Chapter 1
Getting Started
Are you interested in working with digital images on your computer? This chapter introduces you to Adobe Photoshop Elements 12, a popular software application for editing and creating digital images. Photoshop Elements also enables you to organize your collection of digital images so you can easily find what you are looking for.
Introducing Photoshop Elements 12
Understanding Digital Images
Start Photoshop Elements
Explore the Editor Workspace
Tour the Organizer Workspace
Switch between the Organizer and the Editor
Introducing the Photoshop Elements Tools
Switch Editor Modes
Work with Tools
Work with Panels
Set Program Preferences
View Rulers and Guides
Introducing Photoshop Elements 12
Photoshop Elements is a popular photo-editing program you can use to modify, optimize, and organize digital images. You can use the program’s Editor to make imperfect snapshots clearer and more colorful as well as retouch and restore older photos. With layers, you can isolate objects in your images and apply special effects just to those objects or combine multiple images into a collage. You can also use the program’s Organizer to group your photos into albums, assign descriptive keyword tags, discover visually similar images, create slide shows, and more. When you are done with your images, you can use Photoshop Elements to save them for sharing on the web or print them out.
Manipulate Photos
As its name suggests, Photoshop Elements excels at enabling you to edit elements in your digital photographs. The program includes numerous image-editing tools and commands you can apply to manipulate the look of your photos. Whether you import photos from a digital camera or a scanner, you can apply a wide variety of editing techniques to your images, from subtle adjustments in color to elaborate filters that make your snapshots look like paintings. See Chapter 7 for more on manipulating selected parts of your photos. See Chapter 12 for more on painting and drawing, and see Chapter 13 for more on using filters.
Retouch and Repair
You can use Photoshop Elements to edit new photos to make them look their best as well as retouch and repair older photos that suffer from aging problems. For example, you can restore a faded photo by using saturation controls to make it more vibrant, or you can use the Clone Stamp tool to repair a tear or stain. You can also use the program’s exposure commands to fix lighting problems as well as edit out unwanted objects with the Healing Brush. See Chapter 9 for more on retouching...