapter 1

Getting Started

Are you interested in working with digital images on your computer? This chapter introduces you to Adobe Photoshop Elements 12, a popular software application for editing and creating digital images. Photoshop Elements also enables you to organize your collection of digital images so you can easily find what you are looking for.

Introducing Photoshop Elements 12

Understanding Digital Images

Start Photoshop Elements

Explore the Editor Workspace

Tour the Organizer Workspace

Switch between the Organizer and the Editor

Introducing the Photoshop Elements Tools

Switch Editor Modes

Work with Tools

Work with Panels

Set Program Preferences

View Rulers and Guides

Introducing Photoshop Elements 12

Photoshop Elements is a popular photo-editing program you can use to modify, optimize, and organize digital images. You can use the program’s Editor to make imperfect snapshots clearer and more colorful as well as retouch and restore older photos. With layers, you can isolate objects in your images and apply special effects just to those objects or combine multiple images into a collage. You can also use the program’s Organizer to group your photos into albums, assign descriptive keyword tags, discover visually similar images, create slide shows, and more. When you are done with your images, you can use Photoshop Elements to save them for sharing on the web or print them out.

Manipulate Photos

As its name suggests, Photoshop Elements excels at enabling you to edit elements in your digital photographs. The program includes numerous image-editing tools and commands you can apply to manipulate the look of your photos. Whether you import photos from a digital camera or a scanner, you can apply a wide variety of editing techniques to your images, from subtle adjustments in color to elaborate filters that make your snapshots look like paintings. See Chapter 7 for more on manipulating selected parts of your photos. See Chapter 12 for more on painting and drawing, and see Chapter 13 for more on using filters.

Retouch and Repair

You can use Photoshop Elements to edit new photos to make them look their best as well as retouch and repair older photos that suffer from aging problems. For example, you can restore a faded photo by using saturation controls to make it more vibrant, or you can use the Clone Stamp tool to repair a tear or stain. You can also use the program’s exposure commands to fix lighting problems as well as edit out unwanted objects with the Healing Brush. See Chapter 9 for more on retouching your photos.

Add Decoration

The painting and drawing tools in Photoshop Elements make the program a formidable illustration tool as well as a photo editor. You can apply colors or patterns to your images with a variety of brush styles. See Chapter 12 to discover how to paint and draw on your photos. In addition, you can use the application’s typographic tools to integrate stylized letters and words into your images. See Chapter 14 for more on adding text elements.

Create a Digital Collage

You can combine parts of different images in Photoshop Elements to create a collage. Your compositions can include photos, scanned art, text, and anything else you can save on your computer as a digital image. By placing elements on separate layers, you can move, transform, and customize them independently of one another. See Chapter 8 for more on layers. You can also merge several side-by-side scenes into a seamless panorama, which is covered in Chapter 9.

Organize and Catalog

As you bring photos into Photoshop Elements, the program keeps track of them in the Organizer. In the Organizer, you can place groups of photos into theme-specific albums, tag your photos with keywords, and search for specific photos based on a variety of criteria. You can also define the people who are in your photos, the places where photos were taken, and the events during which they were taken. See Chapters 3 and 4 for more on the Organizer.

Put Your Photos to Work

After you edit your photographs, you can use them in a variety of ways. Photoshop Elements enables you to print your images, save them for the web, or bring them together in a slide show. You can share your photos on Facebook or Twitter directly from the Organizer. You can also create photo books, calendars, and other projects. For more on creating and printing your photo projects, see Chapter 16.

Understanding Digital Images

To work with photos in Photoshop Elements, you must first have them in a digital format. When a computer saves a photographic file, it turns the image content into lots of tiny squares called pixels. Digital cameras capture their photos as files made up of pixels. Editing a digital image is mostly about recoloring and rearranging pixels, at least on a small scale. Using Photoshop Elements can be a little easier when you remember this. This section introduces you to some important basics about how computers store images in digital form.

Acquire Photos

You can acquire photographic images to use in Photoshop Elements from a number of sources. You can download photos to Photoshop Elements from a digital camera, memory card, or photo CD. You can scan photographs, slides, or artwork and then import the images directly into the program. You can also bring in photos that you have downloaded from the web or received via e-mail. For more on importing photos, see Chapter 2.

Understanding Pixels

Digital images that you download from a camera consist ofpixels, each composed of a single color. Photoshop Elements works its magic by rearranging and recoloring these pixels. You can edit specific pixels or groups of pixels by selecting the area of the photo you want to edit. If you zoom in close, you can see the pixels that make up your image. Chapter 5 covers the Zoom tool.

Bitmap Images

Images composed of pixels are known as bitmap images or raster images. The pixels are arranged in a rectangular grid, and each pixel includes information about its color and position. Most of the time when you are working in Photoshop Elements, you are working with bitmap content.

Vector Graphics

The other common way of displaying pictures on your computer is with vector graphics. Vector graphics encode image information by using mathematical equations instead of pixels. Unlike raster images, vector graphics can change size without a loss of quality. When you add shapes or text to your photos in Photoshop Elements, you are working with vector graphics.

Supported File Formats

Photoshop Elements supports a variety of file types you can both import and export. Popular file formats include BMP, PICT, TIFF, EPS, JPEG, GIF, PDF, PNG, and PSD, which stands for Photoshop Document. Files that you save in the PSD, TIFF, and PDF formats can include layers and other information that cannot be saved with the other formats.

For images published on the Internet, JPEG, GIF, and PNG are the most common formats.

File Size

An important way file formats differ from one another is the amount of storage they take up on your computer. File formats such as PSD and TIFF tend to take up more space because they faithfully save all the information that your camera or other device originally captured. Those formats can also include multiple layers. JPEG, GIF, and PNG files, on the other hand, are built to be sent over the Internet and usually sacrifice some quality for the sake of compactness.

Start Photoshop Elements

After you install Photoshop Elements, you can start it to begin creating and editing digital images. Common ways of obtaining and installing the program include from a DVD or by downloading it from Adobe over the Internet. On a PC, you can access Photoshop Elements as you do other programs — through the Start screen. On a Mac, you can access it through the Finder in the Applications folder or through Launchpad.

Start Photoshop Elements

Open the Windows Start screen.

Click the Adobe Photoshop Elements 12 button.

Note: Your location of the Photoshop Elements button may be different depending on how the Start screen is configured.

The Photoshop Elements welcome screen opens.

The welcome screen enables you to access the two different workspaces in Photoshop Elements.

Click Photo Editor.

The Photoshop Elements Editor opens.

A You can click Organizer to open the Organizer.

B You can click to access the startup settings.

Explore the Editor Workspace

In the Photoshop Elements Editor, you can use a combination of tools, menu commands, and panel-based features to open and edit your digital photos. You can switch between editing modes to access different tool and panel arrangements. The main Editor pane displays the photos that you are currently modifying. To open the Editor, click Photo Editor on the welcome screen.

A Image Window

Displays each photo you open in Photoshop Elements

B Image Tabs

Clickable tabs for switching between open images in the Editor

C Organizer Button

Clickable button for switching to the Organizer workspace, where you can catalog your photos

D Mode Buttons

Clickable buttons for switching between Editor modes, each having a different arrangement of tools and panels (Expert mode is shown)

E Panel Bin

A storage area for panels, which are the resizable windows that hold related commands, settings, and other information

F Photo Bin

Enables you to open and work with multiple photos

G Task Bar

Contains buttons for showing and hiding panels and executing common commands

H Tools

Clickable icons that represent the editing tools in Photoshop Elements

I Open Button

Clickable button for opening photos to start editing

J Create Button

Clickable button for accessing a menu of photo-related projects

Tour the Organizer Workspace

In the Photoshop Elements Organizer, you can catalog, view, and sort your growing library of digital photos. The main Organizer pane, called the Media Browser, shows miniature versions of the photos in your catalog. To open the Organizer, click Organizer on the welcome screen.

A Media Browser

Displays miniature versions, or thumbnails, of the photos and other media in your catalog

B Photo Details

Shows ratings information and the categories associated with each photo

C Editor Button

Clickable button for switching to the Editor workspace, where you can edit your photos

D View Buttons

Clickable buttons for switching to different views in the Organizer

E Panel Bin

A storage area for panels, which are the resizable windows that hold related commands, settings, and other information

F Import Button

Clickable button for importing photos from a camera, folder, or other location to start organizing

G Task Bar

Contains buttons for showing and hiding panels, creating categories, and executing common commands

H Share Button

Clickable button for sharing via social networks, e-mail, and more

Switch between the Organizer and the Editor

Photoshop Elements has two main workspaces: the Organizer and the Editor. The Organizer lets you browse, sort, share, and categorize photos in your collection, and the Editor enables you to modify, combine, and optimize your photos. You can easily switch between the two environments.

You can use the Organizer to review your photos to find images for your projects. After you select your photos in the Organizer, you can open the Editor to adjust the colors, lighting, and other aspects of the photos, and then switch back to the Organizer to choose more photos to edit.

Switch between the Organizer and the Editor

Start Photoshop Elements in the Organizer view.

Note: See the section Start Photoshop Elements for more on starting the program.

You can browse and sort your photos in the Organizer.

Note: For more about adding photos to the Organizer, see Chapter 2.

Click a photo to select it.

Click Editor.

The photo opens in the Editor. If the Editor is not already running, it may take a few moments to launch.

A The Editor opens in whatever mode you last used.

B You can click Organizer to return to the Organizer.

Introducing the Photoshop Elements Tools

In the Editor, Photoshop Elements offers a variety of specialized tools that enable you to manipulate your image. You can select tools by clicking icons on the left side of the workspace or by typing a keyboard shortcut key. Keyboard shortcut keys are shown in parentheses. Each Editor mode features a different set of tools. Expert mode, which has the most tools available, is shown here.

A Zoom (Z)

Zooms your view of an image in or out

B Hand (H)

Moves the image to reveal off-screen portions of the image

C Move (V)

Moves selected areas of an image

D Marquee (M)

Defines an area of an image by drawing a box or ellipse around the area you want to edit

E Lasso (L)

Selects pixels by drawing a free-form shape around the area you want to edit

F Quick Selection (A)

Selects areas of an image based on color similarity and edges

G Red-Eye Removal (Y)

Corrects red-eye problems

H Spot-Healing Brush (J)

Repairs imperfections by copying nearby pixels

I Smart Brush (F)

Simultaneously selects and applies a wide variety of different effects

J Clone Stamp (S)

Paints pixels from one part of an image to another part

K Blur (R)

Blurs selected portions of your image

L Sponge (O)

Increases or decreases color saturation or intensity

A Brush (B)

Paints strokes of color

B Eraser (E)

Erases pixels by replacing them with background color or making them transparent on layers

C Paint Bucket (K)

Fills a selected area with a single color

D Gradient (G)

Fills areas with blended color effects

E Eyedropper (I)

Samples color from an area of an image

F Custom Shape (U)

Draws predefined shapes

G Type (T)

Adds text to an image

H Pencil (N)

Draws hard-edged lines of color

I Crop (C)

Trims or expands an image to improve composition

J Recompose (W)

Intelligently changes the size of a photo while keeping elements intact

K Content-Aware Move Tool (Q)

Moves part of an image while replacing the original location with surrounding content

L Straighten (P)

Straightens out a crooked image or changes the orientation of an image

M Foreground and Background Color

Sets foreground and background colors to use with tools

N Tool Options Panel

Displays settings to customize the selected tool

Switch Editor Modes

The Photoshop Elements Editor has three modes: Quick, Guided, and Expert. You can switch modes based on the tools you need and the workflow you are comfortable with.

Quick mode offers access to commonly used tools and optimization commands. It is perfect for the beginner or someone who wants to fix photos quickly. Guided mode features step-by-step instructions paired with tools for fixing photos and adding special effects. Expert mode gives you access to most of the program’s tools and the more complex commands.

Switch Editor Modes

Note: This image and others from the book are available for download from www.wiley.com/go/tyvpse12. The images on the companion website are small, low-resolution images for you to practice the steps. You will get better results and learn more when you use your own photographs.

Open a photo in the Editor.

Note: See Chapter 2 for information about opening photos.

Click Quick.

Quick mode appears.

A You can click here to select a tool.

Note: For more about tools, see the next section, “Work with Tools.”

B You can click here to access optimization settings.

Click a menu.

Photoshop Elements displays the menu commands.

C Some commands are grayed out and disabled, depending on the mode.

Click Guided.

Guided mode appears.

D You can click here to select a tool.

E You can click here to access step-by-step instructions for editing photos.

Click Expert.

Expert mode appears.

F You can click here to select a tool.

G You can click here to open and close panels.

Note: See the section Work with Panels for more information.

TIPs

How do I view before and after versions of photos as I edit them?

In Quick mode and Guided mode, you can click the View menu in the upper left of the workspace. Select a Before & After view to display both versions of the current photo. You can choose horizontal and vertical versions, depending on the orientation of your photo.

How can I get extra help when learning about Photoshop Elements features?

Click the Help menu and then click a help-related command. The Key Concepts, Support, Video Tutorials, and Forum commands take you to the Adobe.com website. Accessing Adobe.com requires you to have an Internet connection.

Work with Tools

You can use the tools in Photoshop Elements to make changes to an image. After you click to select a tool, the Tool Options panel displays controls for customizing how the tool works. For example, after you select the Rectangular Marquee tool, you can adjust the Tool Options panel settings to determine the height and width of the tool.

Some tools display a tiny mark in the upper right corner when you position the cursor over them, indicating related tools you can select. For example, the Lasso tool includes two additional variations: Polygonal Lasso and Magnetic Lasso.

Work with Tools

Select a Tool

Click an Editor mode.

Position the mouse pointer over a tool.

A A screen tip displays the tool name and shortcut key. You can click the tool name to access help information about the tool.

Click a tool to select it.

B The Tool Options panel shows settings for customizing the selected tool. Specify any options you want for the tool.

Select a Related Tool

Position your mouse pointer over a tool.

Click a tool that has a in its corner.

Photoshop Elements displays the clicked tool and one or more related tools in the Tool Options panel.

Click one of the related tools.

You can also press a tool’s shortcut key more than once to cycle through the related tools.

Close the Tool Options Panel

You can close the Tool Options panel to give you more space to view and edit your photos.

Click Tool Options.

The Tool Options panel closes.

C You can click Tool Options again to reopen the Tool Options panel.

TIPs

How can I keep the Tool Options panel hidden?

In the Tool Options panel, click the panel menu (). By default, Auto Show Tool Options is selected and the panel is shown when a tool is clicked. Click Auto Show Tool Options to deselect the option and keep the panel hidden.

How can I reset a tool to its default settings?

With a tool selected, click the panel menu () in the Tool Options panel and then click Reset Tool. For painting tools, this resets the opacity to 100%, the blending mode to Normal, and other attributes to their startup values. For selection tools, the New Selection option is selected and any feathering is set to 0 px. You can click Reset All Tools to reset all the Photoshop Elements tools to their default settings.

Work with Panels

In the Photoshop Elements Editor, you can open resizable panes called panels to access different Photoshop Elements commands and features. In Expert mode, which is shown in this example, the more commonly used panels open in the Panel Bin located on the right side of the workspace. Other panels open in a tabbed, floating window.

The Layers panel gives you access to the one or more layers present in your image. Each layer can contain image content that can be moved and adjusted independent of the content in other layers. The Effects panel includes dozens of special effects that you can apply to your image.

Work with Panels

Using the Main Panels

Open the Photoshop Elements Editor.

Note: For more on opening the Editor, See the section Start Photoshop Elements.

Click a button.

A You can also access panels in the Window menu.

B The clicked panel opens in the Panel Bin.

C Buttons and menus enable you to filter available commands.

Click the panel button again.

The panel closes.

By closing panels, you can have more workspace for editing photos.

Open More Panels

Click More.

A window opens with tabbed panels.

Click a tab to access a panel.

D You can click to close the panel window.

E You can click and drag the panel header to move the window.

To resize panels in the Panel Bin, position your cursor over the left edge of the bin and then click and drag.

To resize the panel window, click and drag the corner or edges. Not all panels in the panel window are resizable.

The panels resize.

TIPs

What are the panels in the modes other than Expert?

Quick mode has a single panel that contains optimization tools. Guided mode has a panel that lists step-by-step instructional tasks. You can hide the panel in Quick mode but not in Guided mode.

How do I reset my panels?

Click Window and then Reset Panels. This resets the size of the panels and, in Expert mode, sets the Panel Bin to the Layers panel.

Set Program Preferences

The Photoshop Elements Preferences dialog box enables you to change default settings and modify how the program looks. You can set preferences in both the Editor and Organizer workspaces to customize the program to match how you like to work.

When you make changes to the program in the preferences, the changes remain after you exit the program and then open it again. In the Organizer, you can restore all preferences to their original state by clicking Restore Default Settings in the General preferences.

Set Program Preferences

Program Preferences

In the Editor, click Edit. (On a Mac, click Adobe Photoshop Elements Editor.)

Note: For more on opening the Editor, See the section Explore the Editor Workspace.

Click Preferences.

Click General.

As an alternative, you can press + (+ on a Mac).

The Preferences dialog box opens and displays General options.

Select any settings you want to change.

A For example, you can click the to specify the shortcut keys for stepping backward and forward through your commands.

B You can click this option ( changes to ) to open images in floating windows instead of tabbed windows.

Click a different preference category.

C You can also click Prev and Next to move back and forth between categories.

In this example, the Preferences dialog box displays Units & Rulers options.

Select any settings you want to change.

D For example, you can specify the default units for various aspects of the program.

Click OK.

Photoshop Elements sets the preferences.

In the Organizer

In the Organizer, repeat steps 1 to 3 in the subsection “In the Editor,” or press + (+ on a Mac).

Note: For more on opening the Organizer, See the section Tour the Organizer Workspace.

The Preferences dialog box opens.

Select any settings you want to change.

E For example, you can specify date ordering and formatting preferences.

Click OK.

Photoshop Elements sets the preferences.

TIPs

What type of measurement units should I use in Photoshop Elements?

Typically, you should use the units most applicable to the type of output you intend to produce. Pixel units are useful for web imaging because monitor dimensions are measured in pixels. Inches, picas, centimeters, or millimeters are useful for print because those are standards for working on paper.

How do I allocate extra memory to Photoshop Elements for opening more image files?

The Performance preferences show how much memory, or RAM, you have available and how much of it Photoshop Elements is using. The Scratch Disks preferences enable you to allocate extra memory on your hard drive(s), called scratch disk space, to use if your computer runs out of RAM.

View Rulers and Guides

In Expert mode, you can turn on rulers and guides to help place objects accurately in your image. Rulers appear at the top and left sides of the image window and enable you to measure distances within your image. To change the units of measurement associated with the rulers, see the previous section, “Set Program Preferences.”

Guides are the lines that help you position different elements in your image horizontally or vertically. These lines do not appear on your image when you save the image for the web or print it.

View Rulers and Guides

Show Rulers

Click Expert.

Click View.

Click Rulers.

You can also press ++ (++ on a Mac).

A Photoshop Elements adds rulers to the top and left edges of the image window.

Create a Guide

Click one of the rulers and drag the cursor into the window ( changes to ).

Drag the top ruler down to create a horizontal guide.

Drag the left ruler to the right to create a vertical guide.

B A thin, colored line called a guide appears.

C You can also click View and then New Guide to add a guide.

You can use guides to align objects in the different layers of an image.

Note: See Chapter 8 for more about layers.

Move a Guide

Click the Move tool ().

Position the mouse pointer over a guide ( changes to ) and then click and drag.

You can also press + (+ on a Mac) to display a grid on your image. The lines of the grid can help you align objects in your image.

TIP

How do I make objects in my images “snap to” my guides when I move those objects?

The “snap to” feature is useful for aligning elements in a row or a column. Click View, Snap To, and then Guides (A). When you move an object near a guide, Photoshop Elements automatically aligns the object with the guide.

Chapter 2

Importing and Opening Digital Images

Before you can start working with photos, you must import them. This chapter shows you how to import photos into the Organizer and then open them in the Editor.

Get Photos for Your Projects

Import Photos from a Digital Camera or Card Reader

Import Photos from a Scanner

Import or Search for Photos from a Folder

Open a Photo

Create a Blank Image

Save a Photo

Duplicate a Photo

Close a Photo

Get Photos for Your Projects

To work with images in Photoshop Elements, you must first acquire the images. You can get images and clip art to use in your creative projects from a variety of sources. Digital cameras have become ubiquitous, and you can get images using expensive digital SLRs, cheap point-and-shoot cameras, and camera phones. Scanned art is another option, as is content captured with a film-based camera. Finally, you can obtain photos that other people have posted to photo-sharing websites. Photoshop Elements makes it easy to bring in content from these different sources.

Digital Cameras

A digital camera is probably the most common way to take photographs and then import them into your computer. Most digital cameras save their images as JPEG or RAW files, both of which you can open and edit in Photoshop Elements. You can transfer images from most cameras by using a USB cable or a card reader, a device that reads a camera’s memory card.

Scanned Photos and Art

A scanner gives you an inexpensive way to convert existing paper-based content into a digital form. You can scan photos and art into your computer, retouch and stylize them in Photoshop Elements, and then output them to a color printer. You can also use a slide attachment to digitize slides by using a scanner. For tips on cropping and rotating scanned photos, see Chapter 5.

Web Images

If you have photos or art stored on the web, you can easily save those image files to your computer and then open them in Photoshop Elements. In Internet Explorer on the PC, you can save a web image by right-clicking it and then choosing Save picture as (Save Image As in Firefox or in Safari on a Mac). Inexpensive stock photo websites, such as iStockphoto, offer professional-grade images for download. On photo-sharing sites such as Flickr, users often allow noncommercial use of their photos.

Start from Scratch

You can also create your Photoshop Elements image from scratch by opening a blank canvas in the image window. You can then apply colors and patterns with the painting tools in Photoshop Elements, or you can cut and paste parts of other images to create a composite. See the section Create a Blank Image for more on opening a blank canvas.

Film Photos