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 2024 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 11 Sharing a Photo 13 Retracing Your Steps 15 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 19 Saving files for the web 21 Chapter 2: Basic Image-Editing Concepts 23 Grappling with the Ubiquitous Pixels 24 Understanding resolution 25 Understanding image dimensions 27 The Art of Resampling 27 Choosing a Resolution for Print or Onscreen 30 Working with File Formats 31 JPEG (*.jpg, *.jpeg, *.jpe) 32 PNG (*.png) 33 TIFF (*.tif, *.tiff) 33 Getting Familiar with Color 34 Getting Color Right 36 Color the easy way 36 Calibrating your monitor 36 Choosing a color workspace 37 Understanding how profiles work 38 Chapter 3: Exploring the Photo Editor 39 Examining the Photo Editor 39 Examining the image window 43 Uncovering the contextual menus 48 Selecting the tools 48 Selecting from the Tool Options 51 Playing with panels 51 Using the Photo Bin 55 Creating different views of an image 55 Viewing filenames 56 Using Photo Bin Actions 56 Using Some Creative Features 56 Using Guided Edits 57 Working with Adobe Stock images 58 Searching Guided Edits 60 Controlling the Editing Environment 61 Launching and navigating Preferences 62 Checking out all the Preferences panes 63 Perusing preset libraries 65 Part 2: Managing Media 67 Chapter 4: Navigating the Organizer 69 Organizing Photos and Media on a Hard Drive 70 Adding Images to the Organizer 72 Adding files from folders and removable media 72 Downloading camera images with the Elements Downloader 74 Importing additional photos from folders 76 Navigating the Media Browser 77 Using a Scanner 78 Understanding image requirements 79 Using scanner plug-ins (Windows) 79 Scanning on the Mac 80 Scanning many photos at a time 81 Phoning in Your Images 81 Setting Organizer Preferences 82 Chapter 5: Organizing Your Pictures 85 Touring the Organizer 85 Organizing Groups of Images with Tags 89 Creating and viewing a tag 89 Adding icons to tags 92 Working with custom tags 93 Working with default tags 94 Working with sub-categories 95 Sorting photos according to tags 96 Auto Generating Tags 96 Working with Auto Creations 97 Adding new Events 97 Rating Images with Stars 98 Adding Images to an Album 99 Creating an album 100 Using albums for temporary work 102 Editing an album 102 Finding out more about sharing your albums 103 Adding People in the Media Browser 103 Placing Pictures on Maps 105 Working with Events 107 Chapter 6: Viewing and Finding Your Images 109 Cataloging Files 109 Using the Catalog Manager 110 Working with catalogs 111 Backing up your catalog 112 Backing up photos and files 114 Switching to a Different View 114 Viewing Photos in Memories (Slideshow) 115 Searching for Photos 117 Using Search 117 Searching for untagged items 119 Searching captions and notes 119 Searching by history 120 Searching metadata 120 Searching similarities 121 Grouping Files That Get in the Way 123 Marking files as hidden 123 Stackin'' ''em up 123 Creating versions 125 Part 3: Selecting and Correcting Photos 127 Chapter 7: Editing Camera Raw Images 129 Launching the Camera Raw Editor 129 Understanding Camera Raw 130 Learning Raw file format attributes 131 Opening images in the Camera Raw Editor 132 Getting Familiar with the Raw Editor 133 Getting Familiar with the Panels 137 Using the Basic panel 138 Sharpening and reducing noise 141 Using the Calibration panel 144 Working with Filmstrips 144 Working with Profiles 146 Looking at the Adobe Camera Raw profiles 146 Managing profiles 148 Creating a Favorites list 148 Opening Non-Raw Images in the Camera Raw Editor 149 Changing Image Defaults 150 Working with XML Files and Preferences 150 Changing program defaults 150 Using Save Options 152 Using sidecar files 153 Chapter 8: Making and Modifying Selections 155 Defining Selections 155 Creating Rectangular and Elliptical Selections 156 Perfecting squares and circles with Shift and Alt (Option on the Mac) 158 Applying Marquee options 159 Making Freeform Selections with the Lasso Tools 161 Selecting with the Lasso tool 161 Getting straight with the Polygonal Lasso tool 162 Snapping with the Magnetic Lasso tool 164 Working Wizardry with the Magic Wand 166 Talking about Tolerance 167 Wielding the Wand to select 167 Modifying Your Selections 170 Adding to, subtracting from, and intersecting a selection 170 Avoiding key collisions 171 Painting with the Selection Brush 171 Painting with the Quick Selection Tool 173 Selecting with the Auto Selection Tool 175 Selecting Your Subject, Background, or Sky with One-Click Selecting 177 Fine-Tuning with the Refine Selection Brush 179 Working with the Cookie Cutter Tool 181 Eliminating with the Eraser Tools 182 The Eraser tool 183 The Background Eraser tool 184 The Magic Eraser tool 185 Using the Select Menu 185 Selecting all or nothing 186 Reselecting a selection 186 Inversing a selection 186 Feathering a selection 186 Refining the edges of a selection 187 Using the Modify commands 189 Applying the Grow and Similar commands 189 Saving and loading selections 190 Chapter 9: Working with Layers 191 Getting to Know Layers 191 Converting a background to a layer 192 Anatomy of the Layers panel 193 Using the Layer and Select menus 197 Working with Different Layer Types 198 Image layers 198 Adjustment layers 199 Fill layers 201 Shape layers 202 Type layers 203 Tackling Layer Basics 203 Creating a new layer from scratch 204 Using Layer via Copy and Layer via Cut 205 Duplicating layers 206 Dragging and dropping layers 206 Using the Paste into Selection command 207 Moving a Layer''s Content 208 Transforming Layers 209 Adding Layer Masks 210 Flattening and Merging Layers 212 Flattening layers 213 Merging layers 213 Chapter 10: Simple Image Makeovers 215 Cropping and Straightening Images 215 Cutting away with the Crop tool 216 Fixing distortion with the Perspective Crop tool 218 Cropping with a selection border 219 Straightening images 219 Recomposing Images 221 Employing One-Step Auto Fixes 224 Auto Smart Fix 224 Auto Smart Tone 225 Auto Levels 226 Auto Contrast 227 Auto Haze Removal 227 Auto Color Correction 227 Auto Sharpen 228 Auto Red Eye Fix 229 Editing in Quick Mode 230 Fixing Small Imperfections with Tools 234 Cloning with the Clone Stamp tool 234 Retouching with the Healing Brush 237 Zeroing in with the Spot Healing Brush 239 Repositioning with the Content-Aware Move tool 241 Lightening and darkening with Dodge and Burn tools 243 Smudging away rough spots 244 Softening with the Blur tool 246 Focusing with the Sharpen tool 247 Sponging color on and off 248 Replacing one color with another 249 Chapter 11: Correcting Contrast, Color, and Clarity 253 Editing Your Photos Using a Logical Workflow 254 Adjusting Lighting 255 Fixing lighting with Shadows/Highlights 255 Using Brightness/Contrast 256 Pinpointing proper contrast with Levels 257 Adjusting Color 260 Removing color casts automatically 260 Adjusting with Hue/Saturation 261 Eliminating color with Remove Color 263 Switching colors with Replace Color 264 Correcting with Color Curves 265 Adjusting skin tones 267 Defringing layers 269 Eliminating haze 270 Adjusting color temperature with photo filters 272 Mapping your colors 273 Adjusting Clarity 274 Removing noise, artifacts, dust, and scratches 274 Blurring when you need to 275 Sharpening for better focus 278 Opening closed eyes 280 Colorizing a photo 282 Smoothing skin 284 Adjusting facial features 285 Moving Overlays 285 Moving Photos 288 Moving Elements 288 Working Intelligently with the Smart Brush Tools 290 Part 4: Exploring Your Inner Artist 295 Chapter 12: Playing with Filters, Effects, Styles, and More 297 Having Fun with Filters 297 Applying filters 298 Corrective or destructive filters 299 One-step or multistep filters 299 Fading a filter.