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 The Complete
Photoshop

Manual
Elements is a photo editor and organiser that gives you the
control to find, catalogue, edit and share your favourite
images effortlessly.

It is very likely that in this digital age, the number of photos you have on
your computer is vast. It is very easy to take photos and deposit them
on your computer and never look at them again. It is also likely that you
have photos that you really like but that might be underexposed, badly
lit; or could be improved if you were able to remove an annoying
background distraction. You may even want to cut your subject out, put
it into another scene entirely and create a new look for an image.

If you've ever wanted to do more with your photo collection but didn't
need the advanced power of Adobe Photoshop CC, then Elements is for
you. Now, thanks to Adobe Photoshop Elements, you have an easy and
affordable means to find all those elusive images, organise them and
manipulate your favourite ones to make them even better. It is easier
than ever to quickly and easily make your images look amazing with
just a few clicks of your mouse. From automated and guided edits to
hands-on expert modes, you can create exactly what you want. The
only thing holding you back is your imagination. Get started with
Photoshop Elements and let us show you how

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 CONTENTS
37 The Profile Browser
6 Starting with Photoshop Elements
38 Camera Raw Processing
8 What is Photoshop Elements?
43 Raw to Photo Editor
8 Make the Most of Modules
9 More Advanced Options
46 Getting Organised
10 The Elements Home Screen
48 The Organiser Workspace
10 Search Option
48 The File Menu
11 Explore the Guides
49 Ratings and Auto Curate
12 The Quick Mode Workspace
50 Setting Up Elements Organiser
12 Mode Selector
50 Catalogue Manager Custom Location
13 Create and Share
50 Importing
14 The Guided Mode Workspace
52 Tagging and Keywords
14 Category Selector
52 Add a Location
15 The Taskbar
54 Putting Names to Faces
16 The Expert Mode Workspace
54 Add Name
16 Tools Options Panel
55 Add Group
17 Panels
56 Tagging Photos with Location Data
18 The Export Mode Toolbar
56 Number of Groups
19 Key to Symbols
58 Adding Events Tags to Photos
20 The File Menu Layout
59 Name Event
21 Shortcuts
22 Guided Mode Categories
31 Try This

32 Using Adobe Camera Raw

34 The Camera Raw Interface
34 In the Raw
35 Control Tabs
36 The Histogram

4 7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z
 CONTENTS

86 Adjusting Colour Balance

60 The Elements Experience
90 Selection Tools
62 Open Closed Eyes
91 Refine Selection Brush
64 Partial Sketch
92 Cloning, Healing and Enhancing
66 Replace Background
92 Closed Eye Correction
68 Photomerge Panorama
93 Smart Brush
70 Meme Maker
94 Clone Stamp Tool
72 Multi-photo Text
95 Blur, Sharpen and Smudge
74 B&W Colour Pop
96 Sponge, Dodge and Burn
76 Zoom Burst Effect
98 Draw Fill Shapes and Text
98 Brush Tool
78 Your Guide to Image Editing
100 Eraser Tool
80 A Guide to Using Layers
101 Paint Bucket Tool
80 Create New Layer
103 Horizontal Type Tool
82 Methods for Adjusting an Image
104 Modify, Crop, Move and Recompose
82 Quick Mode
104 Crop Tool
84 Quick Mode Auto Modes
105 Recompose Tool
85 Guided Mode
106 Content-aware Move Tool
86 Using the Photo Editor Expert Mode
107 Straighten Tool

108 Take Your Skills Further

110 Sky Replacement
116 Frequency Separation
122 Composite Images
130 Dodging and Burning
136 How to Add Rain to a Photo
144 Glossary

www.pclpublications.com 5
 If you are new to Photoshop Elements, cataloguing your
photos and digitally manipulating them may seem like
a whole new world you have to conquer. Do not worry
though, we will guide you through the basics and get
you started on your way to becoming a skilled user of
the software. We hope to have you importing, tagging,
organising and editing your photos like a pro in no time
at all. With that in mind, let's begin the journey and get
you more familiar with how it all works.

6 7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z
 STARTING WITH PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS

Contents

7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z 7
 STARTING WITH PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS

What is Photoshop
Elements?
Let's take a moment to get to know a little more about the software
and how it can help you with your day to day image editing.

A
dobe Photoshop Elements is a
great option for those who want
an extensive toolset that can take
on most of their image editing needs,
without the requirement of highly
advanced features such as you would
find in Photoshop CC. It is also a great
choice for those who only need one-
click solutions to their image editing
needs, or perhaps want to start to
learn how to take on the more involved
techniques and tools that Elements has
to offer. Another big plus point in its
favour is that it is one of the very few
remaining Adobe products that can be
purchased outright, without the need
for subscription.

There was a time when, in certain

quarters, Elements was considered a
dumbed-down version of Photoshop
with a limited toolset, that was
only meant for beginners with no
aspirations to advance to the more
technically advanced techniques seen
in Photoshop. However, recent versions
of Elements have shown that it is a
worthy standalone alternative to using
Photoshop. It is a focused image editor
and cataloging application that is more
than capable of taking on any image
editing task you care to send its way.
In its current form, Adobe Photoshop
Elements is comprised of two main
components. One is the image editing
module of the software where you
can touch up your photos or even
manipulate and transform them beyond
recognition. The Edit section is broken
down into three sections. The first is
the Quick Edit mode, then comes the
Guided Mode section and finally there is
the Expert mode.

Each module has its own set of tools

and preset options that can quickly get
the job done. Quick Edit, as the name
suggests, contains the basic editing

8 7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z
 WHAT IS PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS?

The Adobe Photoshop Elements and Organiser interfaces are

designed to be as intuitive as possible with plenty of options
for beginners and experienced users alike.

tools such as colour correction, cropping,

quick selection, spot healing, sharpening and
lighting fixes. You can also apply some one-
click presets such as Smart Fix, Exposure
and Lighting.

The Guided module is also fairly self-

explanatory. Here you can make any number
of popular image adjustments to your
photos, with guided step-by-step tutorials,
such as altering brightness and contrast,
resizing photos, rotating and straightening
your images and adding vignettes. It also
has a number of specialised and fun options
for restoring old photos, creating your own
frames and replacing backgrounds.

Finally comes the Expert mode. This has

more of the feel of its big brother, Photoshop
to it. It has a toolbar ranged down the left
hand side of the workspace and on the right
is the layers panel that behaves much in the
same way as Photoshop's layers palette. Here
you also have access to a number of photo
colour presets such as Faded Photo, Glow
and Monotone Color. There are also a number
of filters for more artistic effects such as
coloured pencils, watercolours, distortion
effects and sketch filters. You can also add
Bevels, Patterns, Strokes, Photographic
Effects and much more by accessing the
icons in the lower right of the taskbar at the
bottom of your workspace. Expert mode
is the most hands-on of the three modes
you can employ and gives you access to
all the tools, so you can apply all your own
advanced edits to your photos.

The second main component of the latest

Adobe Photoshop Elements is the Elements
2019 Organiser. At its heart, this is a
cataloguing and photo organising program it detects a similar name being entered editing tools that will keep beginner and
that lets you import, sort, tag and rate your as a tag, it will display those existing expert happy.
photos. If you wish, you can create albums names similar enough as a match to be Over the page we'll begin to delve
and use names, locations, date, time and GPS an option for tagging. deeper into the workspaces offered by
data to sort them. The program can even The two components of Photoshop the Editor and Elements Organiser. It is
employ face recognition to find and sort Elements and Elements Organiser best to consider the Editor module as your
photos of people and tag them much as you are separate programs, which can be digital darkroom and design studio and to
would in Facebook. Indeed, you can actually a bit of nuisance if you need to keep think of Elements Organiser as your library,
import your list of Facebook friends as an switching between them but you have where you keep all your media items such
aid to tagging the people in your photos. If at your disposal a set of powerful as photos and videos.

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 STARTING WITH PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS

The Elements
Home Screen
We start the journey by becoming more familiar with all the module
environments you will be working with.
1
When you open Adobe Photoshop
Elements, you are presented with a
Home screen. This simple screen is your
gateway to the Photo Editor program or
the Organiser. The third option available
is to activate the Adobe Premiere
Elements Video Editor, if you have
purchased that as well. If not, it will ask
if you want to download a trial version.
You also have the option at the
top of the Home screen to search for
help on things you want to achieve in
2
the programs or to click on any of the
featured Try This guides and What's New
items and Inspiration articles ranged
across the screen.
On the extreme top right of the page
are buttons for Facebook and Twitter
and a Help button that takes you to
Adobe Customer Support.

1
From the home page you can can search
for things you need to learn more about.
If you want to learn how to make a
calendar for instance, type that in the
search bar and it will show you links to
help files that can tell you more.

2
Ranged along the top of the home page
are a number of clickable guides and
inspirational media that gets you into the 4
heart of what Photoshop Elements 2019
is all about. There are several themes
you can access. Try This are guided
tutorials that help you create exciting
media and art. What's New highlights all
the step-by-step features that are new
to this version. Inspiration is a collection
of stories and articles to get you in a
creative mood.

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 THE ELEMENTS HOME SCREEN

3 5 7
When you open the home page for the To the right of the home page are the Click this button to go to the Adobe
first time, you will be prompted to add icons for Organiser, Photo Editor and Photoshop Elements Facebook page.
media for Auto Creations to make a Video Editor. You can click on these to
series of personalised creations, such as activate the relevant program. If you do 8
slide shows that use your own photos not have the Adobe Premiere Elements
and videos. video editor program for instance, it will When you click this button, it will take
ask you if you want to try if for free with you to the Photoshop Elements Twitter
4 the option to purchase later if you wish. feed where you can view, reply to,
retweet and like tweets.
Auto Creations are created with media 6
(photos or videos) that you've imported. 9
If you haven't imported any media yet, Any images you have been working on
click Add media under Auto Creations on recently will be displayed here for quick If you need further assistance, you can
the Home screen and relaunch the app. access. Click on the image you want click this button to be directed to the
You can open and edit any Auto Creation to continue working on and it will be Adobe Customer Support webpage.
and instantly share it with your family opened within the relevant program.
and friends.

7 8 9

For those who are in need of more guidance, or just

some creative inspiration, go ahead and click on any of
the featured guides and articles to explore more of the
online world of features Adobe Photoshop Elements has
to offer.

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 STARTING WITH PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS

The Quick
Mode Workspace
For fast and simple edits, this is the mode to get you editing
quickly, with one-click results for better photos.
1
Although this mode is designed to
3 2
be quick and simple to use, it is still a
powerful method to rapidly improve
your photos with easy one-click
7
presets that give you instant feedback
on how your image will look with the
new adjustments applied. There are
many filters to choose from and many
ways you can adjust your image to
make it perfect, so you can share it
with the world.

1
Although a number of file menu option
8
will not be accessible, the main ones
that you need will be available. All the
Enhance options are there as well as the
Filter Gallery presets.

2
Here can you can exit the current mode
and choose to enter the Guided or
Expert modes.

3
This is a simple button to specify a new
project to work on. Click it to create a
new document at the size you want.
When you click OK, the document will be
created and can be worked on in either
Quick mode or Expert mode.

4
The Quick mode toolbar has a core set
of tools to get your image looking great
with minimal effort. You can make quick
selections to specific areas of the photo, 5
crop it, straighten the horizon, whiten
teeth and fix eyes as well as adding text
and a number of varied filters, textures
and adjustments.
6

12 7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z
 THE QUICK MODE WORKSPACE

5 redo any steps you have performed on different view option, as two images that
your image. You also have the option represent the before and after state of
For every tool you activate in the toolbar, to rotate the image and activate the the photo.
you have another panel called the Tool Elements Organiser if you need to.
Options bar that gives you many more 9
choices as to how that tool can be 7
modified and controlled. There are also This slider lets you quickly zoom your
additional tools that can be accessed in Clicking on this button reveals the View image from 1% all the way up to 3200%.
the Tool Options bar. options. This is useful if you want to
compare a before and after view of your 10
6 currently active image, to see how much
the image has changed from its original These two dropdown menus display
The taskbar is situated at the bottom untouched state. options for creating slide shows, photo
of the workspace and contains all the books, greetings cards, calendars,
most frequently used actions, which are 8 Facebook Covers and much more. You
displayed as buttons. Click each one can also share your works of art on
and you can see all the images you are The image you are working on is Facebook, Flickr and Twitter.
working on at that time, display or hide displayed in this area. It will either be as
the Toolbar Options bar and Undo or a single image or, if you have chosen a 11
This panel changes content depending
10 on what adjustment or effect you are
using. If you are using the Adjustment
tools, then they will be displayed in
9 the right hand panel bar. Items such as
Smart Fix, Exposure, Lighting and Colour
will be available here and each can be
clicked to reveal its available options. The
Effects menu, Textures and Frames are
also available to be accessed here.

Don't forget to check out the Create and Share

options. Whether you want to share your creation
online and on social media or make prints of your
photos or even calendars, click the buttons to
explore further.

11

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 STARTING WITH PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS

The Guided
Mode Workspace
This mode is great for accomplishing a variety of effects, with
a handy guide for each one you use.

1 4 6
Here can you can select which effect you This section has a number of effects More specialised image manipulation
want to apply to your image. There are centred around monochrome. Black and effects are kept in this section of the
six categories of effects to choose from. White, B&W Colour Pop, B&W Selection, Guided edit workspace. It contains
High Key, Line Drawing and Low Key. Replace Background, Depth Of
2 Field, Frame Creator, Orton Effect,
5 Perfect Portrait, Recompose, Replace
Contains the Basic effects Brightness Background, Restore Old Photo,
and Contrast, Correct Skin Tone, Crop You can find a lot more creative edits Scratches And Blemishes, Text
Photo, Levels, Lighten and Darken, Resize under this category. You have some and Border Overlay, Tilt-shift and
Your Photo, Rotate and Straighten, diverse effects to try out such as Double Watercolour Effect.
Sharpen and Vignette Effect. Exposure, Effects Collage, Meme Maker,
Multi-photo Text, Old Fashioned Photo, 7
3 Out of Bounds, Painterly, Partial Sketch,
Photo Text, Picture Stack, Pop Art, The Photomerge section mainly
This category contains Enhance Colour, Puzzle Effect, Reflection, Shape Overlay concentrates on blending two or more
Lomo Camera Effect, Remove Colour Effect, Speed Effect, Speed Pan and photos or extracting and merging
Cast and Saturated Film Effect. Zoom Burst Effect. subjects from one shot into another.

2 3 4 5 6 7

14 7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z
 THE GUIDED MODE WORKSPACE

There's Photomerge Compose, 12 18

Photomerge Exposure, Photomerge
Faces, Photomerge Group Shot, Where appropriate, this menu button Once you have clicked Next, you can
Photomerge Scene Cleaner and displays options on how to view choose to save your image or save it
Photomerge Panorama. any currently active images that are under a new name and/or image format.
contained in your Photo Bin. You can also elect to continue working
8 on the image in either Expert or Quick
13 mode. You can also choose Share to
If you choose to select a new image from upload it to Facebook, Twitter or Flickr.
the Open menu during a guided edit, you The taskbar is situated at the bottom of
will be asked if you want to discard the the workspace and contains all the most 19
current guide, in order to start a new one frequently used actions.
with the image you are about to open. Simply returns you to the Guided
14 category page. If you look in your
9 Photo Bin, your image will have a small
This is where the image you are working brush icon in its top right corner, which
Click the Zoom Tool icon or press Z to on will be displayed. indicates it has edits applied. If you close
activate the zoom tool. You can magnify the image and haven't saved it, you will
the image up to 3200%. Wherever you 15 be prompted to do so if you wish.
click with the mouse, the image will be
magnified and the point you clicked will This slider lets you quickly zoom your
be placed in the centre of the workspace. image from 1% all the way up to 3200%.
Press the Alt key on your keyboard to
decrease the magnification factor. 16
10 Whichever effect you choose to apply
to your image, the steps required to
Click the Hand Tool icon or press H to complete it are displayed as numbered 18
be able to move your magnified image steps in the guidance panel on the
around. With the Hand Tool active, click right of the active image area. You can
and drag your photo to move it around follow the steps, clicking the appropriate
within the active image area. buttons and altering parameters until
you are ready to commit the changes.
11
17
Clicking on this button reveals the View
options. This is useful if you want to Click Next to commit the changes of the 19
compare a before and after view of your guided edit you have just applied or click
currently active image, to see how much Cancel to cancel the edit entirely and
the image has changed. begin again.

15

11

11 16
9

10

12
17
13

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 STARTING WITH PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS

The Expert
Mode Workspace
For those who have developed their skills to the point where they
are comfortable getting more hands-on with their images.
1
1 2
Most of the File menu options will be 4
made available to you in this particular
workspace, since all the tools and
effects parameters are there to be used
manually with little or no guidance from
the program.

2
Common to each workspace, click on
the Open button to view any recently 3
active images you have been working on
or to create a new blank file ready to be
worked on.

3
This panel contains all the essential tools
you are going to need for powerful and 5
flexible image editing. It is broken down
into View, Enhance, Draw, Modify and
Colour sections.

4
Each image that is open will be marked
by a document tab to identify each
image. It will display the filename of the
photos currently open.

5
This displays the current image you are
working on.

6
You can choose what information about
your active document is displayed here.

7
6
This panel is context sensitive and
displays additional options and controls
for each tool that you select from the
tool panel. 7
13

8 9 10 11 12
16 7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z
 THE EXPERT MODE WORKSPACE

8 11 14
The Photo Bin panel displays thumbnails If you have a number of documents One of the key aspects of more
of all open photos currently being used open at one time, you can choose from a advanced image editing is to be able to
by the program. number of layout options to display them work across multiple layers within your
all at once within your active image area. active document.
9
12 15
Clicking the Undo button allows you to
step back through any actions you have Clicking on this button will open up the This will display all the effects options
performed on your image. Redo allows Elements Organiser program where you currently installed. They range from
you to step forward. can view and select images that you rubber stamp effects to pencil sketch
have imported and catalogued. effects and colour tints, which can all be
10 applied to your photos.
13
Allows you to rotate your image in 45° 16
steps either clockwise or anticlockwise. Click this button if you want to return to
the Home screen. Ranging from artistic effects to brush
strokes and distortion and pixelation
options, clicking the Effects icon will
display all the creative effects available
to be applied to the image.

20 17
There are a number of colour, texture
and special effects that can be applied
to any subject that is currently on a layer.
They range from fibreglass textures to
fire, chrome, bevelled edges and tints.

21 18
These are background graphics that can
be downloaded and used as backdrops
in your compositions.

19
A pop up menu where you can open
more currently hidden panels.

20
22 This panel allows you to add new layers,
group selected layers, adjustment layers
and masks.

21
This is where layers are viewed and
consists of the base background layer
and any subsequent layer copies, brand
new layers or layer adjustments.

22
For each layer adjustment you add, you
have the corresponding properties panel
to control its effect.

When you click on any of the Layers, Effects,

Filters Styles and Graphics buttons, the main
panel on the right of the screen will display the
corresponding panel for each one you choose. Our
14 15 16 17 18 19 example is currently displaying the Layers Panel.

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 STARTING WITH PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS

The Expert
Mode Toolbar
All the main editing tools you need in Expert mode are accessible
from the toolbar on the left of the workspace.

I
f you've used older versions of Elements
or Photoshop, the main components
of the toolbar will be familiar to you.
There have been updates and additions
to the tools available but most will be
recognisable for what they are and you
should be able to get to grips with the
newest ones without too much issue.
Although each tool has additional options
displayed down in the Tools Options
Panel, if you hold the Alt key and click on When you click on any of the Layers, Effects,
a toolbar icon, you can cycle though all Filters, Styles and Graphics buttons, the main
variants of that particular tool to get to panel on the right of the screen will display
the one you want. Here is a breakdown ŏ the corresponding panel for each one you
of the toolset available in Adobe choose. Our example is currently displaying
Photoshop Elements. the Layers Panel.

The Tool Options bar

appears at the bottom of the
Photoshop Elements window
and it displays the options for
any selected tool in Expert and
Quick mode

1 Active Tool

The currently active tool is

highlighted.

2 Related Tools

Any related tools associated

with the main tool, selected
from the toolbar, will be
displayed here.

3 Additional Options 3
1 2
For any tool that you have
selected and have active, there
are a number of additional
options that let you control
various parameters relating to
that particular tool.

18 7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z
 THE EXPERT MODE TOOLBAR

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36

37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48

49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58

use targeted contrast effects on your 39 Ellipse Shape (U)

photos and much more. 40 Polygon Shape (U)
The tools found in the View Tools section 41 Star Shape (U)
of the toolbar are designed for basic 14 Eye (Y) 42 Line Shape (U)
magnification: zooming in and out of 15 Spot Healing Brush (J) 43 Shape Select (U)
your photo and moving it around the 16 Healing Brush (J) 44 Horizontal Type (T)
screen to view a portion of the zoomed 17 Smart Brush (F) 45 Vertical Type (T)
image at your chosen magnification. 18 Detailed Smart Brush (F) 46 Horizontal Type Mask (T)
19 Clone Stamp (S) 47 Vertical Type Mask (T)
1 Zoom (Z) 20 Pattern Stamp (S) 48 Text on Selection (T)
2 Hand (H) 21 Blur (R) 49 Text on Shape (T)
22 Sharpen (R) 50 Text on Path (T)
23 Smudge (R) 51 Pencil (N)
24 Sponge (R)
This section covers all the tools that 25 Dodge (R)
allow you to select all or parts of your 26 Burn (R)
image for targeted editing, cutting out or This set of tools is primarily concerned
duplication to new layers. with how you can affect the crop and
intelligently move items in the frame for
3 Move (V) The Draw section of the toolbar contains different compositions.
4 Rectangular Marquee (V) various elements that let you paint, draw,
5 Elliptical Marquee (V) erase and sample colours in your photos. 52 Crop (C)
6 Lasso (L) The text tools are also in this section. 53 Cookie Cutter (C)
7 Polygon Lasso (L) 54 Perspective Crop (C)
8 Magnetic Lasso (L) 27 Brush (B) 55 Recompose (W)
9 Quick Selection (A) 28 Impressionist Brush (B) 56 Content-Aware Move (Q)
10 Selection Brush (A) 29 Colour Replacement Brush (B) 57 Straighten (P)
11 Magic Wand (A) 30 Eraser (E)
12 Refined Selection (A) 31 Magic Eraser (E)
13 Auto Selection (A) 32 Background Eraser (E)
33 Paint Bucket (K) Here you can set your foreground and
34 Gradient (G) background colours, swap them over if
35 Eyedropper/Color Picker (I) required, access the colour picker and
The set of tools found in this section of 36 Custom Shape (U) set back to default as required.
the toolbar are for enhancing the image. 37 Rectangle Shape (U)
You can heal, clone, blur, sharpen and 38 Rounded Rectangle Shape (U) 58 Colour Tools

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 STARTING WITH PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS

The File
Menu Layout
Get yourself familiar with the file menu system and you will see
just how powerful the program can be.

A
dobe Photoshop
Elements has many one-
click solutions to make
your photos look their best
but over time you may find the
need to dig deeper into the
more advanced options that are
on offer with the Photo Editor.
Many options are presented in
the taskbar at the bottom and
the panel bar on the right. If
you need them however, the
File Menu is where you can find
all the vital tools.

From this menu you can see One of the key menus you In many ways, Edit is quite Here you can make many
the About screen and manage access at the start and end of similar to the options available changes to your photos. You
any Plug-ins as well as update a session. You can create new on a word processor. You can have various rotation and
your Preferences and quit documents, open existing ones copy, paste, delete or merge transformation options along
Photoshop Elements. You can and save them. You can also images. You can also fill with cropping and resizing. You
also view any legal notices or import or print your documents selections, alter colour settings can also convert the colour
hide the workspace. and create contact sheets. and undo actions. mode or profile of the image.

20 7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z
 THE FILE MENU LAYOUT

Many of the main adjustment A vital aspect of image Every time you make a This menu has all the creative
options are found here. They manipulation is the ability to selection of all or part of your and fun filters that can add
range from contrast, brightness add layers of effects to your image, you can modify its new life to your photos. Add
tone, sharpness and colour. You image. Here you can add new properties here. You can feather blur, sharpening, distortion
can also access the Open Closed layers, fill layers and adjustment the edges, expand or contract and artistic effects at the
Eyes feature and much more. layers for non-destructive edits. it, invert it and save it. click of a button.

When you explore the file menus on

offer in Adobe Photoshop Elements,
each menu and sub-menu will
always display the keyboard short
cut next to the action or tool. To
speed up your work flow, it's always
a good idea to become familiar with
those short cuts.

Some of the basic zoom in This menu lets you control Should you need it, you can
and zoom out options are the visibility of certain tools enter search parameters for
kept here including being able and panels and turn them on any issues you encounter. There
to view the print size of your and off as needed. The major are also a number of options
image or turn the visibility of adjustment panels, including presented to you that can help
rulers, grids and selections on Effects, Layers and Filters, can you in certain situations should
and off. be controlled here. they arise.

7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z 21
 STARTING WITH PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS

Guided Mode
Categories
Here is a quick reference sheet of all the current guided tutorials
available in Adobe Photoshop Elements.

At the time of writing, there are

currently 53 guided edits available in
Adobe Photoshop Elements 2019. Just as the name
They can be accessed from suggests, the Guided
the Guided workspace mode is designed to help
page and are you produce a number
distributed under of creative and artistic
six categories. effects by taking you
Each one through the process in
has a small numbered steps. It is
before and a semi-automatic edit
after slider where you click various
that gives you a available options and
quick overview of Elements does the
what each effect is rest for you.
designed to achieve.

22 7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z
 GUIDED MODE CATEGORIES

Brightness and Contrast Correct Skin Tone

1 This lets you adjust the brightness of your photo and

control how much contrast is present. You can view the
2 Your photos may suffer from a colour cast that can make
your human subject's skin look a little off in terms of
after image only or view both the before and after images either its colour tone. This guided edit can alter the tan, blush and
vertically or horizontally. lightness of skin.

Crop Photo Levels

3 A crop box will be drawn on your photo so you can resize

that box to whatever size and proportion you like. You can
4 This uses a levels adjustment whereby you can alter the
shadows, highlights and middle tones brightness of your
restrict it to certain proportions and change the overlay to Grid selected image. Any adjustments are made globally across the
or Rule of Thirds. entire image.

Lighten and Darken Resize Your Photo

5 The Lighten and Darken option can be viewed as a more

simplified version of the Levels adjustment option. You
6 You can output for web and print and will be presented
with a couple of options that control the final size of your
are given three sliders that affect the brightness of Shadows, image. You can specify width and height pixel dimensions and
Midtones and Highlights. apply the result.

7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z 23
 STARTING WITH PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS

Rotate and Straighten Sharpen Photo

7 You have the options to rotate your photo clockwise and

anticlockwise and if you have a sloping image, you can use
8 You can use an Auto Fix sharpening effect or you can use
the supplied slider to manually increase the amount of
the Straighten Tool to bring it back to level. sharpening until you have it how you want it.

Vignette Effect Enhance Colours

9 This lets you add a soft dark or light border to your image.
You can control its intensity and use sliders to change the
10 You have an Auto Fix option to make a best-guess at
the correct colour balance and contrast in the photo.
softness of the vignette and its roundness. Otherwise, you can use the Hue, Saturation and Lightness sliders
to fine tune it.

Lomo Camera Effect Remove a Colour cast

11 This replicates the effect of the popular and cheap cameras

that create a very specific look due to their low quality
12 A colour cast is an unwanted bias towards a tone that
spoils the look of your photo. You can use the colour picker
manufacture. You can also add a vignette to the photo. to find an area of pure grey, white or black to remove the cast.

24 7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z
 GUIDED MODE CATEGORIES

Saturated Film Effect Black and White

13 Applying this effect makes your photo look as though

it was shot on old slide film for a much more saturated
14 This is a quick black and white conversion with four
presets ranging from light to dark. If you want, you can
look. You can add the effect a number of times to increase the add a diffuse glow to the image for a dreamy effect or increase
intensity of the effect. the contrast.

B&W Colour Pop B&W Selection

15 Select a preset colour or use the colour picker to keep one

colour and turn the rest of the image to black and white.
16 You can use a selection brush to selectively pick out
the areas you want converted to black and white whilst
You can refine the effect and also increase the saturation of the retaining colour elsewhere. You also have the option to invert the
remaining colour. effect if required.

High Key Line Drawing

17 High key images are characterised by their very bright

appearance with very little shadow detail left in the photo.
18 This effect mimics the look of a pencil drawing. Click to
convert the photo into a pencil sketch and if you want to,
You can use a colour or black and white high key effect. you can add a small amount of colour back into the image and
darken the lines.

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 STARTING WITH PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS

Low Key Double Exposure

19 Works in the opposite manner to a high key image. It is

characterised by small amounts of highlight detail and is
20 You can combine and blend two images together for a
more creative effect. You can use a preset image or one
dominated by darker tones. You have the colour and black and of your own photos and superimpose it over the subject in your
white options. main composition.

Effects Collage Meme Maker

21 With this effect, your chosen image is split into a number of

sections chosen by you and then a number of effect styles
22 Great for creating memes for social media. This tool guides
you by letting you create a meme template, edit your text
are added to each section of the collage. and resize the main subject's photo. You can apply new borders
and add effects for a memorable look.

Multi-Photo Text Old Fashioned Photo

23 You can create visual text using this guide, placing a

different photo inside each letter. Add your text and then
24 Converts your photo using one of three black and white
presets; also lets you adjust the tone of the conversion and
one by one, you can place a photo inside each letter. You can the tint colour of the image to create an old fashioned photo.
also add a new background and add effects to the text.

26 7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z
 GUIDED MODE CATEGORIES

Out of Bounds Painterly

25 This effect can take your primary subject and make it look
like it is escaping from the frame of the photo. You can add
26 Turn your photo into a painting with this artistic effect. It
provides you with a number of preset brushes to paint onto
a frame and then select the area of the shot you want to extend your photo. Choose a canvas colour and texture and then add an
outside the frame and add a shadow for more depth. optional effect to enhance the painterly feel.

Partial Sketch Photo Text

27 This gives you a choice of effects that you can apply to

your photo. Then you can simply paint using a brush over
28 Use your photo as the basis of creating some creative text
effects. Choose your font and how you would like it to
your image where you want the chosen effect to appear. You appear on your photo, then select the background style. You can
can work with more detail if required and change the size and also choose the intensity of bevel drop shadow and outline of
opacity of the brush you use. your text.

Picture Stack Create Pop Art

29 Turn your photo into a collage with the Picture Stack

effect. Choose the number of pictures you want your photo
30 Go psychedelic and turn your photo into some fun pop art.
Choose from the styles available and then convert it into
divided into and then add a border to each element. Then you a monochrome or posterised version. You can also add a neon
can add a solid or gradient background for the finishing touch. glow if you wish, or tint it a single colour.

7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z 27
 STARTING WITH PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS

Puzzle Effect Create Reflections

31 Your photo can be turned into a jigsaw puzzle with this

effect. Choose the puzzle piece size you want to use.
32 Add reflections to your photos for eye catching results.
Simply add the reflection and then use the tools provided
Extract pieces for a more creative effect and arrange them by to colour the reflection, fill the background and then make the
moving them to another part of the design and rotate the pieces reflection look more like glass or water.
if needed.

Shape Overlay Effect Speed Effect

33 Choose from a series of different shapes and then position

it over your photo and scale it to the required size. Then
34 Add some great blurred speed lines for a little more zoom
in your photos. Use a selection tool and choose an area of
you can add an effect to both the inside and outside of the your image to apply the effect to. Then you can add the speed
shape's area, before cropping it to your preferred proportions. effect and then precisely refine the look of your finished effect.

Speed Pan Zoom Burst Effect

35 Add motion blur to your backgrounds to give the

impression of fast motion. Select your main subject using
36 This mimics the effect of rapidly zooming your camera lens
while you take the photo. You can crop your photo in order
the selection tools and then add motion blur to the background, to put your primary subject in the centre of the shot and then
keeping your main subject sharp. add the zoom burst effect. Refine the area of focus and add an
optional vignette.

28 7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z
 GUIDED MODE CATEGORIES

Depth of Field Frame Creator

37 You can make your subject stand out in the photo by making
the distracting background blurred as if photographed with
38 Use your own photos and graphics to create frame designs.
Use the tools to select the areas you want to be your frame
very shallow depth of field. You can add simple blur or use more and then save that frame design so you can work on it further in
precise selections for more targeted effects. Expert mode.

Create Orton Effect Perfect Portrait

39 Based on an old slide film technique pioneered by Michael

Orton, you can add a soft and dream-like quality to your
40 For great looking skin in your portrait photos use these
tools to heal blemishes in skin, remove red eye and whiten
photos. Apply the Orton effect as many times as you wish and teeth. For a glamorous look to your shots, you can also add a
then use the sliders to enhance the effect even further. glow effect and even slim your subjects down if required.

Recompose Replace Background

41 This works much in the same way as Photoshop's content-

aware scale tool. This tool lets you scale an image but
42 With this set of tools, you can select your primary subject
using one of a number of selection tools and then remove
maintain the important content and detail in the photo. You also their background. Select a new background or texture and
have the option to mask areas for greater control. then place it behind the original to match the colour tones for a
convincing result.

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 STARTING WITH PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS

Restore Old Photo Scratches and Blemishes

43 If you have a number of old scanned photos that have many

blemishes on them, then this tool can make them look new
44 For any small blemishes and flaws in a photo, use this tool
to quickly fix those troublesome areas with the spot healing
again. Using healing tools, blur tools and clone stamp copies, you brushes. Larger areas will benefit from the application of the
can improve those old photos with ease. healing brush.

Text and Border Overlay Tilt-shift

45 Choose from a selection of border designs to frame your

favourite photos. Choose its size and colour and then add
46 Turn your images into miniature effect photos using this
specialised blur tool. It works best on photos taken from
a text overlay using the type tool. You can then specify the text's above your subject and from a distance. It mimics the effect of
position and edit the text style used. expensive tilt-shift lenses. Modify the focus area and add blur,
contrast and saturation.

Watercolour Effect Photomerge Compose

47 A simple and effective way to turn your favourite photos

into watercolour paintings. Choose an effect, add a
48 This allows you to select two photos you wish to work on
and extract from one photo and place it on another to
watercolour paper overlay and a canvas texture. Then you can combine the two. You have selection tools to help you accurately
refine the effect and add captions in various text styles. extract your first subject, then you can place it, move and scale it
on the second photo.

30 7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z
 GUIDED MODE CATEGORIES

Photomerge Exposure Photomerge Faces

49 This is a form of high dynamic range photography. This tool

lets you combine two or more different exposures of the
50 Combine facial features from two different portrait photos
for humorous results. Select two faces and open them. You
same shot to create a much more exposed version. Use automatic can then use the alignment tool to pick out three distinct areas
or manual modes for the final result. on each face and then blend them together.

Photomerge Group Shot Photomerge Scene Cleaner

51 Use multiple group shot images to make sure everyone has

their eyes open or is looking at the camera. Select two or
52 If you have a series of photos of the same subject but there
are distractions in each, you can combine two or more
similar group shots taken together. Set one as the final image photos to clean up the scene. Use one base image and blend in
and use additional photos to merge preferred elements into the the best parts of additional photos to create a finished result.
final photo.

Don't forget to check out the

inspirational news stories
and guide information
available on the Home
screen. There is plenty
to pique your interest.

Photomerge Panorama

53 Great for creating super-wide panoramic shots. Combine

a sequence of several photos that captures a very wide
panoramic scene by merging them. Select your photos, choose
your panorama layout and type of settings and the program
does the rest for you.

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 Most modern digital cameras allow you to shoot in a
picture format known as Raw mode. Raw mode is a pure
digital readout of the data captured by the sensor. This
additional data offers amazing scope when it comes
to getting the very best out of your photos. Step inside
your very own digital darkroom and take control of the
final look of your photos. More than that, see how you
can integrate Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) and Photoshop
Elements for a professional looking workflow solution.

32 7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z
 USING ADOBE CAMERA RAW

Contents

7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z 33
 USING ADOBE CAMERA RAW

The Camera
Raw Interface Part One

Let's take a look at the ACR interface, see what it has to offer and
also how it can integrate with the Elements Photo Editor.

Adobe Photoshop Elements comes

with Adobe Camera Raw supplied. It
is more usually referred to as ACR
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
and lets you process Raw files from
digital cameras as the first step of
your digital photo processing
workflow; but you don't have to stop
there. You can process your Raw file
and then continue to work with it in
the Photo Editor in either the Quick
or Expert editing modes. It is easy to
get started. Let's take a look at the
ACR interface, see what it has to offer,
and also how it can integrate with the
Elements Photo Editor to help you get
more out of your favourite photos.

1
A standard zoom in and zoom out
tool that lets you view your image
at increasing or decreasing levels of
magnification. Each time you click the
zoom tool, the image will be enlarged
to the next level of magnification.
Wherever you click on your image,
it will magnify and centre it in the
workspace using that clicked point. If
you press Alt on your keyboard, you
can decrease the level of magnification
and zoom out. Right-click the image to
call up the context menu to display all
the preset zoom levels available.

2
The Hand Tool allows you to move your
magnified image around the screen by
clicking and dragging.

34 7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z
 THE CAMERA RAW INTERFACE

3 Crop Tool to drag a crop box over your 6

image and using the control points on
To help you remove colour cast from the box, scale and rotate it to get the If you happen to have a photo of a
you photo, you can use the White perfect crop for your photo. Right-click family member or friend whose eyes are
Balance Tool to bring the image back on the cropped image to call up the coloured red because a camera flash
to a more neutral colour cast. Click on context menu to view more proportional illuminated the blood vessels at the back
the tool and then place the eyedropper cropping options and to clear the crop if of their eyes causing the red-eye effect,
cursor over an area of your picture that you need to start again. you can remove the redness using this
is either meant to be white, middle grey tool. Click and drag a marquee selection
or solid black. It will use that reference 5 over each eye and the program will do
point to neutralise any colour cast. the rest.
Right-click the screen to call up the This is particularly useful if you have
content menu to display all the white strong vertical or horizontal elements in 7
balance presets available to use. your photo that need to be levelled so
they are perfectly vertical or horizontal. Opening this dialog box allows you to
4 Click the Straighten Tool and then click set some Camera Raw Preferences such
and draw a line along the part of your as where your image settings are saved
If you need to crop your image to photo that needs to be straightened out. and whether you automatically sharpen
different proportions, you can use the all images. You can also set other auto
functions such as tone adjustments and
also specify how DNG files are handled.

8
Lets you rotate your photo clockwise or
anti-clockwise in 90° increments.

Continue over the page and we delve into the

control tabs, colour treatment options and profiles
of the Adobe Camera Raw interface.

7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z 35
 USING ADOBE CAMERA RAW

The Camera
Raw Interface Part Two

Our journey around the Adobe Camera Raw interface continues

with more of the tools to bring the most out of your photos.
9
Clicking this button lets you toggle the
full screen mode. When you do, no file
menus will be visible until you toggle
full screen off again.

10
Shadow Clipping is there to warn you if
any of the darkest tones in your photo
become solid black. A blue highlight
will appear to warn you which parts of
the photo are clipped.

11
This is a graphical representation of the
distribution of colour and tonal values
throughout the image. The amount
of tones in any given part of the tonal
range are shown as peaks along the
length of the histogram.

12
This works in the same way as the
Shadow Clipping warning. If any of
the brightest highlights in the image
are solid white, or get pushed to solid
white as a result of editing, they will be
displayed as red highlights.

13
The left side of the panel shows the
RGB values of the image at the cursor
position. The right side of the panel
displays the exposure information for
the image such as aperture, shutter
speed and ISO.

19
16

18

36 7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z
 THE CAMERA RAW INTERFACE

14 Profile menu allows you to choose from 18

a number of preset colour profiles and
The ACR interface breaks down the a series of artistic, modern and vintage Help accesses the Adobe help files for
workflow process into discreet sections. effects too. ACR processing, whilst the Save button
First is the Basic panel where the allows you to save your current edits to
majority of your processing will be 16 DNG file format.
done. You can control all the basic
exposure and colour adjustments Instead of using the Zoom Tool, you can 19
here. The Detail tab reveals sliders use the Zoom Level options.
for controlling Sharpening and Noise Choose from 8 Bits/Channel and 16 Bits/
Reduction. The Camera Calibration tab 17 Channel colour depth.
lets you specify the calibration process
you are using. The buttons let you cycle through the 20
available before and after view options,
15 swap the before and after settings, copy Done Commits all edits and exits without
the current settings to the before image opening the file. Cancel quits without
Gives you the choice of processing your and toggle between the current settings accepting any changes and Open Image
photos in the main colour workspace or and the default settings. will apply changes and open the image
in the Black and White workspace. The in the Photo Editor.

Click on the Profile Browser button and you can

view all the standard and artistic colour presets
you can use on your photo to alter its colour. There
are a number of camera matching profiles as well
as artistic, modern, black and white and vintage.

9 10 12
11

13

14

15

17

20

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 USING ADOBE CAMERA RAW

Camera Raw
Processing
ACR lets you process Raw files from digital cameras as the first step
of your digital photo processing workflow; but you don't have to stop
there. You can process your Raw file and then continue to work with it in
the Photo Editor, in either the Quick or Expert editing modes.

BEFORE AFTER

38 7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z
 CAMERA RAW PROCESSING

1 To begin, you'll need to open Photoshop Elements 2019

and from the home page click on the Photo Editor icon, this
2 Go to File > Open in Camera Raw (Alt + Cmd + O) to open
your file browser and navigate to the folder that contains
will activate the Photo Editor program. The default is to open in the Raw file you wish to process. Once you have located it,
Expert mode. You can access Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) from double-click the file or highlight it and press Open at the bottom
either the Quick, Guided or Expert mode workspaces. right of the browser window.

3 The Raw file, in this case a seascape shot in Cornwall, will

open in the ACR workspace, as ACR runs in a separate
4 A good place to start with a landscape shot like this is
to ensure a nice level horizon. If yours is sloping, use the
window to the Elements Photo Editor. You can use the zoom Straighten Tool (A). Click on one side of your horizon line, then
tools to fill the active image area of the workspace; you can drag across to the other side and release the button to bring it
clearly see the effect your edits will have on the photo. back to level.

7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z 39
 USING ADOBE CAMERA RAW

5 Click on the Basic tab to make sure it is the active tab and
you will see the range of adjustments available; you can use
6 If you turn on your Highlight clipping warning (O) and your
Shadow clipping warning (U), you will be shown any areas
these to get the most out of your image. The photo is slightly of your image that are turning solid black or solid white. These
underexposed, so a good place to start is to increase the value of areas will suffer a loss of detail so having the warnings turned on
the Exposure by moving the slider to the right. is useful to avoid degrading the image.

7 Now, as you move the slider and increase the exposure,

any areas that are becoming too overexposed will now
8 An alternative to viewing the highlight clipping warning is
to press and hold the Alt key while moving the Exposure,
be highlighted in red. You can often get away with just a slight Highlights and Whites sliders to see just the affected highlight
overexposure in your images but beware of pushing it too far and areas without the image itself being seen. It does give you the
destroying the image. chance to fine tune the exposure without taking it too far.

40 7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z
 CAMERA RAW PROCESSING

9 If you are adjusting the Shadows and Blacks sliders, too

much underexposure will be highlighted in blue by the
10 Holding down the Alt key while making Shadows and
Blacks adjustments, just the darkest areas turning solid
Shadows clipping warning. Solid black areas are much like black will be seen to warn you there is a potential Shadows
highlighted areas: you can have a small amount of solid black clipping problem.
areas but beware of heavy underexposure.

11 If you want ACR to do some of the heavy lifting for you,

there is always the option to click the Auto button. When
12 Adjustments are a personal thing of course but we opted
to increase the Exposure, reduce the Highlights to -75, to
you do this, the program will attempt a set of best adjustments recapture detail in the lightest parts of the image, and pushed
that it thinks will suit the image for optimal exposure. It is Shadows to +55 to make sure detail was kept in the darkest areas
certainly a good baseline for you to continue editing. of the shot. Whites were also reduced slightly to help keep detail
in the brightest parts of the scene.

7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z 41
 USING ADOBE CAMERA RAW

13 Next are the three sliders that affect midtone contrast

and how vivid the colours are. Clarity is a refined version
14 Click on the Detail tab to control Sharpening and Noise
Reduction in your photo. Sharpening is essentially an
of global contrast, affecting the middle tones for more detail. increase of contrast between the brightest and darkest edges of
Vibrance affects muted colours first and Saturation is a more your image.
general adjustment for much more vibrant colours.

15 The Detail and Masking sliders control artefacts caused

by over-sharpening. The Noise Reduction settings let you
16 The Calibration tab is best left at its most current version.
For ACR in this form, Version 4 is the most up to date
control image noise present in high ISO photos. Beware of very Process that offers the most recently improved tools and
high noise reduction settings that can make your photo look functions within ACR. Changing it to older versions will result in
muddy and lacking in detail. certain improvements not being possible.

17 To the far right of the adjustment panels, is a small icon

comprised of four lines. When you click on this, you can call
18 Once you have adjusted the image to your taste, one final
option is to crop your image. Use the Crop Tool (C) to draw
up your image's settings, Save New ACR defaults and reset to a crop box over your image to remove any unwanted area of the
the standard default settings. photo and create a more pleasing composition.

42 7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z
 CAMERA RAW PROCESSING

19 If you are happy with your photo and the edits you've made
you can simply click the Done button and your adjustments
20 You also have the option to click Open Image and continue
to work on the photo in either of the Quick, Guided or
will be saved in what is known as a Sidecar file with an XMP file Expert modes on offer in the Elements Photo Editor. You can
extension. This file remembers the edits you've made and applies then save the result as a PSD file or jpeg. We've decided the sky
them non-destructively to your Raw file when opened. needs to be worked on so we're going to open it.

21 The image file will now open in the Elements Photo Editor.
We're going to work on it in Expert mode because we will
22 The first thing you need to do is create a new adjustment
layer. Click on the Create New Fill or Adjustment Layer
need a few extra adjustments and layers to achieve our goal of icon to expand the dropdown menu and you will see a number
making the sky more dramatic. of adjustment layer choices. Click on Levels to add a 'Levels 1'
adjustment layer to the layer stack in the right hand panel.

23 The 'Levels 1' layer will appear above your base image
which will be on a default locked layer called 'Background'.
24 When you create an adjustment layer, its properties are
displayed in a panel that will appear when it is added to
You will see that it is split into a layer thumbnail and a layer mask the layer stack. In the case of a levels adjustment, there are
thumbnail. The layer thumbnail controls the levels properties and three sliders that control brightness of the shadows, middle
the layer mask controls masking properties. tones and highlights.

7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z 43
 USING ADOBE CAMERA RAW

25 Move the middle tone slider from the middle to the right;
as you do so, the whole image will get darker. You can also
26 Once you have the sky looking darker and a bit more
dramatic, you will see that the rest of the image is too
drag the furthest right highlight slider to the left slightly to make dark. What you can do now is use the layer mask to only let
the clouds a bit whiter. Concentrate on how the sky is looking the levels adjustment affect the sky and level the rest of the
and don't worry about the rest of the image for the moment. image unchanged.

27 To do this you must first make sure your Foreground

Colour is set to Black. You can click the Switch
28 Next you need to click on the Gradient Tool (G). When
you do, the Tool Options Panel will display all Gradient
Foreground icon or press X on your keyboard to swap the Tool options. Click on the Edit button and make sure you have
default foreground and background colours around so black is Foreground to Background set as the gradient. Then make sure
now the foreground colour. the Linear Gradient button is clicked.

44 7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z
 CAMERA RAW PROCESSING

29 Make sure the 'Levels 1' layer mask is clicked to make it

active and then click and drag a line with your gradient tool
30 When you let go of the mouse, a gradient will be drawn
on the layer mask that fades from black to white along the
that starts just below the horizon and ends just above the level of points you clicked with your mouse. Wherever masks are used
the lighthouse. remember that black conceals and white reveals.

31 If you look at your image now, the sky is darker at the top
and transitions to normal at the horizon and the rest of the
32 It doesn't have to end there. You can add another Levels
Adjustment layer and tweak the overall brightness of the
image is untouched. The mask you added only lets the image. You can then go back to the 'Levels 1' adjustment and
adjustment you made affect the sky at the top and fades to make the sky even darker by sliding the middle tone tab even
zero effect where the layer mask is black. further to the right.

33 If you are happy with the image, you can go to File > Save
As (Shift + Cmd + S) and save your composition as a
34 Your ACR to Elements workflow example is complete. You
have processed the original Raw file non-destructively,
Photoshop PSD file with the layers and adjustments intact, which opened the resulting processed file in the Elements Photo Editor
allows you to return and adjust it still further if you wish. and made further targeted edits using adjustment layers.

7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z 45
 Elements Organiser is packed with powerful features
designed to help you make the most of your photos
and videos by organising them and creating albums
and catalogues as efficiently as possible. Import and
tag your photos with keywords, location data and
ratings. If you want, Organiser can auto curate your
photo collection, finding the best ones based on image
quality, tags and ratings to quickly find your favourite
photos. Let's look at what Organiser can do for you.

46 7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z
 GETTING ORGANISED

Contents

7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z 47
 GETTING ORGANISED

The Organiser
Workspace
Before you dive in and start using the Organiser and its tools, it's
worth taking a look at the workspace and how its tools are arranged.

8
Use Elements Organiser to organise and 2 4 5
share your photos and media files. You
can view thumbnails of all your favourite
images and media you’ve imported. You
can view a large thumbnail of a single
3
media file or smaller thumbnails of
many media files. You can fix the most
common problems in the media files by
using the tools in the Instant Fix tab of 1
the Task panel.

1
The File menu options appear in the
top left of the menu bar. These are the
basic methods for interacting with the
program, managing your catalogues and
finding, tagging and viewing all of your
media files.

2
From the drop-down menu, you can
choose to import photos from various
files and folders on your computer, from
your camera and card reader. Another
option lets you search your hard drive.

3
Click the Albums button to view any
Photo Albums you may have created.
Click on Folders to display a folder view
of your files.

4
Click a Folder name to display just the
photos within that chosen folder. Click
the All Media button at the top of the
media browser window to display all
images from all folders.

5
If you are viewing the content of one
folder, you can click the All Media button
to leave the selected folder and see all
6
photos. Next to the All Media button is
a Sort By drop-down list where you can
7

48 7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z
 THE ORGANISER WORKSPACE

sort according to Newest, Oldest, Name browser, the date range of all media and 10
and Batches of photos. the View Notifications button.
Click this button to open the Search pane.
6 8 You can enter a search parameter or click
on any of the search types listed down the
The tools arranged on the left at the At the top of the Organiser window are left hand side of the search panel.
bottom of the screen represent the five clickable tabs. Media displays either
main tools for tagging and organising a folder or the entire catalogue. Click 11
your photos. You can hide the Folders this tab to view photos where you have
panel, Undo steps, Rotate your images, identified faces. Click the Places tab to These two buttons reveal drop-down lists
Add location data, Add an Event, use tag an image with a place on the map. where you can create slide shows, photo
the Instant Fix feature, open the Photo Finally, you can click the Events tab to books, video collages and more. Note
Editor, create a slideshow or return to the display photo tagged as Events. that certain creations require Adobe
Home screen. Premiere Elements to be installed for
9 video-based tasks. The Share button lets
7 you email and share your media on social
The contents of your catalogue or a media and image sharing sites.
This small bar displays information such single folder will be displayed in the main
as the number of items in the media browser window. 12
10 Ratings lets you filter your search by
any star ratings your images have
been given. Auto Curate automatically
11 chooses the best photos for you. You
can specify how many are shortlisted, up
12 to 500, and the results are displayed in
the browser window.

13
When you click the Keyword/Info
13 button at the lower right of the
workspace, a panel opens providing
you with a number of different ways
to add keywords and tag photos. An
Information pane is provided where
information about a selected photo can
be displayed.

14
9 You can adjust this slider to see your
image thumbnails larger or smaller in the
browser window.

15
Click this button to open the Panel Bin
and choose options from the Tags or
Information panel.

A media organiser is only as

good as the tagging and
keywords associated with
your images. Spend
some time tagging
your images to
reap the benefits
when it comes
to searching
and retrieving
them again.

15
14

7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z 49
 GETTING ORGANISED

Setting up
Elements Organiser
Elements Organiser gives you complete control over how you import,
search, tag, organise and share your photos and videos. Organiser
scans your files and analyses your photos and can even find faces
ready for you to identify.

1 When you open Elements, you are presented with the

Home Screen. Down in the lower right are the programs
2 There is usually a default catalogue created but you have
the option to use the Catalogue Manager to create a
available to use or to try a free trial. Click on Organiser to activate custom location for your catalogues. Click the Custom Location
it and follow any on-screen prompts. and then Browse to the location where you would like to create
your custom catalogue.

3 If you are creating a new folder, you can give it a bespoke

name and then hit the Create button to make the folder
4 The Organiser workspace will open and you will see the
main Media workspace displayed. If you are using it for the
into which your catalogue will be placed. Once you have done first time, it will prompt you to start importing images ready to
that, you can then give a name to your catalogue. We have called be organised.
ours 'My Catalog 1'. Click OK to create it.

50 7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z
 SETTING UP ELEMENTS ORGANISER

5 There are also screens giving you a brief overview of what

each section of the Organiser program can do. The People
6 Start the process by clicking the Start Importing button
and Organiser will ask you to add folders from which to
section can identify faces for tagging. The Places section can import media and photos from. You can add and subtract as
geotag or let you manually add location data to your images and many folders as you wish. Click Add Folder to choose more, and
Events groups your images by date and time. even customise how much content from each is imported.

7 When you click Add Folder, browse to where your folder

of images are kept and double-click it to add it to the
8 All the selected media you chose will be imported. If you
have chosen a lot of images, you will see a progress bar
import list. There is a small icon shaped like binoculars that when listing the items as they are imported. When complete, Organiser
highlighted, informs you when new files are added to that folder. will display a grid view of your images ready for you to start
When you are ready, you can hit the Import button. working on.

9 Click on the People section and it will start the process of

scanning your photos looking for faces so you can organise
10 The Events section displays all your photos in chronological
order based on date and time. You can create new events
images by people. The Places section will display images ready and stack all images of that event within it. Now that you are
for you to add location data; unless they already have GPS data organised, let's find a little more about the workspaces on offer.
attached, whereby they will be pinned to the map.

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 GETTING ORGANISED

Tagging and
Keywords
If your photo library is large and scattered across many folders, it
would help if they were tagged and had keywords added to make your
searches more streamlined and efficient. Rather than trawling through
folder after folder, why not tag them with keywords?

1 From the Home screen, click on the Elements Organiser

icon to open the Organiser workspace. We worked in
2 We made a folder called 'Places' that contained a number
of images but only a few of them were relevant to our
Folder view with the Media tab clicked and all media currently particular requirement of moorland photos. The first thing we
on display. We had some example images of Dartmoor in Devon did was to press the Cmd key and left-click each of the required
that we wanted to tag for future reference. moorland photos. There were five shots in total.

3 Now that the images are selected, you can begin to tag
them. The first and foremost requirement is to add a place
4 Press enter and the dialog panel will show you possible
locations based on the name you entered. We knew ours
tag. In the taskbar, click on the Add Location button. This calls was in the Dartmoor National Park, so clicked on that option
up the Add a Location dialogue panel. Our shots were taken at a and then the Apply button to add that location data to the five
place called Haytor, so we entered 'Haytor' in the dialogue panel. images we had selected.

52 7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z
 TAGGING AND KEYWORDS

5 Now if you look over at the Places Tags section in the Tags
panel bin, you will see that location data has been added
6 If you highlight all of the images again, you can add more
tags to help you identify the photos at a later date. Under
as a tag, which may consist of several sub categories. If you click the Image Tags panel, you can add custom keywords; in this
the top category, in this case United Kingdom, only the tagged case, the keyword 'Sunrise' was used. Click Add to include the
images will now be seen in the browser window. new keyword.

7 It is added to the Other category but you can click and

drag to any of the other categories; or click the green plus
8 In the New Category window, you can choose a colour
for your category icon as well as choosing the name you
symbol in the top right corner and click on the New Category want the new category to be called, in this case 'Sunlght'. If you
option in the drop down menu that appears. When you do, the wish, you can even select an icon from the choices listed in the
New Category window opens. category Icon window. Then you can click OK to proceed.

9 The newly named category is added to the Keywords list.

You can drag and drop the its Image Tag into this new
10 As you can see, we had tagged the photos with a specific
Places Tag and also with the new Sunlight category and
folder. If you turn off the Places Tags visibility icon and then click Sunrise image tags. These various sets of tags mean that if we
on the new category's visibility icon, your images will still be ever need to find a sunrise photo taken on Haytor, we can just
displayed in the browser window. search for those particular criteria and they will be displayed.

7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z 53
 GETTING ORGANISED

Putting Names
to Faces
Now that you've tagged a few photos, let's move over to the People
workspace. Your library was scanned for all faces present in the photos
and then displayed here. Now you can tag these people and literally put
names to faces to aid you in your search for friends and family.

1 Click on the People tab to open the workspace for tagging

faces. Just like the main Media view, you can view the
2 The view you are presented with is a thumbnail portrait
of each individual face that has been identified. Below
contents of selected folders or click the All People button for a the thumbnail are the words Add Name followed by a number.
view of every face that has been found in your entire catalogue The number represents how many pictures of that person have
of images; this includes those in the UnNamed category. been found.

3 If you hover your cursor over any given thumbnail, it

displays two options. One shows all the complete photos
4 To name a known person, Ursula Romanovich in this case,
you can click on Add Name and type in their name. Next to
of that person and the other just shows a small thumbnail of the name is a small tick and cross icon. Click the cross to cancel
their face without any background context to distract from the inputing the name or click the tick to assign that name to the
process of identifying them. person. Doing this will move them to the Named category.

54 7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z
 PUTTING NAMES TO FACES

5 If some photos of that person have been missed and are

still available in the UnNamed category, you can click those
6 Sometimes a photo of a person that is very similar to
another may be added by mistake. If that is the case, you
thumbnails and click Add Name. If the facial match is close can right-click the offending thumbnail and choose 'Not Ursula
enough, the name will be displayed and you can simply click it Romanovich' to remove them from the list.
and click the tick button to add those images to the list.

7 On other occasions, if you name a person and then view

their photos in the Named category, you may be shown
8 As an example of grouping, here are five members of a rock
band: it would be handy to group the members for easier
a series of additional pictures and asked if they are also of that searching later on. To do this, go to the small the green plus
person. You can also multi-select those that are not the person symbol in the All People panel to open the Add Group dialog box
you want and click the Not This Person in the taskbar. for you to create a new group for the members of the band.

9 Under Name, you can type the name of the group; we just
called it 'Rock band'. The Group it appears in is None since
10 The new group called 'Rock Band' will appear in the All
People panel bin. Now you can highlight all five members of
we want to create this as a brand new Group category to appear the band and drag their thumbnails into the 'Rock Band' group. If
in the All People panel bin. When you're ready, you can click OK you click on their group folder, only their faces will be displayed
to create the new group. since the tag is relevant only to them.

7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z 55
 GETTING ORGANISED

Tagging Photos
with Location Data
Tagging places is similar to the way you worked with People. There will
be Unpinned modes and Pinned modes for those photos that have had
their locations identified. We've already touched on adding Location tags
briefly, but now we can explore the Places workspace in more detail.

1 Click on the Places tab to view the Places workspace. For

the moment, you will need to be in the UnPinned category
2 If you are using this view, then you can alter the Number Of
Groups value displayed in the left hand panel. Moving the
and view all the photos that have yet to have any location data slider left and right, increases the numbers of groups on view for
added to them. If you click Group By Time, then they will be more detailed scrutiny or reduces the number for a broader view
displayed in chronological order. of all the photos you are viewing.

3 We have opted to tag a specific group of shots taken at a

location called Hound Tor. These shots are kept in a folder
4 On the right of your Places workspace is the map where
you can view any pinned photos. If you know where you
called 'photos', so we have used the folder view to find them. are looking on the map, you can zoom directly to that place,
We haven't worried about viewing in chronological order in this otherwise you can search for a location by putting a name in the
instance. There are four images to tag. search pane at the top of the map.

56 7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z
 TAGGING PHOTOS WITH LOCATION DATA

5 In the media view panel on the left, press the Cmd key and
multi-select the images for location tagging. Then enter
6 Sometimes, you may find that the location of the images on
the map is not that precise but it does give you the option
your search destination in the Search panel above the map. Press to drag the pin to the correct place. If you are having trouble
enter and a list of matches will be displayed. Click the correct identifying the correct area, you can alter the map from Streets
one and the selected media will be placed in that location. to Satellite for a better view of the land.

7 Now you can see the land better, you simply drag the pin
the right spot and click the Place 4 Media Here? green
8 You can also navigate directly to a place you know on the
map and then highlight the pictures you wish to place
tick to confirm placement. You can double-click the pin to view there. Once highlighted, the pictures can then be dragged and
the images contained at that location. It will also appear in the dropped directly onto the map at the location you navigated to.
Pinned category view now as well. These will also appear in the Pinned category.

9 If you import any pictures that contain GPS data, they

will be automatically replaced on the map in the Places
10 If the placement area is too broad, you can edit the location
information by clicking on the pinned thumbnail and
workspace when the data they contain is analysed. Our inputting more precise location options or dragging the pin to a
example of some aerial photos taken on the Devon coast were new location.
accurately placed.

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 GETTING ORGANISED

Adding Events
Tags to Photos
Having talked about who was in a photo and where was it taken, it seems
only right to mention how you can search for images when you want to
know when something was taken. Now you can tag and group them by
the type of event it was and when that event happened.

1 We have an example folder full of various types of events

such as weddings, parties and sporting events. When
2 Much like the People and Places workspaces, the Events
workspace has a Suggested category for untagged events
viewed in the Events workspace, they are listed by date order to yet to be identified and a Named category where any that are
help you find what you are looking for. They are listed with most tagged as an event will finally be displayed.
recent dates and times first.

3 Click the Number Of Groups slider and push it to the far

right Max setting. The media browser will display more
4 The event we are looking for happened in April - May 2017.
Now you can use the Calendar panel on the far right to
time and date options for you to focus in on. We are looking for open the 2017 calendar and click on either April or May. Clicking
a particular sporting event, Autocross, which was photographed on May 2017, reveals the photos from that motorsport event.
back in 2017.

58 7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z
 ADDING EVENTS TAGS TO PHOTOS

5 The photos are spread out across the duration of the entire
day but are all there ready to be tagged. You can use the
6 Now that you have all the photos in once place, you can
highlight them by pressing Cmd + A to select all, or by
Number Of Groups slider again to break down the view into dragging a section around all the photos with your mouse. They
fewer groups or more groups of photos split across that day's will be highlighted in blue with a small tick box in their bottom
worth of shooting. right corner.

7 Down in the taskbar in the bottom centre of your screen

is the Add Event button. If you click this it will call up the
8 Start by giving it a name. We used 'Autocross Event' and
kept the Start and End dates the same since it all occurred
Add Event dialog box where you can begin to add details about on May 13th 2017. Since no other Group names have been
the event itself such as Event Name, Start and End Date and a created, Group is kept as None. A short description is also added.
Description if required. Now you can click OK to proceed.

9 You will see that all our photos now have a small calendar
icon in their top right corner to indicate they have an
10 If you return to the main Media view, you will see that
the Events Tags panel now contains the Autocross Event
event tag called 'Autocross Event' added to them. If you look tag. If you are viewing all media and click the Autocross Event
in the Named category now, you will see that event listed. Click tag to make it visible, only the shots tagged will appear in the
on the small information icon to see the description you typed. browser window.

7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z 59
 We hope that by now you feel like you've had a good
introduction to what Adobe Photoshop Elements is
all about. There's a lot more to come on the following
pages but before we dive in further, we thought it
would be great to show you a series of quick tutorials
exploring the vast range of techniques and tools
available. There's everything, from making a panorama
from multiple images, to putting pictures inside text.
Take a look and enjoy the Elements experience.

60 7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z
 THE ELEMENTS EXPERIENCE

Contents

7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z 61
 THE ELEMENTS EXPERIENCE

AFTER
The Elements Experience 1

Open Closed Eyes

Now you need not consign a photo to
the trash just because your subjects eyes
are shut. Thanks to the latest version of BEFORE
Elements, you can tackle the problem with
ease. If you have another example of a
face where the eyes are open and they are
not too different in terms of their colour
and lighting, you can swiftly replace those
closed eyes for open ones. This works in
both the Quick mode and Expert mode.

62 7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z
 OPEN CLOSED EYES

Open your photo by going to File > Open Go to Enhance > Open Closed Eyes and
1 and navigating to where your primary 2 you will see the Open Closed Eyes dialog
photo is kept and either double-click the image box. Here you can choose your Eye Source to
or select it and press the Open button. open your subjects eyes with.

Just in case, there is a small selection For best results, find a photo that roughly
3 that you can try straight away, with two 4 matches the lighting and colours of your
female and two male sets of sample eyes, on original photo. You can select Choose from >
your photo. Computer and locate a suitable image.

When you have found a likely candidate, The new eyes you found will be mapped
5 double-click it to load it as an eye source 6 over your existing image and blended as
and then click on its thumbnail to apply it to seamlessly as possible. If you like the result, you
your main photo. Click OK when done. can save it under a new name.

7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z 63
 THE ELEMENTS EXPERIENCE

AFTER
The Elements Experience 2

Partial Sketch
Guided edits are a simple, quick and
fun way to add edits to your photos.
Have you ever fancied yourself as a BEFORE
great sketch artist? Well, with the Partial
Sketch guided edit, you can instantly
turn any of your favourite photos into an
artistic rendering with just a few clicks.

64 7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z
 PARTIAL SKETCH

Open the Elements Photo Editor, go to You have four pencil sketch effects to
1 File > Open and choose a favourite photo; 2 choose from. Click one to activate the
then go to the Guided workspace. The Partial sketch brush. Select Add and use the slider to
Sketch effect is under Fun Edits. control its size.

Paint across your image to reveal areas If you want to, you can use the Detail
3 you want to be converted to a sketch 4 Brush to more precisely paint the sketch
effect. You can always use the Subtract brush, effect on or off your photo, controlling the
to remove any sketch areas you don't want. brush size and opacity.

An optional effect is to soften any hard With the image still active, you can
5 edges or flip the effect. If you're happy, 6 actually go to the Expert workspace and
you can select Next and Save your image. continue to work on your photo adding more
contrast to the sketch layer.

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 THE ELEMENTS EXPERIENCE

AFTER
The Elements Experience 3

Replace Background
Hopefully it isn't an exaggeration to say
that cutting one subject out of a photo
and transplanting it into another is one of BEFORE
the core photo manipulation tasks that
everyone has encountered or at least
thought about when perusing their photo
collection. Well, there is a great Guided edit
to help you do just that.

66 7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z
 REPLACE BACKGROUND

In the Guided workspace, you will find Choose from the available tools to select
1 the Replace Background edit under the 2 your subject. The Quick Selection tool
Special Edits category. Put the photo you want should work well on our subject. Drag inside
to work on in the Photo Bin. the edge of subject to select them.

Use the tool options to subtract areas Now you can import a photo that will be
3 that stray outside what is required. Then 4 the new background. It will be placed
you can use the Refine tool to improve the behind your main subject. Both subject and
quality of the selection. background can be moved if required.

Now you can make further refinements Click Auto Match Colour Tone to make
5 to the outline of your subject if you want. 6 the colours of your subject match the
A soft brush can be used to feather the join background more closely. Now you can save
between the foreground and background too. the image as a PSD or jpeg.

7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z 67
 THE ELEMENTS EXPERIENCE

AFTER

BEFORE

The Elements Experience 4

Photomerge Panorama
Sometimes, a view is too expansive to capture
in one photo unless you have some specialist
super wide-angle lens. Luckily, Elements has a
Guided edit that can take a series of shots and
stitch them seamlessly together to create a
super-wide panorama that can stretch from
horizon to horizon if needed.

68 7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z
 PHOTOMERGE PANORAMA

In the Guided workspace, you will Make sure all your photos are selected
1 find Photomerge Panorama under the 2 and choose the type of setting you want.
Photomerge category. Place the sequence of In nearly all cases, the Auto Panorama settings
panoramic photos you want in the Photo Bin. is fine for standard photos.

Make sure the Blend Images Together Now you can click the Create Panorama
3 and Vignette Removal boxes are ticked. 4 button and the stitching process will
If you want to fill transparent areas then begin. Note that Expert mode is used to stitch
choose Content Aware Fill Transparent Areas. your images.

Once Expert mode has stitched the In Expert mode you can flatten the image,
5 images and filled any transparent areas, 6 make adjustments to the image and crop
it returns you to the Guided page to save it or it if required. Then you can save the result as a
continue working on it in Expert mode. PSD or other image format.

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 THE ELEMENTS EXPERIENCE

BEFORE AFTER

The Elements Experience 5

Meme Maker
What is a meme, you may ask? A meme
is an image, video or piece of text that is
humorous in nature. It is copied and spread
around the Internet and social media and
often has slight variations added to it. The
power of the meme has not gone unnoticed
at Adobe, so they have introduced the
Meme Maker as one of their Guided edits
for you to have some fun with.

70 7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z
 MEME MAKER

In the Guided workspace, the Meme We have a funny picture of a monkey

1 Maker is under the Fun Edits category. 2 sticking his tongue out. The first thing to
Make sure you have a suitably worthy image do is to click the Create Meme Template button
open and ready to go. to add the basic frame and text.

You can type new text using the Type Then you can zoom your photo if required
3 Tool and choose any font from the Tool 4 and flip it horizontally or vertically. Then
Options panel in the lower left of the screen. you can choose to add a new border from the
options available.

You can also add more effects to the Finally, when your meme is ready, you can
5 resulting image. You can choose from 6 save it, continue to work on it in Quick or
a pop art, black and white and several other Expert mode and Share it with the world on
options. Click on the effect you want to add. Flickr and Twitter.

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 THE ELEMENTS EXPERIENCE

AFTER
The Elements Experience 6

Multi-photo Text
Creating visual text with a photo inside BEFORE
each letter can be a laborious process,
particularly if you are working with a long
word. Once again, the Elements Guided
workflow has a guided edit that can take
the work out of the process, so you can
enjoy what you are creating.

72 7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z
 MULTI-PHOTO TEXT

The Multi-photo Text guide is in the Use the Type Tool first to add your text,
1 Fun Edits section. With your chosen 2 alter its style and size using the Tool
background photo open, you're ready to then Option panel. You can also specify how it fits
click on the Multi-photo Text icon. your photo.

When you click the Create Frames Choose from your computer or your
3 button, each letter is converted to a 4 Photo Bin and place one image inside
frame ready for you to click and then select a each letter. Double-click each frame to adjust
photo to appear in it. the image size and position.

You can add a new background if you Save it there and then or open it in Expert
5 want by clicking the options available; or 6 mode to work on it further. We made the
you can add outlines and drop shadows to the rabbit larger and more visible and then saved it.
text to make it stand out more.

7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z 73
 THE ELEMENTS EXPERIENCE

AFTER
The Elements Experience 7

B&W Colour Pop

Converting a photo black and white is great
for highlighting the text and composition in
an image to make it more powerful. There is BEFORE
a slightly creative option to that, where by
you convert it to black and white but leave
a part of it in colour so the object really
stands out and draws you eye. It is referred
to as selective colour or in the case of our
guided edit example, B&W Colour Pop.

74 7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z
 B&W COLOUR POP

The B&W Color Pop edit is found in the You can click on one of four presets or of
1 Black & White section. Open a photo that 2 you prefer, click on the Select Custom Color
you want to add the effect to and then click on button and pick the most dominant colour you
the B&W Color Pop icon to proceed. want to remain untouched in your photo.

Then, if you increase the Fuzziness You can then use the Refine Effect
3 value, more colours similar to the one 4 buttons to bring back more areas to
chosen will become visible again while the rest colour using the Add tool, or remove them
remains in black and white. using the Subtract tool.

The Size and Opacity sliders dictate size Paint over areas that you want to be
5 of the brush and how opaque the effect of 6 coloured again, using a smaller brush for
adding colour or subtracting it appears. We're finer detailed areas. Finally, you can then click
bringing colour back at full strength. Increase Saturation for a more vivid image.

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 THE ELEMENTS EXPERIENCE

AFTER
The Elements Experience 8

Zoom Burst Effect

Sometimes you want to add motion to an
image that is otherwise quite static-looking.
Elements has a few Guided edits that can
BEFORE
add a motion effect to your photos to give
them a little extra punch. The Zoom Burst
Effect is a digital version of an ages old
photographic trick where the photographer
very quickly zooms their lens as they take
the shot to create streaks within the photo
to emulate the feel of speed and action.

76 7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z
 ZOOM BURST EFFECT

The Zoom Burst Effect edit is found in the The first step is to crop your image so the
1 Fun Edits section. Open a photo that you 2 main subject is in the centre of the shot.
want to add the effect to and then click on the The zoom effect will start from the centre so it
Zoom Burst image to proceed. makes sense to position the image centrally too.

Use the crop tool to drag a crop box You can then click the Add Zoom Burst
3 around your main subject. Our example 4 button and the effect will be added to the
is of a motorcycle to which we want to add shot. It mimics a photographic effect where the
some motion to create a bit more drama. lens is quickly zoomed as the photo is taken.

At the moment, the entire image has the We used the Add Focus Area tool to
5 effect added to it, however, you can use 6 bring the rider back into focus to give
the Add Focus Area tool to remove some of the the shot a point of interest. We also clicked the
effect in a chosen area. Apply Vignette button to darken the corners.

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 The great thing about Adobe Photoshop Elements
is that it can cater for all skill levels when it comes to
image editing, digital manipulation and creating new
works of art. Whether you are a complete novice who
is starting out and wanting to learn the ropes or an
experienced digital artist who needs more advanced
tools to complete their project, Photoshop Elements
has all the power and sophistication you need to get the
most out of your photos.

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Contents

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 YOUR GUIDE TO IMAGE EDITING

A Guide to
Using Layers
Layers are one of the fundamental aspects you can employ when it
comes to non-destructive image editing.
1
T
he use of layers has become the will remain untouched in case it doesn't
very core of image editing since its turn out quite as you had hoped. Within
introduction in the early '90s. As Elements, there are four main types of You can click the Create New Layer
you might imagine, layers are exactly layer. There is the basic pixel layer which button at the top of the layer panel, use
what they sound like. You can have a contains the main photo elements of the the key broad shortcut or go to the file
number of separate elements, each project. There are text layers where you menu and choose Layer > New > Layer
on its own layer, that are stacked one can type text and change the size and to add a new layer to the stack. You will
on top of the other. When all viewed colour. Then there are fill/adjustment be prompted to name the new layer. You
together, they create the final image. layers that are designed to affect the can rename it at any time.
The advantage of using layers is clear. layer below it such as changing the
It means you can change an element saturation or brightness of the layer 2
on one layer only and not have an below, or just adding a colour to that
impact on the rest of the image. It also layer. Finally there are vector layers that Sometimes it may be necessary to take
means that you can take an image contain scalable graphical elements such a number of layers and group them
and duplicate it on another layer and as shapes and work paths. Each layer to make things more manageable, as
perform any edits you want on that one type can also have a mask added to it so the number of layers increases in your
in the knowledge that the base image only part of that layer can be seen. document. You can highlight each layer

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 A GUIDE TO USING LAYERS

you want and then press the Create specific parts of that layer only. Areas 7
New Group button to group them. of the mask in white let the layer remain
Alternatively, you can go to the file menu visible, while any areas of the mask in The trashcan shaped button lets you
and select Layer > New > Group black hide that part of the layer. The delete any selected layers if you wish to
rule of thumb is: white reveals pixels and remove them from the layer stack.
3 black conceals them.
8
Fills and Adjustments allows you to add 5
colours, gradients and patterns to a layer. There are a number of menu options
They also allow you to add adjustments Clicking this button locks the layer available here such as Rename Layer,
such as Brightness and Contrast, Hue and completely and no further edits can be Duplicate Layer, Delete Layer, Link
Saturation and Levels. Adjustment layers made to it. You will also be unable to Layers, Merge Visible and Merge Down.
affect the layers directly beneath them in reposition the image on a locked layer.
the stack or they can be clipped to the 9
one layer directly below them only. 6
Blend Modes determine how the image
4 If you click this button, any area of a colours on the layer interact with the
layer that has no image pixels in it is layer below it. It can be changed for
Each layer you use in a document can considered transparent. An area that is every layer individually or as part of a
have a layer mask added to it. The mask transparent is then locked and no edits group for certain visual effects.
is designed to let you hide or reveal can be made so it remains transparent.
10
The small eye icon on the left of each
1 2 3 4 5 6 layer lets you turn that layer off so it is
not visible. Any effects associated with
that layer are also rendered invisible until
the eye icon is clicked once more.

11
This lets you link a number of layers
so that any transformations and move
commands you make are all applied to
the linked layers at the same time.

7 8 12
9 The Background layer is the default
bottom layer. Whether it is an image
you have opened or a new document,
the Background layer is always partially
10 11 16 locked until you choose to unlock it.

13
A typical layer with pixel information
15 displayed on it.

14
An adjustment layer is designed to affect
the layer below it. In this example, we
14 have a Levels adjustment that alters the
brightness and contrast of all the layers
stacked below it.

15
13
A vector layer contains scalable data
such as shapes in the case of our
example. A small icon in the lower right
corner of the thumbnail indicates it is a
12 scalable graphic.

16
The thumbnail of a Text layer displays a
T to indicate the layer contains scalable
text. The layer name also reflects
whatever text is on that layer.

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 YOUR GUIDE TO IMAGE EDITING

Methods for
Adjusting an Image
When it comes to methods for adjusting your images in Elements, you
are spoilt for choice. There are a number of methods to get an image
looking great. We'll show you how each one works, with some examples,
to help you choose which method suits you best.

Quick Mode

1 We start in the Quick mode workspace with a sunrise

image of a pier that is in need of some work to make it
2 To remove such a blemish, you can go to the toolbar and
choose the Spot Healing Brush Tool (J). When you choose
look its best. The first thing to do is remove that large black spot this tool, the Tool Option panel displays Spot Healing Brush
in the top right corner: probably a bit of mud stuck to the lens, options. You can choose Spot Healing Brush or Healing Brush to
currently spoiling the shot. remove the spot.

3 The main difference between the two brushes is that the

Spot Healing Brush lets you paint directly over the blemish
4 The Healing Brush Tool asks you to select an area to be
the clone source by clicking on a clean part of the image
and then works out what to fill it with by analysing the area next to the blemish. This chosen area will then be cloned over
around it. Proximity Match and Content Aware are the best the blemish when you paint over it. The cloned source will be
options here for this kind of blemish. blended in to be as seamless as possible.

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 METHODS FOR ADJUSTING AN IMAGE

5 You can alter the brush size by using the Size slider in
the Tool Options panel or by pressing the left and right
6 Now that the blemish is gone, we can look at making
the image more vibrant and appealing. Layers are not
bracket keys. Pressing [ will reduce the size of the brush and available in Quick mode, so it comes down to choosing the
pressing ] will increase the brush size. This lets you clone with right method for the best overall effect. The easiest way to see
greater accuracy and detail if you need it. the effect you can have on the image is to choose Adjustments
from the taskbar.

7 This calls up the Adjustments panel. You can choose

Smart Fix and select from a number of options that make
8 Next, you can go to the Exposure adjustment and
choose to make the image brighter or darker. Again you
subtle changes to the image and recover detail in the highlights can hover over a number of options and see a preview of the
and shadows. Hover over each one to see a preview of the effect or use the slider to make more subtle adjustments to the
effect applied to your photo. Click the one you want to apply. brightness of the image.

9 The Lighting panel is the key to really controlling the

brightness of your Highlights, Midtones and Shadows,
10 The vividness of your image can be controlled in the
Colour panel. Increase the Saturation globally or use
each of which has its own tab for you to access. Choose from Vibrance to increase the most subdued colours first. Hue lets
the options provided or use the sliders for more subtle control you shift the entire colour palette for a surreal colour effect if
of each of the tonal options. you require it.

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 YOUR GUIDE TO IMAGE EDITING

11 Balance lets you shift the colour temperature from cold

to warm and Tint allows you to add either an increasingly
12 Finally, you can go to the Sharpen panel and apply levels of
sharpness to your image; but beware of overdoing it and
green colour cast or a magenta cast to help offset any colour creating artefacts and halos as the contrast increases and bright
inconsistency in your original image. unwanted highlights appear around areas of high contrast in your
photo. If you are happy, you can save the result.

Quick Mode Auto Modes

13 Under the Enhance menu are a number of Auto features to

improve your image. These are quite broad in their effect
14 If you go to Enhance > Auto Smart Tone (Shift + Cmd + T)
an interactive panel appears, where you can drag a cursor
and do lack a certain finesse, so you have no real control over the around a grid. Each corner of the grid shows a possible outcome
outcome. If you want some more input in the effect there are a that can be achieved by moving the cursor further in that
couple with a bit more control worth looking at. direction. Move it around until you get the result you want.

15 If you go to Enhance > Adjust Colour > Adjust Colour

Curves, you can adjust the Highlights, Midtones and
16 Another option, but one that needs a light touch, is the
Haze Removal tool. Go to Enhance > Haze Removal (Shift +
Shadows of your image. There are a number of preset styles you Cmd + Z). This can be quite a strong effect but there are sliders
can choose from to enhance the colour in your image as well as to adjust the strength of the Haze reduction applied and also the
the option to manually adjust the tone sliders. sensitivity of the haze detection.

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 METHODS FOR ADJUSTING AN IMAGE

Guided Mode

1 Guided Mode is an alternative if you are happy to have less

advanced adjustment options available but with more step-
2 The great thing with Guided edits is that you don't have to
apply just one edit. We are going to apply several to get
by-step guidance to help you on your way to creating the final the end result we are after. Start with Levels to get the overall
image. Make sure you have an image open in the Photo Bin ready brightness of the image dialled in first. Levels can be found in the
to work on. Basic category.

3 You will be asked to create a Levels adjustment and a

dialog panel will appear. Click OK. Since the image has a
4 Now, if you look in the Photo Bin, back at the main Guided
Home screen, the photo will have a small icon in its top
lot of underexposed dark areas in the foreground, sliding the right corner that indicates it has edits applied. Then, you can go
Midtone slider to the left will brighten the photo in those darker to the Colour category and choose Enhance Colours to add more
areas. You can then click Next and then Done for this part. vividness to the photo.

5 You can use the three sliders of Hue, Saturation and

Lightness to make the image much more saturated and
6 Finally, back in the Basics category, click Lighten and Darken
and use the three Shadows, Highlights and Midtones sliders
bring out the colours in the sea, sky and foreground. A boost of to make final tweaks to the image. The Highlights have been
Saturation to 45 and Lightness to -2 is enough to bring more life reduced to bring more detail back into the brightest areas. At this
into the photo. You can lick Next and Done once more. point you can click Next and then save your image.

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 YOUR GUIDE TO IMAGE EDITING

Using the Photo

Editor Expert Mode
Don't be put off by the title of Expert. In this case, you get more tools to
play with and you can actually be more involved in the editing process.
You can switch out to another mode, but to truly unlock the power of the
program, you will want to try out some image editing in this mode.

1 We have opened another image that needs some fixing. It

is a sunrise on the moors that is a little underexposed and
2 First, the colour balance needs to be adjusted. The image
is a little too magenta and warm, particularly if you look
needs some work to bring out the foreground, while keeping the at the colour of the grass. This can be altered by using a really
sky relatively untouched, since that is quite well exposed. This is simple trick that can be really effective and requires the use of
where the use of layers and masks will help us out. layers to do it.

3 Press Cmd + J to copy the Background layer. Name the

new layer 'remove cast'. Then go to Filter > Blur > Average.
4 Make sure this layer is active then go to Filter >
Adjustments > Invert (Cmd + I) to invert the muddy brown
This will blur the duplicate of the scene and average out the colour to a pale green hue instead. This colour, derived from
colours it contains into one colour. In this case, it turns a muddy the colour average of the original scene can be used to create a
brown colour. colour correction filter.

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 USING THE PHOTO EDITOR EXPERT MODE

5 Go to the Blend Mode button and from the dropdown

menu that appears, choose Overlay as the blend mode for
6 Altering colour can be quite subjective and if you feel
that the correction is too much, you can always go to
the 'remove cast' layer. This will blend the colour of that layer into the Opacity slider and adjust to about 80% to lessen its effect
the photo of the moors below it. You should see that the snow slightly if you wish. Now you can continue editing the image.
now looks a lot cleaner and whiter than it did.

7 Now to make the image punchier, click the Create New

Fill or Adjustment Layer button and choose Levels. Make
8 Choose the Brush Tool (B) from the toolbar, then set the
foreground colour to black. You can press D to default
sure 'Levels 1' is at the top of the layer stack. Adjust the Midtone the colours so black is the foreground colour and white the
slider so the sky is a bit darker. This will obviously make the entire background colour. Pressing X will swap those foreground and
image too dark but you can fix that next. background colours over if you require.

9 When you choose the Brush Tool, the Tool Options panel
will display parameters for the brushes. We need a large
10 You can now use that soft black brush to paint on any areas
of the mask where you do not want the adjustment to be
soft brush which can be chosen from the Brush Presets menu. visible. In this case, we only wanted the sky to be adjusted so we
Click on the Soft Round 200 pixels brush to make it active. Make painted over the rocks and foreground.
sure the Levels 1 layer mask is active by clicking it.

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 YOUR GUIDE TO IMAGE EDITING

11 When you paint over those areas, you are hiding the
adjustment so they become their original brightness again.
12 Push the Highlights and Midtones sliders of the 'levels 2'
adjustment to the left; as you do this, you will see the entire
In fact, it would be nice to make the foreground rocks and snow image become lighter. Concentrate on the foreground rocks and
brighter, so let's get another Levels Adjustment and add it to the snow and adjust the sliders until they look nice and bright. The
layer stack. This will be 'Levels 2'. sky might be too bright but not to worry.

13 Just as you did with the 'Levels 1' layer mask, paint with
your soft black brush on the 'Levels 2' layer mask over the
14 If you want, to blend the masks better, you can keep
the 'Levels 2' layer mask active and go to Filter > Blur >
sky area and horizon. You are now concealing areas of the 'Levels Guassian Blur and choose a blur of about 125 pixels to help blend
2' adjustment so the sky goes back to being darker again. the two adjustments you've made seem more seamless.

15 There is no reason you can't add the same amount of blur

to the 'Levels 1' layer mask as well. The softening of the two
16 Now that you have both the Levels Adjustments in place,
you can revisit them at any time and tweak the settings to
masks means there are no obvious joins betraying the fact that your heart's content. You can even go back into the layer masks
various adjustments have been made. Thanks to the use of layers, for each and use your brush tools to refine those masks you
this has all been non-destructive editing. applied in the first place.

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 USING THE PHOTO EDITOR EXPERT MODE

17 The image has now been colour balanced and two sets of
adjustments have brought some sparkle to the snow in the
18 Now let's turn up the vividness of the image. Click on the
Create New Fill or Adjustment Layer button and choose
foreground and kept the sky dramatic in the background while Hue/Saturation from the list that appears. A 'Hue/Saturation 1'
the rocks now have some nice detail showing in them as well. layer will be added to your existing layer stack. Make sure it is the
topmost layer.

19 How much Saturation you add is a matter of personal taste

but to capture the glorious colours of that sunrise, it's been
20 Click the Channel button and you will see how you can
affect the saturation of the component colours. Select
pushed to +36. You will notice however that the grass could do Yellows and dial up the saturation and push the Hue slider to
with a little push to make it more vibrant. about +23 to really bring out the vibrant green of the grass.

21 At this point, you may want to perform more edits to the

image. It is always good housekeeping to create a snapshot
22 You can now perform edits directly to the pixel data of the
'merged' layer, safe in the knowledge that if anything goes
of the work done thus far. To do this, press Shift + Alt + Cmd + E. wrong, you still have all the original work on the layers below
This creates a new layer which is a merged version of all visible which you can use to create another merged version. You can
layers. Name this layer 'merged'. also save your document as a PSD file when complete.

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 YOUR GUIDE TO IMAGE EDITING

Selection
Tools
Some aspects of image editing will require you to select certain areas of
a photo so you can either place it on another layer or edit it in isolation
from the rest of the image. With Elements, you have a number of options
for being able to achieve this and we cover them next.

Rectangular Marquee Elliptical Marquee

1 This tool lets you make selections of square or rectangular

areas of your image. In addition to making the selection,
2 The Elliptical Marquee tool behaves in the same way as the
Rectangular Marquee tool and has the same tool options
you can add to it, subtract from it and intersect with it. You can available. You can make circular and elliptical selections of any
make selections of a fixed size, fixed ratio or normal aspects. You size or proportion. If you hold the Alt key, you can centre your
can also feather and refine the edge. ellipse over the cursor position.

Lasso Magnetic Lasso

3 The Lasso tool can be used to make area selections from

your image or active layer. The shapes you select with the
4 This tool uses edge detection to adhere to the edge of the
subject you are attempting to select in the image. You can
Lasso tool can be completely irregular and hand drawn. When alter its parameters for more accurate detection in order to make
you join the lasso back up to the point where you started, the it snap to the edge of your subject. Areas of high contrast work
selection is closed. best with this tool.

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 SELECTION TOOLS

Polygonal Lasso Quick Selection

5 The Polygonal Lasso allows you to draw point-to-point

straight lines around your subject. This is good for
6 The Quick Selection tool lets you paint a selection as if it
were a brush. It uses edge detection to attempt to match
geometric and straight-edged subjects where a perfectly straight your selection to the nearest edge in the image. You can alter
line is required. Like the Lasso Tool, when you join back up with brush size and settings and it works best on high contrast
your start point, the selection is closed. subjects that are in sharp focus.

Selection Brush Magic Wand

7 The Selection Brush is more of a freeform brush that lets

you choose a brush type of certain size and hardness
8 This tool is useful for the selection of image areas that
are the same colour and brightness. You can adjust its
and paint a selection around your chosen subject. You can also sensitivity, refine its edge and also choose whether it will globally
choose to make it a mask instead. You can add or subtract from select all areas of a chosen colour or just its nearest neighbours.
your selections in the usual fashion.

Refine Selection Brush Auto Selection

9 The Refine Selection Brush lets you make targeted

adjustments to an existing active selection. In additional to
10 This works in a similar way to Quick Selection except that
you use Rectangular and Elliptical Marquees and the Lasso
adding or subtracting from the selection you can actually push the and Polygonal shapes to enclose an area for edge detection to
selection edge and smooth it by applying the refinement brush. work within. It works best with well-defined shapes that have
good contrast.

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 YOUR GUIDE TO IMAGE EDITING

Cloning, Healing
and Enhancing
Even with modern digital cameras, a lot of photos may have
imperfections in them; for instance with dust contamination. This will
be displayed as a black smudge on the final photo. Removing these
blemishes is quite easy. The technology can also do much more.

Eye Tool

1 Red-eye is caused by light from the flash of a camera

reflecting off the blood vessels at the back of the eye when
2 Click the Eye Tool (Y) and simply click your cursor over the
offending redness in the eyes of your subject. The tool will
the pupil is wide open. If you happen to find a favourite photo remove the redness and you can alter Pupil Radius and Darken
where your subject has red-eye, then it is a simple process to values to make sure the red has been completely removed. It can
remove it. also be set for Pet Eye as well.

Closed Eye Correction

1 Another great function available in the options panel is the

function to open closed eyes. Click the Open Closed Eyes
2 Eyes that closely resemble your subject will work best or if
you have another image where the eyes are open, you can
button to activate the dialog. The image will scan for closed eyes load that and the program will automatically apply those open
and circle possible candidates. Choose the one you want. You eyes to your current image.
can then choose a set of open eyes to merge into the shot.

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 CLONING, HEALING AND ENHANCING

Spot Healing Brush Tool

1 The Spot Healing Brush is great at removing dust spots

from photos and is also great for removing spots from
2 You can choose between Proximity match, Create Texture
and Content Aware. For most of your subjects, you may
humans too. If you have a portrait and the subject has some find that you are switching between Proximity Match and
unwanted blemishes, you can use the Spot Healing Brush to click Content Aware. You can adjust the brush size for smaller spots.
on the spot and it will use nearby pixels to fill the area. With care, most blemishes and wrinkles can be removed easily.

3 The Healing Brush is an older version of the Spot Healing

Brush. It requires you to specify a sample point of a similar
4 When it comes to Healing Brush techniques, you will find
that subtlety is the key. Spot Healing is not perfect and may
clean texture which is then cloned over your chosen area much require several attempts to get it right. Avoiding too many repeat
like a Clone stamp when you click on the target blemish or patterns is important to avoid creating a texture that doesn't look
wrinkle you wish to remove. like it has been cloned.

Smart Brush

1 The Smart Brush uses edge-detection to allow you to brush

areas of your photo and apply different effects to those
2 Choose an effect such as a pencil sketch effect and begin
to drag your brush over the image, where you want the
areas. When you select the Smart Brush Tool (F) the options effect to be seen. You can change brush size and settings such as
panel has an effects picker to let you choose which effect you hardness and roundness and subtract from the current selection.
want to apply to your photo. Choose the Detail Smart Brush for more refined selections.

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 YOUR GUIDE TO IMAGE EDITING

Clone Stamp Tool

1 After the Healing Brush Tool, the Clone Stamp Tool (S)
will seem quite familiar. It copies pixels from one area onto
2 Select the Clone Stamp Tool (S). In the options panel, you
will have a number of paramaters to choose from such as
another to remove things from your photos. Despite recent Size, Opacity and Blend Mode. The Aligned button, when ticked,
advances with the Content Aware and Spot Healing Tools, it links to and moves your source point as you move your cursor.
remains one of the best ways to remove things from a photo. Unticked, it uses the same source point each time.

3 Here is a wildlife photo from which we want to remove the

distracting blades of grass that are sticking up to the right
4 Press the Alt key and select an area right next to the tip
of the grass as the source of your cloned pixels. Now you
of the rabbit. This is a good example of how cloning can quickly can clone that area over the blades of grass. If the colours don't
remove elements from your photos with minimal effort. match, you can reselect an area that more closely matches and
doesn't stand out as cloned.

5 Work you way down the grass stem, you can change the
size of the brush at any point by pressing the left and right
6 One thing that really gives cloning away is a repeating
pattern. If you see a pattern building up, you can press
bracket keys on your keyboard. Take your time and don't be undo (Cmd + Z) to step backward though your last performed
afraid to keep selecting new clone source points so the colours actions and change your clone source again to avoid the
match the background when you clone out more of the grass. repetition of that pattern.

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 CLONING, HEALING AND ENHANCING

7 In the options panel, you also have the Pattern Stamp

available. As the name suggests, you can use this tool to
8 You can change the Pattern Stamp's Size and Opacity as
well as the Blend Mode. Choosing Soft Light, for instance,
apply a preset pattern to your image. Click on the pattern picker allows a softer blend of the pattern into the image. Click
and choose the pattern you want to apply to your photo. Impressionist to turn the patterns into paint dabs for a more
artistic effect.

Blur, Sharpen and Smudge

1 The Blur Tool (R) is a fairly self-explanatory tool for adding

blur to specific areas of a photo. You can choose a brush
2 The Sharpen Tool (R) uses a brush tool to apply sharpening
to your image. Like the Blur Tool, it is a more targeted
type and alter its Size and Strength values for a subtle or intense method of adding sharpness to a photo. Choose your brush type
blurring of your subject. and alter the Size and Strength values to get the desired effect.

3 Approach sharpening with caution since it is very easy to

overdo it and ruin an image with over sharpening. Make
4 The Smudge Tool (R) can be used to smear the pixels of
your photo across the screen for a creative effect. Just
sure the Protect Detail button is ticked and begin to apply the like Sharpen and Blur, you can alter the brush type and set the
sharpening effect. Size and Strength of the effect. The Finger Painting button adds
colour to the smudged pixels.

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 YOUR GUIDE TO IMAGE EDITING

Sponge, Dodge and Burn

1 The Sponge Tool (O) has two Mode settings of Saturate

and Desaturate. You can control the Size settings as well as
2 It's a simple tool for adding targeted saturation or
desaturation to the photo. It is recommended to set the
the Flow of the effect you are adding to your image. You can also Flow of these brushes to about 10%. Then gradually build up the
set the type of brush you want to use to apply the effect. application of colour saturation, the removal of colour entirely or
just lessen the vibrance of areas in the photo.

Click and drag the Sponge Tool over the areas you The Dodge and Burn Tools are named after the
3 selectively wish to Saturate or Desaturate. Continue to 4 techniques that were originally used in traditional film
brush the areas to increase the amount of the effect you are processing darkrooms. Dodging refers to selectively making
applying. In this example, brushing using the Desaturate option areas lighter in an image and Burning is the opposite effect of
eventually turns the affected areas to grey. making images darker.

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 CLONING, HEALING AND ENHANCING

5 The Dodge Tool can be used to lighten images. Use the

Range button to determine if you are affecting just the
6 You can selectively brighten areas of the image that you
want to make lighter. These tools work better for images
Highlights, Midtones or Shadows in your photo for greater that start with lower amounts of contrast to begin with. High
control of the final result. Again, using very low Exposure settings contrast images will have less need for these kinds of adjustments.
around 10% is recommended.

The Burn Tool will selectively make parts of your photo Now you can brush over areas that you want to be darker
7 darker. You can darken the Highlights, Midtones and 8 and create more contrast. Since this particular method is
Shadows by clicking the Range button again and adjusting a destructive one, in that you are altering pixels, duplicating the
the Size and Exposure settings of the brush. Subtlety is key to base layer and working on a copy is a good way to avoid losing
making it work, so Exposure settings of 10% are a good start. the original.

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Draw, Fill,
Shapes and Text
The Draw section of the toolbar contains various elements to let you
paint, draw, erase and sample colours in your images. There are also a
number of text options available for adding text effects to your photos
and making masks in the shape of any text that you type.

Brush Tool

1 The Brush Tool (B) is one of the most often used tools
in the photo editor's arsenal. Whether you are painting
2 When you click on the Brush Tool, the options available are
quite varied. You can control brushes with your mouse or if
directly over a photo, or adding brush strokes to a layer, the you use a tablet, you can control it as if it were an airbrush with
Brush Tool is designed to behave like its real world counterpart pressure sensitive effects for more artistic flair.
but with more powerful features built in.

3 You can choose any number of brush types from the brush
picker and alter the Size and Opacity values. You can also
4 You can choose the colours you brush with and also use
the Brush Settings sliders to change how much the colours
load new brushes that can be purchased and downloaded from a fade and alter with each brush stroke. You can also tell the brush
large number of vendors specialising in photo editing tools. how much Scatter or Spacing to use with each brush stroke you
apply. Tablet settings are also available.

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5 Next to the standard brush is the Impressionist Brush Tool

(B). Using its various Brush Settings you can turn your
6 When you paint with this brush, the image beneath the
cursor is turned into a series of loose curls, swirls and
photo into a painting much in the style of the old impressionist daubs. The larger the brush size you use, the more abstract the
painters whose works were rendered as a series of dots, strokes image becomes. Using a brush that is too large will render the
and swirls. photo unrecognisable.

7 The next brush is the Colour Replacement Tool (B). Select a

foreground colour in the toolbar to use as the replacement
8 Our example picture is of an owl set against a green
background. The colour of the background can be replaced
colour. Once again, you have a number of tool options available fairly easily since the owl itself contains no strong green colours
including Size, Tolerance and Limits. that match the background too closely.

9 The Colour Replacement Tool works by continuously

sampling the colour directly under the cursor position. The
10 In the case of the owl image, dragging the Colour
Replacement Tool over the green areas next to the owl
colour beneath the cursor will then be replaced with whatever replaces that colour; but the owl remains untouched since it is not
you have chosen as the foreground colour. You can select the the same colour as the colour beneath the crosshair of the tool.
Blend Mode used to effect how the replacement colour is applied.

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Eraser Tool

1 Much like its real world counterpart, the Eraser Tool (E)
removes pixels from your image. Whatever colour you have
2 If the photo is on a layer, then erasing pixels will reveal
transparent areas instead. Again, if you alter the Size and
chosen as the background will be used to erase pixel data from Opacity of the Eraser Tool, those transparent areas can either
the photo as if it were a solid coloured brush. You can also set be fully transparent or partially transparent, depending on brush
the Size and Opacity of the eraser. opacity settings.

3 The Background Eraser Tool (E) is a useful one for targeted

removal of certain parts of an image. It behaves a little like
4 You can alter the Size and Tolerance of the brush, as well as
the softness and spacing of the brush you use. Tolerance
the Colour Replacement Tool but in this case, any pixel colour is key to setting the sensitivity of the brush to changes in colour.
beneath the cursor is erased, leaving the area transparent when High Tolerance will mean more varied colours are removed under
it's on a layer. the cursor position.

5 In our example, the blue can be removed sky from the

photo by placing the cursor over the blue areas to be
6 The Magic Eraser (E) is a more global erasing tool. Set your
Tolerance higher for more colours to be included or lower
removed. As you click and drag the mouse, any blue that falls to pick out less shades of the target colour at the cursor position.
under the cursor position will be removed, but the white clouds When you click on the blue sky, large swathes of that colour will
remain untouched since they are not blue. be removed with each click of the mouse.

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Paint Bucket Tool

1 The Paint Bucket Tool (K) allows you to fill areas with solid
colours. You can set Opacity, Tolerance and Blend Mode.
2 You can fill and entire layer, or it can be used to fill specific
areas based on what edges it encounters. Our example
High or low Tolerance settings mean it will use edge detection to has a cartoon character on a white background. His outline is
decide which areas can be filled or ignored. quite well-defined so clicking with the paint bucket means the
background can easily be filled with a colour.

3 You will notice there is an option for Contiguous fill. If it is

ticked, only the nearest neighbouring colours will be filled. If
4 In addition to the Paint Bucket, you also have the Pattern
Fill option. Once again you have Tolerance settings and
the Contiguous button is unchecked, then all matching colours in Opacity values to alter. Choose a pattern and use that to fill an
the image will be filled, no matter where they are in the photo. entire layer or in the case of our cartoon, the blank background
can be filled with texture.

Gradient Tool

1 The Gradient Tool (G) lets you fill areas of your image or
entire layers with colours that fade from one to another or
2 You can pick the kind of gradient you want to use by
clicking on the Gradient Picker and choosing a preset from
can fade from one colour to transparent. The Gradient Tool does the list. They range from Foreground to Transparent to multiple
not use edge detection. If you need a filled shape, it needs to be colour gradients all at the click of a button.
defined by a selection.

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3 If you want to make your own gradient, you can click on

the Gradient Editor and add what are known as Colour
4 Our example of a camera on a white background could
use some colour. The background has an active selection
Stops to a basic gradient, change their colour and define if they around it to enclose the gradient when it is added. You can click
are solid or transparent. Any custom made gradients can be and drag your cursor to draw out a start point and an end point
saved as a preset. for the gradient to follow.

5 When you let go of your mouse, the current gradient will

be applied and fills the active selection around the camera.
6 If required, you can change the type of gradient you are
using from its default. You can also use Radial gradients,
The default Gradient Type is linear, meaning that the gradient Angle, Reflected and Diamond gradients. They can all have their
travels in a straight path from start colour to end colour. Blend Mode altered as well as Opacity. They can be reversed and
Transparency and Dither turned off.

Colour Picker

1 The Colour Picker (I) does as the name suggests. When you
choose this tool, it gives you a small eyedropper cursor that
2 You can choose whether it samples a single pixel or a 3 x
3 average or a 5 x 5 pixel area to create an average. The
when clicked on a photo, picks the colour beneath the cursor colour it samples can be across all layers or a single layer.
position and makes it the active foreground colour.

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Custom Shape Tool

1 Choose from a number of predefined shapes and add them

as vector shapes on a new layer. Choose their colour and
2 Once you have chosen your settings, you can draw out
the shape on your photo. You can click and drag from the
Layer Style from the Style picker. You can also choose whether corner outwards or choose From Centre to draw the shape out
they are of fixed size or unconstrained and if you add to a shape from the cursor position. The shape will fill with your chosen
or subtract from it. colour when you let the mouse button go.

Horizontal Type Tool

3 The Horizontal Type Tool (T) gives you a multitude of text

options. Choose your font, its colour and size. You can then
4 You also have vertical text options, text for masking and
the ability to fit typed text to a shape or path. Our example
type on your document and a new text layer will be added above shows a butterfly's outline with sample text following the outline
your photo. The text can be manipulated and bent into a curve or of that shape.
other shapes for creative effects.

Pencil Tool

1 The Pencil Tool (N) is designed to act like a real world pencil
and is a hard-edged tool that has a number of preset pencil
2 You are then free to use your mouse or tablet, to sketch and
draw with your pencil as you see fit. You can draw directly
tip shapes to draw with. You can choose the Size, Opacity and over your existing image or create a new layer and draw on that
Blend Mode for your pencil strokes along with its colour. so as to preserve your original image.

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Modify, Crop, Move

and Recompose
The Modify section of the toolbar contains a set of tools that give you the
ability to crop in a number of ways and to scale your images but protect
certain parts from being affected during the scale. You can also move the
subject of your photo from one part of the scene to another.

Crop Tool

1 The Crop Tool (C) is the most common method of cutting

areas of your photo off in order to change the composition
2 You can use set proportions to crop or you can go it alone
with no restrictions and make your own crop. Simply click
and proportions. When you click the tool, the options panel will and drag your mouse across the area of the scene that you want
display some suggestions for you as to how it thinks the image to be cropped and a gridded box will show you the current crop.
can be cropped. You can use those or make your own crop. You can click the green commit arrow to proceed.

3 Within the crop tool options you also have the Cookie
Cutter Tool (C), which lets you cut out images using a
4 With your shape chosen, you can drag it over your image
and scale it to cover the area of the photo you want to
number of preset shapes. You can choose from all the available crop. If you tick the From Centre button in the optional panel, the
shapes such as butterflies, snowflakes, graphic symbols and shape will be drawn outward from your cursor position. You have
much more. the option to feather the crop if you want.

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5 If you hold the Shift key as you drag, you can keep the
shape's proportions locked. When you let go of the mouse,
6 The Perspective Crop Tool (C) lets you draw a crop box
around a specific part of your photo that is distorted and
the image will be cropped in your chosen shape. You then have gives you a chance to crop and remove the distortion at the
options available that let you Rotate, Scale and Skew the shape same time. You start by drawing a crop box around the area you
until you have it how you want it. want to crop.

7 You can then begin to manipulate the crop box to match

the perspective of the object you are cropping. Use the
8 When you click on the green commit button shaped like a
tick, the Perspective Crop Tool will crop and stretch out the
control points around the crop box to drag the box out to match image, removing the distortion. It may take a couple of attempts
the subject. In our example, the road sign gives us some helpful but it can help you rescue some tricky, distorted images.
straight lines to match the perspective.

Recompose Tool

1 The Recompose Tool (W) uses content aware scaling

technology to let you scale images to a different
2 Here is an example of a rally car with a lot of empty space
to the right. It could be cropped but this image provides
proportion, but only scale areas with no detail. You can also a good excuse to try the Recompose Tool. The options panel
select areas to remain untouched by the scaling process for a displays a number of tools to help you with the scaling process.
much better final result.

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3 You can use the Mark For Protection brush to highlight

areas that you want kept intact and untouched during
4 Once you have marked out your image and have either
selected areas to protect and areas to remove, you can
the scaling process. Similarly, you can also make areas that you click and drag on the control points around the perimeter of the
want removed. You can adjust brush Size and Threshold and image. In this case, we are going to drag the right middle control
any scaling restrictions you wish to apply. point inwards.

5 You can begin to drag the control point inwards and as

you do, all the areas that are unprotected will concertina
6 The control point can be dragged all the way across the
image. All the dirt and dust on the right of the image has
together and the program will attempt to blend that pixel data been merged into the space that remains now the image is half
together. The areas that are selected to be protected will not be the width it was originally, but the car is unchanged.
crushed together.

Content Aware Move Tool

1 the Content Aware Move Tool (Q) uses similar technology

to the Recompose Tool but in this case it lets you move
2 The options panel gives you some simple tool parameters.
You will need to draw a selection around the object in
an object in your photo and place it elsewhere in the shot and the photo you wish to move. You can add or subtract from the
blends it back in and fills the original gap left by the subject. selection you've made by using the New, Add, Subtract and
Intersect options provided.

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3 With the tool active, you can draw around the subject
that is going to be moved. Be aware that areas with
4 Enclose your subject in a selection and then drag it to its
new location. The Healing slider controls how aggressively
complex content can be a challenge and the area you move it tries to blend the image into the new location and also fill the
your subject to needs to be of a similar texture and colour for it gap it leaves behind. The Mode can be altered from Move to
to work properly. Extend to stretch your selection if required.

5 The Content Aware Move Tool will blend the image

together. It can be a hit and miss process and may require
6 We tried the sailboat image and also a simple object on
grass. The grass image yielded better results after a few
the settings to be tweaked. You can also try selecting more of attempts but it still needed some cleaning up with the Clone
the area around your subject for more blend data to be used. Stamp Tool to remove some obvious artefacts and blend in some
untouched grass.

Straighten Tool

1 The Straighten Tool (P) will easily take care of wonky

landscape photos and get them level again. You have a
2 Simply click and draw along a slanted horizon line that
needs to be level. When you let go of the button the
number of options as to how the image is handled once horizon will be levelled. There is an option to Autofill Edges.
straightened. The canvas can grow as required when rotated, When the image is rotated, any blank areas will be filled with
stay the same size or be cropped to remove the background. nearby similar textures.

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 Now that you've experienced what Elements has to
offer and how the major tools work, it's time to try out
some more involved projects to help you hone your
skills. The Quick and Guided workspaces are all well
and good but if you really want to understand more
about digital manipulation, then it's time to fire up the
Expert workspace and dive in. There's an old saying:
'the best way to learn, is to do'. With that in mind, let's
do it!

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Contents

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Sky
Replacement

BEFORE AFTER

B lue skies are wonderful. They mean we are having a lovely sunny day. This is particularly
meaningful if you live in the UK, which is often the butt of jokes about its horrible weather.
No better time then to get out and take some photographs. The only problem you may find if
you’re anything like us, is that landscapes shot on days like this can look a little dull. The light is
great, but the sky is lacking in any drama and it’s just a big, blue, empty canvas. Sometimes the
sky is lovely but it’s in the wrong part of the image in relation to the landscape you were trying
to shoot. Well, there is an answer to your woes with sky swapping. It requires your primary photo
and a photo of a cloudy sky.

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1 To begin you will need your primary photograph. Go to File

> Open (Cmd + O) and use the file browser to navigate to
2 Our example is a shoreline image taken on a beautiful blue
sky day. Unfortunately, that blue sky just looks a bit empty
the location your photo is stored. You can double-click the image and is in need of a little attention to make it more appealing.
to open it or highlight it and then click on the Open button in the All the trees and rock details below make the image look a bit
lower right of the browser window. bottom-heavy. Some clouds should help.

3 The first thing that will need your attention though is the
horizon. In the case of this shot, the camera was tilted
4 Go to the toolbar and in the Modify section and then click
on the Straighten Tool (P) to make it active. When you do
slightly and it means the horizon is not on the level. Luckily, there this, the options panel at the bottom of the screen will display
is a tool that can help us sort this out with just a few clicks. all of the available parameters and options available for that
particular chosen tool.

5 When the image is straightened, you can choose how the

crop is dealt with once the photo is rotated. You don't want
6 Since rotating the mage will create blank areas at the
edges of the photo, you can also select the Autofill Edges
to lose too much of the photo so choose the Grow or Shrink option. This uses the Content Aware Fill technology to analyse
Canvas to Fit option. This way, it won't matter how much the the nearest textures at the edges and fill in the blanks using
image rotates, it will not be cropped. cloned texture.

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7 Now you can actually straighten that horizon out. Take the
Straighten Tool and click and drag a line across a tilted
8 When you let go of the mouse, the Straighten Tool rotates
the image enough to level out the shoreline. The entire
area that you know has to be level. In the back of this photo is a image rotated about 6°, which has created blank areas as the
shoreline which can be used as a guide. Drag along it from left canvas expanded to make sure the photo was not cropped.
to right.

9 When you choose to Autofill the edges, the blank areas are
now analysed and then filled with similar textures. Because
10 If you click on the layer thumbnail for the photo, you can
rename it. We called ours 'shore'. Now the image is ready
of the random fractal nature of the trees, rocks and sea, the filled for its blue sky makeover. Go to File > Open (Cmd + O) once
areas match very well, with no obvious cloning errors to be seen. again and navigate to the folder where your cloud replacement
photo is kept.

11 Our example clouds were chosen because they are lit in a

similar way to the primary photo at roughly the same time
12 Double-click the 'clouds' image to open it. Since you only
need the clouds, you can selectively choose just that area
of day. This is an important consideration since you want the to add to the primary photo. Go to the toolbar and choose the
clouds to look as if they belong in the shot; otherwise the effect Rectangular Marquee Tool (M). You can use this tool to drag a
is going to look very odd. selection box from the top left corner to the right horizon.

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13 When you let go of the mouse the selection you drew

will become active with black and white dashes known
14 Click on the document tab of your primary photo to make
it active and go to Edit > Paste (Cmd + V) to paste the
as 'marching ants'. With the selection active, go to Edit > Copy copied clouds onto the current photo. It will automatically appear
(Cmd + C) to copy the selected sky area to the clipboard ready centred on its own layer so as not to destroy the shoreline photo
to use in your photo. below it. By default the new layer is called 'Layer 1'.

15 Go to the toolbar and choose the Move Tool (V). You can
use this to physically click and drag the clouds into the top
16 You will see that an active layer element will have control
points around its perimeter. You can click and drag these
left corner of the photo and set about making it the right size to control points in order to scale the clouds to fit the new photo.
match the dimensions of the primary photo. In this example, clicking and dragging the far right centre control
point to the edge of the photo.

17 You can rename 'Layer 1' as 'clouds'. Now click on the little
eye icon to the left of the 'clouds' layer thumbnail. This will
18 Go to the toolbar and choose the Quick Selection Tool
(A). You need to use it to make a selection of the sky area.
make it invisible for the moment. You need to work on the 'shore' With the Quick Selection Tool active, you will see various options
layer, so click its thumbnail to make it active. available in the tool options panel at the bottom of the screen.
Choose a brush size of about 50 pixels.

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19 Use the Quick Selection Tool to start selecting just the blue
sky. Drag the cursor over all blue areas, avoiding all others,
20 With all of the sky selected, you can now use the Refine
Edge tool to make the selection even more accurate. Click
and it will automatically select as you go. Because the tree line the refine Edge button in the tool options panel to open the
is of a different colour and hard-edged, the selection tool has no Refine Edge dialog panel. In this case, the default Edge Detection
real difficulty in choosing just the sky. and Adjust Edge settings will be fine.

21 Simply start to brush over the areas where the sky meets
the horizon line and trees. The Refine Edge tool will make
22 The selection edge will be refined, ready for the next step.
Click the 'clouds' layer visibility icon to make it visible
more accurate, targeted refinements, particularly around the tree again and you will see the selection, denoted by 'marching ants',
areas. If you are happy that the selection is as good as it can be, overlaid on the clouds. Keep the selection active and make sure
you can click OK to proceed. the 'clouds' layer is also active.

23 Click on the Add Layer Mask button in the layer options

panel and a layer mask will automatically be added to the
24 When you Alt + left-click on the layer mask thumbnail, you
can view the mask on its own in black and white. You can
'clouds' layer in the shape of the active selection. Anything inside see how the Refine Edge Tool has quite accurately masked the
the selection is white, anything outside the selection is black. trees and horizon. You can Alt + left-click the layer mask again to
return to the normal view.

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25 With masks, the rule of thumb to keep in mind is that white

reveals part of a masked image, whereas black will conceal
26 It would be good if the sky was just a little darker to match
the exposure of the primary photo. Keep the 'clouds' layer
areas of your photo. In this case, the clouds are allowed to be active and click the Create New Fill or Adjustment Layer. Select
visible but anything below the trees is hidden by the black areas Levels from the menu that appears. A 'Levels 1' adjustment layer
of the mask. will be added above the 'clouds' layer.

27 Right-click the 'Levels 1' adjustment layer and choose

Create Clipping Mask from the context menu that appears.
28 A small box with an arrow will appear to the left of the
adjustment layer thumbnail to indicate it has been clipped
This will clip the adjustment layer to the 'clouds' layer which is to the layer below. A Levels dialog panel will open automatically,
directly below it in the stack. Any adjustments made will only ready for you to make adjustments to the clouds.
affect the 'clouds' layer and nothing else.

29 The sliders in the Levels panel allow you to darken and

lighten the Shadows, Midtones and Highlight areas of the
30 With that, your sky replacement is complete; you can go to
File > Save As and save your layered document as a PSD
photo. Dragging the Midtones slider to the right slightly will file. This will keep all your edits intact should you ever want to
darken the sky. You can experiment with all the sliders until you revisit this image and make more amends to it.
have something you like.

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Frequency
Separation

BEFORE AFTER

T hanks to digital technology you can be a makeup artist and control exactly how you want
your subject to look. Naturally, there are numerous ways you can go about retouching
skin. Some techniques are very simple but do not give natural results. Some people take it to
extremes and end up with their models looking like mannequins. All we are looking to do is
make our model’s skin look as healthy and glowing as possible. We are going to use a technique
called frequency separation. Simply put, you break the base image down into two components.
One layer carries just colour and tonal information, the other layer holds detail and texture. This
means you can work on one, without affecting the other. It’s a simple and effective method.

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 FREQUENCY SEPARATION

1 Our example is from a portrait shoot of a young girl called

Courtney. Open the photo in Elements as a new document.
2 Click the 'Background' layer to make sure it is active; it will
highlight in blue to let you know it is selected. Then press
Courtney has some makeup applied but she had some spots that Cmd + J to create a duplicate layer. Name this layer 'colour'.
the makeup couldn't obscure so we are going to improve her Highlight the 'colour' layer then press Cmd + J once more to
complexion by removing the blemishes from her forehead. create yet another layer which you can name 'texture'.

3 Make sure the 'texture' layer is now highlighted and press

Cmd + J one more time to create a layer that will be called
4 Make 'texture copy' and 'texture' invisible for the moment
by clicking on their visibility icons to hide them. Make the
'texture copy'. These are all the layers you need to begin creating 'colour' layer active. What you are going to do is turn this layer
your two main layers of texture and colour to edit. into colour data only. To do that you need to blur this layer to
remove any obvious detail.

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5 Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur to call up the blur dialog
panel. Set the blur Radius to about 10 pixels. You have to
6 Make all the other layers visible again and make the 'texture
copy' layer at the top of the layer stack active. You need to
apply just enough blur to remove any hard details but leave the apply the same blur amount to this layer. Go to Filter and the top
general shape and colour intact. Do not over blur the image and menu item will be the last effect you applied. You can also press
merge colours together too much. Cmd + F to apply the last filter you used.

7 The 'texture copy' layer is blurred to the same degree as

the 'colour' layer. You can use this layer and the un-blurred
8 All the colours of the 'texture copy' layer will be inverted
like a colour negative. With the 'texture copy' layer still
'texture' layer below it to create the second component needed active, move the Opacity slider down to 50%. What you see now
for the skin retouch. To do this, go to Filter > Adjustments > is a combination of the 'texture' layer below and the current layer
Invert (Cmd + I) to invert the 'texture copy' layer colours. at 50% opacity. These two layers need to be merged.

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 FREQUENCY SEPARATION

9 Hold the Shift key and click on the 'texture' and 'texture
copy' layers to select them both, then right-click them to
10 Next, keeping the new 'texture' layer active, go to the Blend
Mode button and choose Linear Light from the dropdown
call up the context menu. Choose Merge Layers to merge them list that appears. This will blend the 'texture' layer into the 'colour'
into one layer. You can rename this layer 'texture' now that it is layer below and the result of the two should look identical to the
ready to use. original image.

11 You now have your two components. The top 'texture layer
is detail only with no colour data and the 'colour' layer is
12 Click on the 'texture' layer to make it active. Texture will be
your first stop for cleaning up the skin. Go to the toolbar
only colour information with no real detail. This is the process and choose the Clone Stamp Tool (S). When you click on it,
of frequency separation in action. Editing is much simpler now you will see various options become available down in the tool
colour and detail are separated from each other. options panel.

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13 Go to the brush picker and choose a hard round brush. You

can alter its size later. Hard brushes generally work better
14 Now the process of cleaning the skin can start. Place your
cursor over an area of skin that is clean and unblemished
for the kind of cloning of skin we are about to do. You can use close to the first area you wish to start retouching. Press the Alt
the Size slider to set a brush of about 25 pixels. To begin with, key and a small target cursor will appear. Left-click the cursor
keep the Aligned box unchecked and Mode kept as Normal. over the clean skin to set that as your clone source.

15 Now you can move your cursor over the nearest area of
blemished skin you want to retouch. You should see a
16 Now you can carefully begin to clone clean skin over the
blemishes on her face. You can always press Alt and choose
realtime representation of the clone source at the cursor position. a new area of clean skin as your clone source if the texture
When you click over a blemish, the clean source area will be changes too much and needs to be updated. Remember that all
'stamped' over the blemish. these edits are only happening on the 'texture' layer.

17 Take you time with this part of the process. Keep changing
your clone source to avoid the build up of repeating
18 Once you are happy that her forehead is done, you can
make amends to any other areas of her face and neck that
patterns that give the game away as to the use of cloning. You might cleaning up. You can remove wrinkles in exactly the same
can use the Size slider to make the brush larger or smaller if way by cloning clean skin over them. Stray hairs can also be
needed as well. cleaned up as well.

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19 Now that the 'texture' layer is completed and her skin is

looking flawless, you can turn your attention to the 'colour'
20 Make the 'texture' layer invisible and make the 'colour' layer
active. Go to the toolbar and choose the Lasso Tool (L). The
layer and even out any mottling that may be present. This is Lasso optional panel will show you various options available for
an optional step, but it does give the portrait that extra level of this tool. Go to the Feather slider and set it to about 35 pixels to
professionalism and is very flattering. soften the selection you are about to make.

21 There is a small amount of mottling visible on her forehead

which we want to remove, as well as softening the shadows
22 Press the Shift key or click the Add button in the options
panel to add more selections. An area around her left cheek
around her left cheek, nose and chin. Draw around the areas you has also been included and again, softened by 35 pixels to avoid
want to soften with the Lasso Tool. Join up to your start point any hard edges to the colour. Keep this selection active for the
and the selection will be closed and softened by 35 pixels. next part.

23 Go to the menu and choose Filter > Blur > Guassian Blur to
call up the blur dialog panel. Set the Blur ratio to about 30
24 If you want, you can also do the same to the highlighted
areas of her right cheek to give more of a matt finish to her
pixels or however much you feel is needed to blur those areas a skin. It behaves a bit like adding more digital makeup foundation
sufficient amount, to remove any mottling from her face. Click to her skin. When you are happy, you can go to File > Save As
OK to blur the selected parts of the image. (Shift + Cmd + S) to save your finished result.

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Composite
Images

BEFORE AFTER

C ompositing is the combining of visual elements from separate sources into single images,
often to create the illusion that all those elements are part of the same scene. In this tutorial
we will be looking at a fairly typical approach for the two main elements of the image which is
the grey/neutral background compositing technique. Shooting your main subject against a grey
screen gives them a well defined edge that makes the process of blending them into another
environment all the easier. Grey screen compositing is the choice of many graphics professionals
and is easier to do than you might think. We have a scenario in which we have a photo of a cellist
and want to put them into a much grander environment than just a grey background.

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1 Go to File > Open and navigate to where the components

for the scene are stored. In this example, we have our cellist
2 We have 'cello.jpg' and room.jpg'. You will see that the
cellist is on a grey background. All the lighting gear
image and a rendered scene to put her into. Highlight your and extraneous items present in the shot have been cloned
images and click Open to create two new documents in Elements. out leaving just her and a plain grey background. The grey
background is a key part of this process.

3 The other image we will be working with is a 3D render of

a baroque ballroom. There is a perfect spot upon which the
4 For the moment, return to the 'cello' document and click on
the layer lock icon next to the layer thumbnail to unlock the
cellist can be placed. Now, you have the two images that will be layer. Go to the 'room' image and do the same. Press Cmd + A to
combined. You wil see that it is not done in the conventional way select all pixels on that layer and then press Cmd + C to copy the
that you might imagine but is very effective nonetheless. 'room' image, or go to Edit > Copy.

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5 Go to the 'cello' document and go to Edit > Paste or press

Cmd + V to paste the copied room image into the 'cello'
6 Click the 'cello' layer to make it active. You need to make
a selection of her outline to start the compositing process.
document. It will appear on its own layer above the 'cello' layer. Go to the toolbar and select the Magic Wand Tool (A). Although
You can name this new layer 'room'. For the moment, click the the Magic Wand is a fairly simplistic selection method, it actually
visibility icon of the 'room' layer to make it invisible. works really well in these situations.

7 Set the Magic Wand Tolerance to about 35 and make sure

the Contiguous button is checked. Position the cursor over
8 Click the Add To Selection button and a small plus symbol
will appear on your cursor to indicate anything selected will
the grey background surrounding the cellist and left-click. The be added to the currently active selection. Now you can click and
Magic Wand will select as much grey as the Tolerance setting add more grey areas until all the grey is selected.
dictates. Now we need to add the parts it missed.

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9 Make the 'room' layer visible and active again. You will see
the selection you just made overlaid on the image as a
10 Go to the layer options panel and click on the Add Layer
Mask button. When you do, a mask in the shape of the
series of black and white dashes known as 'marching ants'. This selection will be added to the 'room' layer. Anything within the
selection can be used to create a mask in the next step. bounds of the selection will be white and anything outside the
bounds will be black. White reveals and black conceals.

11 You might notice that the cellist looks a little too much
like a cut out figure. You can remedy that by changing
12 Any area of the neutral grey 'cello' background that is
blended with the 'room' layer makes no visual difference
the Blend Mode of the 'room' layer to Overlay. This blends the but any parts of the grey background darker than about 50%
pixels of the 'room' layer into the 'cello' layer. Only the cellist is grey show up. This is great since the cellist's shadow now
unaffected by the blend because of the mask on the layer above. appears on the ground.

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13 Now we can begin to make the whole image more

cohesive. With the 'room' layer active go to the layers
14 Keep the 'mist' layer active and go to the toolbar and
choose the Brush Tool (B). In the tool options panel at the
palette and click on the Create New Layer button. Call this new bottom of the screen, choose a large soft brush of about 700
layer 'mist'. We are going to add a subtle atmosphere behind the pixels. Keep its opacity at 100%. Make sure the foreground colour
figure which is a popular thing to do in images like this. is white.

15 Take the brush and paint white on the 'mist' layer around
the upper part of the cellist's outline. You will be painting
16 Right-click the 'mist' layer and choose the Create Clipping
Mask option from the dropdown menu that appears. When
over your foreground figure of course but we can actually use you clip the 'mist' layer to the 'room' layer, it inherits the mask
the mask on the 'room' layer below to help us remedy the issue. as well. Suddenly, the mist is appearing behind the cellist even
though it is on the layer above.

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17 The 'mist' layer will now have small arrow icon next to its
thumbnail to indicate it is clipped to the layer below. At the
18 Next you can add some subtle lighting effects to the
candles and windows for a moody feel. Create a new layer
moment the white brush strokes look way over the top. Reduce and name it 'candles'. Make sure it is at the top of layer stack and
the Opacity to about 40% and add Gaussian Blur to the mist to active. Go to the toolbar and choose the Brush Tool (B) again if
soften it if you want as well. not still selected.

19 In the tool options panel, chose a soft brush, click on the

Brush Settings button and change the Roundness setting
20 Start to dab your white oval brush over each candle flame
in the scene. You can use the Size slider to alter the size
to 50% and the Angle to -90°. This will make the brush oval to match the candle sizes that are dotted around the scene.
rather than circular. Set the Size to about 400 pixels and ensure Although the brush strokes are currently white, you can use
that the foreground colour is still white. Blend Modes to get a nice glow on those candles.

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21 With the 'candles' layer still active go to the blend Mode

button and choose Linear Light from the dropdown list that
22 Go to Enhance > Adjust Colour > Adjust Hue/Saturation
(Cmd + U) to call up the Hue/Saturation dialog panel. First,
appears. There will be no apparent change at the moment but make sure the Colorize button is checked. Then set Hue to 15,
the next step will create a cosy glow for the candle flames. Saturation to 49 and Lightness to -20. This colours the white
brush strokes orange and blends them into the layers below.

23 You can do a similar technique with the windows. Create a

new layer called 'windows' and use your oval white brush
24 Now set the Blend Mode of the 'windows' layer to Overlay,
then go to Enhance > Adjust Colour > Adjust Hue/
to paint large dabs of white on the three main windows. You can Saturation (Cmd + U) again and click the Colorize button so it is
use the Size slider again to adjust brush size to match the size of checked. Make Hue 40, Saturation 70 and Lightness -20 to add a
each window. warm glow to the windows.

25 Now, you can add colour effects to tie the foreground and
background elements together. Go to the layer options
26 A 'Hue/Saturation 1' adjustment layer will be added to the
top of the layer stack. All the layers below it will be affected
panel and click the Create New Fill Or Adjustment Layer button. by what adjustments are made. A dialog panel will open and go
Choose Hue/Saturation from the dropdown list that appears. to Saturation and choose a value of about -30 to desaturate the
whole image slightly.

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27 Next, go to the layer options panel again and choose

Create New Fill or Adjustment Layer again and this time
28 The Photo Filter dialogue panel will open when you add
the adjustment layer. Set Filter to Warming Filter (85),
select Photo Filter from the list. 'Photo Filter 1' will be added to Density to 100% and make sure the Preserve Luminosity button
the top of the stack. You are going to add a colour cast to tie the is not checked. The whole image will look dark orange now but
various elements together a bit more. not to worry.

29 Set the blend Mode for the 'Photo Filter 1' layer to Overlay.
This makes the image very contrasty but if you set the
30 Change its parameters by choosing Deep Emerald as the
Filter type. Density is 100% and now check the Preserve
layer's Opacity to about 20%, the effect is much more subtle. Luminosity box to maintain image brightness. Set this new layer
You can deepen the colour effect even more. Press Cmd + J to to 20% Opacity as well to create a moody image where all the
duplicate the 'Photo Filter 1' layer. Rename it 'Photo Filter 2'. colours look more harmonious.

31 You can adjust the brightness by adding another

adjustment. Use a Levels adjustment layer and adjust the
32 Your composite is complete. You can now go to File > Save
As (Shift + Cmd + S) and save it as a named PSD file. This
Midtone and Highlight sliders to brighten the middle tones and saves the layered document so you can return to it at any time
highlights a little. You can also alter the Shadow Output Levels to and make amendments to the image.
about 12 to change the darkest colours to slightly lighter ones.

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Dodging
and Burning

BEFORE AFTER

D odging and burning have their roots in the days of analogue photography, long before
digital cameras and computers were in use. Dodging refers to the technique of lightening an
image at the darkroom stage by reducing the exposure of a photographic print in specific areas.
Burning is the opposite, where parts of the image are exposed for longer onto the print, making
those areas darker. With the advent of digital technology the process is done on a computer but
the basic principle and its terminology remain the same. In our example we had a basic image
that was lacking in contrast; using the dodge and burn techniques, brightness and contrast was
selectively added to produce a much stronger image.

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1 Begin by opening a relevant image to work on. Go to File >

Open (Cmd + O) and navigate to the location of the image
2 The image were are using as our example is a moody
portrait but it is quite low in contrast. You could use levels
you wish to work on. Our example is a portrait named 'dodge adjustments or brightness and contrast, but they are quite global
and burn.jpg'. Double-click it to open or select it and press Open amends. Using Dodge and Burn Tools you can be much more
at the bottom of the browser window. selective in your approach.

3 It's good procedure to work on a duplicate of your image

rather than your original. You never know when you might
4 Right-click your 'Background' base layer and choose
Duplicate Layer from the menu that appears. The Duplicate
need to call upon it. It's better to have it and not need it, than Layer dialog panel opens and you can choose a name for your
need it and not have it. new layer and then click OK at the top right of the panel. A new
duplicate layer called 'base' is created for you.

5 You can use a great little non-destructive method, as we

did, for applying Dodge and Burn effects to your image
6 Go to Edit > Fill Layer to open the Fill Layer panel. Rather
than selecting the dual options of Foreground Colour or
without altering its pixel data. Make sure the 'base' layer is active Background Colour, choose 50% Grey as the fill option. The
and then go to the layer options panel and click the Create A reason for this will become apparent in the following steps. The
New Layer button. Name this new layer 'dodge'. 'dodge' layer is filled grey, obscuring the portrait for the moment.

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7 Keep the 'dodge' layer active and go to the Blend Mode

button and choose Overlay as the blend. Because the grey
8 We needed a second layer just like the 'dodge' layer and
could have just pressed Cmd + J to duplicate it but we
is 50% neutral it will not be visible using Overlay as the blending wanted to show you another method of creating the 50% grey
mode. Anything lighter or darker will have an effect on the layer layer with the blend mode applied and ready to go.
below. This is key to the non-destructive method.

9 Go to Layer > New > Layer (Shift + Cmd + N). The New
Layer panel will open. Under Name, call the layer 'burn'.
10 A new layer called 'burn' will be created for you that is
already filled with 50% grey and set to the Overlay Blend
Keep Colour as None and under the Mode button, choose Mode. You now have the two layers needed to start Dodging,
Overlay as the Blend Mode. Then make sure the Fill with Overlay- to make the picture lighter and Burning, to make areas of the
Neutral colour button is checked. picture darker.

11 Begin by making the 'dodge' layer active. It will highlight in

blue to confirm it is active. Go to the toolbar and choose
12 Under Range, choose the Midtones Painting Mode and
under the Brush picker, choose a soft brush of about 200
the Dodge Tool (O). The tool options panel will show you the pixels. You can use the Size slider at any time to alter the brush
available parameters you can apply to the Dodge Tool. size if required and also use the bracket keys [ and ] to scale the
brush. Set the brush Exposure to 10% or less.

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13 You can now begin to lighten specific parts of the portrait.

It will be a subjective thing depending on your preferences
14 With each individual stroke of the brush, those light areas
will be made lighter and lighter. Using an Exposure of 10%
but areas that are currently the lightest can be made lighter to or less means that you can be a bit more subtle and build up the
begin to increase contrast. Start brushing over areas like the lightening effect gradually rather than applying it all at once.
forehead, cheeks and nose.

15 Continue to build up the brightness with your brush strokes

on the 'dodge' layer. Work around the beard, hair and
16 If you press Alt and click the 'dodge' layer thumbnail, you
can see exactly what is happening on that layer. Any part of
eyebrows to increase the brightness. If you feel you've applied the image that is lighter than 50% grey has its brightness added
too many brush strokes in one area, you can always press Cmd + to the layer below because of the blending method used. Alt +
Z to undo a number of steps and try again. click again to return to the normal view.

17 Once an area of the layer is dodged to pure white, it cannot

get any brighter. However, if you feel the effect still isn't
18 If you compare the dodged version of the portrait to the
original you can see how the brightness has been focussed
strong enough, you can always duplicate the layer for a more on, making the face more three dimensional with the addition
intense effect and adjust the layer opacity if required. of those brightened skin areas. If you are happy with the dodge
effects so far, you can turn your attention to the 'burn' layer.

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19 Click the 'burn' layer to make it active and swap from

the Dodge Tool to the Burn Tool by either pressing O
20 Just as with the Dodge Tool, choose Midtones as the
Painting Mode by clicking on the Range button. Keep the
until the Burn Tool is highlighted or click on its icon in the tool brush as a large soft one and Exposure at 10% or lower.
options panel.

21 Start to add brush strokes on the 'burn' layer to the darker

areas of the photo. We started around the eyes and
22 If you Alt and click the 'burn' layer, you can view that layer
in isolation. Now, any dodged area that is darker than 50%
darkened the sides of his forehead, under the nose and the sides grey is added to the layers below, darkening the portrait. Alt +
of the cheeks. Again, apply the brush strokes singly and build up click again to return to the normal view.
the darker areas until you have it as you want it.

23 Because you are working on separate layers, you can

return to the 'dodge' layer if you want, swap the Burn Tool
24 If it looks like the 'burn' layer effect is too strong, you can
always click on the layer Opacity slider and reduce that
for the Dodge Tool again and continue to brighten areas of the layer's opacity to about 70%. we also duplicated the 'dodge' layer
image to your taste. In the case of this image, we went back and and set the second layer to 25% opacity for little extra contrast
brightened the eyes themselves. to the brightest areas.

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25 The next few steps are optional and down to personal taste.
Go to the layer options panel and click on the Create New
26 We wanted to reduce the saturation of the image a little.
When you add an adjustment layer to the layer stack the
Fill or Adjustment Layer button. Select Hue/Saturation from the properties panel for that layer will be displayed automatically. We
menu that appears to set it as an adjustment layer above the used the Saturation slider to reduce saturation to about -35.
layers already created.

27 One additional tweak was to add a Levels adjustment and

push the Highlights and Midtones sliders to the left; this
28 A side by side comparison now shows how much the image
has been transformed with the use of targeted brightening
helped boost contrast a little more and highlighted all the work of midtones and also selective darkening of certain areas to
already done with the Dodge and Burn Tools. increase the overall contrast of the image that wasn't present in
the original.

29 With that your Dodge and Burn project is completed. You

have applied some very focussed brightness and contrast
30 You can choose to flatten the image, by going to File >
Save As (Shift + Cmd + S) to create a new file under a new
adjustments to bring out more detail and create a more dramatic name, or save the document in its layered form as a Photoshop
looking image. compatible PSD file.

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How to Add
Rain to a Photo

BEFORE AFTER

R ain is great, as long as you’re not caught out in it without your umbrella. It is certainly a
favourite of cinema to add a more brooding feel to a shot. If you’ve ever seen films like Seven
and the Ridley Scott sci-fi classic Blade Runner, you can see that rain is treated almost like a
character in its own right. In this tutorial we are going to show you how you can make your own
rain and take your images to a different level. We have an example shot of a dog looking very
unimpressed by being out in wet conditions. The photo was taken during a lull in the rain, but
perhaps the rain can be started up again, to make the dog even more grumpy.

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1 The process starts, as ever, by going to File > Open and

navigating to where your image is kept. Highlight your
2 You will be creating two layers of rain. One will contain
smaller drops which will appear to be further from the
image and press Open or double-click it to open it in Elements. viewer. The second layer will be much closer to the viewer and
Our example dog image opens up ready for a good downpour. be blurred. To begin, go to the layer options panel and click on
Create A New Layer.

3 A new layer will be added above the main image on the

'Background' layer. Name this new layer 'sharp'. You can
4 Go to Edit > Fill Layer to open the fill option panel. In the
Use section, choose Black as the fill colour. Make sure
use this layer to add the first of the rain effects by creating small, Blending Mode is Normal, Opacity is 100% and that the Preserve
sharp, drops. Make sure the 'sharp' layer is active. Transparency box is unticked. The 'sharp' layer will be filled solid
black, obscuring the dog for a moment.

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5 Now you need to create some raindrops. Go to Filter >

Noise > Add Noise to open the Add Noise panel. You have
6 By default, the Distribution value is set at Uniform. You need
something a bit more random, so click the Gaussian button
a couple of options to adjust to give you the correct kind of rain instead. You might notice that the noise has a lot of colour in it.
elements. First, you need to make the Amount 400%, which is We need to remove that by checking the Monochromatic button
the maximum Amount you can add. at the bottom of the panel. Click OK to proceed.

7 In order to create the rain particles, the noise on the 'sharp'

layer needs to be blurred slightly. Go to Filter > Blur > Blur
8 The noise doesn't look very much like rain at the moment
but if you go to the layer options panel and click on the
More. This adds a small, predefined amount of blur to the noise Create New Fill Or Adjustment Layer and select Levels, you
to soften it slightly. can adjust the contrast to make something that looks more like
individual drops.

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9 A 'Levels 1' adjustment layer will be added. To make sure

the adjustment only affects the 'sharp' layer, right click
10 The Levels dialog panel will open when the layer is created.
If you push the Shadows and Highlights sliders closer to
'levels 1' and choose Create Clipping Mask from the menu. This each other, you will see the effect you're having on the noise in
means the adjustment will only affect the layer below to which it the 'sharp' layer. You need to adjust the sliders so the blurred
is now clipped. noise separates out into small particles.

11 When you have the adjustment as you like it, click on the
'sharp' layer to make it active and then go to the Blend
12 You can continue to make further adjustments to the levels
and when you are ready, press the shift key and click both
Mode options button and choose Screen as the blend. When you the 'Levels 1' layer and the 'sharp' layer in order to select them
do this, only areas that are brighter than 50% grey will be seen in both at once. Both layers should be highlighted in blue.
the image.

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13 Right-click on these selected layers and choose Merge

Layers from the menu to merge them into one layer. When
14 At the moment, the rain particles look a little small. You
need to make them quite prominent so you can scale the
combined, the layer will default back to a Normal Blend Mode so contents of the 'sharp' layer. Go to Image > Transform > Free
you will need to go back in and change that back to the Screen Transform (Cmd + T). This tool gives you various options for the
Blend Mode again. scaling of the layer contents.

15 In the tool options panel, you will see the transform options.
You just want to be able to scale it from its centre. Make
16 This will scale the contents of the 'sharp' layer by 200%,
making the raindrops much more visible. At the moment
sure the centre point of the Reference Point Location is clicked though, they look like they are frozen in place. You need to be
and in the width and height boxes enter a value of 200%. Press able to add a little movement to suggest actual rainfall.
the green tick to commit the changes.

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17 Go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur to call up the dialog panel.
Rather than the rain falling vertically, make the Angle about
18 Keep the 'sharp' layer active and go to the layer options
panel and choose Add Layer Mask to do just that. Click on
-56° and the Distance about 40 pixels. Smaller numbers mean the layer mask thumbnail (it will highlight with a blue border) and
the rain looks quite light and larger numbers give the impression then go to Filter > Render > Clouds.
of heavy rain falling quickly. Click OK when ready.

19 A mottled cloud-like pattern will be added to the layer

mask. It is randomly comprised of black and white clouds.
20 Keep the layer mask active and go to the toolbar and chose
the Brush Tool (B). Set the foreground colour to black and
This random mask makes the rain appear a little more random the Size to about 800 pixels. Start to paint black on the layer
too, since various areas are being concealed or revealed in mask over the dog and the immediate foreground to give the
differing intensities. illusion that the rain is behind the dog.

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21 Now, you need the blurred rain for the foreground.

With the 'sharp' layer active press Cmd + J to create a
22 Since this layer will need to appear even closer to the
viewer, it needs to be scaled. Use the method you used
duplicate of that layer. Rename it 'blurred'. Right-click the layer with the first layer ands scale it another 200% from its centre and
mask and choose Delete Layer Mask as you won't need it for press the green tick to commit those changes when ready.
this layer.

23 Make sure the 'blurred' layer is now active and go to Filter

> Blur > Gaussian Blur to open the blur panel. You want to
24 If the foreground rain looks a little too intrusive, you can
always go to the Opacity slider and make its opacity about
make the foreground rain look blurred like it is very close to the 75% to lessen its visual impact. Now the dog really looks like he
camera. Entering a Radius of about 7 pixels will blur just enough has something to be grumpy about. You could call that done but
to create a sense of depth. there's one little extra thing to do.

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25 We wanted to make the puddle directly under the dog look

a little more like there was rain falling in it and used another
26 Press Cmd + A to select all pixels of the ripples image and
then press Cmd + C to copy it. Then go back to the main
image to help with that. After going to File > Open, we navigated document and press Cmd + V to paste the copied pixels onto a
to where a puddle image with ripples was stored and opened it new layer of its own.
in a document of its own.

27 You can press Cmd + T to use the Free Transform Tool to

drag the puddles image control point around to make it fit
28 At the moment the ripples of the second puddle image
look very out of place. Go to the layer options panel and
over the puddle beneath the dog. You can compress the image click Add Layer Mask to add a mask to the puddle image. Now
vertically to help match the ripples to the perspective of the main go to the Blend Mode button and choose Screen from the menu.
image. Press the green tick to commit the changes. This blends the rippled puddle image into the layers below.

29 You can rename this new layer 'puddle'. Make sure the layer
mask is active. Choose a large soft black brush and start to
30 If this additional effect looks a little too much for the
image, you can always reduce the Opacity setting to about
paint out areas where the rippled puddle should not be seen. The 70%. Now the grumpy dog looks like he has been caught in the
end result of the masking should look like the example shown. middle of a downpour and probably wants to get home to a
nice warm fire.

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 GLOSSARY

Glossary
For your reference, we have listed many of the terms you'll encounter
as you become more experienced with photo editing.

Active layer Bit depth of Contrast and only alters contrast DNG (Digital Negative)
The layer currently selected in the The number of colours used to within the middle tones of your An open standard file format
Layers panel. represent a pixel in an image. A image. developed by Adobe Systems that
1-bit image is black and white, an provides an alternative to proprietary
Adjustment layer 8-bit image can have 256 colours Clipboard camera raw files.
A layer that lets you apply colour or shades of grey and a 16-bit The temporary holding area for
and tonal adjustments to your image can have 65,536 colours. data stored with the Cut or Copy Dodging
image without permanently commands. The selective lightening of any part
changing pixel values. Use Bitmap image of an image.
adjustment layers to experiment An image consisting of rows and Clipping
with colour and colour tones. You columns of pixels in computer The loss of either highlight Dots per inch (dpi)
can think of an adjustment layer as memory; also called a raster image. or shadow details when tone A measure of printer resolution. High
a veil through which the underlying Bitmap file formats include BMP, information is forced to pure white dpi settings produce prints with fine
layers are seen. GIF, JPEG, PSD, PICT and TIFF. or black. detail. Used for monitors too.

Adobe Bridge Bits per channel Clone Duotone

Bridge is a browser application Determines how many tones each To paint with the Clone Stamp tool. A two colour greyscale file that uses
produced by Adobe Systems as colour channel can contain. You must set a sampling point on two custom inks.
part of the Creative Suite and the active layer before you paint with
is usually installed alongside Black Point the Clone Stamp tool. EPS
Photoshop. Its main function is as In image editing, the black point Encapsulated PostScript. A file
the file management hub of the is a tonal adjustment that sets the CMYK format used to save images that
Creative Suite. It can be used to point at which the deepest shadow Cyan, magenta, yellow and black will be used in illustration and page
open, manage, rate and rename detail in the histogram is clipped are the inks most printers use to layout programs.
files as well as edit their metadata. to black. produce colour images. Photoshop
includes full support for CMYK EXIF
Adobe RGB Blending mode mode. Exchangeable Image File Format.
The RGB colour space profile by A feature that controls how pixels A standard for simplifying the
Adobe Systems, Incorporated. It in an image are affected by a Colour cast exchange of data between cameras
provides a large gamut of colours. painting or editing tool. The blend An unwanted or unexpected colour and software. The data may include
colour is applied to the base colour shift in a photo. For example, a camera model, date and time the
Aliasing to produce a new colour, the result photo taken indoors without a photo was taken, camera settings,
The jagged effect seen at the colour. When applied to layers, a camera flash may have too much shutter speed and so on.
edges of diagonal lines, arcs and so blending mode determines how the yellow.
on, caused by pixels lining up in a pixels in a layer blend with pixels in Exposure
sawtooth pattern. layers beneath it. Colour channels A measure of the amount of
The component colours from which light in which a photo was taken.
Alpha channels Brush preset all colours in an image are created. Underexposed digital photos are too
These are masks which let you A brush with preset settings Usually refers to red, green and blue dark, overexposed ones, too light.
manipulate, isolate and protect for size, thickness and so on. (RGB).
specific parts of your images. Photoshop includes several brush Feathering
presets for you to choose from and Colour depth The softening of an edge of a
Anti-aliasing you can create a large number of Measures how much colour selection.
The smoothing of jagged edges your own presets as well. information is available to display or
in digital images by averaging the print each pixel in an image. Greater File Format
colours of the pixels at a boundary. Burning colour depth means more available The structure of how information
The selective darkening of part of colours and more accurate colour is encoded in a computer file. File
Artefact an image. representation in the digital image. formats are designed to store
Any unexpected and undesired specific types of information, such as
change to a digital image caused Camera raw format Colour management JPEG and TIFF for image or raster
by incorrect settings or faulty A format describing data exactly as A system used to achieve consistent data, AI for vector data and PDF for
processing. Examples include it is captured by a camera sensor, colour as an image travels from one document exchange.
blooming, moire, sharpening and with no in-camera processing device to another; for example, from
noise. applied. camera to computer or computer to Fill layer
printer. A type of layer that contains a solid
Aspect ratio Canvas colour, a pattern or a gradient as an
The ratio of an image’s width to its The workspace around an existing Colour temperature interchangeable attribute.
height. It is used to determine how image, within the image window. The degree of heat, in degrees
an image fits on a page or monitor. Layer data may lie outside the Kelvin, that an object would have to Filters
canvas but it will be clipped to the absorb before it glowed in a certain Use filters to clean up or retouch
Background layer canvas when the image is flattened. colour. Each colour is associated your photos and apply special
The bottommost layer in an image, You can change the size and colour with a colour temperature, as are art effects that give your image a
usually containing the image data. of the canvas. various kinds of light. different appearance
The Background layer is always
locked. If you want to change its Channel Compression Flattening
stacking order, blending mode or A term for describing the colour A technique that reduces the file size Merging of all visible layers into the
opacity, you must first convert it to data in an image. A black and white of bitmap images. Background layer to reduce file size.
a regular layer. greyscale image has one channel,
an RGB image has three and a Cropping Font
Backlight CMYK image has four. Ordinarily, Trimming a portion of an image to A set of letters, numbers
Light coming from a source behind a channel describes either red, improve its composition or to create
the photographed subject. green or blue, which are blended to a frame around it. Gamut
create all colours. The range of colour that a device
Batch processing Dithering can reproduce.
Performing one or more automated Clarity The approximation of an unavailable
tasks to a selected group of files at Found in Adobe Camera Raw. It colour through the use of two or Gaussian blur
the same time. behaves like an intelligent version more available colours. A softening effect applied through

144 7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z
 GLOSSARY

a bell-shaped distribution of tones Layer mask shapes and sampled images on from a vertical or horizontal axis.
and colours. A protected area in an adjustment printed or displayed pages. Skewing can be a camera effect or
layer. Areas below the mask cannot an intentionally applied effect.
Gradient be edited. Preset
Any of several methods for A preset is an action that can be Smoothing
achieving a smooth transition Levels applied to an image or group of A technique for averaging the values
between two adjacent colours, Functionality for adjusting colour images. You save a group of editing of neighbouring pixels to reduce
which also include black and white. and tone. With a Levels adjustment, settings such as colour balance, contrast and create a soft, blurry
you can set shadow and highlight brightness, contrast and saturation, effect.
Greyscale values to use a full tonal range, which can then be applied to your
A single channel image that adjust middle tones only, correct selected photos. Split Toning
includes only black, white and colour casts, and so on. This option lets you alter the colour
shades of grey. Depending on the PSD of the shadow and highlight areas of
bit depth, greyscale images can Locked layer The native uncompressed file format your images. For example, you can
reproduce a number of shades of A layer in the Layers panel that has of Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop add a blue colour cast to the darkest
grey. the lock icon applied. No changes Elements, based on the TIFF areas of your photo but make the
can be made to a locked layer. A standard. brightest areas of the same image
Halftone Background layer is always locked. more orange.
A monochrome image made up of Quick mask
variably sized dots simulating the Megapixel A mask channel created in Quick Stroke
shades of grey in a photograph. It is A term used to describe digital Mask mode in Photoshop An outline round an image or part
used for reproducing photographs camera resolution, 1 megapixel of an image, or the characteristics
on PostScript printers and printing equals one million pixels. Raw Files of the lines created with one of the
presses. A Raw file is the unprocessed data painting or drawing tools, especially
Midtone captured by a digital camera sensor. brushes.
HDR (High Dynamic Range) An area that falls between the In most cases, cameras write Raw
A process that combines multiple brightest highlight and the darkest files using a proprietary file format. Swatches
exposure variations of an image to shadow. Raw files give the photographer Preset colours that you can choose
achieve a dynamic range exceeding the advantage of managing image from in the Colour Swatches panel.
that of a single exposure. Moire processing during post-production
A wavy striped pattern in an image, rather than letting the camera make Thumbnail Image
Highlight and shadow resembling the pattern of watered the processing decisions, as happens A small, low resolution image
The lightest and darkest colours in silk. Moire can be an artefact caused when shooting in JPEG format. preview used on the web to link to a
an image. by a camera’s inability to capture the high resolution version of the file.
detail in an image. Red eye
Histogram The reflection of the camera flash TIFF
A bar chart showing the Noise from the retina of a photographed Tagged Image File Format. A digital
distribution of the pixel values in a An artefact caused by interference subject, resulting in a red dot in the image format widely used for images
digital image. The horizontal axis or camera error. Noise is often seen subject’s eye. You can eliminate that are to be printed or published.
represents levels from 0 (darkest) as stray pixels of unexpected colour it automatically when you import TIFF images can be compressed
to lightest (255) and the vertical or a generally “grainy” appearance. images or by using the Red Eye losslessly.
axis represents the numbers of Certain compression techniques can Removal tool.
pixels at each level. amplify noise. Transform
Resample To scale, shrink, enlarge, skew,
Hue Opacity To change the resolution of an image distort, rotate or change the
The colour reflected from or The amount something blocks by changing its pixel dimensions. perspective of a layer, selection or
transmitted through an object. light. You can change the opacity Downsampling decreases the shape.
In common use, hue is the of layers, filters and effects so that number of pixels and upsampling
property that allows a colour to be more (or less) of the underlying increases the number of pixels. Transparency
distinguished as red, blue, yellow image shows through. In digital photography, the
and so on. Resolution functionality that supports
Overexposure A measure of the clarity and transparent areas in an image or
ICC An overexposed image results from sharpness of an image. In digital image layer. Certain image formats
International Colour Consortium. too much light being allowed to fall images, it is measured in pixels per do not support transparency.
ICC device profiles are the industry onto the camera sensor. inch.
standard for reproducing colours Underexposure
accurately across devices such as Panorama RGB An underexposed image results from
scanners, monitors and printers. A broad view of a subject, usually A model for representing colours on too little light being allowed to fall
a landscape, made by overlapping a computer display. Red, green, and onto the camera sensor.
Image cache individual shots as they are taken blue (RGB) are combined in different
A section of hard disk space used and then merging them to form one proportions to represent any colour. Unsharp mask
as virtual memory. The image cache wide image. A technique that sharpens details in
speeds the on-screen redraw of Rule of Thirds an image by increasing the contrast
high-resolution images. Perspective If you divide an image into three between light and dark areas. The
The angle or level from which a equal sections both vertically and name originates from traditional
Image mode photograph is taken, the camera-eye horizontally, where the lines intersect photography, where contrast is
The colour mode of an image, such view. is commonly regarded as good increased by adding a slightly
as Greyscale or RGB. placement for the subjects in your blurred negative over the original.
Pixel photos.
Indexed colour The basic, rectangular unit of data Vibrance
A colour that is rendered by using a that a digital image consists of. Sample Vibrance is a form of intelligent
pixel value as an index to a panel of The edges of pixels can produce a To select a colour with the Saturation. As you increase the
256 or fewer colours. sawtooth pattern unless anti-aliasing eyedropper in order to use it with a Vibrance in an image, only the
is used. drawing or painting tool. middle tones of your image are
JPEG altered first.
Joint Photographic Experts Pixel dimensions Saturation
Group. A committee of experts The number of pixels along the The purity, or strength, of a colour. Vignetting
that develop algorithms for width and height of an image. This is A fully saturated colour contains no An effect where the edges of an
compressing computer image files. a measure of the amount of image grey at all. image fade out.
Can be any graphic file to which a data in the photo, not its physical
JPEG algorithm is applied. JPEG is size when printed or displayed on a Selection Warping
the format generally used to share monitor. A part of an image selected for A distortion of an image, often text,
photographs over the web. manipulation of any kind, duplication to conform to a variety of shapes.
Pixels per inch (ppi) in a layer, colour correction, deletion, For instance, a line of text can be
JPEG compression A measure of image resolution rotation and so on. warped in the shape of an arc or
A lossy compression technique that stored in a camera or computer wave.
reduces image data and file size. file. High ppi settings produce Shadow Detail
photographs with fine detail and Refers to the amount of detail that White balance
Layer large file size. can be seen in the darkest areas of a A function that compensates for
A mechanism for overlaying and photograph. the different rendering of identical
combining multiple images. Layers Plug-in colours under different sources of
are like transparent sheets of glass A software application or module Sharpening light: incandescent, fluorescent,
that you can stack and rearrange. that provides extended and specific In photo-editing programs, any sunlight and so on.
In addition to ordinary image layers, functionality from within a larger functionality that enhances the
there are special kinds of layers. host application. details at the edges of photographed White point
objects and people. A reference point used to represent
Layer group PostScript white. This reference point is used
A collection of layers saved with a A language by Adobe that describes Skewing to calculate all other colours in the
Photoshop image. the appearance of text, graphic Deviation of the content of an image image.

7OV[VZOVW,SLTLU[Z 145
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