Photoshop Elements 13 for dummies

452 Pages·2014·45.238 MB·English

by  Obermeier, Barbara;Padova, Ted

Photoshop
®
Elements 13
by Barbara Obermeier
and Ted Padova
Photoshop® Elements 13 For Dummies®
Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada
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Manufactured in the United States of America
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Contents at a Glance
Introduction ................................................................ 1
Part I: Getting Started with Photoshop Elements 13 ....... 5
Chapter 1: Getting Started with Image Editing ..............................................................7
Chapter 2: Basic Image-Editing Concepts .....................................................................25
Chapter 3: Exploring the Photo Editor ..........................................................................55
Part II: Managing Media ............................................ 79
Chapter 4: Navigating the Organizer .............................................................................81
Chapter 5: Organizing Your Pictures.............................................................................99
Chapter 6: Viewing and Finding Your Images ............................................................121
Part III: Selecting and Correcting Photos ................... 139
Chapter 7: Making and Modifying Selections .............................................................141
Chapter 8: Working with Layers ..................................................................................171
Chapter 9: Simple Image Makeovers ...........................................................................193
Chapter 10: Correcting Contrast, Color, and Clarity .................................................227
Part IV: Exploring Your Inner Artist ........................... 259
Chapter 11: Playing with Filters, Effects, Styles, and More ......................................261
Chapter 12: Drawing and Painting ...............................................................................299
Chapter 13: Working with Type ...................................................................................325
Part V: Printing, Creating, and Sharing ..................... 345
Chapter 14: Getting It on Paper ...................................................................................347
Chapter 15: Sharing Your Work ...................................................................................363
Chapter 16: Making Creations ......................................................................................379
Part VI: The Part of Tens .......................................... 391
Chapter 17: Ten Tips for Composing Better Photos .................................................393
Chapter 18: Ten More Project Ideas ............................................................................399
Index ...................................................................... 405

Table of Contents
Introduction ................................................................. 1
About This Book ..............................................................................................1
Icons Used in This Book .................................................................................2
Beyond the Book .............................................................................................3
Where to Go from Here ...................................................................................3
Part I: Getting Started with Photoshop Elements 13 ........ 5
Chapter 1: Getting Started with Image Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Launching the Photo Editor ...........................................................................7
Making Basic Edits in Quick Mode ................................................................9
Sharing a Photo ..............................................................................................12
Creating Images from Scratch ......................................................................14
Retracing Your Steps ....................................................................................17
Using the History panel .......................................................................17
Reverting to the last save ...................................................................18
Getting a Helping Hand .................................................................................19
Saving Files with Purpose .............................................................................21
Using the Save/Save As dialog box ....................................................21
Saving files for the web .......................................................................23
Chapter 2: Basic Image-Editing Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25
Grappling with the Ubiquitous Pixels .........................................................26
Understanding resolution ...................................................................27
Understanding image dimensions .....................................................30
The Art of Resampling ..................................................................................30
Changing image size and resolution ..................................................31
Understanding the results of resampling .........................................33
Choosing a Resolution for Print or Onscreen ............................................34
Go Ahead — Make My Mode! .......................................................................35
Converting to Bitmap mode ...............................................................36
Converting to Grayscale mode ...........................................................38
Understanding File Formats .........................................................................42
File formats at a glance .......................................................................47
Audio and video formats supported in Elements ............................49
Getting Familiar with Color ..........................................................................49
Getting Color Right ........................................................................................51
Color the easy way ..............................................................................51
Calibrating your monitor ....................................................................51
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Photoshop Elements 13 For Dummies
Choosing a color workspace ..............................................................52
Understanding how profiles work .....................................................53
Chapter 3: Exploring the Photo Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55
Examining the Photo Editor .........................................................................55
Examining the image window .............................................................59
Uncovering the contextual menus .....................................................63
Selecting the tools ...............................................................................63
Selecting from the Tool Options ........................................................66
Playing with panels ..............................................................................66
Using the Photo Bin .......................................................................................69
Creating different views of an image .................................................69
Viewing filenames ................................................................................70
Using Photo Bin Actions .....................................................................70
Finding Your Bearings in Guided Mode ......................................................71
Controlling the Editing Environment ..........................................................73
Launching and navigating preferences .............................................74
Checking out all the preferences panes ............................................75
Customizing Presets ......................................................................................77
Part II: Managing Media ............................................. 79
Chapter 4: Navigating the Organizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81
Organizing Photos and Media on a Hard Drive .........................................82
Adding Images to the Organizer ..................................................................83
Adding files from folders and removable media ..............................83
Downloading camera images with the Elements Downloader .......85
Importing additional photos from folders ........................................87
Getting photos from iPhoto (Mac only) ............................................88
Navigating the Media Browser .....................................................................89
Using a Scanner ..............................................................................................90
Understanding image requirements ..................................................91
Using scanner plug-ins (Windows) ....................................................92
Scanning on the Mac ...........................................................................93
Scanning many photos at a time ........................................................94
Phoning in Your Images ................................................................................95
Setting Organizer Preferences .....................................................................97
Chapter 5: Organizing Your Pictures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .99
Touring the Organizer ...................................................................................99
Organizing Groups of Images with Tags ...................................................103
Creating and viewing a tag ................................................................103
Adding icons to tags ..........................................................................105
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Photoshop Elements 13 For Dummies Table of Contents
Working with custom tags ................................................................106
Working with default tags .................................................................108
Working with subcategories .............................................................109
Sorting photos according to tags.....................................................109
Rating Images with Stars ............................................................................110
Adding Images to an Album .......................................................................111
Creating an album ..............................................................................112
Using albums for temporary work ...................................................113
Editing an album ................................................................................114
Finding out more about sharing your albums ................................114
Adding People in the Media Browser ........................................................115
Placing Pictures on Maps ...........................................................................116
Working with Events ...................................................................................118
Chapter 6: Viewing and Finding Your Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .121
Cataloging Files ............................................................................................121
Using the Catalog Manager ...............................................................122
Working with catalogs .......................................................................123
Backing up your catalog....................................................................124
Backing up photos and files (Windows) .........................................126
Switching to a Different View .....................................................................126
Viewing Photos in a Slide Show .................................................................127
Searching for Photos ...................................................................................129
Using Search .......................................................................................130
Searching for untagged items ...........................................................130
Searching captions and notes ..........................................................130
Searching by history..........................................................................131
Searching metadata ...........................................................................131
Searching similarities ........................................................................133
Grouping Files That Get in the Way ..........................................................135
Marking files as hidden .....................................................................135
Stacking ’em up ..................................................................................135
Creating versions ...............................................................................137
Part III: Selecting and Correcting Photos .................... 139
Chapter 7: Making and Modifying Selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .141
Defining Selections ......................................................................................141
Creating Rectangular and Elliptical Selections ........................................142
Perfecting squares and circles with Shift and Alt
(Option on the Mac) ......................................................................143
Applying Marquee options ...............................................................144
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Photoshop Elements 13 For Dummies
Making Freeform Selections with the Lasso Tools ..................................146
Selecting with the Lasso tool............................................................147
Getting straight with the Polygonal Lasso tool ..............................148
Snapping with the Magnetic Lasso tool ..........................................149
Working Wizardry with the Magic Wand ..................................................152
Talking about Tolerance ...................................................................152
Wielding the Wand to select .............................................................153
Modifying Your Selections .........................................................................154
Adding to, subtracting from, and intersecting a selection ...........154
Avoiding key collisions .....................................................................155
Painting with the Selection Brush .............................................................156
Painting with the Quick Selection Tool .....................................................158
Fine-Tuning with the Refine Selection Brush ...........................................160
Working with the Cookie Cutter Tool .......................................................161
Eliminating with the Eraser Tools .............................................................163
The Eraser tool ...................................................................................163
The Background Eraser tool .............................................................164
The Magic Eraser tool .......................................................................165
Using the Select Menu .................................................................................165
Selecting all or nothing .....................................................................166
Reselecting a selection ......................................................................166
Inversing a selection ..........................................................................166
Feathering a selection .......................................................................166
Refining the edges of a selection .....................................................167
Using the Modify commands ............................................................169
Applying the Grow and Similar commands ....................................169
Saving and loading selections ..........................................................170
Chapter 8: Working with Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .171
Getting to Know Layers ..............................................................................171
Converting a background to a layer ................................................172
Anatomy of the Layers panel............................................................173
Using the Layer and Select menus ...................................................175
Working with Different Layer Types .........................................................177
Image layers ........................................................................................177
Adjustment layers ..............................................................................178
Fill layers .............................................................................................180
Shape layers .......................................................................................181
Type layers .........................................................................................182
Tackling Layer Basics .................................................................................182
Creating a new layer from scratch...................................................182
Using Layer via Copy and Layer via Cut .........................................184
Duplicating layers ..............................................................................184
Dragging and dropping layers ..........................................................184
Using the Paste into Selection command .......................................185