Introduction 1 About This Book 1 Icons Used in This Book 2 Beyond the Book 3 Where to Go from Here 3 Part I: Getting Started with Photoshop Elements 13 5 Chapter 1: Getting Started with Image Editing 7 Launching the Photo Editor 7 Making Basic Edits in Quick Mode 9 Sharing a Photo 12 Creating Images from Scratch 14 Retracing Your Steps 17 Using the History panel 17 Reverting to the last save 18 Getting a Helping Hand 19 Saving Files with Purpose 21 Using the Save/Save As dialog box 21 Saving files for the web 23 Chapter 2: Basic Image-Editing Concepts 25 Grappling with the Ubiquitous Pixels 26 Understanding resolution 27 Understanding image dimensions 30 The Art of Resampling 30 Changing image size and resolution 31 Understanding the results of resampling 33 Choosing a Resolution for Print or Onscreen 34 Go Ahead -- Make My Mode! 35 Converting to Bitmap mode 36 Converting to Grayscale mode 38 Understanding File Formats 42 File formats at a glance 47 Audio and video formats supported in Elements 49 Getting Familiar with Color 49 Getting Color Right 51 Color the easy way 51 Calibrating your monitor 51 Choosing a color workspace 52 Understanding how profiles work 53 Chapter 3: Exploring the Photo Editor 55 Examining the Photo Editor 55 Examining the image window 59 Uncovering the contextual menus 63 Selecting the tools 63 Selecting from the Tool Options 66 Playing with panels 66 Using the Photo Bin 69 Creating different views of an image 69 Viewing filenames 70 Using Photo Bin Actions 70 Finding Your Bearings in Guided Mode 71 Controlling the Editing Environment 73 Launching and navigating preferences 74 Checking out all the preferences panes 75 Customizing Presets 77 Part II: Managing Media 79 Chapter 4: Navigating the Organizer 81 Organizing Photos and Media on a Hard Drive 82 Adding Images to the Organizer 83 Adding fi les from folders and removable media 83 Downloading camera images with the Elements Downloader 85 Importing additional photos from folders 87 Getting photos from iPhoto (Mac only) 88 Navigating the Media Browser 89 Using a Scanner 90 Understanding image requirements 91 Using scanner plug-ins (Windows) 92 Scanning on the Mac 93 Scanning many photos at a time 94 Phoning in Your Images 95 Setting Organizer Preferences 97 Chapter 5: Organizing Your Pictures 99 Touring the Organizer 99 Organizing Groups of Images with Tags 103 Creating and viewing a tag 103 Adding icons to tags 105 Working with custom tags 106 Working with default tags 108 Working with subcategories 109 Sorting photos according to tags 109 Rating Images with Stars 110 Adding Images to an Album 111 Creating an album 112 Using albums for temporary work 113 Editing an album 114 Finding out more about sharing your albums 114 Adding People in the Media Browser 115 Placing Pictures on Maps 116 Working with Events 118 Chapter 6: Viewing and Finding Your Images 121 Cataloging Files 121 Using the Catalog Manager 122 Working with catalogs 123 Backing up your catalog 124 Backing up photos and fi les (Windows) 126 Switching to a Different View 126 Viewing Photos in a Slide Show 127 Searching for Photos 129 Using Search 130 Searching for untagged items 130 Searching captions and notes 130 Searching by history 131 Searching metadata 131 Searching similarities 133 Grouping Files That Get in the Way 135 Marking fi les as hidden 135 Stacking ''em up 135 Creating versions 137 Part III: Selecting and Correcting Photos 139 Chapter 7: Making and Modifying Selections 141 Defining Selections 141 Creating Rectangular and Elliptical Selections 142 Perfecting squares and circles with Shift and Alt (Option on the Mac) 143 Applying Marquee options 144 Making Freeform Selections with the Lasso Tools 146 Selecting with the Lasso tool 147 Getting straight with the Polygonal Lasso tool 148 Snapping with the Magnetic Lasso tool 149 Working Wizardry with the Magic Wand 152 Talking about Tolerance 152 Wielding the Wand to select 153 Modifying Your Selections 154 Adding to, subtracting from, and intersecting a selection 154 Avoiding key collisions 155 Painting with the Selection Brush 156 Painting with the Quick Selection Tool 158 Fine-Tuning with the Refi ne Selection Brush 160 Working with the Cookie Cutter Tool 161 Eliminating with the Eraser Tools 163 The Eraser tool 163 The Background Eraser tool 164 The Magic Eraser tool 165 Using the Select Menu 165 Selecting all or nothing 166 Reselecting a selection 166 Inversing a selection 166 Feathering a selection 166 Refining the edges of a selection 167 Using the Modify commands 169 Applying the Grow and Similar commands 169 Saving and loading selections 170 Chapter 8: Working with Layers 171 Getting to Know Layers 171 Converting a background to a layer 172 Anatomy of the Layers panel 173 Using the Layer and Select menus 175 Working with Different Layer Types 177 Image layers 177 Adjustment layers 178 Fill layers 180 Shape layers 181 Type layers 182 Tackling Layer Basics 182 Creating a new layer from scratch 182 Using Layer via Copy and Layer via Cut 184 Duplicating layers 184 Dragging and dropping layers 184 Using the Paste into Selection command 185 Moving a Layer''s Content 186 Transforming Layers 187 Adding Layer Masks 188 Flattening and Merging Layers 190 Flattening layers 191 Merging layers 192 Chapter 9: Simple Image Makeovers 193 Cropping and Straightening Images 193 Cutting away with the Crop tool 193 Cropping with a selection border 196 Straightening images 196 Recomposing Images 198 Employing One-Step Auto Fixes 200 Auto Smart Tone 200 Auto Smart Fix 201 Auto Levels 202 Auto Contrast 203 Auto Color Correction 203 Auto Sharpen 204 Auto Red Eye Fix 205 Editing in Quick Mode 206 Fixing Small Imperfections with Tools 210 Cloning with the Clone Stamp tool 210 Retouching with the Healing Brush 212 Zeroing in with the Spot Healing Brush 214 Repositioning with the Content-Aware Move tool 216 Lightening and darkening with Dodge and Burn tools 217 Smudging away rough spots 219 Softening with the Blur tool 221 Focusing with the Sharpen tool 221 Sponging color on and off 223 Replacing one color with another 224 Chapter 10: Correcting Contrast, Color, and Clarity 227 Editing Your Photos Using a Logical Workflow 228 Adjusting Lighting 228 Fixing lighting with Shadows/Highlights 229 Using Brightness/Contrast 230 Pinpointing proper contrast with Levels 230 Adjusting Color 233 Removing color casts automatically 234 Adjusting with Hue/Saturation 235 Eliminating color with Remove Color 236 Switching colors with Replace Color 238 Correcting with Color Curves 239 Adjusting skin tones 241 Defringing layers 242 Adjusting color temperature with photo filters 244 Mapping your colors 245 Adjusting Clarity 246 Removing noise, artifacts, dust, and scratches 247 Blurring when you need to 248 Sharpening for better focus 251 Working Intelligently with the Smart Brush Tools 254 Part IV: Exploring Your Inner Artist 259 Chapter 11: Playing with Filters, Effects, Styles, and More 261 Having Fun with Filters 262 Applying filters 262 Corrective or destructive filters 263 One-step or multistep filters 263 Fading a filter 264 Selectively applying a filter 264 Working in the Filter Gallery 265 Distorting with the Liquify filter 267 Correcting Camera Distortion 269 Exploring Element''s Unique Filters 271 Creating a comic 272 Getting graphic 273 Using the Pen and Ink filter 274 Dressing Up with Photo and Text Effects 275 Adding Shadows, Glows, and More 277 Applying layer styles 277 Working with layer styles 279 Mixing It Up with Blend Modes 280 General blend modes 280 Darken blend modes 281 Lighten blend modes 282 Lighting blend modes 283 Inverter blend modes 284 HSL blend modes 285 Using Photomerge 286 Photomerge Panorama 286 Photomerge Group Shot 289 Photomerge Scene Cleaner 291 Photomerge Exposure 292 Photomerge Compose 295 Chapter 12: Drawing and Painting 299 Choosing Color 299 Working with the Color Picker 300 Dipping into the Color Swatches panel 301 Sampling with the Eyedropper tool 303 Getting Artsy with the Pencil and Brush Tools 304 Drawing with the Pencil tool 304 Painting with the Brush tool 306 Using.