Photoshop Elements 8 for Windows: The Missing Manual

Getting Started in a Hurry

If you're the impatient type and you're starting to squirm because you want to be up and doing something to your photos, here's the quickest way to get started in Elements: Adjust an image's brightness and color balance all in one step.

1. In the Editor, open a photo.

   Press Ctrl+O and navigate to the image you want, and then click Open.

2. Press Alt+Ctrl+M.

   You've just applied Elements' Auto Smart Fix tool (Figure 1-17).

Voilà! You should see quite a difference in your photo, unless the exposure, lighting, and contrast were almost perfect before. The Auto Smart Fix tool is one of Elements' many easy-to-use features. (Of course, if you don't like what just happened to your photo, no problem—simply press Ctrl+Z to undo it.)

If you're really raring to go, jump ahead to Chapter 4 to learn about using the Quick Fix commands. But it's worth taking the time to read the next two chapters so you understand which file formats to choose and how to make some basic adjustments to your images, like rotating and cropping them.

Don't forget to give Guided Edit a try if you see what you want to do in the list of topics. Guided Edit can be a big help while you're learning your way around.

Figure 1-17. Auto Smart Fix is the easiest, quickest way to improve the quality of your photos. Top left: The original, unedited picture. Top right: Auto Smart Fix makes quite a difference, but the colors ...