Photoshop Elements 5 For Dummies by Barbara Obermeier, Ted Padova

Introduction     1
About This Book     2
Conventions Used in This Book     2
How This Book Is Organized     3
Getting Started     3
Getting Organized     4
Selecting and Correcting Photos     4
Exploring Your Inner Artist     4
Printing, Creating, and Sharing     4
The Part of Tens     5
Icons Used in This Book     5
Where to Go from Here     6
Getting Started     7
Getting to Know the Work Area     9
Getting Around in Full Edit Mode     10
Jumping to Full Edit mode     10
Examining the Image window     10
Moving through the menu bar     14
Uncovering the context menus     15
Using the Tools palette     16
Playing with palettes     17
Selecting tool options from the Options bar     17
Juggling all your interface options     17
Looking at the Shortcuts bar     18
Changing Workspaces     19
Using Quick Fix mode     19
Using Creation Wizards     21
Using the Photo Bin     22
Creating different views of an image     22
Hiding the Photo Bin     23
Retracing Your Steps     23
Using the Undo History palette     23
Reverting to the last save     24
Getting a Helping Hand     25
Using Help     25
Using PDFs from the installation CD     26
Using Tool Tips     26
Using the How To palette     26
Taking Charge with Shortcuts     27
Getting Ready to Edit     29
Controlling the Editing Environment     29
Launching and navigating Preferences     30
Checking out all the Preferences panes     31
Controlling the Organizing Environment (Windows only)     32
Understanding the Photoshop Elements Organizer     33
Navigating Organize & Share preferences     33
Setting preferences in all the panes     34
Customizing Presets     35
Getting Familiar with Color     36
Introducing color channels     36
Understanding bit depth     37
Getting Color Right     39
Calibrating your monitor     39
Choosing a color workspace     40
Understanding how profiles work     41
Working with Resolutions Color Modes, and File Formats     43
The Ubiquitous Pixels     44
Understanding resolution     44
Understanding image dimensions     46
The Art of Resampling     46
Changing image size and resolution     46
Understanding the results of resampling     49
Choosing a Resolution for Print or On-Screen     50
Go Ahead - Make My Mode!     50
Converting to bitmap mode     51
Converting to grayscale mode     53
Converting to indexed color mode     56
Saving Files with Purpose     57
Using the Save/Save As dialog box     57
Saving files for the Web     58
Understanding file formats     58
File formats at a glance     64
Audio and video formats supported in Elements     66
Getting Organized     67
Getting Your Images     69
Digital Cameras versus Scanners and Film Cameras     70
Grabbing Images from Your Camera     71
Choosing a file format     71
Using the Microsoft Scanner and Camera Wizard (Windows)     72
Using Adobe Photo Download Manager     73
Resizing images from digital cameras     76
Using a Scanner     76
Preparing before you scan     76
Understanding image requirements     77
Using scanner plug-ins     78
Scanning many photos at a time     79
Getting Files from Storage Media     80
Using Online Services     81
Phoning In Your Images     81
Creating Images from Scratch     82
Everything You Want to Know about Camera Raw     85
Understanding Camera Raw     85
Acquiring Camera Raw images     86
Viewing and Finding Your Images     93
The Many Faces of the Organizer     93
Adding files to the default Organizer view     94
Viewing photos in a slideshow (Full Screen view)     95
Moving Around the Image Window     100
Zooming in and out of images     100
Viewing multiple documents     103
Using Pan and Zoom     104
Using the Navigator palette     105
Sorting Your Photos     105
Using sort commands     106
Sorting media types     106
Using Search Options     107
Searching by date     107
Searching for untagged items     108
Searching collections      108
Searching captions and notes     108
Searching by history     109
Searching metadata     109
Searching faces     110
Organizing and Managing Your Photos     111
Organizing Groups of Images with Collections     112
Creating a new collection     112
Working with collections     113
Cataloging Files     114
Splitting a big catalog into smaller catalogs     115
Importing photos to a new catalog     116
Switching to a different catalog     116
Tag - You're It!     116
Creating new tags     118
Creating new categories     119
Creating new subcategories     120
Assigning and managing tags     121
Hiding Files That Get in the Way     122
Stack 'em up     122
Creating versions     124
Sticking Digital Notes on Your Photos     125
Automating Your Organization     125
Automating common tasks when you export     125
Renaming files     129
Protecting Your Photos     129
Selecting and Correcting Photos     131
Making and Modifying Selections      133
Defining Selections     133
Creating Rectangular and Elliptical Selections     134
Perfecting squares and circles with Shift and Alt (Option)     135
Applying marquee options     136
Making Freeform Selections with the Lasso Tools     138
Selecting with the Lasso tool     138
Getting straight with the Polygonal Lasso tool     140
Snapping with the Magnetic Lasso tool     141
Working Wizardry with the Magic Wand     143
Talking about tolerance     143
Wielding the wand to select     144
Modifying Your Selections     145
Adding to a selection     145
Subtracting from a selection     146
Intersecting two selections     146
Avoiding key collisions     146
Painting with the Selection Brush     146
Painting with the Magic Selection Brush     149
Working with the Cookie Cutter Tool     151
Eliminating with the Eraser Tools     152
The Eraser tool     153
The Background Eraser tool     153
The Magic Eraser tool     154
Using the Magic Extractor Command     155
Using the Select Menu     157
Selecting all or nothing     157
Reselecting a selection     158
Inversing a selection     158
Feathering a selection     158
Using the Modify commands     159
Applying the Grow and Similar commands     159
Saving and loading selections     160
Working with Layers     161
Getting to Know Layers     161
Anatomy of a Layers palette     163
Using the Layer and Select menus     166
Working with Different Layer Types     167
Image layers     168
Adjustment layers     168
Fill layers     170
Shape layers     172
Type layers     173
Tackling Layer Basics     173
Creating a new layer from scratch     173
Using Layer via Copy and Layer via Cut     174
Duplicating layers     174
Dragging and dropping layers     175
Using the Paste into Selection command     176
Moving a Layer's Content     177
Transforming Layers     177
Flattening and Merging Layers     178
Merging layers     179
Flattening layers     179
Simple Image Makeovers      181
Cropping and Straightening Images     181
Cutting away with the Crop tool     181
Cropping with a selection border     183
Straightening images     183
Using the Divide Scanned Photos command     185
Employing One-Step Auto Fixes     186
Auto Smart Fix     186
Auto Levels     187
Auto Contrast     187
Auto Color Correction     188
Auto Sharpen     189
Auto Red Eye Fix     189
Editing with Quick Fix     191
Cloning with the Clone Stamp Tool     193
Retouching with the Healing Brush     195
Zeroing In with the Spot Healing Brush     197
Lightening and Darkening with Dodge and Burn Tools     199
Smudging Away Rough Spots     200
Softening with the Blur Tool     202
Focusing with the Sharpen Tool     203
Sponging Color On and Off     203
Replacing One Color with Another     205
Correcting Contrast, Color, and Clarity     207
Adjusting Lighting     208
Fixing lighting with Shadows/Highlights     208
Using Brightness/Contrast     209
Pinpointing proper contrast with Levels      210
Adjusting Color     212
Removing color casts automatically     213
Adjusting with Hue/Saturation     214
Eliminating color with Remove Color     216
Switching colors with Replace Color     216
Correcting with Color Curves     219
Adjusting skin tones     219
Defringing layers     222
Correcting with Color Variations     223
Adjusting color temperature with photo filters     225
Mapping your colors     227
Adjusting Clarity     228
Removing noise, artifacts, dust, and scratches     229
Blurring when you need to     230
Sharpening for better focus     232
Exploring Your Inner Artist     235
Playing with Filters, Effects, Styles, and More     237
Having Fun with Filters     237
Applying filters     238
Corrective or destructive filters     239
One-step or multistep filters     239
Giving a filter an encore     239
Fading a filter     240
Selectively applying a filter     240
Working in the Filter Gallery     241
Distorting with the Liquify Filter      243
Correcting Camera Distortion     246
Dressing Up with Photo and Text Effects     248
Adding Shadows, Glows, and More     250
Applying layer styles     250
Working with layer styles     252
Mixing It Up with Blend Modes     253
General blend modes     253
Darken blend modes     254
Lighten blend modes     254
Lighting blend modes     255
Inverter blend modes     257
HSL blend modes     257
Using Photomerge Panorama     258
Drawing and Painting     261
Choosing Color     261
Working with the Color Picker     262
Dipping into the Color Swatches palette     263
Sampling with the Eyedropper tool     264
Getting Artsy with the Pencil and Brush Tools     266
Drawing with the Pencil tool     266
Painting with the Brush tool     268
Creating your own brush     269
Using the Impressionist Brush     270
Filling and Outlining Selections     271
Fill 'er up     272
Outlining with the Stroke command     273
Splashing On Color with the Paint Bucket Tool      274
Working with Multicolored Gradients     274
Applying a preset gradient     275
Customizing gradients     276
Working with Patterns     279
Applying a preset pattern     279
Creating a new pattern     279
Creating Shapes of All Sorts     280
Drawing a shape     281
Drawing multiple shapes     282
Specifying geometry options     282
Editing shapes     284
Working with Type     285
Understanding Type Basics     285
Creating Point Type     287
Creating Paragraph Type     288
Specifying Type Options     289
Editing Text     293
Simplifying Type     293
Masking with Type     294
Stylizing and Warping Type     297
Adjusting type opacity     297
Applying filters to your type     297
Painting your type with color and gradients     298
Warping your type     299
Printing, Creating, and Sharing     301
Getting It on Paper     303
Getting Pictures Ready for Printing     304
Working with Color Printer Profiles     304
Understanding how Elements uses color profiles     305
Converting color to a printer profile     305
Printing to Epson Inkjet Printers     310
Automatic profile selection for Epson printers     311
Selecting a printer profile     315
Printing with a custom profile     317
Printing to HP Inkjet Printers     318
Printing to HP printers in Windows     319
Printing to HP printers on the Macintosh     319
Printing to Canon Printers     320
Printing to Canon printers in Windows     320
Printing to Canon printers on the Mac     322
Submitting Files to Service Centers     322
Using Online Printing Services     324
Exploring Other Print Options     326
Showing It On-Screen     327
Getting Familiar with the Elements Sharing and Printing Options     327
Creating a Slide Show     328
Creating a project     329
Exporting to slides and video     332
Opening multipage PDF files in Elements     333
Writing Creations to CDs and DVDs     334
Creating a Flash Gallery     336
Flip 'Em Over with Flipbooks     339
Making Creations and Sharing      341
Getting a Grip on Assembling Creations     341
Creating the Family Photo Album     343
Greetings!     344
Calendars     346
Creating Personal Postage Stamps     347
Creating CD and DVD Labels     348
Spreading the Love Through Sharing     348
Ordering prints online     348
E-mailing creations     349
The Part of Tens     351
Ten Tips for Composing Better Photos     353
Find a Focal Point     353
Use the Rule of Thirds     355
Cut the Clutter     355
Frame Your Shot     357
Employ Contrast     357
Using Leading Lines     358
Experiment with Viewpoints     358
Use Light     359
Giving Direction     361
Consider Direction of Movement     362
Ten More Project Ideas     363
Wallpaper and Screen Savers     363
Flyers, Ads, and Online Auctions     364
Clothes, Hats, and More     366
Posters     366
Household and Business Inventories     367
Project Documentation     367
School Reports and Projects      368
Wait - There's More     368
Index     369