Introduction 1 About This Book 1 Icons Used in This Book 3 Beyond the Book 4 Where to Go from Here 4 Part 1: Getting Started with Photoshop Elements 2018 5 Chapter 1: Getting Started with Image Editing 7 Before You Begin 7 Launching the Photo Editor 10 Making Basic Edits in Quick Mode 12 Sharing a Photo 14 Retracing Your Steps 16 Using the History panel 16 Reverting to the last save 17 Getting a Helping Hand 17 Saving Files with Purpose 19 Using the Save/Save As dialog box 20 Saving files for the web 21 Chapter 2: Basic Image-Editing Concepts 23 Grappling with the Ubiquitous Pixels 24 Understanding resolution 24 Understanding image dimensions 27 The Art of Resampling 27 Changing image size and resolution 27 Understanding the results of resampling 29 Choosing a Resolution for Print or Onscreen 30 Go Ahead -- Make My Mode! 31 Converting to Bitmap mode 32 Converting to Grayscale mode 34 Understanding File Formats 37 File formats at a glance 41 Audio and video formats supported in Elements 42 Getting Familiar with Color 43 Getting Color Right 44 Color the easy way 45 Calibrating your monitor 45 Choosing a color workspace 46 Understanding how profiles work 47 Chapter 3: Exploring the Photo Editor 49 Examining the Photo Editor 49 Examining the image window 53 Uncovering the contextual menus 56 Selecting the tools 57 Selecting from the Tool Options 58 Playing with panels 60 Using the Photo Bin 63 Creating different views of an image 63 Viewing filenames 64 Using Photo Bin Actions 64 Finding Your Bearings in Guided Mode 65 Controlling the Editing Environment 67 Launching and navigating preferences 67 Checking out all the preferences panes 68 Part 2: Managing Media 73 Chapter 4: Navigating the Organizer 75 Organizing Photos and Media on a Hard Drive 76 Adding Images to the Organizer 77 Adding files from folders and removable media 77 Downloading camera images with the Elements Downloader 79 Importing additional photos from folders 81 Navigating the Media Browser 82 Using a Scanner 83 Understanding image requirements 83 Using scanner plug-ins (Windows) 84 Scanning on the Mac 86 Scanning many photos at a time 86 Phoning in Your Images 87 Setting Organizer Preferences 89 Chapter 5: Organizing Your Pictures 91 Touring the Organizer 91 Organizing Groups of Images with Tags 95 Creating and viewing a tag 95 Adding icons to tags 97 Working with custom tags 98 Working with default tags 99 Working with subcategories 100 Sorting photos according to tags 101 Auto Curating Images 102 Rating Images with Stars 102 Adding Images to an Album 103 Creating an album 103 Using albums for temporary work 105 Editing an album 105 Finding out more about sharing your albums 106 Adding People in the Media Browser 106 Placing Pictures on Maps 108 Working with Events 110 Chapter 6: Viewing and Finding Your Images 113 Cataloging Files 113 Using the Catalog Manager 114 Working with catalogs 115 Backing up your catalog 116 Backing up photos and files (Windows) 117 Switching to a Different View 118 Viewing Photos in Memories (Slideshow) 119 Searching for Photos 121 Using Search 121 Searching for untagged items 123 Searching captions and notes 123 Searching by history 124 Searching metadata 124 Searching similarities 125 Grouping Files That Get in the Way 127 Marking files as hidden 127 Stacking ''em up 127 Creating versions 129 Part 3: Selecting and Correcting Photos 131 Chapter 7: Making and Modifying Selections 133 Defining Selections 133 Creating Rectangular and Elliptical Selections 134 Perfecting squares and circles with Shift and Alt (Option on the Mac) 136 Applying Marquee options 136 Making Freeform Selections with the Lasso Tools 138 Selecting with the Lasso tool 139 Getting straight with the Polygonal Lasso tool 141 Snapping with the Magnetic Lasso tool 141 Working Wizardry with the Magic Wand 144 Talking about Tolerance 144 Wielding the Wand to select 145 Modifying Your Selections 147 Adding to, subtracting from, and intersecting a selection 147 Avoiding key collisions 148 Painting with the Selection Brush 149 Painting with the Quick Selection Tool 151 Selecting with the Smart Selection Tool 153 Fine-Tuning with the Refine Selection Brush 154 Working with the Cookie Cutter Tool 156 Eliminating with the Eraser Tools 158 The Eraser tool 158 The Background Eraser tool 159 The Magic Eraser tool 161 Using the Select Menu 161 Selecting all or nothing 161 Reselecting a selection 162 Inversing a selection 162 Feathering a selection 162 Refining the edges of a selection 163 Using the Modify commands 164 Applying the Grow and Similar commands 165 Saving and loading selections 165 Chapter 8: Working with Layers 167 Getting to Know Layers 167 Converting a background to a layer 168 Anatomy of the Layers panel 169 Using the Layer and Select menus 173 Working with Different Layer Types 174 Image layers 174 Adjustment layers 175 Fill layers 177 Shape layers 178 Type layers 179 Tackling Layer Basics 179 Creating a new layer from scratch 179 Using Layer via Copy and Layer via Cut 180 Duplicating layers 181 Dragging and dropping layers 182 Using the Paste into Selection command 182 Moving a Layer''s Content 183 Transforming Layers 184 Adding Layer Masks 185 Flattening and Merging Layers 188 Flattening layers 188 Merging layers 189 Chapter 9: Simple Image Makeovers 191 Cropping and Straightening Images 191 Cutting away with the Crop tool 192 Fixing distortion with the Perspective Crop tool 194 Cropping with a selection border 196 Straightening images 196 Recomposing Images 197 Employing One-Step Auto Fixes 200 Auto Smart Tone 200 Auto Smart Fix 201 Auto Levels 202 Auto Contrast 202 Auto Haze Removal 203 Auto Color Correction 204 Auto Shake Reduction 204 Auto Sharpen 204 Auto Red Eye Fix 205 Editing in Quick Mode 207 Fixing Small Imperfections with Tools 210 Cloning with the Clone Stamp tool 210 Retouching with the Healing Brush 213 Zeroing in with the Spot Healing Brush 215 Repositioning with the Content-Aware Move tool 216 Lightening and darkening with Dodge and Burn tools 218 Smudging away rough spots 220 Softening with the Blur tool 221 Focusing with the Sharpen tool 222 Sponging color on and off 223 Replacing one color with another 225 Chapter 10: Correcting Contrast, Color, and Clarity 229 Editing Your Photos Using a Logical Workflow 230 Adjusting Lighting 231 Fixing lighting with Shadows/Highlights 231 Using Brightness/Contrast 232 Pinpointing proper contrast with Levels 233 Adjusting Color 235 Removing color casts automatically 236 Adjusting with Hue/Saturation 237 Eliminating color with Remove Color 239 Switching colors with Replace Color 240 Correcting with Color Curves 241 Adjusting skin tones 243 Defringing layers 245 Eliminating haze 246 Adjusting color temperature with photo filters 247 Mapping your colors 248 Adjusting Clarity 249 Removing noise, artifacts, dust, and scratches 249 Blurring when you need to 250 Sharpening for better focus 253 Opening closed eyes 256 Adjusting Facial Features 257 Reducing shake 258 Working Intelligently with the Smart Brush Tools 259 Part 4: Exploring Your Inner Artist 263 Chapter 11: Playing with Filters, Effects, Styles, and More 265 Having Fun with Filters 265 Applying filters 266 Corrective or destructive filters 267 One-step or multistep filters 267 Fading a filter 268 Selectively applying a filter 268 Working in the Filter Gallery 269 Distorting with the Liquify filter 271 Correcting Camera Distortion 273 Exploring Element''s Unique Filters 275 Creating a comic 275 Getting graphic 276 Using the Pen and Ink filter 278 Dressing Up with Photo and Text Effects 279 Adding Shadows, Glows, and More 281 Applying styles 281 Working with styles 283 Using the Graphics panel 284 Mixing It Up with Blend Modes 285 General blend modes 285 Darken blend modes 286 Lighten blend modes 287 Lighting blend modes 289 Inverter blend modes 289 HSL blend modes 291 Using Photomerge 292 Photomerge Panorama 292 Photomerge Group Shot 295 Photomerge Scene Cleaner 297 Photomerge Exposure 299 Photomerge Comp.