Photoshop Elements 8 All-in-One For Dummies

659 Pages·2009·35.51 MB·English

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Photoshop® Elements 8
ALL-IN-ONE
FOR
DUMmIES‰
by Barbara Obermeier and Ted Padova
Photoshop® Elements 8 All-in-One For Dummies®
Published by
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
111 River Street
Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774
www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published simultaneously in Canada
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or
by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permit-
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sion. Photoshop is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated. All other trademarks are the
property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor
mentioned in this book.
LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: THE PUBLISHER AND THE AUTHOR MAKE NO
REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2009938252
ISBN: 978-0-470-54302-3
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
About the Authors
Barbara Obermeier is the principal of Obermeier Design, a graphic design
studio in Ventura, California. She is the author of Photoshop CS4 All-in-One
For Dummies (Wiley) and has contributed as author or coauthor to over two
dozen books on Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Illustrator, PowerPoint,
and digital photography. She is currently a senior faculty member in the
Graphic Design Department at Brooks Institute.
Ted Padova is the former chief executive officer and managing partner of
The Image Source Digital Imaging and Photo Finishing Centers of Ventura
and Thousand Oaks, California. He has been involved in digital imaging since
founding a service bureau in 1990. He retired from his company in 2005 and
now spends his time writing and speaking on digital imaging, Acrobat, PDF
forms, and LiveCycle Designer forms.
For more than 17 years, Ted taught university and higher education classes
in graphic design applications and digital prepress at the University of
California, Santa Barbara, and the University of California at Los Angeles. He
has been, and continues to be, a conference speaker nationally and interna-
tionally at PDF conferences.
Currently he lives in the Philippines where he serves as President/CEO of his
company ApoVisions, Inc. — a company working with third-world nations on
developing electronic document workflows and forms routing.
Ted has written more than 30 computer books and is the world’s lead-
ing author on Adobe Acrobat. He has written books on Adobe Acrobat,
Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Photoshop Elements, Adobe Reader, Microsoft
PowerPoint, and Adobe Illustrator. Recent books published by Wiley include
Adobe Acrobat PDF Bible (versions 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9), Acrobat and LiveCycle
Designer Forms Bible, Adobe Creative Suite Bible (versions CS, CS2, CS3, and
CS4), Color Correction for Digital Photographers Only, Color Correction for
Digital Photographers For Dummies, Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 Just the Steps
For Dummies, Creating Adobe Acrobat PDF Forms, Teach Yourself Visually
Acrobat 5, and Adobe Acrobat 6.0 Complete Course. He also coauthored Adobe
Illustrator Master Class — Illustrator Illuminated and wrote Adobe Reader
Revealed for Peachpit/Adobe Press.

Dedication
Barbara Obermeier: For Gary, Kylie, and Lucky, who constantly remind me
of what’s really important in life.
Ted Padova: For Arnie
Authors’ Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank our awesome project editor, Kim Darosett,
who kept us and this book on track; Bob Woerner, our most excellent
Executive Editor; Andy Cummings, Dummies Royalty; Dennis Cohen, our
technical editing czar; Jennifer Riggs, our copy editor who made everything
we wrote sound better; and all the dedicated production staff at Wiley.
Barbara Obermeier: A special thanks to Ted Padova, my coauthor and
friend, who both celebrates and commiserates with me on the ups and downs
of being an author.
Ted Padova: Many thanks to my dear friend and colleague Barbara Obermeier
for asking me to join her on this project . . . and a little hand-holding along the
way to help me get through it.
Contents
Publisher’s Acknowledgments
We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments at http://dummies.custhelp.com.
About the Authors iii
For other comments, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974,
outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax [phone].
Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:
Acquisitions and Editorial Composition Services
Dedication v
Project Editor: Kim Darosett Project Coordinator: Katherine Crocker
Executive Editor: Bob Woerner Layout and Graphics: Joyce Haughey,
Ronald Terry, Christine Williams
Copy Editor: Jennifer Riggs
Authors’ Acknowledgments v Proofreaders: Laura Albert,
Technical Editor: Dennis Cohen
Melissa D. Buddendeck
Editorial Manager: Leah Cameron
Indexer: BIM Indexing & Proofreading Services
Editorial Assistant: Amanda Graham
Sr. Editorial Assistant: Cherie Case
Cartoons: Rich Tennant
(www.the5thwave.com)
Publishing and Editorial for Technology Dummies
Richard Swadley, Vice President and Executive Group Publisher
Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher
Mary Bednarek, Executive Acquisitions Director
Mary C. Corder, Editorial Director
Publishing for Consumer Dummies
Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher
Composition Services
Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services
Contents at a Glance
Introduction ................................................................ 1
Book I: Introducing Elements ........................................ 7
Chapter 1: Examining the Elements Environment .........................................................9
Chapter 2: Getting to Know the Tools ...........................................................................37
Chapter 3: Viewing and Navigating Images ..................................................................53
Chapter 4: Setting Your Preferences .............................................................................67
Book II: Elements Fundamentals ................................. 85
Chapter 1: Acquiring, Saving, and Exporting Images ..................................................87
Chapter 2: Working in the Organizer ...........................................................................111
Chapter 3: Working in Adobe Bridge ...........................................................................151
Book III: Image Essentials ........................................ 171
Chapter 1: Specifying Resolution and Changing Image Sizing .................................173
Chapter 2: Choosing Color Modes and File Formats .................................................185
Chapter 3: Working with Camera Raw ........................................................................207
Chapter 4: Using and Managing Color .........................................................................219
Chapter 5: Time Travel — Undoing in Elements........................................................233
Book IV: Selections .................................................. 239
Chapter 1: Making Selections .......................................................................................241
Chapter 2: Modifying and Transforming Selections ..................................................263
Book V: Painting, Drawing, and Typing ..................... 281
Chapter 1: Painting and Drawing with Elements .......................................................283
Chapter 2: Filling and Stroking .....................................................................................303
Chapter 3: Working with Type .....................................................................................321
Book VI: Working with Layers and Masks .................. 341
Chapter 1: Creating Layers ...........................................................................................343
Chapter 2: Managing Layers .........................................................................................369
Chapter 3: Playing with Opacity and Blend Modes ...................................................385
Chapter 4: Cutting, Extracting, and Masking ..............................................................397
Book VII: Filters, Effects, Styles, and Distortions........ 411
Chapter 1: Making Corrections and Having Fun with Filters ...................................413
Chapter 2: Distorting with the Liquify Command ......................................................433
Chapter 3: Adding Pizzazz with Styles and Effects ....................................................441
Book VIII: Retouching and Enhancing ....................... 451
Chapter 1: Quick Image Makeovers .............................................................................453
Chapter 2: Correcting Lighting, Color, and Clarity ....................................................491
Chapter 3: Compositing with Photomerge .................................................................523
Chapter 4: Getting Help in Guided Mode ....................................................................537
Book IX: Creating and Sharing with Elements ............ 551
Chapter 1: Creating Elements Projects .......................................................................553
Chapter 2: Getting It Printed ........................................................................................569
Chapter 3: Getting It on the Web .................................................................................591
Chapter 4: Sharing Projects with Others ....................................................................603
Index ...................................................................... 611