Photoshop Elements 6 for Mac: The Missing Manual

Photoshop Elements 6 for Mac: The Missing Manual

by Barbara Brundage
Released March 2008
Publisher(s): O'Reilly Media, Inc.
ISBN: 9780596519360

Read it now on the O’Reilly learning platform with a 10-day free trial.

O’Reilly members get unlimited access to books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.

Buy on Amazon
Start your free trial

Book description

After more than two years, Adobe has finally released a new version of Photoshop Elements for the Mac. Version 6 packs a lot more editing firepower than iPhoto, and this Missing Manual puts every feature into a clear, easy-to-understand context -- something that no other book on Elements does!

Photoshop Elements 6 is perfect for scrapbooking, making fancy photo collages, and creating Web galleries. It has lots of new features such as Guided Edit for performing basic editing tasks, an improved Photomerge feature, a handy Quick Selection Tool, and much more. But knowing what to do and when is tricky. Photoshop Elements 6 for Mac: The Missing Manual explains not only how the tools and commands work, but when to use them. With it, you will:

  • Learn to import, organize, and fix photos quickly and easily.
  • Repair and restore old and damaged photos, and retouch any image.
  • Jazz up your pictures with dozens of filters, frames, and special effects.
  • Learn which tools the pros use -- you'll finally understand how layers work!
  • Create collages and photo layout pages for greeting cards and other projects.
  • Get downloadable practice images and try new tricks right away.

This full-color guide starts with the simplest functions and progresses to increasingly complex features of Elements. If you're ready for the more sophisticated tools, you can easily jump around to learn specific techniques. As always, author Barbara Brundage lets you know which Elements features work well, which don't, and why -- all with a bit of wit and humor.

Don't hesitate: Now that Adobe's outstanding photo editor has been updated for the Mac, dive in with Photoshop Elements 6 for Mac: The Missing Manual right away.

Table of contents

  1. A Note Regarding Supplemental Files
  2. The Missing Credits
    1. About the Author
    2. About the Creative Team
    3. Acknowledgements
    4. The Missing Manual Series
  3. Introduction
    1. Why Photoshop Elements?
    2. What You Can Do with Elements 6
    3. What’s New in Elements 6
    4. Mac vs. PC
    5. Elements vs. Photoshop
    6. The Key to Learning Elements
    7. About This Book
      1. About the Outline
        1. Introduction to Elements
        2. Elemental Elements
        3. Retouching
        4. Artistic Elements
        5. Sharing your images
        6. Additional Elements
      2. For Newcomers to Elements
      3. The Very Basics
      4. About → These → Arrows
      5. About MissingManuals.com
      6. Safari®Books Online
  4. I. Introduction to Elements
    1. 1. Finding Your Way Around Elements
      1. The Welcome Screen
      2. Adobe Bridge—Decisions, Decisions
        1. The Photo Downloader
      3. Editing Your Photos
        1. Your Elements Tools
        2. Panels, Bins, and Palettes
          1. The Project bin
          2. The Palette bin
          3. Special palettes
        3. Getting Help
          1. Guided Edit
        4. Escape Routes
          1. Undo
          2. Undo History palette
          3. The one rule of Elements
      4. Getting Started in a Hurry
    2. 2. Importing, Managing, and Saving Your Photos
      1. Importing from Cameras
      2. Opening Photos in Elements
        1. Bridge Basics
          1. The Bridge window
          2. Setting file associations
          3. Customizing your Bridge workspace
        2. Opening Stored Images
        3. Sending Images from Other Programs
        4. Working with PDF Files
      3. Scanning Photos
      4. Capturing Video Frames
      5. Creating a New File
        1. Picking a File Size
        2. Choosing Resolution
        3. Choosing a Color Mode
        4. Choosing Your File’s Background Contents
      6. The Many Uses for Bridge
        1. Moving and Organizing your Photos
        2. Rating and labeling photos
        3. Keywords
        4. Searching and filtering
      7. Saving Your Work
        1. The File Formats Elements Understands
          1. The not-so-common file formats
          2. About JPEGs
        2. Changing the File Format
      8. Burning CDs and DVDs
    3. 3. Rotating and Resizing Your Photos
      1. Straightening Scanned Photos
        1. Straightening Two or More Photos at a Time
        2. Straightening Individual Photos
      2. Rotating Your Images
        1. Rotating and Flipping Options
      3. Straightening the Contents of Your Image
        1. Straighten Tool
        2. Free Rotate
      4. Cropping Pictures
        1. Using the Crop Tool
        2. Cropping Your Image to an Exact Size
        3. Cropping with the Marquee Tool
      5. Zooming and Repositioning Your View
        1. Image Views
        2. The Zoom Tool
        3. The Hand Tool
      6. Changing the Size of Your Image
        1. Resizing Images for Email and the Web
        2. Resizing for Printing
          1. Resampling
        3. Adding Canvas
  5. II. Elemental Elements
    1. 4. The Quick Fix
      1. The Quick Fix Window
        1. The Quick Fix Toolbox
        2. The Quick Fix Control Panel
        3. Different Views: After vs. Before and After
      2. Editing Your Photos
        1. Fixing Red Eye
        2. Smart Fix
        3. Adjusting Lighting and Contrast
          1. Levels
          2. Contrast
          3. Shadows and Highlights
        4. Color
          1. Auto Color
          2. Using the Color sliders
        5. Sharpening
        6. Quick Fix Suggested Workflow
      3. Adjusting Skin Tones
    2. 5. Making Selections
      1. Selecting Everything
      2. Selecting Rectangular and Elliptical Areas
      3. Selecting Irregularly Sized Areas
        1. Controlling the Selection Tools
      4. Selecting with a Brush
        1. Selecting with a Brush
          1. Refine Edge
        2. The Selection Brush
        3. The Magic Wand
        4. The Lasso Tools
          1. The basic Lasso tool
          2. The Magnetic Lasso
          3. The Polygonal Lasso
      5. Removing Objects from an Image’s Background
      6. Changing and Moving Selections
        1. Inverting a Selection
        2. Making a Selection Larger or Smaller
        3. Moving Selections
          1. The Move tool
        4. Saving Selections
          1. Making changes to a saved selection
    3. 6. Layers: The Heart of Elements
      1. Understanding Layers
        1. The Layers Palette
        2. The Background
      2. Creating Layers
        1. Adding a Layer
        2. Deleting Layers
        3. Duplicating a Layer
        4. Copying and Cutting from Layers
      3. Managing Layers
        1. Making Layers Invisible
        2. Adjusting Transparency
        3. Locking Layers
        4. Blend Mode
        5. Rearranging Layers
          1. Arranging layers with the Move tool
        6. Aligning and Distributing Layers
        7. Grouping and Linking Layers
          1. Linking layers
          2. Grouping layers
        8. Merging and Flattening Layers
          1. Merging layers
          2. Flattening an image
      4. Fill and Adjustment Layers
        1. Adding Fill and Adjustment Layers
        2. Layer Masks
      5. Moving Layers Between Images
  6. III. Retouching
    1. 7. Basic Image Retouching
      1. Fixing Exposure Problems
        1. Deciding Which Exposure Fix to Use
        2. Fixing Major Exposure Problems
        3. The Shadows/Highlights Command
      2. Controlling the Colors You See
        1. Calibrating Your Monitor
          1. Getting started with calibrating
        2. Choosing a Color Space
      3. Using Levels
        1. Understanding the Histogram
        2. Adjusting Levels: The Eyedropper Method
        3. Adjusting Levels: The Slider Controls
      4. Removing Unwanted Color
        1. Using the Color Cast Tool
        2. Using Color Variations
      5. Choosing the Color You Want
        1. The Color Picker
        2. The Eyedropper Tool
        3. The Color Swatches Palette
          1. Saving colors in the Swatches palette
      6. Sharpening Your Images
        1. Unsharp Mask
        2. Adjust Sharpness
        3. The High-Pass Filter
        4. The Sharpen Tool
    2. 8. Elements for Digital Photographers
      1. The RAW Converter
        1. Using the RAW Converter
          1. Adjusting the view
          2. Rotating straightening, and cropping
        2. Adjusting White Balance
        3. Adjusting Tone
          1. Saving your settings
        4. Adjusting Vibrance and Saturation
        5. Adjusting Sharpness and Reducing Noise
          1. Choosing bit depth: 8 or 16 bits?
        6. Converting to DNG
      2. Photo Filter
      3. Processing Multiple Files
        1. Choosing Your Files
        2. Renaming Your Files
        3. Changing Image Size and File Type
        4. Applying Quick Fix Commands
        5. Attaching Labels
          1. Watermarks
          2. Adding captions
    3. 9. Retouching: Fine-Tuning Your Images
      1. Fixing Blemishes
        1. The Spot Healing Brush: Fixing Small Areas
        2. The Healing Brush: Fixing Larger Areas
        3. The Clone Stamp
      2. Applying Patterns
        1. The Healing Brush
        2. The Pattern Stamp
      3. Color Curves: Enhancing Tone and Contrast
      4. Making Your Colors More Vibrant
        1. Using the Hue/Saturation Dialog Box
        2. Adjusting Saturation with the Sponge Tool
      5. Changing the Color of an Object
        1. Using an Adjustment Layer
        2. Replacing Specific Colors
        3. Using a Brush to Replace Colors
      6. Special Effects
    4. 10. Removing and Adding Color
      1. Method One: Making Color Photos Black and White
      2. Method Two: Removing Color from a Photo
      3. Creating Spot Color
        1. Erasing Colors from a Duplicate Layer
        2. Removing Color from Selections
        3. Using an Adjustment Layer and the Saturation Slider
          1. Editing a layer mask
      4. Colorizing a Black-and-White Photo
        1. Tinting an Entire Photo
          1. Using a Layer style
          2. Additional tint effects from the Content palette
          3. Using Colorize
    5. 11. Photomerge: Creating Panoramas, Group Shots, and More
      1. Creating Panoramas
        1. Making a Panorama
          1. Interactive Layout
      2. Merging Different Faces
      3. Arranging a Group Shot
      4. Correcting Lens Distortion
      5. Transforming Images
        1. Skew, Distort, Perspective
        2. Free Transform
  7. IV. Artistic Elements
    1. 12. Drawing with Brushes, Shapes, and Other Tools
      1. Picking and Using a Basic Brush
        1. Modifying Your Brush
        2. Saving Modified Brush Settings
      2. The Specialty Brushes
        1. Making a Custom Brush
      3. The Impressionist Brush
      4. The Pencil Tool
      5. The Paint Bucket
      6. Dodging and Burning
        1. Dodging
        2. Burning
      7. Blending and Smudging
        1. Blend Modes
        2. The Smudge Tool
      8. The Eraser Tool
        1. Using the Eraser
        2. The Magic Eraser
        3. The Background Eraser
      9. Drawing with Shapes
        1. Rectangle and Rounded Rectangle
        2. Ellipse
        3. Polygon
        4. Line Tool
        5. The Custom Shape Tool
        6. The Shape Selection Tool
      10. The Cookie Cutter
    2. 13. Filters, Effects, Layer Styles, and Gradients
      1. Using Filters
        1. Applying Filters
          1. Filter menu
          2. Effects palette
          3. Filter Gallery
        2. Filter Categories
        3. Useful Filter Solutions
          1. Removing noise: Getting rid of graininess
          2. Adding noise: Smoothing out repair jobs
          3. Gaussian Blur: Drawing attention to a foreground object
          4. Radial Blur: Producing a sense of motion
          5. Color correcting with the Average Blur filter
      2. Adding Effects
      3. Adding Layer Styles
      4. Applying Gradients
        1. The Gradient Tool
          1. Using the Gradient tool
        2. Gradient Fill Layer
        3. Editing a Gradient
          1. Using the Gradient Editor
          2. Transparency in gradients
          3. Creating noise gradients
        4. Saving Gradients
      5. Gradient Maps
    3. 14. Type in Elements
      1. Adding Type to an Image
        1. Type Options
        2. Creating Text
        3. Editing Type
          1. Smoothing type: anti-aliasing
      2. Warping Type
        1. The Warp Text Dialog Box
      3. Adding Special Effects
        1. Text Effects
        2. Type Gradients
        3. Applying the Liquify Filter to Type
      4. Type Masks: Setting an Image in Type
        1. Using the Type Mask Tools
        2. Creating Outlined Type
  8. V. Sharing Your Images
    1. 15. Creating Projects
      1. Photo Collages
        1. Creating Multipage Documents
      2. Working with the Content and Favorites Palettes
        1. The Content Palette
        2. The Favorites Palette
      3. Photo Books
      4. Greeting Cards
      5. CD/DVD Jacket
      6. CD/DVD Label
      7. Online Creations
      8. PDF Slideshows
    2. 16. Printing Your Photos
      1. Getting Ready to Print
      2. Ordering Prints
        1. Ordering Prints Online
      3. Printing at Home
        1. Print Window
          1. Color management
      4. The OS X Print Dialog Box
      5. Printing Multiple Images
        1. Contact Sheet II
        2. Picture Packages
          1. Customizing your picture package
    3. 17. Elements and the Web
      1. Image Formats and the Web
      2. Saving Images for the Web or Email
        1. Using Save For Web
          1. Save For Web file format options
        2. Previewing Images and Adjusting Color
      3. Creating Animated GIFs
      4. Emailing Your Photos
      5. Creating a Web Photo Gallery
  9. VI. Additional Elements
    1. 18. Beyond the Basics
      1. Graphics Tablets
      2. Free Stuff from the Internet
      3. When You Really Need Photoshop
      4. Beyond This Book
  10. VII. Appendixes
    1. A. Elements, Menu by Menu
      1. Photoshop Elements Menu
        1. About Photoshop Elements
        2. About Plug-In
        3. Patent and Legal Notices
        4. Preferences
        5. Services
        6. Hide Photoshop Elements
        7. Hide Others
        8. Show All
        9. Quit Photoshop Elements
      2. File Menu
        1. New
        2. Open
        3. Browse with Bridge
        4. Open Recently Edited File
        5. Duplicate
        6. Close
        7. Close All
        8. Save
        9. Save As
        10. Save For Web
        11. Adobe Photo Downloader
        12. Attach to Email
        13. Create Web Gallery
        14. File Info
        15. Place
        16. Process Multiple Files
        17. Import
        18. Export
        19. Automation Tools
        20. Page Setup
        21. Print
        22. Contact Sheet II
        23. Picture Package
      3. Edit Menu
        1. Undo
        2. Redo
        3. Revert
        4. Cut
        5. Copy
        6. Copy Merged
        7. Paste
        8. Paste Into Selection
        9. Delete
        10. Fill, Fill Layer, Fill Selection
        11. Stroke (Outline) Selection
        12. Define Brush, Define Brush from Selection
        13. Define Pattern, Define Pattern from Selection
        14. Clear
        15. Add Blank Page
        16. Add Page Using Current Layout
        17. Delete Current Page
        18. Color Settings
        19. Preset Manager
      4. Image Menu
        1. Rotate
        2. Transform
        3. Crop
        4. Divide Scanned Photos
        5. Resize
        6. Mode
        7. Convert Color Profile
        8. Magic Extractor
      5. Enhance Menu
        1. Auto Smart Fix
        2. Auto Levels
        3. Auto Contrast
        4. Auto Color Correction
        5. Auto Sharpen
        6. Auto Red Eye Fix
        7. Adjust Smart Fix
        8. Adjust Lighting
        9. Adjust Color
        10. Convert to Black and White
        11. Unsharp Mask
        12. Adjust Sharpness
      6. Layer Menu
        1. New
        2. Duplicate Layer
        3. Delete Layer
        4. Rename Layer
        5. Layer Style
        6. New Fill Layer
        7. New Adjustment Layer
        8. Change Layer Content
        9. Layer Content Options
        10. Type
        11. Simplify Layer
        12. Group with Previous
        13. Ungroup
        14. Arrange
        15. Merge Layers
        16. Merge Visible
        17. Flatten Image
      7. Select Menu
        1. All
        2. Deselect
        3. Reselect
        4. Inverse
        5. All Layers
        6. Deselect Layers
        7. Similar Layers
        8. Feather
        9. Refine Edge
        10. Modify
        11. Grow
        12. Similar
        13. Load Selection
        14. Save Selection
        15. Delete Selection
      8. Filter Menu
        1. Last Filter
        2. Filter Gallery
        3. Correct Camera Distortion
        4. Adjustments
        5. Artistic
        6. Blur
        7. Brush Strokes
        8. Distort
        9. Noise
        10. Pixelate
        11. Render
        12. Sketch
        13. Stylize
        14. Texture
        15. Video
        16. Other
        17. Digimarc
      9. View Menu
        1. New Window for…
        2. Zoom In
        3. Zoom Out
        4. Fit on Screen
        5. Actual Pixels
        6. Print Size
        7. Selection
        8. Rulers
        9. Grid
        10. Guide Presets
        11. Annotations
        12. Snap to
      10. Window Menu
        1. Images
        2. Tools
        3. Tool Options
        4. Color Swatches
        5. Content
        6. Effects
        7. Favorites
        8. Histogram
        9. Info
        10. Layers
        11. Navigator
        12. Undo History
        13. Palette Bin
        14. Reset Palette Locations
        15. Welcome
        16. Project Bin
        17. Image Windows
      11. Help Menu
        1. Search Box (Leopard only)
        2. Photoshop Elements Help
        3. Glossary of Terms
        4. System Info
        5. Registration
        6. Updates
        7. Online Support
        8. Photoshop Elements Online
        9. Online Learning Resources
    2. B. Installation and Troubleshooting
      1. Installing Elements
      2. Registration
      3. Scratch Disks
      4. Troubleshooting
    3. C. Bridge CS3, Menu by Menu
      1. Bridge CS3 Menu
        1. About Bridge
        2. Camera Raw Preferences
        3. Preferences
        4. Services
        5. Hide Bridge CS3
        6. Hide Others
        7. Show All
        8. Quit Bridge CS3
      2. File Menu
        1. New Window
        2. New Folder
        3. Open
        4. Open With
        5. Open Recent
        6. Close Window
        7. Move to Trash
        8. Eject
        9. Return to Adobe Photoshop Elements/Photoshop
        10. Reveal in Finder
        11. Reveal in Bridge
        12. Get Photos from Camera
        13. Burn CD
        14. Attach to Email
        15. Move To
        16. Copy To
        17. Place
        18. Add to Favorites/Remove from Favorites
        19. File Info
      3. Edit Menu
        1. Undo
        2. Cut
        3. Copy
        4. Paste
        5. Duplicate
        6. Select All
        7. Deselect All
        8. Select Inverse
        9. Find
        10. Rotate 180°
        11. Rotate 90° Clockwise
        12. Rotate 90° Counterclockwise
        13. Generate High Quality Thumbnail
        14. Generate Quick Thumbnail
      4. View Menu
        1. Compact Mode
        2. Slideshow
        3. Slideshow Options
        4. As Thumbnails
        5. As Details
        6. Show Thumbnail Only
        7. Show Reject Files
        8. Show Hidden Files
        9. Show Folders
        10. Sort
        11. Refresh
      5. Stacks Menu
        1. Group as Stack
        2. Ungroup from Stack
        3. Open Stack
        4. Close Stack
        5. Promote to Top of Stack
        6. Expand All Stacks
        7. Collapse All Stacks
        8. Frame Rate
      6. Label Menu
        1. Ratings
        2. Label
      7. Tools Menu
        1. Batch Rename
        2. Create Metadata Template
        3. Edit Metadata Template
        4. Append Metadata
        5. Replace Metadata
        6. Cache
        7. Photoshop Elements
        8. Photoshop Services
      8. Window Menu
        1. New Synchronized Window
        2. Workspace
        3. Folders Panel
        4. Favorites Panel
        5. Metadata Panel
        6. Keywords Panel
        7. Filter Panel
        8. Preview Panel
        9. Inspector Panel
        10. Minimize
        11. Bring All to Front
        12. Current Folder Location
      9. Help Menu
        1. Search Box (Leopard only)
        2. Bridge Help
        3. Updates
  11. Index
  12. About the Author
  13. Colophon
  14. Copyright

Product information

  • Title: Photoshop Elements 6 for Mac: The Missing Manual
  • Author(s): Barbara Brundage
  • Release date: March 2008
  • Publisher(s): O'Reilly Media, Inc.
  • ISBN: 9780596519360