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 2021 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 15 Getting a Helping Hand 15 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 22 Understanding image dimensions 25 The Art of Resampling 25 Choosing a Resolution for Print or Onscreen 28 Working with File Formats 28 JPEG (*.jpg, *.jpeg, *.jpe) 28 PNG (*.png) 30 TIFF (*.tif, *.tiff) 30 Getting Familiar with Color 31 Getting Color Right 32 Color the easy way 33 Calibrating your monitor 33 Choosing a color workspace 34 Understanding how profiles work 35 Chapter 3: Exploring the Photo Editor 37 Examining the Photo Editor 37 Examining the image window 41 Uncovering the contextual menus 45 Selecting the tools 45 Selecting from the Tool Options 48 Playing with panels 48 Using the Photo Bin 51 Creating different views of an image 52 Viewing filenames 52 Using Photo Bin Actions 53 Finding Your Bearings in Guided Mode 53 Controlling the Editing Environment 55 Launching and navigating Preferences 55 Checking out all the Preferences panes 56 Part 2: Managing Media 61 Chapter 4: Navigating the Organizer 63 Organizing Photos and Media on a Hard Drive 64 Adding Images to the Organizer 65 Adding files from folders and removable media 65 Downloading camera images with the Elements Downloader 67 Importing additional photos from folders 69 Navigating the Media Browser 71 Using a Scanner 72 Understanding image requirements 72 Using scanner plug-ins (Windows) 73 Scanning on the Mac 75 Scanning many photos at a time 75 Phoning in Your Images 76 Setting Organizer Preferences 78 Chapter 5: Organizing Your Pictures 81 Touring the Organizer 81 Organizing Groups of Images with Tags 85 Creating and viewing a tag 85 Adding icons to tags 87 Working with custom tags 88 Working with default tags 90 Working with sub-categories 90 Sorting photos according to tags 91 Auto Curating Images 92 Working with Auto Creations 92 Adding new Events 93 Rating Images with Stars 93 Adding Images to an Album 94 Creating an album 94 Using albums for temporary work 97 Editing an album 97 Finding out more about sharing your albums 98 Adding People in the Media Browser 98 Placing Pictures on Maps 100 Working with Events 102 Chapter 6: Viewing and Finding Your Images 105 Cataloging Files 105 Using the Catalog Manager 106 Working with catalogs 107 Backing up your catalog 108 Backing up photos and files 109 Switching to a Different View 110 Viewing Photos in Memories (Slideshow) 111 Searching for Photos 113 Using Search 113 Searching for untagged items 115 Searching captions and notes 115 Searching by history 116 Searching metadata 116 Searching similarities 118 Grouping Files That Get in the Way 119 Marking files as hidden 119 Stackin'' ''em up 120 Creating versions 121 Part 3: Selecting and Correcting Photos 123 Chapter 7: Editing Camera Raw Images 125 Launching the Camera Raw Editor 126 Understanding Camera Raw 127 Learning Raw file format attributes 128 Opening images in the Camera Raw Editor 129 Getting Familiar with the Raw Editor 130 Getting Familiar with the Panels 133 Using the Basic panel 134 Sharpening and reducing noise 137 Using the Calibration panel 139 Working with Filmstrips 140 Synchronizing edits 141 Synchronizing defaults 143 Working with Profiles 143 Looking at the Adobe Camera Raw profiles 144 Managing profiles 145 Creating a Favorites list 146 Opening Non-Raw Images in the Camera Raw Editor 146 Changing Image Defaults 147 Working with XML Files and Preferences 147 Changing program defaults 148 Using Save Options 149 Using sidecar files 149 Chapter 8: Making and Modifying Selections 151 Defining Selections 151 Creating Rectangular and Elliptical Selections 152 Perfecting squares and circles with Shift and Alt (Option on the Mac) 154 Applying Marquee options 154 Making Freeform Selections with the Lasso Tools 156 Selecting with the Lasso tool 157 Getting straight with the Polygonal Lasso tool 159 Snapping with the Magnetic Lasso tool 159 Working Wizardry with the Magic Wand 162 Talking about Tolerance 162 Wielding the Wand to select 163 Modifying Your Selections 165 Adding to, subtracting from, and intersecting a selection 165 Avoiding key collisions 166 Painting with the Selection Brush 167 Painting with the Quick Selection Tool 169 Selecting with the Auto Selection Tool 171 Selecting Your Subject 172 Fine-Tuning with the Refine Selection Brush 174 Working with the Cookie Cutter Tool 176 Eliminating with the Eraser Tools 178 The Eraser tool 178 The Background Eraser tool 179 The Magic Eraser tool 180 Using the Select Menu 181 Selecting all or nothing 181 Reselecting a selection 181 Inversing a selection 181 Feathering a selection 182 Refining the edges of a selection 182 Using the Modify commands 184 Applying the Grow and Similar commands 184 Saving and loading selections 185 Chapter 9: Working with Layers 187 Getting to Know Layers 187 Converting a background to a layer 188 Anatomy of the Layers panel 189 Using the Layer and Select menus 192 Working with Different Layer Types 194 Image layers 194 Adjustment layers 195 Fill layers 197 Shape layers 198 Type layers 199 Tackling Layer Basics 199 Creating a new layer from scratch 199 Using Layer via Copy and Layer via Cut 201 Duplicating layers 201 Dragging and dropping layers 202 Using the Paste into Selection command 202 Moving a Layer''s Content 203 Transforming Layers 204 Adding Layer Masks 205 Flattening and Merging Layers 208 Flattening layers 208 Merging layers 209 Chapter 10: Simple Image Makeovers 211 Cropping and Straightening Images 211 Cutting away with the Crop tool 212 Fixing distortion with the Perspective Crop tool 214 Cropping with a selection border 216 Straightening images 216 Recomposing Images 217 Employing One-Step Auto Fixes 219 Auto Smart Fix 220 Auto Smart Tone 221 Auto Levels 222 Auto Contrast 223 Auto Haze Removal 223 Auto Color Correction 223 Auto Shake Reduction 224 Auto Sharpen 224 Auto Red Eye Fix 225 Editing in Quick Mode 227 Fixing Small Imperfections with Tools 230 Cloning with the Clone Stamp tool 231 Retouching with the Healing Brush 233 Zeroing in with the Spot Healing Brush 235 Repositioning with the Content-Aware Move tool 237 Lightening and darkening with Dodge and Burn tools 239 Smudging away rough spots 240 Softening with the Blur tool 242 Focusing with the Sharpen tool 242 Sponging color on and off 244 Replacing one color with another 245 Chapter 11: Correcting Contrast, Color, and Clarity 249 Editing Your Photos Using a Logical Workflow 250 Adjusting Lighting 251 Fixing lighting with Shadows/Highlights 251 Using Brightness/Contrast 252 Pinpointing proper contrast with Levels 253 Adjusting Color 255 Removing color casts automatically 256 Adjusting with Hue/Saturation 257 Eliminating color with Remove Color 258 Switching colors with Replace Color 259 Correcting with Color Curves 262 Adjusting skin tones 262 Defringing layers 264 Eliminating haze 266 Adjusting color temperature with photo filters 267 Mapping your colors 268 Adjusting Clarity 269 Removing noise, artifacts, dust, and scratches 270 Blurring when you need to 271 Sharpening for better focus 274 Opening closed eyes 276 Colorizing a photo 278 Smoothing skin 279 Adjusting facial features 280 Reducing shake 281 Moving Photos 282 Working Intelligently with the Smart Brush Tools 284 Part 4: Exploring Your Inner Artist 287 Chapter 12: Playing with Filters, Effects, Styles, and More 289 Having Fun with Filters 289 Applying filters 290 Corrective or destructive filters 291 One-step or multistep filters 291 Fading a f.