Easy Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 (Easy Series)

by Kate Binder

Overview

Easy Adobe Photoshop Elements 7

 

See it done. do it yourself. It’s that easy! Easy Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 teaches you the fundamentals of working with the incredibly powerful, yet simple-to-use image editing software Adobe Photoshop Elements 7. Fully illustrated steps with simple instructions guide you through Photoshop Elements from start to finish. Learn how to get your photos from your camera to your computer and organize them with a few clicks. You’ll see how you can fix flaws, adjust lighting, sharpen details, and turn snapshots into works of art. And you’ll find out how Photoshop Elements can help you produce sophisticated online photo galleries, impressive hardbound photo books, and other projects that showcase your photos. No need to feel intimidated, we’ll hold your hand every step of the way.

 

Learn how to…

          •        Use Quick Fix mode to correct common image problems with just a couple of mouse clicks

          •        Use Full Edit mode to harness the power of Photoshop with ease

          •        Transfer digital photos from camera or scanner to computer and make gorgeous color prints

          •        Manage your photo collection in a snap with Organizer

          •        Create online albums that automatically update themselves when you add photos

          •        Fix the dreaded “red eye” instantly

          •        Create instant photo layouts for your scrapbooks and photo albums

 

Easy steps guide you through each task.

Items you select or click are shown in bold.

Each step is fully illustrated.

 

Category: Graphics

Covers: Adobe Photoshop Elements 7

User Level: Beginner

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780768687118
Publisher:	Pearson Education
Publication date:	12/10/2008
Series:	Easy
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
File size:	12 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Kate Binderhas mastered Photoshop and several other graphics programs over the past 20 years and is starting to feel quite old. She still enjoys tinkering with photos and does so at every opportunity. (It’s much more entertaining than doing actual work.) When she can be found working, Kate is most likely to be doing magazine or book production, creating ebooks for major publishers, or writing books like this one. Books Kate has written or cowritten include Sams Teach Yourself Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 in 24 Hours(Sams, 2008), The iMac Portable Genius(Wiley, 2008), Easy Mac OS X Leopard(Que, 2007), Sams Teach Yourself Adobe Photoshop CS4 in 24 Hours(Sams, 2008), Easy Adobe Photoshop Elements 4(Que, 2005). Kate lives in an old house in New Hampshire with her husband, journalist Don Fluckinger, and assorted children, greyhounds, cats, and (she’s pretty sure) a mouse under the dryer.

 

Kate’s Website is http://www.prospecthillpub.com.

Read an Excerpt

Easy Adobe® Photoshop® Elements 7Introduction

I love Photoshop Elements, I really do.

Now, that’s a statement that might surprise people who know me—in other words, people who know that I make a lot of my living working with “Big Photoshop” and its professional-level siblings in Adobe’s powerful Creative Suite. Nonetheless, Photoshop Elements has a special place in my heart. And I’m sure you’ll feel the same way by the time you’ve finished reading this book.

Look at it this way. You’ve got a digital camera (and probably a scanner, too). You’ve got this desktop PC that’s hundreds—no, thousands—of times more powerful than the computers of just a few decades ago. Maybe you even have a cell phone that can take photos. How about your PDA? I bet it can do the same.

You’ve got all the gadgets. But let’s face it; one thing you don’t have is a lot of time.

And if you did find some time, you’d pick up a real book by Elizabeth Peters or Tom Clancy, kick back, and enjoy yourself.

Who wants to read about computers?

Not me, that’s for sure. I’m a lot like you. I love my digital camera. I look forward to sharing my pictures, but I don’t want to spend hours “playing” with them. I spend enough time sitting at a computer when I’m working—when it comes to my family photos, vacation snapshots, and eBay listing photos, I just want to get them looking good as quickly as possible so that I can get on with my life.

And that’s exactly where Photoshop Elements fits into my plans. Now, I’m a huge fan of BigPhotoshop’s power and breadth of features. It’s just that, as mentioned earlier, I don’t feel like getting out the big guns after hours. But I’m used to the power of Photoshop—after all, it’s the industry standard image editor, and there’s just not much it can’t do. Given that, is it really possible for Photoshop Elements to keep me happy?

The answer, it turns out, is emphatically yes. With Photoshop Elements, you get maximum results with minimum effort. And version 7 offers more of the same, only better, with three different edit modes, including Guided Edit, which actually teaches you how to use Photoshop Elements right in the program. Photoshop Elements 7 also includes the following:

• A Smart Brush tool that enables you to paint in special effects on separate layers so that you can edit them later
• A Detail Smart Brush that’s especially designed for working in small areas without slopping outside the lines
• An enhanced Organizer where you can create photo albums that automatically update your Web galleries when you import appropriate photos and that can back themselves up, too
• The new Photoshop.com Web service, a free way to share your photos online, access and edit your photos from any Web browser, and back up your photos instantly, so that you never risk losing a single pixel

In addition, a pack of built-in wizards do all the heavy lifting involved in creating everything from photo album pages and greeting cards to wall calendars and Web galleries.

So, here’s hoping that you love Photoshop Elements as much as I do—and that this book enables you to use the program to create images you’ll love even more.

May you enjoy this book, thrill as I did at the tricks you can do with Photoshop Elements, and not spend a minute more than you need to with either of them.

© Copyright Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1 Learning the Ropes

The Photoshop Elements Work Area

Starting Photoshop Elements

Opening a Photo File

Cataloging Your Photos in Organizer

Starting with a Blank Canvas

Changing Your View

Choosing Tools from the Toolbox

Setting Tool Options

Using Contextual Menus

Switching Edit Modes

Using Palettes

Storing Palettes

Setting Your Own Preferences

Saving Your Work

Chapter 2 Getting It All Together

The Ins and Outs of Digital Photography

Moving Images from Camera to Computer

Scanning Images

Grabbing a Video Frame

Opening a Picture from the Clipboard

Resizing and Printing an Image

Adding a White Border to Your Prints

Printing Contact Sheets

Printing a Picture Package

Chapter 3 Basic Photo Fixing

Applying Quick and Easy Fixes

Making General Quick Fixes

Undoing Your Mistakes

Making Lighting Quick Fixes

Making Color Quick Fixes

Applying Quick Fix Touch-Ups

Making Sharpening Quick Fixes

Cropping a Picture

Straightening a Crooked Picture

Rotating an Image on Opening

Rotating an Image for Artistic Effect

Resizing and Resampling an Image

Removing a Scratch from an Image

Removing Red Eye Manually

Chapter 4 Advanced Photo Fixing

Focusing on the Details

Using Guided Edit

Selecting Part of an Image

Making Selections Magically

Selecting Areas Based on Color

Refining a Selection

Brightening Up Shadowed Areas

Correcting a Color Cast

Adjusting Skin Tones

Exploring Color Variations

Replacing a Specific Color

Adjusting Brightness and Contrast

Changing a Color Photo to Black and White

Removing Objects from an Image

Removing Unwanted Objects Automatically

Combining the Best from Multiple Photos

Sharpening a Blurry Photo

Making Edges Softer

Chapter 5 Adding Titles and Text

Say It with Pictures and Words

Adding and Printing Photo Captions

Overlaying Type on an Image

Adding Paragraph Type

Selecting and Editing Type

Changing Fonts and Type Properties

Adding a Talk Bubble

Applying a Type Effect

Adding a Drop Shadow to Type

Chapter 6 Using Layers to Combine Photos and Artwork

A Ten-Layered Image

Painting on a New Layer

Copying an Object to a New Layer

Repositioning a Layer

Controlling Layers

Creating a Fill Layer and Adjusting Layer Opacity

Flipping or Rotating a Layer

Adding an Adjustment Layer

Changing Layer Blending Modes

Copying and Pasting a Layer Style

Chapter 7 Creating Snazzy Effects

How Did You Do That?

Adding a Decorative Border

Creating a Gradient Fill

Adding a Vignette to a Portrait

Creating a High-Contrast Black-and-White Picture

Fading Out Color

Coloring a Single Object

Deleting the Background

Making a Photo Look Like an Oil Painting

Posterizing a Picture

Making a Photo Look Like a Sketch

Applying the Pointillize Filter

Trimming a Photo into a Custom Shape

Applying Effects with the Smart Brush

Touching Up with the Detail Smart Brush

Chapter 8 Painting and Drawing

Look What I Made!

Creating a Shape

Adding a Bevel to a Shape

Filling a Shape with Color

Choosing a Color from the Image

Using the Color Swatches Palette

Painting and Drawing with a Brush and Pencil

Controlling How Brushes Behave

Painting with the Pattern Stamp

Erasing Part of the Image

Smudging the “Paint”

Chapter 9 Flattering Your Subjects

What a Difference a Pixel Makes

Softening Wrinkles

Removing Blemishes

Changing Hair Color

Painting Problem Areas Away

Enhancing or Toning Down a Color

Trimming Contours on the Face or Body

Chapter 10 Organizing and Presenting Your Photos

Thanks for the Memories

Creating an Album

Assigning Keywords to Photos

Finding Photos in Organizer

Tagging Pictures of People Automatically

Rating Your Pictures

Putting Pictures on the Map

Collecting Photos into Stacks

Creating a Smart Album

Managing Your Catalog on Photoshop.com

Adding Images via Photoshop.com

Working with Your Online Collection

Chapter 11 Publishing Your Images

Getting Them Out There

Fixing Multiple Images

Optimizing a Picture for the Web

Building Printable Album Pages

Making a Web Photo Gallery

Creating a Slide Show

Sharing an Existing Album Online

Ordering Prints

Creating a Photo Book

Chapter 12 Just for Fun

Branching Out

Placing Artwork in an Image

Making Mosaic Tiles

Creating Panoramic Views

Turning a Photo into a Rubber Stamp

Getting an Antique Look

Creating Pop Art

Glossary

Preface

Easy Adobe® Photoshop® Elements 7

Introduction

I love Photoshop Elements, I really do.

Now, that’s a statement that might surprise people who know me—in other words, people who know that I make a lot of my living working with “Big Photoshop” and its professional-level siblings in Adobe’s powerful Creative Suite. Nonetheless, Photoshop Elements has a special place in my heart. And I’m sure you’ll feel the same way by the time you’ve finished reading this book.

Look at it this way. You’ve got a digital camera (and probably a scanner, too). You’ve got this desktop PC that’s hundreds—no, thousands—of times more powerful than the computers of just a few decades ago. Maybe you even have a cell phone that can take photos. How about your PDA? I bet it can do the same.

You’ve got all the gadgets. But let’s face it; one thing you don’t have is a lot of time.

And if you did find some time, you’d pick up a real book by Elizabeth Peters or Tom Clancy, kick back, and enjoy yourself.

Who wants to read about computers?

Not me, that’s for sure. I’m a lot like you. I love my digital camera. I look forward to sharing my pictures, but I don’t want to spend hours “playing” with them. I spend enough time sitting at a computer when I’m working—when it comes to my family photos, vacation snapshots, and eBay listing photos, I just want to get them looking good as quickly as possible so that I can get on with my life.

And that’s exactly where Photoshop Elements fits into my plans. Now, I’m a huge fan of Big Photoshop’s power and breadth of features. It’s just that, as mentioned earlier, I don’t feel like getting out the big guns after hours. But I’m used to the power of Photoshop—after all, it’s the industry standard image editor, and there’s just not much it can’t do. Given that, is it really possible for Photoshop Elements to keep me happy?

The answer, it turns out, is emphatically yes. With Photoshop Elements, you get maximum results with minimum effort. And version 7 offers more of the same, only better, with three different edit modes, including Guided Edit, which actually teaches you how to use Photoshop Elements right in the program. Photoshop Elements 7 also includes the following:

• A Smart Brush tool that enables you to paint in special effects on separate layers so that you can edit them later
• A Detail Smart Brush that’s especially designed for working in small areas without slopping outside the lines
• An enhanced Organizer where you can create photo albums that automatically update your Web galleries when you import appropriate photos and that can back themselves up, too
• The new Photoshop.com Web service, a free way to share your photos online, access and edit your photos from any Web browser, and back up your photos instantly, so that you never risk losing a single pixel

In addition, a pack of built-in wizards do all the heavy lifting involved in creating everything from photo album pages and greeting cards to wall calendars and Web galleries.

So, here’s hoping that you love Photoshop Elements as much as I do—and that this book enables you to use the program to create images you’ll love even more.

May you enjoy this book, thrill as I did at the tricks you can do with Photoshop Elements, and not spend a minute more than you need to with either of them.

© Copyright Pearson Education. All rights reserved.