PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS 4
CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 PART I GETTING STARTED 7 CHAPTER 1 GETTING TO KNOW THE WORK AREA 9 CHAPTER 2 GETTING READY TO EDIT 29 CHAPTER 3 WORKING WITH RESOLUTIONS COLOR MODES AND FILE FORMATS 43 PART II GETTING ORGANIZED 67 CHAPTER 4 GETTING YOUR IMAGES 69 CHAPTER 5 VIEWING AND FINDING YOUR IMAGES 93 CHAPTER 6 ORGANIZING AND MANAGING YOUR PHOTOS 111 PART III SELECTING AND CORRECTING PHOTOS 131 CHAPTER 7 MAKING AND MODIFYING SELECTIONS 133 CHAPTER 8 WORKING WITH LAYERS 161 CHAPTER 9 SIMPLE IMAGE MAKEOVERS 179 CHAPTER 10 CORRECTING CONTRAST COLOR AND CLARITY 205 PART IV EXPLORING YOUR INNER ARTIST 229 CHAPTER 11 PLAYING WITH FILTERS EFFECTS STYLES AND MORE 231 CHAPTER 12 DRAWING AND PAINTING 253 CHAPTER 13 WORKING WITH TYPE 279 PART V PRINTING CREATING SHARING 295 CHAPTER 14 GETTING IT ON PAPER 297 CHAPTER 15 SHOWING IT ON SCREEN 325 CHAPTER 16 MAKING CREATIONS 339 PART VI THE PART OF TENS 347 CHAPTER 17 TEN TIPS FOR COMPOSING BETTER PHOTOS 349 CHAPTER 18 TEN MORE PROJECT IDEAS 359 INTRODUCTION W HAT WAS ONCE A CONSUMER GRADE LOW LEVEL PROGRAM FOR BEGINNING IMAGE EDITORS AND A JUNIOR COUSIN TO THE POWERFUL ADOBE PHOTOSHOP PRO GRAM HAS EVOLVED AND MATURED TO STAND ON ITS OWN MERITS NOW IN VERSION 4 0 YOU WON T FIND MUCH COMPARISON BETWEEN ADOBE PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS AND ADOBE PHOTOSHOP IN THIS BOOK NOR WILL YOU SEE ANY SUGGESTIONS THAT YOU SHOULD CONSIDER USING PHOTOSHOP FOR ONE THING OR ANOTHER WE DON T MAKE SUGGESTIONS SIMPLY BECAUSE PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS IS A POWERFUL TOOL THAT SATISFIES MANY NEEDS OF AMATEURS AND PROFESSIONALS ALIKE WHO SHOULD BUY ELEMENTS AND ULTIMATELY THIS BOOK THE RANGE OF PEOPLE WHO CAN BENEFIT FROM USING ELEMENTS IS WIDE AND INCLUDES A VAST AUDIENCE FROM BEGINNING IMAGE EDITORS TO INTERMEDIATE USERS TO MORE ADVANCED AMATEURS AND PROFESSIONALS ELEMENTS HAS SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE WE LL EVEN STICK OUR NECKS OUT A LITTLE AND SUGGEST THAT MANY PHOTOSHOP USERS CAN BENEFIT GREATLY BY ADDING ELEMENTS TO THEIR SOFTWARE TOOL CABINET WHY BECAUSE ELEMENTS OFFERS YOU SOME WONDERFUL CREATION TOOLS THAT PHOTOSHOP HASN T YET DREAMED OF SUPPORTING FOR EXAMPLE YOU CAN CREATE POSTCARDS GREETING CARDS CALENDARS AND PHOTO ALBUMS WITH JUST A FEW MOUSE CLICKS YOU CAN PLACE ORDERS WITH ONLINE SERVICE CENTERS THAT PROFESSIONALLY PRINT YOUR PHOTO CREATIONS ALL THESE OPPORTUNITIES ARE AVAILABLE IN ELEMENTS AND WE COVER THESE AND MANY MORE CREATION IDEAS IN CHAPTERS 15 AND 16 WE HAVE TO MAKE ONE EXCEPTION HERE AND SAY THAT ELEMENTS IS NOT FOR EVERYONE THE DOWN SIDE TO THE PROGRAM IS THAT VERSION 4 IS SUPPORTED ONLY ON WINDOWS ADOBE IS NO LONGER RELEASING A MACINTOSH VERSION SO THE POOR MAC USERS CAN T EXPLORE ALL THE POWER AVAILABLE IN THIS NEW RELEASE OUR SUGGESTION TO THE MAC USERS BUY A SECOND COMPUTER NONE OF THE MAC PROGRAMS GIVES YOU THE POWER THAT YOU FIND IN ELEMENTS WHEN IT COMES TO IMAGE EDITING AND PACK AGING CREATIONS TO SET YOUR FRAME OF MIND TO THINKING IN PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS TERMS DON T THINK OF ELEMENTS AS A SCALED DOWN VERSION OF ADOBE PHOTOSHOP THOSE DAYS ARE PAST IF YOU RE A DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHER AND YOU SHOOT YOUR PICTURES IN JPEG AND OR CAMERA RAW ELEMENTS HAS THE TOOLS FOR YOU TO OPEN EDIT AND MAS SAGE YOUR PICTURES INTO PROFESSIONAL IMAGES IF YOU WORRY ABOUT COLOR PROFILE EMBEDDING FORGET IT ELEMENTS CAN HANDLE THE TASK AS WE EXPLAIN IN CHAPTER 4 WHERE WE TALK ABOUT CAMERA RAW FORMAT AND CHAPTER 14 WHERE WE TALK ABOUT COLOR PROFILING AND PRINTING FOR THE PROFESSIONAL PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS HAS JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO CREATE FINAL IMAGES FOR COLOR PRINTING AND COMMERCIAL PRINTING 2 INTRODUCTION FOR THE BEGINNING AND INTERMEDIATE USERS YOU LL FIND SOME OF PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS QUICK FIX OPERATIONS A BREEZE TO USE TO HELP YOU ENHANCE YOUR IMAGES AS WE EXPLAIN IN CHAPTERS 9 AND 10 AND WHEN IT COMES TIME TO PRINT SOME HOMEMADE GREETING CARDS CALENDARS AND PHOTO ALBUMS ELEMENTS PROVIDES BEGINNERS INTERMEDIATE USERS AND PROFESSIONALS EASY TO FOLLOW STEPS TO PACKAGE YOUR CREATIONS AS WE COVER IN CHAPTERS 15 AND 16 ABOUT THIS BOOK ELEMENTS IS A FEATURE RICH PROGRAM AND THIS BOOK IS AN EFFORT TO PROVIDE A COMPREHENSIVE INTRODUCTION SO ALTHOUGH WE MAY SKIP OVER A FEW LITTLE THINGS ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT USING PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS FOR DESIGNING IMAGES FOR PRINT SHARING WEB HOSTING PACKAGING IN MANY DIFFERENT WAYS E MAILING AND MORE IS COVERED IN THE PAGES AHEAD IF YOU RE READY TO GO A BIT FURTHER WE ALSO INCLUDED BONUS CHAPTERS ON THIS BOOK S WEB SITE AT WWW DUMMIES COM GO ELEMENTS4 AS WE SAID PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS HAS SOMETHING FOR JUST ABOUT EVERYONE HENCE WE KNOW OUR AUDIENCE IS LARGE AND NOT EVERYONE WILL USE EVERY TOOL COMMAND OR METHOD DESCRIBED IN THIS BOOK THEREFORE WE ADDED A LOT OF CROSS REFERENCES IN THE TEXT IN CASE YOU WANT TO JUMP AROUND YOU CAN JUST ABOUT GO TO ANY CHAPTER AND START READING IF SOME CONCEPT IS DEPENDENT ON MORE EXPLANATION WE POINT YOU IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION TO GET SOME BACKGROUND WHEN IT S NECESSARY CONVENTIONS USED IN THIS BOOK THROUGHOUT THIS BOOK WE POINT YOU TO MENUS WHERE COMMANDS ARE ACCESSED A COUPLE THINGS TO REMEMBER ARE THE REFERENCES FOR WHERE TO GO WHEN WE DETAIL STEPS IN A PROCEDURE FOR ACCESSING A MENU COMMAND YOU MIGHT SEE SOME THING LIKE THIS CHOOSE FILE GET PHOTOS FROM FILES AND FOLDERS WHEN YOU SEE COMMANDS LIKE THIS WE RE ASKING YOU TO CLICK THE FILE MENU TO OPEN THE DROP DOWN MENU AND THEN CLICK THE MENU COMMAND LABELED GET PHOTOS TO OPEN A SUBMENU THEN IN THE SUBMENU SELECT THE COMMAND FROM FILES AND FOLDERS ANOTHER CONVENTION WE USE REFERS TO CONTEXT MENUS A CONTEXT MENU JUMPS UP AT YOUR CURSOR POSITION AND SHOWS YOU A MENU SIMILAR TO THE MENU YOU SELECT AT THE TOP OF THE ELEMENTS WORKSPACE TO OPEN A CONTEXT MENU JUST CLICK THE RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON OR AS WE LIKE TO SAY RIGHT CLICK THE OBJECT IN QUESTION FINALLY A THIRD ITEM TO REMEMBER RELATES TO USING KEYSTROKES ON YOUR KEYBOARD WHEN WE MENTION THAT SOME KEYS NEED TO BE PRESSED ON YOUR KEYBOARD THE TEXT LOOKS LIKE THIS ALT SHIFT CTRL S IN THIS CASE YOU HOLD DOWN THE ALT KEY SHIFT KEY AND CTRL KEY AND THEN PRESS THE S KEY THEN RELEASE THEM ALL TOGETHER HOW THIS BOOK IS ORGANIZED THIS BOOK IS DIVIDED INTO LOGICAL PARTS IN WHICH RELATED FEATURES ARE NESTED TOGETHER IN CHAPTERS WITHIN SIX DIFFERENT PARTS THE PARTS OF THE BOOK ARE AS FOLLOWS PART I GETTING STARTED IF YOU JUST BOUGHT A DIGITAL CAMERA AND YOU RE NEW TO IMAGE EDITING IN A PRO GRAM LIKE PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS YOU RE PROBABLY TEMPTED TO JUMP INTO FIXING AND EDITING YOUR PICTURES THE ESSENTIALS ARE USUALLY NOT THE MOST EXCITING PART ON ANY PROGRAM OR BOOK THAT S TRUE WITH THIS BOOK THE MORE MUNDANE ISSUES RELATED TO UNDERSTANDING SOME BASICS ARE ASSEMBLED TOGETHER IN THE FIRST THREE CHAPTERS ALTHOUGH NOT AS EXCITING AS MANY OTHER CHAPTERS THERE ARE SOME BITS OF INFORMATION THAT ARE CRITICAL TO UNDERSTAND BEFORE YOU START EDITING IMAGES BE SURE TO REVIEW THE FIRST THREE CHAPTERS BEFORE YOU DIVE INTO THE OTHER CHAPTERS IN PART I WE TALK ABOUT THE TOOLS MENUS COMMANDS PREFERENCES WORK SPACES AND SOME FEATURES TO HELP YOU MOVE AROUND EASILY IN THE PROGRAM THE MORE YOU PICK UP IN THE PRELIMINARY CHAPTERS THE EASIER YOU WILL ADAPT TO THE ELEMENTS WAY OF WORKING PART II GETTING ORGANIZED IN PART II WE TALK ABOUT GETTING PHOTOS IN ELEMENTS ORGANIZING YOUR FILES SEARCH ING FOR FILES GROUPING YOUR PHOTOS AND MUCH MORE INFORMATION RELATED TO THE PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS ORGANIZER THE ORGANIZER IS YOUR CENTRAL WORKPLACE AND KNOWING A LOT ABOUT USING THE ORGANIZER WINDOW HELPS YOU MOVE AROUND MUCH FASTER IN THE PROGRAM 3 INTRODUCTION