Go to Dummies.com ® for videos, step-by-step examples, how-to articles, or to shop! Barbara Obermeier Ted Padova • Crop images, adjust contrast, fix flaws, and improve color • Combine multiple images into creative collages • Make your own prints, create a slide show, and build an online photo album IN FULL COLOR! Learn to: Photoshop ® Elements 8 Making Everything Easier! ™ Open the book and find: • How to get images into Elements from a variety of sources • Instructions for both Windows® and Mac® users • Simple makeover tips to improve your images • How to correct color, contrast, and clarity • Steps for tagging your photos by geographic location • Secrets for making and modifying selections • Creative applications for layers, filters, effects, and styles • How to upload and save images to Photoshop.com Barbara Obermeier is the principal of Obermeier Design, a graphic design studio in California specializing in print and Web design. She is currently a Graphic Design faculty member at Brooks Institute. Ted Padova is an internationally recognized authority on Adobe® Acrobat®, PDF, and digital imaging. Computer Graphics/Design $29.99 US / $35.99 CN / £21.99 UK ISBN 978-0-470-52967-6 Whether you’re a brand-new digital photographer or you get paid to take pictures, Photoshop Elements has something for you — and so does this book. Learn the tools, commands, and workspaces; correct color, brightness, and contrast; create postcards, slide shows, and even movie files; give your photos the look of a fine-art painting, and so much more. • Get organized — use the Organizer on a Windows® PC or Adobe® Bridge on a Mac® to sort, find, tag, and catalog your photos • Master simple makeovers — crop photos for better composition, straighten crooked images, remove red-eye, or adjust color • Become a digital magician — move people or objects in and out of your pictures, change the background, combine multiple images, or replace one color with another • Bring out your inner artist — discover how to add effects with filters, get creative with type, or play with the drawing and painting tools • Share your work — turn your photos into postcards, calendars, greeting cards, and photo books with a few mouse clicks Repair, enhance, organize, and share your photos — it’s never been easier! In Color ® Photoshop Elements 8 Photoshop ® Elements 8 Obermeier Padova spine=.82” spine=.82” Start with FREE Cheat Sheets Cheat Sheets include • Checklists • Charts • Common Instructions • And Other Good Stuff! Get More and Do More at Dummies.com ® To access the Cheat Sheet created specifically for this book, go to www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/photoshopelements8 Get Smart at Dummies.com Dummies.com makes your life easier with 1,000s of answers on everything from removing wallpaper to using the latest version of Windows. Check out our • Videos • Illustrated Articles • Step-by-Step Instructions Plus, each month you can win valuable prizes by entering our Dummies.com sweepstakes. * Want a weekly dose of Dummies? Sign up for Newsletters on • Digital Photography • Microsoft Windows & Office • Personal Finance & Investing • Health & Wellness • Computing, iPods & Cell Phones • eBay • Internet • Food, Home & Garden Find out “HOW” at Dummies.com *Sweepstakes not currently available in all countries; visit Dummies.com for official rules. by Barbara Obermeier and Ted Padova Photoshop ® Elements 8 FOR DUMmIES ‰ 01_529676-ffirs.indd i01_529676-ffirs.indd i 9/8/09 7:40:06 PM9/8/09 7:40:06 PM Photoshop ® Elements 8 For Dummies ® Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc. 111 River Street Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774 www.wiley.com Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published simultaneously in Canada No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permit- ted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http:// www.wiley.com/go/permissions. Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the Rest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies Daily, The Fun and Easy Way, Dummies.com, Making Everything Easier, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/ or its af liates in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permis- sion. Photoshop is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. 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Library of Congress Control Number: 2009935228 ISBN: 978-0-470-52967-6 Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 01_529676-ffirs.indd ii01_529676-ffirs.indd ii 9/8/09 7:40:07 PM9/8/09 7:40:07 PM About the Authors Barbara Obermeier is the principal of Obermeier Design, a graphic design studio in Ventura, California. She is the author of Photoshop CS4 All-in-One For Dummies and has contributed as author or coauthor on numerous books on Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Illustrator, and PowerPoint. She is currently a faculty member in the Graphic Design Department at Brooks Institute. Ted Padova is the former chief executive of cer and managing partner of The Image Source Digital Imaging and Photo Finishing Centers of Ventura and Thousand Oaks, California. He has been involved in digital imaging since founding a service bureau in 1990. He retired from his company in 2005 and now spends his time writing and speaking on Acrobat, PDF forms, and LiveCycle Designer forms. Ted has written more than 30 computer books and is the world’s lead- ing author on Adobe Acrobat. He has written books on Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Photoshop Elements, Adobe Reader, Microsoft PowerPoint, and Adobe Illustrator. Recent books published by John Wiley and Sons include Adobe Acrobat PDF Bible (versions 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9), Acrobat and LiveCycle Designer Forms Bible, Adobe Creative Suite Bible (versions CS, CS2, CS3, and CS4), Color Correction for Digital Photographers Only, Color Management for Digital Photographers For Dummies, Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 For Dummies Just the Steps, Creating Adobe Acrobat PDF Forms, Teach Yourself Visually Acrobat 5, and Adobe Acrobat 6.0 Complete Course. He also coauthored Adobe Illustrator Master Class — Illustrator Illuminated and wrote Adobe Reader Revealed for Peachpit/Adobe Press. Authors’ Acknowledgments The authors would like to thank our excellent project editor, Rebecca Huehls, who kept us and this book on track; Bob Woerner, our great Executive Editor; Andy Cummings, Dummies Royalty; Dennis Cohen, technical editing wizard, who made what we wrote sound better; and all the dedicated production staff at Wiley. Additionally, we would like to thank Don Mason of Don Mason Photography, Bakers eld California for helping us out with some tone correc- tions and his expert advice on digital color correction. Barbara Obermeier: A special thanks to Ted Padova, my coauthor, and friend, who always reminds me there is still a 1 in 53 million chance that we can win the lottery. Ted Padova: My rst choice always in coauthoring a book is to do the job with Barbara Obermeier. There’s no one I’d rather work with, and I thank Barbara for initially putting together this project and asking me to join her. 01_529676-ffirs.indd iii01_529676-ffirs.indd iii 9/8/09 7:40:07 PM9/8/09 7:40:07 PM Publisher’s Acknowledgments We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments at http://dummies.custhelp.com. For other comments, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002. Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following: Acquisitions and Editorial Project Editor: Rebecca Huehls Executive Editor: Bob Woerner Copy Editor: Heidi Unger Technical Editor: Dennis Cohen Editorial Manager: Leah P. Cameron Editorial Assistant: Amanda Graham Sr. Editorial Assistant: Cherie Case Cartoons: Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com) Composition Services Sr. Project Coordinator: Kristie Rees Layout and Graphics: Carl Byers, Samantha K. Cherolis, Joyce Haughey, Melissa K. Jester, Ronald Terry, Christine Williams Proofreaders: Susan Hobbs, Jessica Kramer Indexer: Potomac Indexing, LLC Special Help: Beth Staton Publishing and Editorial for Technology Dummies Richard Swadley, Vice President and Executive Group Publisher Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher Mary Bednarek, Executive Acquisitions Director Mary C. Corder, Editorial Director Publishing for Consumer Dummies Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher Composition Services Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services 01_529676-ffirs.indd iv01_529676-ffirs.indd iv 9/8/09 7:40:07 PM9/8/09 7:40:07 PM Contents at a Glance Introduction 1 Part I: Getting Started 7 Chapter 1: Getting to Know the Work Area 9 Chapter 2: Getting Ready to Edit 29 Chapter 3: Working with Resolutions, Color Modes, and File Formats 47 Part II: Getting Organized 71 Chapter 4: Getting Your Images 73 Chapter 5: Viewing and Finding Your Images 97 Chapter 6: Organizing and Managing Your Photos (Windows) 119 Part III: Selecting and Correcting Photos 141 Chapter 7: Making and Modifying Selections 143 Chapter 8: Working with Layers 173 Chapter 9: Simple Image Makeovers 193 Chapter 10: Correcting Contrast, Color, and Clarity 219 Part IV: Exploring Your Inner Artist 247 Chapter 11: Playing with Filters, Effects, Styles, and More 249 Chapter 12: Drawing and Painting 277 Chapter 13: Working with Type 301 Part V: Printing, Creating, and Sharing 315 Chapter 14: Getting It on Paper 317 Chapter 15: Showing It Onscreen 335 Chapter 16: Making Creations and Sharing 351 Part VI: The Part of Tens 367 Chapter 17: Ten Tips for Composing Better Photos 369 Chapter 18: Ten More Project Ideas 379 Index 387 02_529676-ftoc.indd v02_529676-ftoc.indd v 9/8/09 7:47:23 PM9/8/09 7:47:23 PM 02_529676-ftoc.indd vi02_529676-ftoc.indd vi 9/8/09 7:47:23 PM9/8/09 7:47:23 PM Table of Contents Introduction 1 About This Book 2 Conventions Used in This Book 2 How This Book Is Organized 3 Part I: Getting Started 3 Part II: Getting Organized 3 Part III: Selecting and Correcting Photos 4 Part IV: Exploring Your Inner Artist 4 Part V: Printing, Creating, and Sharing 4 Part VI: The Part of Tens 5 Icons Used in This Book 5 Where to Go from Here 6 Part I: Getting Started 7 Chapter 1: Getting to Know the Work Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 Launching Photoshop Elements 8 10 Getting Around in Edit Full Mode 11 Jumping to Edit Full mode 12 Examining the image window 13 Moving through the menu bar 15 Uncovering the context menus 17 Using the Tools panel 17 Selecting tool options from the Options bar 19 Playing with panels 19 Juggling all your interface options 20 Changing Workspaces 21 Using Edit Quick mode 21 Using creation tools 23 Using the Project Bin 23 Creating different views of an image 24 Hiding the Project Bin 24 Using Bin Actions 25 Retracing Your Steps 25 Using the Undo History panel 25 Reverting to the last save 26 Getting a Helping Hand 26 Using Help 27 Using ToolTips 27 02_529676-ftoc.indd vii02_529676-ftoc.indd vii 9/8/09 7:47:24 PM9/8/09 7:47:24 PM viii Photoshop Elements 8 For Dummies Chapter 2: Getting Ready to Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29 Controlling the Editing Environment 29 Launching and navigating Preferences 30 Checking out all the preferences panes 31 Controlling the Organizing Environment (Windows) 32 Understanding the Photoshop Elements Organizer 33 Navigating Organizer preferences 33 Setting preferences in all the panes 34 Organizing Photos on the Macintosh 35 Customizing Presets 36 Getting Familiar with Color 37 Introducing color channels 37 Understanding bit depth 38 Converting 8-bit images to 16-bit images 41 Getting Color Right 43 Calibrating your monitor 43 Choosing a color workspace 44 Understanding how pro les work 45 Chapter 3: Working with Resolutions, Color Modes, and File Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47 The Ubiquitous Pixels 47 Understanding resolution 48 Understanding image dimensions 49 The Art of Resampling 50 Changing image size and resolution 50 Understanding the results of resampling 52 Choosing a Resolution for Print or Onscreen 53 Go Ahead — Make My Mode! 54 Converting to Bitmap mode 55 Converting to Grayscale mode 56 Converting to Indexed Color mode 59 Saving Files with Purpose 60 Using the Save/Save As dialog box 60 Saving les for the Web 62 Understanding le formats 62 File formats at a glance 68 Audio and video formats supported in Elements 69 Part II: Getting Organized 71 Chapter 4: Getting Your Images. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73 Grabbing Images from Your Camera 74 Choosing a le format 74 Using the AutoPlay Wizard 75 02_529676-ftoc.indd viii02_529676-ftoc.indd viii 9/8/09 7:47:24 PM9/8/09 7:47:24 PM [...]... 381 Clothes, Hats, and More 383 Posters 383 Household and Business Inventories 384 Project Documentation 385 School Reports and Projects 385 Wait — There’s More 386 Index 387 02_529676-ftoc.indd xv 9 /8/ 09 7:47:24 PM xvi Photoshop Elements 8 For Dummies 02_529676-ftoc.indd xvi 9 /8/ 09 7:47:24 PM Introduction P hotoshop Elements. .. Online Services (Windows) 84 Phoning In Your Images 85 Creating Images from Scratch 85 Creating a new document 85 Finding file specs in the New dialog box 87 Adding pages to an existing project (Windows) 87 A Basic Primer on Camera Raw 88 Understanding Camera Raw 88 Acquiring Camera Raw images 89 Chapter 5: Viewing and Finding Your... Elements provides you with easy-to-follow steps to package your creations, as we cover in Chapters 15 and 16 In addition, the wonderful sharing services available are your gateway to keeping family, friends, and clients connected to your photos, as we explain in Chapter 16 03_529676-intro.indd 1 9 /8/ 09 7: 48: 13 PM 2 Photoshop Elements 8 For Dummies About This Book This book is an effort to provide, in about... available in Elements If you have questions, comments, suggestions, or complaints, go to http://support.wiley.com We hope you have much success and enjoyment in using Adobe Photoshop Elements 8, and it’s our sincere wish that the pages ahead provide you with an informative and helpful view of the program 03_529676-intro.indd 6 9 /8/ 09 7: 48: 13 PM Part I Getting Started 04_529676-pp01.indd 7 9 /8/ 09 7:50: 58 PM... Contents ix Using Adobe Photoshop Elements 8. 0 – Photo Downloader 77 Getting Photos in Adobe Bridge (Macintosh) 78 Resizing images from digital cameras 79 Using a Scanner 79 Preparing before you scan 79 Understanding image requirements 80 Using scanner plug-ins 81 Scanning many photos at a time 82 Getting Files from Storage Media 84 Using Online Services... layers 184 Tackling Layer Basics 185 Creating a new layer from scratch 185 Using Layer via Copy and Layer via Cut 186 Duplicating layers 186 Dragging and dropping layers 187 Using the Paste into Selection command 187 Moving a Layer’s Content 188 Transforming Layers 189 Flattening and Merging Layers 190 Flattening... nontechnical terms 03_529676-intro.indd 5 9 /8/ 09 7: 48: 13 PM 6 Photoshop Elements 8 For Dummies Where to Go from Here As we say earlier in the Introduction, the first part of this book serves as a foundation for all the other chapters Try to spend a little time reading through the three chapters in Part I After that, feel free to jump around and pay special attention to the cross-referenced chapters, in... Sampling with the Eyedropper tool 280 Getting Artsy with the Pencil and Brush Tools 282 Drawing with the Pencil tool 282 Painting with the Brush tool 284 Creating your own brush 285 Using the Impressionist Brush 286 Filling and Outlining Selections 287 Fill ’er up 288 Outlining with the Stroke command 289 Splashing On Color with the Paint... you should plan to carefully review and understand before going too far into all the Elements features Don’t pass up this part Turn the page and start getting acquainted with the Adobe Photoshop Elements basics 04_529676-pp01.indd 8 9 /8/ 09 7:50:59 PM 1 Getting to Know the Work Area In This Chapter ▶ Opening Photoshop Elements ▶ Understanding the Elements workspace ▶ Changing workspace views ▶ Working... Figure 1 -8 , you can see the context menu that appears after we create a selection marquee and right-click that marquee in the image window Notice that the commands are all related to selections Notice, in Figure 1 -8 , the Transform Selection command Elements 8 enables you to modify selections using this command, as we explain in Chapter 7 Using the Tools panel Elements provides a good number of panels for . xv02_529676-ftoc.indd xv 9 /8/ 09 7:47:24 PM9 /8/ 09 7:47:24 PM xvi Photoshop Elements 8 For Dummies 02_529676-ftoc.indd xvi02_529676-ftoc.indd xvi 9 /8/ 09 7:47:24 PM9 /8/ 09 7:47:24 PM Introduction P hotoshop Elements. explain in Chapter 16. 03_529676-intro.indd 103_529676-intro.indd 1 9 /8/ 09 7: 48: 13 PM9 /8/ 09 7: 48: 13 PM 2 Photoshop Elements 8 For Dummies About This Book This book is an effort to provide, in about. Number: 20099352 28 ISBN: 9 7 8- 0-4 7 0-5 296 7-6 Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 01_529676-ffirs.indd ii01_529676-ffirs.indd ii 9 /8/ 09 7:40:07 PM9 /8/ 09 7:40:07 PM About