Introduction 1 About This Book 1 Icons Used in This Book 2 Beyond the Book 3 Where to Go from Here 3 Part 1: Getting Started with Photoshop Elements 2023 5 Chapter 1: Getting Started with Image Editing 7 Getting Familiar with the Home Screen 7 Launching the Photo Editor 9 Making Basic Edits in Quick Mode 10 Sharing a Photo 12 Retracing Your Steps 14 Using the History panel 14 Reverting to the last save 16 Getting a Helping Hand 16 Saving Files with Purpose 17 Using the Save/Save As dialog box 17 Saving files for the web 19 Chapter 2: Basic Image-Editing Concepts 21 Grappling with the Ubiquitous Pixels 22 Understanding resolution 23 Understanding image dimensions 25 The Art of Resampling 25 Choosing a Resolution for Print or Onscreen 28 Working with File Formats 29 JPEG (*.jpg, *.jpeg, *.jpe) 29 PNG (*.png) 31 TIFF (*.tif, *.tiff) 31 Getting Familiar with Color 32 Getting Color Right 33 Color the easy way 34 Calibrating your monitor 34 Choosing a color workspace 35 Understanding how profiles work 36 Chapter 3: Exploring the Photo Editor 37 Examining the Photo Editor 37 Examining the image window 41 Uncovering the contextual menus 46 Selecting the tools 46 Selecting from the Tool Options 49 Playing with panels 49 Using the Photo Bin 53 Creating different views of an image 53 Viewing filenames 54 Using Photo Bin Actions 54 Using Some Creative Features 55 Using Guided Edits 55 Searching Guided Edits 56 Controlling the Editing Environment 56 Launching and navigating Preferences 57 Checking out all the Preferences panes 58 Perusing preset libraries 60 Part 2: Managing Media 63 Chapter 4: Navigating the Organizer 65 Organizing Photos and Media on a Hard Drive 66 Adding Images to the Organizer 68 Adding files from folders and removable media 68 Downloading camera images with the Elements Downloader 70 Importing additional photos from folders 72 Navigating the Media Browser 73 Using a Scanner 74 Understanding image requirements 75 Using scanner plug-ins (Windows) 75 Scanning on the Mac 77 Scanning many photos at a time 77 Phoning in Your Images 78 Setting Organizer Preferences 80 Chapter 5: Organizing Your Pictures 83 Touring the Organizer 83 Organizing Groups of Images with Tags 87 Creating and viewing a tag 87 Adding icons to tags 90 Working with custom tags 91 Working with default tags 92 Working with sub-categories 93 Sorting photos according to tags 94 Auto Generating Tags 95 Working with Auto Creations 95 Adding new Events 96 Rating Images with Stars 96 Adding Images to an Album 98 Creating an album 98 Using albums for temporary work 100 Editing an album 100 Finding out more about sharing your albums 101 Adding People in the Media Browser 101 Placing Pictures on Maps 103 Working with Events 105 Chapter 6: Viewing and Finding Your Images 107 Cataloging Files 107 Using the Catalog Manager 108 Working with catalogs 109 Backing up your catalog 110 Backing up photos and files 111 Switching to a Different View 112 Viewing Photos in Memories (Slideshow) 113 Searching for Photos 115 Using Search 115 Searching for untagged items 117 Searching captions and notes 117 Searching by history 118 Searching metadata 118 Searching similarities 120 Grouping Files That Get in the Way 121 Marking files as hidden 121 Stackin'' ''em up 122 Creating versions 123 Part 3: Selecting and Correcting Photos 125 Chapter 7: Editing Camera Raw Images 127 Launching the Camera Raw Editor 127 Understanding Camera Raw 128 Learning Raw file format attributes 129 Opening images in the Camera Raw Editor 130 Getting Familiar with the Raw Editor 131 Getting Familiar with the Panels 135 Using the Basic panel 136 Sharpening and reducing noise 139 Using the Calibration panel 142 Working with Filmstrips 142 Working with Profiles 144 Looking at the Adobe Camera Raw profiles 144 Managing profiles 146 Creating a Favorites list 147 Opening Non-Raw Images in the Camera Raw Editor 147 Changing Image Defaults 148 Working with XML Files and Preferences 148 Changing program defaults 149 Using Save Options 150 Using sidecar files 151 Chapter 8: Making and Modifying Selections 153 Defining Selections 153 Creating Rectangular and Elliptical Selections 154 Perfecting squares and circles with Shift and Alt (Option on the Mac) 156 Applying Marquee options 157 Making Freeform Selections with the Lasso Tools 159 Selecting with the Lasso tool 159 Getting straight with the Polygonal Lasso tool 160 Snapping with the Magnetic Lasso tool 162 Working Wizardry with the Magic Wand 164 Talking about Tolerance 165 Wielding the Wand to select 165 Modifying Your Selections 168 Adding to, subtracting from, and intersecting a selection 168 Avoiding key collisions 169 Painting with the Selection Brush 169 Painting with the Quick Selection Tool 171 Selecting with the Auto Selection Tool 173 Selecting Your Subject 175 Fine-Tuning with the Refine Selection Brush 176 Working with the Cookie Cutter Tool 178 Eliminating with the Eraser Tools 180 The Eraser tool 180 The Background Eraser tool 181 The Magic Eraser tool 183 Using the Select Menu 183 Selecting all or nothing 183 Reselecting a selection 184 Inversing a selection 184 Feathering a selection 184 Refining the edges of a selection 185 Using the Modify commands 186 Applying the Grow and Similar commands 187 Saving and loading selections 187 Chapter 9: Working with Layers 189 Getting to Know Layers 189 Converting a background to a layer 190 Anatomy of the Layers panel 191 Using the Layer and Select menus 194 Working with Different Layer Types 196 Image layers 196 Adjustment layers 197 Fill layers 200 Shape layers 201 Type layers 202 Tackling Layer Basics 202 Creating a new layer from scratch 202 Using Layer via Copy and Layer via Cut 204 Duplicating layers 204 Dragging and dropping layers 204 Using the Paste into Selection command 205 Moving a Layer''s Content 206 Transforming Layers 207 Adding Layer Masks 208 Flattening and Merging Layers 210 Flattening layers 211 Merging layers 212 Chapter 10: Simple Image Makeovers 213 Cropping and Straightening Images 213 Cutting away with the Crop tool 214 Fixing distortion with the Perspective Crop tool 216 Cropping with a selection border 218 Straightening images 218 Recomposing Images 219 Employing One-Step Auto Fixes 222 Auto Smart Fix 222 Auto Smart Tone 222 Auto Levels 224 Auto Contrast 225 Auto Haze Removal 225 Auto Color Correction 225 Auto Shake Reduction 226 Auto Sharpen 226 Auto Red Eye Fix 227 Editing in Quick Mode 229 Fixing Small Imperfections with Tools 233 Cloning with the Clone Stamp tool 233 Retouching with the Healing Brush 235 Zeroing in with the Spot Healing Brush 237 Repositioning with the Content-Aware Move tool 239 Lightening and darkening with Dodge and Burn tools 241 Smudging away rough spots 243 Softening with the Blur tool 244 Focusing with the Sharpen tool 245 Sponging color on and off 246 Replacing one color with another 248 Chapter 11: Correcting Contrast, Color, and Clarity 251 Editing Your Photos Using a Logical Workflow 252 Adjusting Lighting 253 Fixing lighting with Shadows/Highlights 253 Using Brightness/Contrast 254 Pinpointing proper contrast with Levels 255 Adjusting Color 258 Removing color casts automatically 258 Adjusting with Hue/Saturation 260 Eliminating color with Remove Color 261 Switching colors with Replace Color 262 Correcting with Color Curves 263 Adjusting skin tones 266 Defringing layers 267 Eliminating haze 269 Adjusting color temperature with photo filters 270 Mapping your colors 271 Adjusting Clarity 272 Removing noise, artifacts, dust, and scratches 272 Blurring when you need to 273 Sharpening for better focus 276 Opening closed eyes 278 Colorizing a photo 279 Smoothing skin 281 Adjusting facial features 282 Reducing shake 284 Moving Overlays 284 Moving Photos 286 Moving Elements 287 Working Intelligently with the Smart Brush Tools 289 Part 4: Exploring Your Inner Artist 293 Chapter 12: Playing with Filters, Effects, Styles, and More 295 Having Fun with Filters 295 Applying filters 296 Corrective or destructive filters 297 One-step or multistep filters 297 Fading a filter 298 Selectively applyin.