Photoshop® Elements 8 For Dummies®

Photoshop® Elements 8 For Dummies®

by Barbara Obermeier, Ted Padova
Released October 2009
Publisher(s): For Dummies
ISBN: 9780470529676

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Book description

The perennial bestseller is updated and revised throughout for the latest release of Photoshop Elements 8

Richly illustrated in full color, this friendly, easy-to-understand guide provides all the essentials on the latest version of the affordable and popular image-editing program, Photoshop Elements. Get the scoop on using the latest digital imaging tools and techniques to correct color, brightness, and contrast; create postcards, slideshows, and movie files; apply artistic effects to your photos; fix flaws and even remove unwanted elements from your images; and so much more.

  • Use the Organizer on a Windows PC or Adobe Bridge on a Mac to sort, find, tag, and catalog your photos

  • Straighten crooked lines, crop for effect, or fix color, sharpness, red-eye, and contrast

  • Move people or objects in and out of your pictures, change the background, combine multiple images, or replace one color with another

  • Add effects with filters, get creative with type, or play with the drawing and painting tools

  • Tag your photos using People Recognition or by geographical location

  • Turn your photos into postcards, calendars, greeting cards, and photo books with a few simple clicks

  • Import images into Elements from a variety of sources

  • Upload and save images to Photoshop.com

Photoshop Elements 8 For Dummies shows you how to make the most of Elements awesome image editing, organization, and photo sharing tools. Whether you're concerned about color correction and clarity or just want a cool calendar of your kids for the wall, you'll learn how to do it with this book!

Table of contents

  1. Copyright
  2. About the Authors
  3. Authors' Acknowledgments
  4. Publisher's Acknowledgments
  5. Introduction
    1. About This Book
    2. Conventions Used in This Book
    3. How This Book Is Organized
      1. Part I: Getting Started
      2. Part II: Getting Organized
      3. Part III: Selecting and Correcting Photos
      4. Part IV: Exploring Your Inner Artist
      5. Part V: Printing, Creating, and Sharing
      6. Part VI: The Part of Tens
    4. Icons Used in This Book
    5. Where to Go from Here
  6. I. Getting Started
    1. 1. Getting to Know the Work Area
      1. 1.1. Launching Photoshop Elements 8
      2. 1.2. Getting Around in Edit Full Mode
        1. 1.2.1. Jumping to Edit Full mode
        2. 1.2.2. Examining the image window
        3. 1.2.3. Moving through the menu bar
        4. 1.2.4. Uncovering the context menus
        5. 1.2.5. Using the Tools panel
        6. 1.2.6. Selecting tool options from the Options bar
        7. 1.2.7. Playing with panels
        8. 1.2.8. Juggling all your interface options
      3. 1.3. Changing Workspaces
        1. 1.3.1. Using Edit Quick mode
        2. 1.3.2. Using creation tools
      4. 1.4. Using the Project Bin
        1. 1.4.1. Creating different views of an image
        2. 1.4.2. Hiding the Project Bin
        3. 1.4.3. Using Bin Actions
      5. 1.5. Retracing Your Steps
        1. 1.5.1. Using the Undo History panel
        2. 1.5.2. Reverting to the last save
      6. 1.6. Getting a Helping Hand
        1. 1.6.1. Using Help
        2. 1.6.2. Using ToolTips
    2. 2. Getting Ready to Edit
      1. 2.1. Controlling the Editing Environment
        1. 2.1.1. Launching and navigating Preferences
        2. 2.1.2. Checking out all the preferences panes
      2. 2.2. Controlling the Organizing Environment (Windows)
        1. 2.2.1. Understanding the Photoshop Elements Organizer
        2. 2.2.2. Navigating Organizer preferences
        3. 2.2.3. Setting preferences in all the panes
      3. 2.3. Organizing Photos on the Macintosh
      4. 2.4. Customizing Presets
      5. 2.5. Getting Familiar with Color
        1. 2.5.1. Introducing color channels
        2. 2.5.2. Understanding bit depth
        3. 2.5.3. Converting 8-bit images to 16-bit images
      6. 2.6. Getting Color Right
        1. 2.6.1. Calibrating your monitor
        2. 2.6.2. Choosing a color workspace
        3. 2.6.3. Understanding how profiles work
    3. 3. Working with Resolutions, Color Modes, and File Formats
      1. 3.1. The Ubiquitous Pixels
        1. 3.1.1. Understanding resolution
        2. 3.1.2. Understanding image dimensions
      2. 3.2. The Art of Resampling
        1. 3.2.1. Changing image size and resolution
        2. 3.2.2. Understanding the results of resampling
      3. 3.3. Choosing a Resolution for Print or Onscreen
      4. 3.4. Go Ahead — Make My Mode!
        1. 3.4.1. Converting to Bitmap mode
        2. 3.4.2. Converting to Grayscale mode
        3. 3.4.3. Converting to Indexed Color mode
      5. 3.5. Saving Files with Purpose
        1. 3.5.1. Using the Save/Save As dialog box
        2. 3.5.2. Saving files for the Web
        3. 3.5.3. Understanding file formats
          1. 3.5.3.1. Photoshop (*.PSD, *.PDD)
          2. 3.5.3.2. Alias PIX (Macintosh)
          3. 3.5.3.3. BMP (*.BMP, *.RLE, *.DIB)
          4. 3.5.3.4. CompuServe GIF (*.GIF)
          5. 3.5.3.5. Photo Project Format (*.PSE)
          6. 3.5.3.6. Photoshop EPS (*.EPS)
          7. 3.5.3.7. IFF (Macintosh)
          8. 3.5.3.8. JPEG (*.JPG, *.JPEG, *.JPE)
          9. 3.5.3.9. PCX (*.PCX)
          10. 3.5.3.10. Photoshop PDF (*.PDF, *.PDP)
          11. 3.5.3.11. Photoshop Raw (*.RAW)
          12. 3.5.3.12. PICT File (*.PCT, *.PICT)
          13. 3.5.3.13. PICT Resource (Macintosh)
          14. 3.5.3.14. Pixar (*.PXR)
          15. 3.5.3.15. PNG (*.PNG)
          16. 3.5.3.16. Scitex CT (*.SCT)
          17. 3.5.3.17. Targa (*.TGA, *.VDA, *.ICB, *.VST)
          18. 3.5.3.18. TIFF (*.TIF, *.TIFF)
        4. 3.5.4. File formats at a glance
        5. 3.5.5. Audio and video formats supported in Elements
  7. II. Getting Organized
    1. 4. Getting Your Images
      1. 4.1. Grabbing Images from Your Camera
        1. 4.1.1. Choosing a file format
        2. 4.1.2. Using the AutoPlay Wizard
        3. 4.1.3. Using Adobe Photoshop Elements 8.0 – Photo Downloader
        4. 4.1.4. Getting Photos in Adobe Bridge (Macintosh)
        5. 4.1.5. Resizing images from digital cameras
      2. 4.2. Using a Scanner
        1. 4.2.1. Preparing before you scan
        2. 4.2.2. Understanding image requirements
        3. 4.2.3. Using scanner plug-ins
        4. 4.2.4. Scanning many photos at a time
      3. 4.3. Getting Files from Storage Media
      4. 4.4. Using Online Services (Windows)
      5. 4.5. Phoning In Your Images
      6. 4.6. Creating Images from Scratch
        1. 4.6.1. Creating a new document
        2. 4.6.2. Finding file specs in the New dialog box
        3. 4.6.3. Adding pages to an existing project (Windows)
      7. 4.7. A Basic Primer on Camera Raw
        1. 4.7.1. Understanding Camera Raw
        2. 4.7.2. Acquiring Camera Raw images
    2. 5. Viewing and Finding Your Images
      1. 5.1. The Many Faces of the Organizer (Windows)
        1. 5.1.1. Adding files to the default Organizer view
        2. 5.1.2. Changing the Organizer display
          1. 5.1.2.1. Import Batch view
          2. 5.1.2.2. Folder Location view
          3. 5.1.2.3. Date view
          4. 5.1.2.4. Show Map
        3. 5.1.3. Viewing photos in a slide show (Full Screen view)
          1. 5.1.3.1. Taking a quick view of the slideshow
          2. 5.1.3.2. Getting fancy with self-running slide shows
          3. 5.1.3.3. Working with the panels and toolbar
      2. 5.2. Using Adobe Bridge (Macintosh)
      3. 5.3. Moving around the Image Window
        1. 5.3.1. Zooming in and out of images
          1. 5.3.1.1. Zoom by clicking
          2. 5.3.1.2. Zoom to a selection
          3. 5.3.1.3. Using the Options bar
        2. 5.3.2. Viewing multiple documents
        3. 5.3.3. Using pan and zoom
        4. 5.3.4. Using the Navigator panel
      4. 5.4. Sorting Your Photos (Windows)
        1. 5.4.1. Using sort commands
        2. 5.4.2. Sorting media types
      5. 5.5. Using Search Options
        1. 5.5.1. Searching by date
        2. 5.5.2. Searching for untagged items
        3. 5.5.3. Searching collections
        4. 5.5.4. Searching captions and notes
        5. 5.5.5. Searching by history
        6. 5.5.6. Searching metadata
        7. 5.5.7. Searching faces
    3. 6. Organizing and Managing Your Photos
      1. 6.1. Organizing Groups of Images with Keyword Tags
        1. 6.1.1. Creating and viewing a new keyword tag
        2. 6.1.2. Working with keyword tags
        3. 6.1.3. Getting your head in the clouds
      2. 6.2. Cataloging Files
        1. 6.2.1. Importing photos to a new catalog
        2. 6.2.2. Splitting a big catalog into smaller catalogs
        3. 6.2.3. Switching to a different catalog
        4. 6.2.4. Backing up your catalog
        5. 6.2.5. Backing up photos and files
      3. 6.3. Creating Albums
        1. 6.3.1. Rating images
        2. 6.3.2. Adding rated files to an album
          1. 6.3.2.1. Creating an album
          2. 6.3.2.2. Creating a Smart Album
          3. 6.3.2.3. Creating an Album Category
      4. 6.4. Hiding Files That Get in the Way
        1. 6.4.1. Stacking 'em up
        2. 6.4.2. Creating versions
      5. 6.5. Sticking Digital Notes on Your Photos
      6. 6.6. Automating Your Organization
        1. 6.6.1. Automating common tasks when you export
        2. 6.6.2. Renaming files
  8. III. Selecting and Correcting Photos
    1. 7. Making and Modifying Selections
      1. 7.1. Defining Selections
      2. 7.2. Creating Rectangular and Elliptical Selections
        1. 7.2.1. Perfecting squares and circles with Shift and Alt or Option
        2. 7.2.2. Applying marquee options
      3. 7.3. Making Freeform Selections with the Lasso Tools
        1. 7.3.1. Selecting with the Lasso tool
        2. 7.3.2. Getting straight with the Polygonal Lasso tool
        3. 7.3.3. Snapping with the Magnetic Lasso tool
      4. 7.4. Working Wizardry with the Magic Wand
        1. 7.4.1. Talking about tolerance
        2. 7.4.2. Wielding the wand to select
      5. 7.5. Modifying Your Selections
        1. 7.5.1. Adding to a selection
        2. 7.5.2. Subtracting from a selection
        3. 7.5.3. Intersecting two selections
        4. 7.5.4. Avoiding key collisions
      6. 7.6. Painting with the Selection Brush
      7. 7.7. Painting with the Quick Selection Tool
      8. 7.8. Resizing Smartly with the Recompose Tool
      9. 7.9. Working with the Cookie Cutter Tool
      10. 7.10. Eliminating with the Eraser Tools
        1. 7.10.1. The Eraser tool
        2. 7.10.2. The Background Eraser tool
        3. 7.10.3. The Magic Eraser tool
      11. 7.11. Using the Magic Extractor Command
      12. 7.12. Using the Select Menu
        1. 7.12.1. Selecting all or nothing
        2. 7.12.2. Reselecting a selection
        3. 7.12.3. Inversing a selection
        4. 7.12.4. Feathering a selection
        5. 7.12.5. Refining the edges of a selection
        6. 7.12.6. Using the Modify commands
        7. 7.12.7. Applying the Grow and Similar commands
        8. 7.12.8. Saving and loading selections
    2. 8. Working with Layers
      1. 8.1. Getting to Know Layers
        1. 8.1.1. Anatomy of a Layers panel
        2. 8.1.2. Using the Layer and Select menus
          1. 8.1.2.1. The Layers menu
          2. 8.1.2.2. The Select menu
      2. 8.2. Working with Different Layer Types
        1. 8.2.1. Image layers
        2. 8.2.2. Adjustment layers
        3. 8.2.3. Fill layers
        4. 8.2.4. Shape layers
        5. 8.2.5. Type layers
      3. 8.3. Tackling Layer Basics
        1. 8.3.1. Creating a new layer from scratch
        2. 8.3.2. Using Layer via Copy and Layer via Cut
        3. 8.3.3. Duplicating layers
        4. 8.3.4. Dragging and dropping layers
        5. 8.3.5. Using the Paste into Selection command
      4. 8.4. Moving a Layer's Content
      5. 8.5. Transforming Layers
      6. 8.6. Flattening and Merging Layers
        1. 8.6.1. Flattening layers
        2. 8.6.2. Merging layers
    3. 9. Simple Image Makeovers
      1. 9.1. Cropping and Straightening Images
        1. 9.1.1. Cutting away with the Crop tool
        2. 9.1.2. Cropping with a selection border
        3. 9.1.3. Straightening images
          1. 9.1.3.1. Using the Straighten tool
          2. 9.1.3.2. Using the Straighten menu commands
      2. 9.2. Employing One-Step Auto Fixes
        1. 9.2.1. Auto Smart Fix
        2. 9.2.2. Auto Levels
        3. 9.2.3. Auto Contrast
        4. 9.2.4. Auto Color Correction
        5. 9.2.5. Auto Sharpen
        6. 9.2.6. Auto Red Eye Fix
      3. 9.3. Editing with Edit Quick
      4. 9.4. Cloning with the Clone Stamp Tool
      5. 9.5. Retouching with the Healing Brush
      6. 9.6. Zeroing In with the Spot Healing Brush
      7. 9.7. Lightening and Darkening with Dodge and Burn Tools
      8. 9.8. Smudging Away Rough Spots
      9. 9.9. Softening with the Blur Tool
      10. 9.10. Focusing with the Sharpen Tool
      11. 9.11. Sponging Color On and Off
      12. 9.12. Replacing One Color with Another
    4. 10. Correcting Contrast, Color, and Clarity
      1. 10.1. Adjusting Lighting
        1. 10.1.1. Fixing lighting with Shadows/Highlights
        2. 10.1.2. Using Brightness/Contrast
        3. 10.1.3. Pinpointing proper contrast with Levels
      2. 10.2. Adjusting Color
        1. 10.2.1. Removing colorcasts automatically
        2. 10.2.2. Adjusting with Hue/Saturation
        3. 10.2.3. Eliminating color with Remove Color
        4. 10.2.4. Switching colors with Replace Color
        5. 10.2.5. Correcting with Color Curves
        6. 10.2.6. Adjusting skin tones
        7. 10.2.7. Defringing layers
        8. 10.2.8. Correcting with Color Variations
        9. 10.2.9. Adjusting color temperature with photo filters
        10. 10.2.10. Mapping your colors
          1. 10.2.10.1. Equalize
          2. 10.2.10.2. Gradient Map
          3. 10.2.10.3. Invert
          4. 10.2.10.4. Posterize
          5. 10.2.10.5. Threshold
      3. 10.3. Adjusting Clarity
        1. 10.3.1. Removing noise, artifacts, dust, and scratches
        2. 10.3.2. Blurring when you need to
        3. 10.3.3. Sharpening for better focus
      4. 10.4. Working Intelligently with the Smart Brush tools
  9. IV. Exploring Your Inner Artist
    1. 11. Playing with Filters, Effects, Styles, and More
      1. 11.1. Having Fun with Filters
        1. 11.1.1. Applying filters
        2. 11.1.2. Corrective or destructive filters
        3. 11.1.3. One-step or multistep filters
        4. 11.1.4. Fading a filter
        5. 11.1.5. Selectively applying a filter
      2. 11.2. Working in the Filter Gallery
      3. 11.3. Distorting with the Liquify Filter
      4. 11.4. Correcting Camera Distortion
      5. 11.5. Dressing Up with Photo and Text Effects
      6. 11.6. Adding Shadows, Glows, and More
        1. 11.6.1. Applying layer styles
        2. 11.6.2. Working with layer styles
      7. 11.7. Mixing It Up with Blend Modes
        1. 11.7.1. General blend modes
        2. 11.7.2. Darken blend modes
        3. 11.7.3. Lighten blend modes
        4. 11.7.4. Lighting blend modes
        5. 11.7.5. Inverter blend modes
        6. 11.7.6. HSL blend modes
      8. 11.8. Using Photomerge
        1. 11.8.1. Photomerge Panorama
        2. 11.8.2. Photomerge Group Shot
        3. 11.8.3. Photomerge Scene Cleaner
        4. 11.8.4. Photomerge Exposure
    2. 12. Drawing and Painting
      1. 12.1. Choosing Color
        1. 12.1.1. Working with the Color Picker
        2. 12.1.2. Dipping into the Color Swatches panel
        3. 12.1.3. Sampling with the Eyedropper tool
      2. 12.2. Getting Artsy with the Pencil and Brush Tools
        1. 12.2.1. Drawing with the Pencil tool
        2. 12.2.2. Painting with the Brush tool
        3. 12.2.3. Creating your own brush
        4. 12.2.4. Using the Impressionist Brush
      3. 12.3. Filling and Outlining Selections
        1. 12.3.1. Fill'er up
        2. 12.3.2. Outlining with the Stroke command
      4. 12.4. Splashing On Color with the Paint Bucket Tool
      5. 12.5. Working with Multicolored Gradients
        1. 12.5.1. Applying a preset gradient
        2. 12.5.2. Customizing gradients
      6. 12.6. Working with Patterns
        1. 12.6.1. Applying a preset pattern
        2. 12.6.2. Creating a new pattern
      7. 12.7. Creating Shapes of All Sorts
        1. 12.7.1. Drawing a shape
        2. 12.7.2. Drawing multiple shapes
        3. 12.7.3. Specifying Geometry options
          1. 12.7.3.1. Rectangle and Rounded Rectangle Geometry options
          2. 12.7.3.2. Ellipse Geometry options
          3. 12.7.3.3. Polygon Geometry options
          4. 12.7.3.4. Line Geometry options
          5. 12.7.3.5. Custom Shape Geometry options
        4. 12.7.4. Editing shapes
    3. 13. Working with Type
      1. 13.1. Understanding Type Basics
      2. 13.2. Creating Point Type
      3. 13.3. Creating Paragraph Type
      4. 13.4. Specifying Type Options
      5. 13.5. Editing Text
      6. 13.6. Simplifying Type
      7. 13.7. Masking with Type
      8. 13.8. Stylizing and Warping Type
        1. 13.8.1. Adjusting type opacity
        2. 13.8.2. Applying filters to your type
        3. 13.8.3. Painting your type with color and gradients
        4. 13.8.4. Warping your type
  10. V. Printing, Creating, and Sharing
    1. 14. Getting It on Paper
      1. 14.1. Getting Pictures Ready for Printing
      2. 14.2. Working with Color Printer Profiles
        1. 14.2.1. Printing a photo with the printer managing color
        2. 14.2.2. Printing a photo with Elements managing color
      3. 14.3. Setting Print Options
        1. 14.3.1. Printing from the Organizer (Windows)
          1. 14.3.1.1. Using Page Setup
          2. 14.3.1.2. Using More Options
        2. 14.3.2. Printing from Edit Full mode
      4. 14.4. Exploring Other Print Options
        1. 14.4.1. Printing contact sheets
        2. 14.4.2. Printing picture packages
      5. 14.5. Using Online Printing Services (Windows)
    2. 15. Showing It Onscreen
      1. 15.1. Getting Familiar with the Elements Sharing and Printing Options
      2. 15.2. Creating a Slide Show
        1. 15.2.1. Creating a project
        2. 15.2.2. Exporting to slides and video
      3. 15.3. Creating an Instant Video (Windows)
      4. 15.4. Writing Creations to CDs and DVDs
      5. 15.5. Creating an Online Photo Album (Windows)
      6. 15.6. Flip 'Em Over with Flipbooks (Windows)
    3. 16. Making Creations and Sharing
      1. 16.1. Grasping Creation-Assembly Basics
      2. 16.2. Creating a Photo Book
      3. 16.3. Greetings!
      4. 16.4. Creating CD and DVD Labels
      5. 16.5. Spreading the Love through Sharing
        1. 16.5.1. Creating a calendar online (Windows)
        2. 16.5.2. Ordering prints online
        3. 16.5.3. E-mailing creations
      6. 16.6. Showcasing Your Photos (Windows)
  11. VI. The Part of Tens
    1. 17. Ten Tips for Composing Better Photos
      1. 17.1. Find a Focal Point
      2. 17.2. Use the Rule of Thirds
      3. 17.3. Cut the Clutter
      4. 17.4. Frame Your Shot
      5. 17.5. Employ Contrast
      6. 17.6. Use Leading Lines
      7. 17.7. Experiment with Viewpoints
      8. 17.8. Use Light
      9. 17.9. Give Direction
      10. 17.10. Consider Direction of Movement
    2. 18. Ten More Project Ideas
      1. 18.1. Wallpaper and Screen Savers (Windows)
      2. 18.2. Flyers, Ads, and Online Auctions
      3. 18.3. Clothes, Hats, and More
      4. 18.4. Posters
      5. 18.5. Household and Business Inventories
      6. 18.6. Project Documentation
      7. 18.7. School Reports and Projects
      8. 18.8. Wait — There's More

Product information

  • Title: Photoshop® Elements 8 For Dummies®
  • Author(s): Barbara Obermeier, Ted Padova
  • Release date: October 2009
  • Publisher(s): For Dummies
  • ISBN: 9780470529676