IntroductionWelcome| 00:00 | (Music Plays)
| | 00:04 | Hi! I'm Jan Kabili, Senior Trainer at lynda.com,
and this is Photoshop Elements 8
| | 00:10 | for Mac Essential Training.
| | 00:12 | Photoshop Elements 8 is at heart an
image editor, a program that you can use to
| | 00:17 | correct, adjust, and enhance your
digital photographs, and Elements 8 comes with
| | 00:23 | Adobe Bridge CS4, an image viewer and
organizer that you can use to manage and
| | 00:29 | find your files and open
them directly into Elements.
| | 00:32 | Elements 8 has some new enhancements,
including a Recompose tool, that you can use
| | 00:37 | to change the orientation of your
photographs, and Photomerge Exposure, a
| | 00:42 | feature that will help you to take the
best exposures from a number of shots and
| | 00:46 | blend them together into
one perfect final image.
| | 00:49 | I'll show you how to use some other
tools that are new to Elements 8 for Mac,
| | 00:53 | like the Smart Brush tool and the
Detail Smart Brush tool that allow you to
| | 00:58 | adjust isolated portions of an image.
| | 01:00 | I'll even cover how to share your
photos with others as single printed images,
| | 01:05 | as full-fledged online web
galleries and as PDF slideshows.
| | 01:11 | So, if you're ready to get started
with this course, let's get going with
| | 01:15 | Photoshop Elements 8 for Mac Essential Training.
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| Using the exercise files| 00:00 | If you are a premium member of the
lynda.com Online Training Library or if
| | 00:05 | you've purchased a DVD of this course,
you have access to the Exercise Files
| | 00:09 | that I'll be using to demonstrate
the lessons throughout the course.
| | 00:13 | If you do have the Exercise Files, I
strongly suggest that you put the entire
| | 00:17 | Exercise Files folder on your
desktop as I've done right here.
| | 00:21 | If you look inside the Exercise Files
folder, you will see that the exercise
| | 00:25 | files are organized by chapter and
inside each chapter folder are sub-folders,
| | 00:30 | one for each movie in the chapter and
then inside each movie folder are the
| | 00:34 | individual files that I
will be using for that lesson.
| | 00:38 | I suggest that you open your files into
Elements 8 by using Adobe Bridge CS4 as
| | 00:43 | I will show you how to do
in a movie during the course.
| | 00:46 | Adobe Bridge CS4 is a file viewing
and organizing program that comes with
| | 00:51 | Elements 8 and that makes it
easier to view and open files.
| | 00:55 | Now if you're not a premium member of
the lynda.com Online Training Library, if
| | 01:00 | instead you are monthly or an annual
non-premium subscriber to the training
| | 01:04 | library, you don't have access to
these particular exercise files.
| | 01:08 | But I don't think you'll have any
problem following along with the course and
| | 01:12 | using your own photos or other image
files to work through the lessons with me.
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1. Getting StartedTouring Elements| 00:00 | If you are a Mac user, and you shoot
photos as a hobby, or if you're into scrap
| | 00:05 | booking, Photoshop Elements
8 for Mac is made for you.
| | 00:08 | Before we get started looking at the ins
and outs of using Elements 8, here's an
| | 00:12 | overview of its various workspaces,
what each offers and how to navigate from
| | 00:17 | one workspace to another.
| | 00:19 | Elements 8 for Mac is primarily
a consumer-level photo editor.
| | 00:23 | You'd use it to enhance the quality and
the composition of your photographs to
| | 00:27 | make your ordinary photos look extraordinary.
| | 00:30 | Elements will also help you to share
your photos in creative ways like photo
| | 00:34 | books, slideshows, and online galleries.
| | 00:38 | You can use Adobe Bridge CS4, which
comes with your copy of Elements 8 to
| | 00:43 | organize and find photos in
your growing digital collection.
| | 00:47 | If you haven't already launched
Elements, go ahead and do so now, and you'll
| | 00:50 | see these two screens.
| | 00:52 | The Welcome screen here offers
shortcuts to places that you'll go to do certain
| | 00:56 | tasks, like start from scratch,
or import photos from a camera.
| | 01:00 | I'll take you through the Welcome
screen in another movie in this chapter, but
| | 01:04 | for now I'm going to close the Welcome
screen by going up to this tiny X at the
| | 01:07 | top-right corner of that screen and clicking.
| | 01:10 | Now you have a better view of the
Elements Full Edit workspace, the default
| | 01:14 | workspace, which offers a wide range
of photo editing tools and commands.
| | 01:20 | This is where you'll go when you
want full control over photo editing.
| | 01:23 | Using layers or selection tools, adding
text, adding filters, and working with
| | 01:31 | lots of other editing features that
I'll be covering in detail in later
| | 01:34 | chapters in this course.
| | 01:36 | For now, I want to concentrate on
how you can move between this Full Edit
| | 01:40 | workspace and other workspaces
that Elements and Bridge offer.
| | 01:44 | The first thing you're usually going
to want to do it from any of Elements
| | 01:46 | workspaces is to open an image.
| | 01:49 | The easiest way to find and open a
file is visually, using Adobe Bridge CS4,
| | 01:54 | which comes with Elements 8 for Mac.
| | 01:57 | To get to Adobe Bridge from Elements,
I'm going to go up to the Application bar
| | 02:01 | here at the top of the screen, and
I'm going to click this orange icon, the
| | 02:06 | launch Bridge icon.
| | 02:08 | That launches Adobe Bridge CS4, as you can
see up here at the top-left of the screen.
| | 02:13 | I'm going to use the Favorites panel
here to navigate to a photo inside my
| | 02:18 | Exercise Files folder on my desktop.
| | 02:20 | Because I can't really read the items
that are listed here in the Favorites
| | 02:24 | panel, I'm going to move my mouse
over the border to the right of the
| | 02:27 | Favorites panel, click-and-hold and
drag over to the right, until I can see
| | 02:32 | the items in that panel.
| | 02:33 | If the Favorites panel isn't showing, I'll
click on the Favorites tab here on the left.
| | 02:38 | Now I'm going to navigate to my
desktop from the Favorites panel.
| | 02:41 | I'll go down to the folder labeled Desktop.
| | 02:44 | I'll click once, and then in the
Content panel here on the right, I can see
| | 02:48 | everything on my desktop.
| | 02:50 | I have only my Exercise Files folder
there, and if you haven't already put
| | 02:54 | your Exercise Files folder there, I suggest
that you go back to the Finder and do so now.
| | 02:59 | Then you'll see it here in Bridge.
| | 03:01 | Now I want to look inside the Exercise
Files folder, so I'll double-click this
| | 03:05 | folder in the Content panel, and that
shows me all of the chapter subfolders
| | 03:10 | inside of the Exercise Files folder.
| | 03:12 | I want to look inside the Chapter 1
folder, so I'll double-click the chapter01
| | 03:16 | folder in the Content panel of Bridge.
| | 03:19 | Here I see a subfolder for
each movie in this chapter.
| | 03:22 | I want to see a file that's inside the
first of these folders, so I'm going to
| | 03:26 | double-click the 01_01 subfolder here.
| | 03:30 | Finally, I can see a
thumbnail image of a photograph.
| | 03:33 | So this way, I can choose
the photograph visually.
| | 03:36 | If this is the one that I want open
into the editor, and it is, I'm going to
| | 03:40 | hold down the Ctrl key, as I click on
this thumbnail, or if I have a two-button
| | 03:45 | mouse, I can right-click on the thumbnail.
| | 03:48 | Choose Open With, and then go
down to Adobe Photoshop Elements 8.0.
| | 03:53 | Later in the course, I'll show you a
way you can set up Bridge, so that you
| | 03:57 | can double-click on a thumbnail and
have it open in Elements, but for now,
| | 04:00 | this method works fine.
| | 04:02 | That opens the photograph in Elements
Full Edit workspace, ready to be worked
| | 04:07 | on, and at the same time, it hides Bridge.
| | 04:10 | Now there will be some times when you
really don't want to make use of all of
| | 04:13 | the commands and tools and
controls here in the Full Edit workspace.
| | 04:17 | You just want to do some quick,
automatic edits to an image.
| | 04:21 | So that's best done in one of the
other editing workspaces here in
| | 04:24 | Elements, which I can access from
the orange tab over here on the right
| | 04:28 | side of the screen.
| | 04:29 | I'll click the arrow on the right side
of the orange tab and this shows me the
| | 04:33 | three different editing workspaces: the
Full Edit workspace, which I'm now in,
| | 04:38 | the Quick Edit workspace,
and the Guided Edit workspace.
| | 04:42 | I'm going to click on the Quick Edit
workspace to open this photograph there.
| | 04:46 | Here in the Quick Fix panel, in the
Quick Edit workspace, you'll find some
| | 04:50 | automatic buttons, as well as some easy-to-use
sliders for controlling lighting,
| | 04:56 | color, and other photo qualities.
| | 04:58 | I'll cover the Quick Edit
workspace in depth in a later chapter too.
| | 05:02 | Now, if you want even more guidance as
you edit a photo, you can open an image
| | 05:06 | into the Guided Edit workspace.
| | 05:08 | To do that, I'm going to go back up to
that orange tab and click the arrow to
| | 05:11 | the right of that tab and choose Edit Guided.
| | 05:15 | In this workspace, you'll find a list
of techniques in the Guided Edit panel on
| | 05:19 | the right, and clicking any one of
these, like maybe a correct skin tone,
| | 05:24 | displays a set of instructions and
simplified controls that you can use to
| | 05:28 | perform that particular technique.
| | 05:30 | I'll be covering some of the
techniques in the Guided Edit workspace in more
| | 05:34 | depth in a later chapter too.
| | 05:35 | Now say that you've edited one or more
photos, and now you want to include them
| | 05:40 | in a creative project, like a
photo book or a greeting card.
| | 05:44 | To do that, I'll go up to the top-
right, and I'm going to click the magenta
| | 05:48 | tab, labeled Create.
| | 05:50 | Here, I see a list of items that I can
make, like a photo book, a greeting card,
| | 05:55 | photo prints, a photo
collage for scrap booking and more.
| | 05:59 | Finally, if I'm ready to share my photos,
or my photo creations with family and
| | 06:03 | friends, I'll go up and
click the green Share tab.
| | 06:07 | This gives me some options for the
method in which I'm going to share: in an
| | 06:11 | online web photo gallery, by email
attachments, on a CD or DVD and more.
| | 06:17 | And we'll be looking at some of
these options as well in later movies.
| | 06:21 | So you can go back and forth between
the various workspaces that I've shown you
| | 06:25 | here, any of the three editing
workspaces, the Create workspace, the Share
| | 06:30 | workspace, or back to Bridge
for organizing and finding photos.
| | 06:35 | If you want to close an open image
from any of the workspaces in Elements,
| | 06:39 | you'll go to the File menu and
choose Close or use the keyboard shortcut
| | 06:44 | Command+W. If you want to quit Elements
altogether, go to Photoshop Elements at
| | 06:49 | the top of the screen, and choose Quit
Photoshop Elements, or Command+Q. But I'm
| | 06:53 | not going to do that right now, I'm just
going to move off of that menu, because
| | 06:57 | I want to show you one more thing, and
that is how to get back to the Welcome
| | 07:00 | screen that I showed you at the
beginning of this movie, and that I'm going to
| | 07:03 | be explaining in more detail in
another movie in this chapter.
| | 07:06 | So to get to the Welcome screen, I'm
going to go up to the Window menu, and I'm
| | 07:10 | going to choose Welcome.
| | 07:12 | So that's an overview of what Elements
8 for Mac offers, and how to navigate
| | 07:16 | between Elements various Editing,
Create, and Share workspaces as well as
| | 07:22 | Adobe Bridge CS4.
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| Starting from the Welcome screen| 00:00 | When you first launch Elements,
you'll see this Welcome screen.
| | 00:03 | The Welcome screen offers shortcuts to
some of the tasks that you're likely to
| | 00:07 | do first, like import images from a
camera or a memory card reader, or like
| | 00:12 | looking for existing photos on your
hard drive, using Adobe Bridge CS4, or like
| | 00:17 | creating a new file from scratch, if
you're doing something like making a
| | 00:20 | scrap book page or a collage.
| | 00:22 | If you've opened any images recently
into Elements, they will be listed down
| | 00:26 | here at the bottom-left of the Welcome screen.
| | 00:28 | So if you want to re-open one of those
files, you can just click its name here in
| | 00:33 | the Welcome screen, and that
image will open in Elements.
| | 00:35 | I'll close the image by clicking the red
button at the top-left of the document window.
| | 00:40 | Then if I want to go back to the
Welcome screen at anytime from anywhere in
| | 00:43 | Elements, I can go up to the
Window menu, and choose Welcome.
| | 00:48 | One of the icons you're most likely to use
here is the Browse with Adobe Bridge icon.
| | 00:53 | Clicking this icon is an alternative
to launching Bridge from the Elements
| | 00:57 | Application bar up here, as I
showed you how to do in the last movie.
| | 01:00 | Adobe Bridge is a separate
program that comes with Elements 8.
| | 01:04 | It's a file viewer and organizer, and
it comes in handy for finding, viewing,
| | 01:08 | and opening into Elements, photos
that are already on your hard drive.
| | 01:12 | So here in the Welcome screen, if I
click Browse with Adobe Bridge, that
| | 01:16 | launches Adobe Bridge CS4.
| | 01:19 | Bridge opens to a default location, and
because this is the first time that I've
| | 01:23 | launched Bridge from the Welcome screen,
I get this message asking if I want to
| | 01:28 | add to Bridge, a
preference for Photoshop Elements.
| | 01:31 | I'm going to enable that preference by
clicking Yes, and I'll click Yes again.
| | 01:37 | By the way, if you want to open more
than one image into Elements, you can
| | 01:40 | select more than one image by clicking
on one, and then holding down the Command
| | 01:44 | key on your keyboard and clicking on others.
| | 01:46 | And then you can open all of them at
once by Ctrl+Clicking or right-clicking on
| | 01:51 | one of the images and choosing Open
With>Adobe Photoshop Elements 8.0.
| | 01:55 | But I'm not going to do that right now,
I'm just going to click in a blank area
| | 01:59 | of the Bridge Content panel, and
instead, I want to go back to the Welcome
| | 02:03 | screen to show you some
of the other icons there.
| | 02:05 | So I'm going to hold down the Command
key and then I'm going to tap the Tab key
| | 02:09 | once, and that brings up
the Mac Application Switcher.
| | 02:13 | I'll tap the Tab key several times
until the highlight surrounds the icon for
| | 02:17 | Adobe Photoshop Elements, and then I'll release.
| | 02:19 | That will switch me back to Elements.
| | 02:22 | Here in Elements, I'll go up to the
Window menu, and I'm going to choose Welcome
| | 02:26 | to reopen the Welcome panel, so we
can see some of these other icons.
| | 02:30 | Another icon you may find yourself using
from the Welcome panel is Import from Camera.
| | 02:35 | You can use this to bring photos from
your camera or your memory card reader
| | 02:39 | into your computer as an alternative
to choosing file and then Adobe Photo
| | 02:44 | Downloader, as I'm going to show you
how to do in a separate movie on bringing
| | 02:47 | files into your computer
from your camera or card reader.
| | 02:51 | So this icon here in the Welcome screen is
just another starting point for that process.
| | 02:56 | I'm going to click Import from Camera.
| | 02:58 | That launches Adobe Bridge.
| | 03:00 | Because this is the first time that I
clicked the Camera icon in the Welcome
| | 03:03 | screen, I get this message asking if I
want to use a special photo downloading
| | 03:08 | plug-in that comes with Adobe Bridge,
whenever I attach my camera or a memory
| | 03:13 | card reader to my computer.
| | 03:15 | I think that's a good idea, rather than
using whatever proprietary downloading
| | 03:20 | software may have come with my camera.
| | 03:22 | So I'm going to click Yes, and before
I do that, if I don't want to see this
| | 03:25 | message again, I can check Don't show again.
| | 03:28 | I'll leave that unchecked for now.
| | 03:30 | Notice that whatever option
you choose here, Yes or No,
| | 03:33 | you can change that later via Preferences.
| | 03:36 | I'm going to click Yes and that opens
the Photo Downloader in Adobe Bridge CS4.
| | 03:41 | I'll cover the Photo Downloader, how to
set it up and use it, in another movie.
| | 03:46 | So for now, I'm going to cancel.
| | 03:48 | Now to go back to the Welcome screen,
I'll press-and-hold the Command key on
| | 03:51 | my keyboard, and I'll tap the Tab key until
I'm back at the Adobe Photoshop Elements icon.
| | 03:57 | Then I'll release, and I'm back in
Elements where I can go to the Window menu,
| | 04:01 | and choose Welcome again.
| | 04:02 | Now there are a couple of other icons here,
but to be honest, I hardly ever use them.
| | 04:07 | One of those is this Import from Scanner icon.
| | 04:10 | This starts the process of
importing an image from your scanner.
| | 04:13 | Then there is the Start from Scratch icon here.
| | 04:16 | If I click that, it opens the New File
dialog box in Elements, where you can
| | 04:21 | make a new blank file into which you
can bring photos, text, graphics or other
| | 04:25 | items for a collage or a scrapbook page.
| | 04:28 | I usually don't do this from the Welcome screen.
| | 04:30 | So I'm going to cancel
out of this New dialog box.
| | 04:33 | I usually do this from the File menu,
choosing New and Blank File as I'll show
| | 04:37 | you how to do in a later chapter.
| | 04:40 | I'll open the Welcome screen one
more time by going to the Window menu,
| | 04:43 | and choosing Welcome.
| | 04:45 | Once you get used to using Elements,
and you know other ways to access Bridge
| | 04:48 | to find and open files, or to access
the Bridge Adobe Photo Downloader to bring
| | 04:54 | in images from a camera, or to access
your scanner, or to start a new file from
| | 04:58 | scratch, you may feel they you don't need to
use these shortcuts here in the Welcome screen.
| | 05:02 | At that point, you can stop the
Welcome screen from appearing, whenever you
| | 05:06 | launch Elements by going down to this
command, Show at Startup and unchecking,
| | 05:12 | and then clicking OK.
| | 05:13 | Next time I launch Bridge, the
Welcome screen won't automatically
| | 05:17 | appear. Instead, I'll just see the
Elements interface that's back here
| | 05:21 | behind the Welcome screen now.
| | 05:23 | Finally, if I want to close the
Welcome screen without clicking any of the
| | 05:26 | icons in it, I can always go to this X at
the top-right of the Welcome screen and click.
| | 05:31 | So that's an overview of the Welcome
screen and what it offers in Elements 8.
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2. Importing PhotosImporting photos from a camera| 00:00 | When you're finished shooting and you're
ready to bring photos out of your digital
| | 00:03 | camera and into your computer, you can
use the Adobe Photo Downloader that you
| | 00:07 | can access from Elements and
its companion program, Bridge CS4.
| | 00:12 | You could import photos directly from
your camera into your computer, but I
| | 00:16 | don't like to do that, because there
is always a possibility of damaging the
| | 00:19 | originals, if the camera battery
happens to die in the middle of
| | 00:22 | transferring the photos.
| | 00:23 | So I prefer to use an
inexpensive USB photo memory card reader.
| | 00:28 | When you purchase one of those, just
make sure that you get one that will read
| | 00:31 | the type of card that your camera uses:
an SD card, a CompactFlash Card, or a
| | 00:36 | proprietary card like a Sony Memory Stick.
| | 00:39 | Once you've got the USB card reader,
take the memory card out of your camera and
| | 00:43 | insert it into the card reader, and then
just plug the card reader directly into
| | 00:48 | the USB port on your computer.
| | 00:50 | I'm going to do that right now.
| | 00:52 | That immediately launches Bridge
CS4 along with the Photo Downloader.
| | 00:57 | That's because earlier, in the movie
about the Welcome screen, I chose to
| | 01:00 | activate a Bridge preference to launch
Adobe Photo Downloader whenever a camera
| | 01:06 | or a card reader is connected to my computer.
| | 01:08 | If you haven't already done that,
then you have two choices at this point.
| | 01:12 | I'm going to go ahead and close the
Adobe Photo Downloader to show you
| | 01:16 | what those choices are.
| | 01:17 | So I'll click the red button here, and
now I'm just looking at Adobe Bridge.
| | 01:22 | So if you haven't already activated the
Bridge preference to launch Adobe Photo
| | 01:25 | Downloader, then you can do that from
right here inside Bridge by going up to
| | 01:30 | Adobe Bridge CS4 in the menu bar,
choosing Preferences, and in the General
| | 01:36 | category of Preferences, clicking in
this check box to add a check mark there,
| | 01:41 | so that when a camera or a card reader
is connected, Adobe Photo Downloader will
| | 01:45 | automatically launch, and then click OK.
| | 01:48 | I also suggest, if you go this route,
that you don't bother installing your
| | 01:52 | camera's proprietary importing software,
but if you've already installed it,
| | 01:56 | then go ahead and look in its commands
or its preferences for a way to disable
| | 02:00 | that software from launching
automatically, so that it doesn't conflict with the
| | 02:04 | Adobe Photo Downloader.
| | 02:05 | So that's one choice. Now let's say
that you don't want Bridge and Adobe
| | 02:09 | Photo Downloader to open automatically every
time that you attach a camera or a card reader.
| | 02:13 | Although, I think that's
really the easiest way to go.
| | 02:15 | Well, even if you don't enable the
preference I just showed you, you can still
| | 02:19 | use Photo Downloader on a case-by-
case basis directly from Elements.
| | 02:24 | Here's how you do that.
| | 02:25 | I'm going to go back to Elements by
holding the Command key on my computer and
| | 02:29 | tapping the Tab key to bring up the
Application Switcher and then I'll use the
| | 02:33 | Tab key to get to the Adobe
Photoshop Elements icon, and release.
| | 02:37 | That will switch me back to Adobe
Photoshop Elements if it's already open.
| | 02:40 | From here in Elements, I can invoke the
Photo Downloader at any time, by going
| | 02:45 | up to the File menu, and
choosing Adobe Photo Downloader.
| | 02:48 | So using one of those methods, I've
now opened Adobe Photo Downloader.
| | 02:53 | Let's take a look at what's here in the
standard window of the Photo Downloader.
| | 02:57 | The Get Photos from menu lists all of
the potential sources of photos that are
| | 03:02 | currently plugged into my computer.
| | 03:03 | I only have one right now,
which is my memory card reader.
| | 03:07 | So I'll select that.
| | 03:09 | The downloader tells me the number of
files on the card reader, their total file
| | 03:13 | size, and the date the files were created.
| | 03:16 | The Location field is where I can
choose the destination to which I'm going
| | 03:19 | to import the files.
| | 03:20 | By default, that's a subfolder inside of the
Pictures folder that comes with the Mac OS.
| | 03:26 | I suggest leaving it set to the
Pictures folder, so that you always know where
| | 03:30 | your photos are on your hard drive.
| | 03:32 | By default, the name of the subfolder to
which my files are going to be imported
| | 03:36 | is the date on which the pictures were taken.
| | 03:38 | That information comes from the
metadata that my camera appended to the photos.
| | 03:43 | If I want, I can change the label on
that subfolder to a different configuration
| | 03:47 | of the shot date to
today's date or to a custom name.
| | 03:51 | I'll choose Custom Name.
| | 03:53 | I'm going to name the
destination folder by its subject matter.
| | 03:56 | Since these are pictures of antique cars
that I'm bringing in, I'll type in this
| | 04:00 | field: 'antique cars'.
| | 04:03 | In the next field, Rename Files, I
could change the name of the files as they
| | 04:07 | come in from my computer using any of
these options: Today's Date, Shot Date,
| | 04:12 | Custom Name or a combination.
| | 04:15 | But I actually like to import my files with
the same name as they have on the memory card.
| | 04:20 | The reason that I do that is that
sometimes I forget that I've imported files
| | 04:24 | from a particular memory card.
| | 04:26 | If I do try to import the same files
again, I run the risk of getting two
| | 04:29 | copies of the files on my computer, if I've
changed the name of the files on the computer.
| | 04:34 | But if I leave the names of the files
the same, then the Photo Downloader won't
| | 04:37 | mistakenly download a second copy of the files.
| | 04:41 | If you do decide to change the
filenames when you import your photos, I
| | 04:44 | suggest that you go to this field, Preserve
Current Filename in XMP, and put a check mark there.
| | 04:50 | That will cause the Photo Downloader
to remember under the hood, the original
| | 04:54 | filename as it came out of your camera.
| | 04:56 | There are a few other options here.
| | 04:58 | I leave Open Adobe Bridge checked, so
that after the photos are imported, I'll
| | 05:02 | be able to see them in Adobe Bridge.
| | 05:04 | Convert to DNG is relevant only if
you've shot RAW files, and that's a
| | 05:08 | relatively advanced topic that
I'll address in a later movie.
| | 05:11 | But just to summarize, if you do shoot
RAW files, you may want to convert them
| | 05:15 | upon importing into your computer, from
your camera manufacturer's proprietary
| | 05:20 | RAW format like .NEF or Nikon files to
a more universal open-source RAW format,
| | 05:27 | DNG, so that theoretically, you'd be
able to open those files in the future with
| | 05:32 | software other than the
camera manufacturer's software.
| | 05:35 | I always leave Delete Original Files
unchecked, because I don't want to run the
| | 05:40 | risk of deleting the originals before
I'm absolutely sure that they've been
| | 05:43 | transferred over to my computer.
| | 05:45 | So after the transfer from the card or
the camera to the computer is complete,
| | 05:49 | then I'll take the memory card, put it
back into my camera and use the camera's
| | 05:54 | menus to delete the photos from the
card, so that there's room to shoot more.
| | 05:58 | 'Save Copies to' comes in handy, if you
have an external hard drive attached to
| | 06:02 | your computer and turned on, because
this will automatically make a backup copy
| | 06:07 | of all the photos that you're importing
to your computer, and store it on that
| | 06:10 | external hard drive.
| | 06:11 | You can navigate to an external
drive here using the Choose button.
| | 06:15 | At this point, I could click Get
Photos, but I'm not going to do that yet.
| | 06:19 | Instead, I want to click the Advanced
Dialog button, because I want to show you
| | 06:23 | what other options are available there.
| | 06:25 | Keep in mind that you don't have to
use this Advanced Dialog box at all.
| | 06:29 | But there is one feature here that I
really like that sometimes causes me to use
| | 06:33 | this Advanced Dialog box rather than
the Standard Dialog box I just showed you,
| | 06:37 | and that is that over here on the left,
I can see a thumbnail of every single
| | 06:41 | photo that's on my memory
card before I've imported those.
| | 06:45 | So I can choose which of
these to import and which not to.
| | 06:49 | If I have some photos that I think are
really bad or uninteresting shots, then
| | 06:53 | I'll uncheck those here in
this Advanced Dialog box.
| | 06:56 | So I can just come in and uncheck the
photos that I don't want, one by one, or I
| | 07:02 | could click UnCheck All, and then
check the photos that I do want.
| | 07:06 | So I might pick this one to bring in
and this one and this one and this one and
| | 07:12 | this one and not bother bringing in the others.
| | 07:14 | But you do want to be careful about
this, because if you don't import a
| | 07:17 | particular photo, you're going to lose
it forever, if and when you erase the
| | 07:21 | memory card in your camera.
| | 07:23 | Over on the right side of the Advanced
Dialog box, are settings very similar to
| | 07:27 | those that I just showed you in the
Standard Dialog box, with the addition of
| | 07:31 | the Apply Metadata area down here.
| | 07:33 | Metadata means information about
photos, like the date on which they were
| | 07:37 | taken, the camera settings used, and a
lot more, information that your camera
| | 07:42 | adds to the photos.
| | 07:43 | Here I can add even more information to my
photos when I import them into my computer.
| | 07:48 | For example, I might want to
add some copyright information.
| | 07:51 | I'm going to click in the Copyright
field, and then I'll hold the Option key
| | 07:55 | down, as I tap the G key on my
keyboard to add a Copyright symbol.
| | 08:00 | Then I'm going to type my name,
because I'm the photographer, and the date.
| | 08:04 | That information will be appended to
the photos under the hood on my computer.
| | 08:09 | Now that I'm all done with this
Advanced Dialog, I'm going to click the Get
| | 08:13 | Photos button and the Photo Downloader
will begin bringing the photos in from
| | 08:18 | the memory card to my computer.
| | 08:21 | When the Photo Downloader is done, it
closes and in Bridge I can see a thumbnail
| | 08:26 | of each of the photos that
was imported into my computer.
| | 08:29 | From here, I can open one or more of
these files into Elements for editing,
| | 08:33 | making photo creations, and
sharing with family and friends.
| | 08:36 | At this point in the process, I would
eject the memory card reader, put the
| | 08:40 | memory card back in my camera, and
use the camera's controls to erase or
| | 08:44 | reformat the card, so it's
ready for me to take more photos.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Dividing scanned photos| 00:00 | You probably have lots of print photos from
the days before you shot with a digital camera.
| | 00:05 | You can preserve those photos digitally
by scanning them into your computer,
| | 00:09 | but it's a big job to scan photos one by one.
| | 00:12 | The good news is that you can scan
multiple photos at once on a flatbed
| | 00:16 | scanner and Elements can automatically
separate them for you, preparing each
| | 00:20 | as a separate photo.
| | 00:22 | This can really speed up the process of
digitizing lots of photos by scanning.
| | 00:26 | I'm starting here with a scan of
several photos that I made directly using
| | 00:30 | my scanner software.
| | 00:31 | I scanned at 300 pixels per
inch and the original size.
| | 00:35 | When I scanned these, I didn't spend a
lot of time trying to straighten them
| | 00:38 | out on the flatbed scanner, I just
put them down on the scanning bed rather
| | 00:42 | haphazardly, and I did preview to make sure
that they were all within the scanning area.
| | 00:46 | Here is a little tip to help Elements
separate multiple scanned photos like these.
| | 00:51 | Put them as far apart as you can on the
scanning beds, so that there is enough
| | 00:55 | whitespace between them that Elements
can recognize them as separate photos.
| | 00:59 | So, I then opened the resulting
JPEG, which contains all three of the
| | 01:03 | photos into Elements.
| | 01:05 | To separate the three photos, all I
have to do is go to the Image menu at the
| | 01:09 | top of the screen, and
choose Divide Scanned Photos.
| | 01:13 | That sets Elements to figuring out where
the individual photos are, and cropping
| | 01:17 | each one out into a
separate Floating Document Window.
| | 01:21 | Down in the Project Bin at the bottom
of the screen, notice that there are
| | 01:24 | now four images open.
| | 01:25 | There is the original, and then
there are three separate images, each one
| | 01:29 | containing one of the scanned photos.
| | 01:31 | I'm going to double-click the
original to bring its document window to the
| | 01:35 | foreground, and then I'm going to
close that one because I don't need it
| | 01:38 | anymore, but this original will still be
on my computer if I need to use it again.
| | 01:43 | So I click the red button at the top-
left of the halloween.jpg document window.
| | 01:47 | Now I'm left with just
the three separated images.
| | 01:50 | This top image of the pumpkins needs rotating.
| | 01:53 | I'll click on its Title bar to make
sure that that's the selected image, and
| | 01:57 | then I'll go up to the Image menu
and I'll choose Rotate>90 degrees Left.
| | 02:02 | The same is true of this image of the
devil, so I'll click on its Title bar, and
| | 02:05 | again, Rotate>90 degrees Left.
| | 02:08 | It's important to check each one of the
images to make sure that Elements didn't
| | 02:12 | leave any stray white pixels around its edges.
| | 02:14 | So with this image of the devil as the
active image, I'm going to select the
| | 02:18 | Zoom tool in the toolbox, and then I'm
going to go up to the Options bar for
| | 02:21 | that tool, and I'll be talking more
about the Options bar in later movies.
| | 02:25 | I'm going to click this Minus sign, and
I'm going to uncheck Resize Windows to
| | 02:30 | Fit, if it's checked, and then I'm
going to come into the image and I'm going
| | 02:33 | to click a couple of times to zoom out,
until I can see the gray canvas around the image.
| | 02:38 | It looks like Elements did a pretty
good job of cropping this image without
| | 02:42 | leaving any stray pixels around the
edge, but if it had done so, I could crop
| | 02:46 | those way using the Crop tool in the
toolbox, which I'm going to select now by
| | 02:50 | clicking on it. And then I'll come
into the image, and I'll drag a crop
| | 02:54 | boundary, and I can adjust the crop
boundary by clicking on any of the
| | 02:58 | boundaries or anchor points
and dragging toward the center.
| | 03:01 | So if there were some extra white
pixels over here on the right, I could
| | 03:05 | eliminate those by cropping them away,
as I'm going to do now, by clicking the
| | 03:08 | green check mark here to commit the crop.
| | 03:11 | I would do the same thing with each photo.
| | 03:13 | The last step is really important, and
that's to remember to save each of the
| | 03:17 | separated copies to your hard-drive,
because if you don't and you just close one
| | 03:21 | of these, it won't be there when you
go to look for it next time around.
| | 03:24 | I know that this image hasn't been saved
because it has this little asterisk up
| | 03:28 | here in the Title bar.
| | 03:29 | Hopefully, the Divide Scanned Photos
command will save you some time, if you're
| | 03:33 | scanning prints into your computer.
| | 03:35 | It doesn't work perfectly all the time.
| | 03:37 | If it fails to separate all the photos
that you've got in a scan, try rescanning
| | 03:42 | with the photos further apart on
your scanner bed and maybe with larger
| | 03:45 | dimension set in your scanner software.
| | 03:48 | But once you get it working,
it can be a real time saver.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Capturing frames from video| 00:00 | Here's an innovative way to capture
still images from video clips using Elements.
| | 00:05 | You can shoot a short video with a
video camera, or even a still camera or a
| | 00:09 | cell phone that shoots video.
| | 00:11 | And then grab a frame out of the
video to become an individual photo file.
| | 00:15 | This works best with very short video
clips, not with full-length type videos.
| | 00:20 | In Elements, I'll go up to the
File menu, and I'll choose Import.
| | 00:24 | And then I'll go over to Frame From Video.
| | 00:27 | That opens this frame from video window.
| | 00:29 | I am going to start by
clicking the Browse Button here.
| | 00:32 | I know there is a video in my Exercise
Files, so I'll navigate to the Exercise
| | 00:36 | Files by clicking on the Desktop, and
then I'll click the arrow to the left of
| | 00:39 | Exercise files, and the
arrow to the left of Chapter 2.
| | 00:43 | The arrow to the left of the 02_03
Subfolder, and there is a video file, dance.mov.
| | 00:50 | The Mov format is one of the video
formats that Elements 8 for Mac recognizes.
| | 00:54 | If it didn't recognize this
format, the file would be grayed out.
| | 00:58 | So I'll click on that video file,
and then I'll click the Open Button.
| | 01:02 | The first frame of the video is
displayed here in the Frame From Video Window.
| | 01:06 | I can play the video by going down to
this Control Bar and clicking the Play
| | 01:10 | Button, the Single Right Arrow.
| | 01:17 | Now I want to find one or more frames
to make into individual photo files.
| | 01:21 | I'll go back to the first frame by
clicking the Double Pointed Left Facing
| | 01:25 | Arrow in the Control Bar.
| | 01:27 | And then I'll press the Right or Left
arrow keys on my keyboard, to move forward
| | 01:31 | and back, frame by frame, in the video.
| | 01:33 | So I am pressing my Right arrow key several
times here, until I find a frame that I like.
| | 01:38 | I'll stop on that one.
| | 01:40 | And I'll click the Grab Frame Button here.
| | 01:42 | That opens a document window over here
in Elements proper, capturing the image
| | 01:47 | in this video frame as a still image.
| | 01:49 | I'll Grab another Frame the same way,
by pressing the Right Arrow Key on my
| | 01:53 | keyboard again several times, until I see
another frame that I like. That's a cute one.
| | 01:59 | So I'll Click Grab Frame again.
| | 02:01 | And that opens a second window
with this frame as a still image.
| | 02:05 | I could grab a few more,
but I am going to stop there.
| | 02:08 | I am just going to click the Done Button
to close the Frame From Video dialog box.
| | 02:12 | To view both of these, I'll click
on the title bar of the image in the
| | 02:15 | foreground, and I'll drag it away.
| | 02:18 | And now you can see the two video frames
that I have captured as still images.
| | 02:22 | An important step is that I
have to save each one of these.
| | 02:25 | You can see from the asterisk here in the
title bar of each that it hasn't yet been saved.
| | 02:30 | So make sure that dance 02 is the active
image, by clicking on its title bar, and
| | 02:35 | then I'll go to File, and then I'll click Save.
| | 02:38 | I am going to navigate to my desktop from
this menu here at the top of the Save As
| | 02:43 | dialog box. I'll just choose Desktop,
and I am going to make a folder on the
| | 02:47 | Desktop in which to save finished files.
| | 02:50 | So I'll click the New Folder Button
down here in the Save As dialog box, and
| | 02:54 | I'll type 'saved files'.
| | 02:56 | I'll click the Create Button, and then in
the Save As dialog box I can choose a format.
| | 03:02 | I can save this as the native Photoshop
format if I wish, or if I wanted to put
| | 03:06 | this on the Web or send it
by email, I might choose JPEG.
| | 03:10 | I'll leave everything
else as it is and click Save.
| | 03:13 | And then I'll just accept these
default JPEG options, and click OK.
| | 03:17 | So that file is now saved, and I would
do the same thing to this other file.
| | 03:21 | So this is a nice way to capture some
photos that have some motion in them.
| | 03:25 | And I can use these images in any photo
project in Elements, just like the photo
| | 03:29 | taken with a still camera.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
3. Working with Photos in BridgeTouring Bridge CS4| 00:00 | Adobe Bridge CS4 comes with Elements 8.
| | 00:04 | Bridge is a file viewer and organizer
that displays photos and other media
| | 00:08 | files on your hard drive.
| | 00:09 | You can use it to manage your growing
digital photo collection, and to visually
| | 00:13 | find particular files to open
into Elements for editing there.
| | 00:17 | In this chapter, I'll show you some
ways to use Bridge to manage files that
| | 00:21 | you're going to use in Elements.
| | 00:23 | First, let's take a tour of the
Bridge Interface in this movie.
| | 00:27 | You can open Adobe Bridge CS4 from
your Mac Applications folder, or you can
| | 00:32 | launch it directly from Elements
| | 00:34 | either by clicking this orange Launch
Bridge button, as I've shown you how to
| | 00:38 | do earlier, or by going up to the Elements
file menu and choosing Browse With Bridge.
| | 00:44 | When Bridge opens, if it isn't
filling your screen, you can click the green
| | 00:48 | button at the top left of the
Bridge Window to maximize it.
| | 00:52 | Let's take a look at the Bridge Interface.
| | 00:54 | Over on to the left is the Favorites panel.
| | 00:56 | Earlier I showed you how to browse
for files that you are looking for by
| | 01:00 | clicking on Common locations
here in the Favorites panel.
| | 01:03 | But what if you need to get to a
location that you haven't saved as a Favorite?
| | 01:07 | In that case you can use the Folders panel here.
| | 01:10 | I'll click on the Folders tab, and
this shows me a list of all the folders on
| | 01:15 | my hard drive or on any external drive
that's attached to my computer and turned on.
| | 01:19 | I am going to use this list of files and
folders to navigate to my Exercise Files.
| | 01:24 | I know those are located on my Desktop,
so I'll move to the Desktop, and I'll
| | 01:28 | click the arrow to the left of Desktop.
| | 01:30 | And then I'll click on Exercise Files.
| | 01:33 | And that shows all of the subfolders
in the Exercise Files folder over here
| | 01:37 | in the Content panel.
| | 01:38 | If I want to save the Exercise Files
folder as a Favorite in the Favorites
| | 01:42 | panel, I'll hold the Ctrl key and
click on the Exercise Files folder, or if I
| | 01:47 | have a two-button mouse, I can right
click on the Exercise Files folder, and
| | 01:51 | from the menu that appears,
I'll choose Add To Favorites.
| | 01:55 | Now if I click on the Favorites Tab, I
see that the Exercise Files are added
| | 01:59 | there as a Favorite Location.
| | 02:00 | I am going to go back into the Folders
panel by clicking its tab, and then I am
| | 02:05 | going to burrow down further into the
Exercise Files folder by clicking the
| | 02:09 | arrow to the left of
Exercise Files in the Folders panel.
| | 02:12 | I am going to go down to
Chapter 3 and click the arrow there.
| | 02:16 | And then I am going to
click on the Subfolder 03_01.
| | 02:21 | Now I can see here in the Content panel,
a thumbnail copy of each of the image
| | 02:26 | files that are in the 03_01 folder.
| | 02:30 | These thumbnails are useful because
they allow me to find the images that I am
| | 02:33 | looking for visually, without
having to remember their file names.
| | 02:36 | And by the way, Bridge will display not
only photographs, but files of other formats
| | 02:42 | like other image formats,
video files, and audio files.
| | 02:46 | Notice that there is a
subfolder inside the 03_01 folder.
| | 02:50 | It's labeled Roddy.
| | 02:52 | If I want to see just the files in
this subfolder, I can double click the
| | 02:56 | subfolder here in the Content panel,
and there are four thumbnails of photos
| | 03:00 | inside the Roddy folder.
| | 03:02 | But what if I want to see the files in
the Roddy folder along with the files in
| | 03:07 | the 03_01 folder, which is one level up.
| | 03:10 | I can see the path to this folder right
here, and if I want to go back up to the
| | 03:15 | 03_01 folder, I can just click on it
here in that path, or I could have used the
| | 03:21 | Back Button up here.
| | 03:23 | Now that I am back viewing the content
of the 03_01 folder, I am going to go up
| | 03:28 | to the View menu, and I am going to
choose Show Items from Subfolders.
| | 03:33 | This is a command that I think is a
little hard to find, so try to keep in mind
| | 03:36 | that it's here under the View menu.
| | 03:39 | And when I release my mouse on Show
Items from Subfolders, I can now see not
| | 03:43 | only the content of the 03_ 01 folder,
but also the four thumbnails that are in
| | 03:48 | the subfolder, Roddy.
| | 03:51 | If I want to see the thumbnails larger,
so that I can evaluate the Photos better, I
| | 03:55 | can go down to this slider at the
bottom of the Bridge Window and drag to the
| | 03:59 | right, or I can click The Larger
Thumbnail Size icon here or The Smaller
| | 04:05 | Thumbnail Size here, to
change the size of the thumbnails.
| | 04:10 | And when the thumbnails are bigger, I
use the scrollbar here on the right of the
| | 04:13 | Content panel to move
down to see other thumbnails.
| | 04:17 | I am going to click the Smaller
Thumbnail button several times to go back, so
| | 04:23 | that I can see more of my thumbnails.
| | 04:25 | And if you want to see any of the
thumbnails in full screen view, all you
| | 04:30 | have to do is click on one of the thumbnails
and then press the spacebar on your keyboard.
| | 04:37 | That gives you a big view of the
image, so it easier to evaluate for its
| | 04:41 | photo-quality, and for its composition.
| | 04:43 | I am going to press the spacebar
again to go back to the thumbnail view.
| | 04:47 | And then I'll click in a
blank area of the Content panel.
| | 04:52 | I can change the order of the thumbnails by
making a choice from the Sort menu up here.
| | 04:57 | Where I can choose to sort By File Name,
By Date Created, By File Size and more.
| | 05:06 | I'll go back to sort By File Name.
| | 05:11 | I can also change the order of the
thumbnails by dragging files manually.
| | 05:16 | So let's say that I want this file to
be at the beginning. I'll click once to
| | 05:20 | select the file, and then I'll drag it
up here, and when I see that blue bar,
| | 05:24 | I'll release my mouse, and
that becomes the first file.
| | 05:27 | Then I'll take this file as well,
clicking once to select it, and then clicking,
| | 05:31 | and holding, and dragging, and
releasing when I see the blue bar.
| | 05:36 | If I want to see a high resolution
preview of a particular image, I'll select it
| | 05:41 | in the Content panel by clicking on it once.
| | 05:43 | Notice that it appears over
here in the Preview panel.
| | 05:46 | Right now that Preview is pretty small,
but I can make it as big as I want by
| | 05:50 | expanding the Borders around the Preview panel.
| | 05:53 | So I'll move my mouse over the left Border.
| | 05:55 | And I'll drag to the left, and then I
can move my mouse over the bottom Border
| | 06:01 | and drag, and that will make my Preview bigger.
| | 06:04 | If I like this arrangement, I can
save this arrangement by going up to the
| | 06:08 | Workspace menu which is labeled
Essentials By Default, clicking the arrow there
| | 06:13 | and choosing New Workspace.
| | 06:15 | And I'll call this one 'large preview'.
| | 06:19 | I'll leave these two
checkboxes checked and I'll click Save.
| | 06:23 | Now let's say that I want to go
back to the arrangement as it was when
| | 06:26 | I started. I'll go back to that
same menu, and I'll choose Reset
| | 06:31 | Standard Workspaces.
| | 06:33 | And then I am going to maximize the
window again by clicking the green button.
| | 06:37 | I can go back to the Saved
Workspace at any time by returning to this
| | 06:42 | Essentials menu, and from there I have the
choice of my custom made 'large preview' workspace.
| | 06:49 | Notice that there are some other
Workspaces listed in this menu.
| | 06:52 | These are Default
Workspaces that come with Bridge.
| | 06:56 | One of my Favorites is the Filmstrip
workspace because this arranges the
| | 07:00 | thumbnails down here at the bottom of
the screen with a large preview above.
| | 07:04 | And to see different images, I'll just
click once on the thumbnail down here,
| | 07:08 | and it switches the Content of the Preview pane.
| | 07:13 | Notice that the panels over on
the left are taking up some room.
| | 07:16 | If I'd rather devote the whole screen
to the images, I can press the Tab key on
| | 07:20 | my keyboard, and that collapses the
panels on the left and any panels that are
| | 07:24 | showing on the right.
| | 07:27 | And then I can press the Tab key
again to bring the panels back.
| | 07:31 | So as you can see, Bridge is really
flexible in the way that you can arrange its
| | 07:35 | interface, and it does a good job of
allowing you to preview images before you
| | 07:39 | choose those to open into Elements.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Opening files from Bridge into Elements| 00:00 | When you're using Adobe Bridge and
Elements together, one of the things you'll
| | 00:04 | do most in Bridge is visually find
and open files from there into Elements.
| | 00:10 | Earlier, I showed you one way to open a
file from Bridge into Elements, which is
| | 00:14 | to hold down the Control key or right-
click if you have a two button mouse, on a
| | 00:18 | thumbnail, and from the Contextual menu,
to choose Open With and then navigate
| | 00:24 | to Adobe Photoshop Elements 8.0.
| | 00:27 | But I am going to move out of that menu
because there is a quicker way to open
| | 00:32 | a file that's associated with Elements,
and that's to just double-click its
| | 00:36 | thumbnail here in Bridge.
| | 00:37 | Notice that I have some JPEGs here. If
I select a JPEG, and then I double-click
| | 00:42 | it, it does open here into Photoshop Elements.
| | 00:46 | I'll close that file, and then I'll go
back to Bridge by clicking the Launch
| | 00:51 | Bridge icon in Elements.
| | 00:53 | So that worked fine because he JPEG file
format is associated with Elements on my computer.
| | 00:59 | But if you have other photo editing
software on your computer, like Adobe
| | 01:03 | Photoshop proper, a file type may be
associated with that other program.
| | 01:08 | So that when you double-click a
thumbnail of that format, the file opens not in
| | 01:13 | Elements, but in that
other image editing program.
| | 01:16 | In my case, in addition to Elements, I
do have Adobe Photoshop on my computer,
| | 01:22 | and so this format, the .PSD or
Photoshop Document format, opens into Photoshop
| | 01:29 | proper, rather than
Elements on my particular setup.
| | 01:32 | So if I select this thumbnail and
I double-click it, it opens Adobe
| | 01:37 | Photoshop CS4 with that file.
| | 01:39 | I'm going to quit Photoshop by going up
to the Photoshop menu and choosing Quit
| | 01:44 | Photoshop, and that takes me back to Bridge.
| | 01:47 | So what I want to do is, while I'm
working in Elements, and certainly for
| | 01:51 | purposes of this course is to make
sure that the PSD format, and any other
| | 01:56 | format that I'll use often, like
JPEG, is associated with Elements.
| | 02:01 | To do that, I'll go up to Adobe Bridge
CS4 at the top of the screen and choose
| | 02:05 | Preferences for Bridge.
| | 02:09 | In the Preferences Window,
I'll click File Type Associations.
| | 02:13 | And here on the right, I see an
extensive list of possible File Types.
| | 02:17 | I'm going to scroll down to
Photoshop Document format, and this is all
| | 02:22 | alphabetical, right here, and notice
that on my computer, and this may not be
| | 02:26 | the case on yours, the Photoshop
Document format is associated with Adobe
| | 02:30 | Photoshop, rather than with Elements.
| | 02:33 | To change that, I'll click the arrow to
the right of the application name, and
| | 02:38 | I'll choose Adobe Photoshop Elements
8.0 instead, and then I'll click OK.
| | 02:45 | Now in Bridge, if I select this PSD
thumbnail, and then I double-click it, the
| | 02:51 | file does open in Photoshop Elements.
| | 02:54 | I'll close the file, and then I'll
go back to Bridge by clicking the
| | 02:57 | Launch Bridge icon.
| | 02:58 | Another thing to know about opening
files from Bridge into Elements is that you
| | 03:02 | can open more than one file at a time,
but first, before trying to open multiple
| | 03:07 | files, you need to select them in Bridge.
| | 03:09 | I find there are some people who don't
understand that selecting is a separate
| | 03:13 | operation from opening or doing other
things to thumbnails, like rotating them
| | 03:17 | or to deleting them here in Bridge.
| | 03:19 | So how do you select multiple files in Bridge?
| | 03:23 | Well, first I'm going to click in a
blank area of the Content panel to deselect
| | 03:27 | all of the thumbnails.
| | 03:28 | Now let's say I want to select
these first three thumbnails. Because
| | 03:32 | they're next to one another here in the
Content panel, I can use the Shift key to do that.
| | 03:37 | I'll click once on the first thumbnail,
and then I'm going to hold down the
| | 03:41 | Shift key as I click on the last of
the thumbnails that are adjacent to one
| | 03:44 | another, and that selects all
of the thumbnails in between.
| | 03:48 | And now I can double-click on any one
of the selected thumbnails, and that will
| | 03:52 | open all three into Elements.
| | 03:55 | You can see each in a separate document
window here, and you see a thumbnail of
| | 03:59 | each open image down in the Project Bin
at the bottom of the Elements Workspace.
| | 04:04 | I'm going to close all those files at
once by going up to the File menu and
| | 04:08 | choosing Close All in Elements, and
then I'll go back to Bridge by clicking
| | 04:13 | the Launch Bridge icon.
| | 04:14 | I'm going to deselect all of the
selected thumbnails by clicking in a blank area
| | 04:18 | of the Content panel.
| | 04:20 | Now let's say that I want to select
thumbnails that aren't next to one another.
| | 04:24 | To do that I'll use the Command key
rather than the Shift key, so I'll click
| | 04:28 | on the first thumbnail that I want
to select, and then I'll hold down the
| | 04:31 | Command key on my keyboard, click
on another, and another, of these
| | 04:35 | non-adjacent thumbnails.
| | 04:37 | Now I can double-click on any one of the
selected thumbnails, and that opens all
| | 04:41 | three images here in Photoshop Elements.
| | 04:44 | So the next time that you want to open
one or more photos into Elements, try
| | 04:48 | doing it visually from Bridge, rather
than by image name from the Mac Finder.
| | 04:53 | Being able to preview lots of photos in
Bridge, will help you to choose just
| | 04:57 | the images that you want to
open and work on in Elements.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Rotating photos| 00:00 | When you bring in photos from some
digital cameras, they don't come in with
| | 00:04 | enough information to get the photo
oriented right in your computer, but you can
| | 00:08 | fix that easily in Bridge.
| | 00:10 | And although this is a short lesson, it's
something that you're likely to do over and over.
| | 00:14 | Here I have a portrait image and a
landscape image, both lying on their sides.
| | 00:20 | If I want to rotate them, I'll select
one and then I'll hold down the Command
| | 00:24 | key, and I'll select the other.
| | 00:25 | And then I'm going to move up to the top
right of Bridge, where there are two arrows.
| | 00:29 | The arrow on the left would rotate
counterclockwise 90 degrees. I'm going to
| | 00:33 | click the arrow on the right, which will
rotate the selected images clockwise 90
| | 00:37 | degrees, and that's just
what I needed in this case.
| | 00:41 | Now with both images selected, I'm
going to double-click in one of the
| | 00:44 | thumbnails and that will open them in
Elements, and you can see that they both
| | 00:48 | come in with the proper orientation.
| | 00:51 | Notice that these are both JPEGs, and
whenever you make a change to a JPEG and
| | 00:55 | then save it in Elements, the image
is recompressed in the JPEG format, and
| | 01:00 | you'll lose just a little bit more image data.
| | 01:04 | So you don't want to rotate and then
save in Elements, and rotate and save
| | 01:07 | in Elements over and over again, but
it's unlikely that you'll see a visible
| | 01:11 | difference if you do orient your
images just once, and then save them here
| | 01:16 | in Elements.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Moving, deleting, and hiding photos| 00:01 | Adobe Bridge is just a viewer into the
files and folders that are on your hard drive.
| | 00:06 | So that means that if I move a
thumbnail in Bridge, or I copy a thumbnail in
| | 00:10 | Bridge, or I create a folder in Bridge,
all of that actually occurs to the files
| | 00:16 | and folders on my hard drive.
| | 00:17 | And that's different than
Adobe Elements 8 in Windows
| | 00:21 | that uses a database to organize
images, rather than a File Viewer.
| | 00:25 | So for example, let's say that I want to
move one of these images to another folder.
| | 00:29 | If I hold the Ctrl key and click on a
thumbnail in Bridge, or right-click on a
| | 00:33 | thumbnail in Bridge, if I have a two
button mouse, from the Contextual menu that
| | 00:37 | appears, I can choose Move to, and
then I can choose, from this menu, a recent
| | 00:42 | destination, or I can click Choose
Folder, and I am going to select my Desktop,
| | 00:48 | and then select the saved
files folder and click Choose.
| | 00:52 | And that has actually moved that
image, vase3.jpg, on my hard drive.
| | 00:57 | So if I go out to my hard drive and I
look on my Desktop, and I look inside the
| | 01:02 | saved files folder, there is vase5.jpg.
| | 01:05 | I'll close that folder and
I'll go back into Bridge.
| | 01:10 | Similarly, I could Ctrl+Click an image
or right-click if I have a two button
| | 01:14 | mouse, and choose Copy to, and
choose a folder to copy the image to.
| | 01:23 | And that would give me a second
copy of an image on my hard drive.
| | 01:26 | I am not going to bother doing that now.
Instead I want to show you that you can
| | 01:30 | also make new folders and move
images into new folders in Bridge, with a
| | 01:34 | corresponding effect on your hard drive.
| | 01:37 | So I am going to click in a blank
area of the Content panel, and then I am
| | 01:40 | going to up to the top right of Bridge,
and I am going to click to Create New
| | 01:43 | Folder icon there. That makes a new
subfolder inside the folder that I had
| | 01:49 | currently selected.
| | 01:51 | Notice that the name of the folder,
'untitled folder', is now highlighted in blue,
| | 01:55 | which means that I have the opportunity
to name this folder, so I'll call this
| | 01:59 | one 'vases', and then
press Return on the keyboard.
| | 02:02 | Now I am going to select my two images
of vases by clicking on one, holding the
| | 02:07 | Command key, and clicking on the other,
and then I'll click and hold and drag in
| | 02:12 | either of the selected images, and move
over the vases subfolder, and when I see
| | 02:17 | that blue highlight around the
subfolder, I'll release my mouse.
| | 02:22 | If I double-click on the vases subfolder,
you can see the two images inside of it.
| | 02:27 | And I now have a new vases subfolder on my
hard drive that contains these two images.
| | 02:33 | Now another thing to know is that
if you delete a file while you are in
| | 02:36 | Bridge, you're actually deleting it from your
hard drive, so you want to be careful of that.
| | 02:41 | I am going to select vase1.jpg, and
then I am going to press the Delete key on
| | 02:45 | my keyboard, and I get this message:
| | 02:47 | 'Do I want to reject this file?' or
do I want to 'delete it?' If I click
| | 02:51 | Delete, then I get this warning that
I am about to move this file into the
| | 02:56 | Trash on my computer.
| | 02:58 | If I say OK, I have now moved the
actual file on my hard drive, and if I
| | 03:03 | were to empty my trash at this point from the
Mac OS Finder, I would lose that file forever.
| | 03:09 | Now with vase2.jpg selected, I am
going to press the Delete key again, and
| | 03:13 | this time instead of choosing Delete, I am
going to choose Reject, and this is different.
| | 03:18 | This simply labels the file as a Reject,
so I might go through all of the photos
| | 03:23 | that I have done in a shoot
and label some as Rejects.
| | 03:26 | This does not remove them from my
hard drive, but if I want, I can hide the
| | 03:31 | files, so that I don't have
to look at them here in Bridge.
| | 03:34 | And to do that, I'll go up to the View
menu at the top of the screen, and I'll
| | 03:38 | uncheck Show Reject Files.
| | 03:41 | Now I can't see vase2.jpg, but it's
still here on my hard drive, and if I want
| | 03:45 | to see it again in Bridge, I can go back to
the View menu and choose Show Reject Files.
| | 03:52 | So if you have a lot of files in a
folder, it sometimes helps to make those
| | 03:56 | that you consider rejects be temporarily
invisible, so you can see just the best files together.
| | 04:01 | But do keep in mind that deleting a
file, or moving it, or copying it, has an
| | 04:06 | effect on the actual files on your
hard drive, so you want to be careful what
| | 04:09 | you do to files here in Bridge.
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| Renaming photos| 00:00 | Photos that come from digital cameras often
have numerical, meaningless names like these.
| | 00:06 | You may want to rename those photos to
reflect the date on which the photos were
| | 00:09 | shot, or maybe their subject matter.
| | 00:11 | And you can rename photos one by one
in Bridge by clicking on a file name,
| | 00:17 | waiting a second, and then
clicking again, and then you can type in
| | 00:20 | whatever name you want.
| | 00:21 | But renaming files one by
one isn't very efficient.
| | 00:25 | So I am going to click in a blank area
of the Content panel here, so that I can
| | 00:29 | show you how you can
Batch Rename Photos in Bridge.
| | 00:33 | First I'll select some photos to rename.
I'll click on one, hold the Shift key
| | 00:38 | and click on another, and
that selects all in between.
| | 00:41 | Then I am going to go up to the
Tools menu, and I'll choose Batch Rename.
| | 00:46 | That opens the Batch Rename dialog box.
| | 00:49 | First I'll choose the
Destination for the Files I'm Renaming.
| | 00:52 | I don't like to rename in the same
folder, because that will write over
| | 00:55 | the original files.
| | 00:57 | So I am going to Copy the renamed
files into another folder, so the originals
| | 01:02 | are still there, and then I'll click
the Browse button, and I'll go to my
| | 01:06 | Desktop and my Saved Files
Folder, and then I'll click Choose.
| | 01:11 | Next I am going to set a formula
for renaming all the selected files.
| | 01:15 | In this first column are a series of
dropdown menus, and each offers different
| | 01:20 | options for part of the filename.
| | 01:23 | So if I leave the first menu set to Text,
in the field to the right of the text
| | 01:27 | menu, I can type whatever I want.
| | 01:29 | So if you like your file names to start
with subject matter, you can type text
| | 01:33 | that suggests the subject matter.
| | 01:35 | So for example instead of
Project, I might type 'church' here.
| | 01:40 | And I like to add an underscore
afterward, so that there are no spaces in
| | 01:44 | the file name, but yet there is an
indication that this word is finished in the filename.
| | 01:49 | If you prefer, you might want to type
a location here, or if you shoot for
| | 01:52 | different clients, you might type the
client's name, or if you're creating a
| | 01:56 | particular project, like a photo book or
a slideshow, you might type the name of
| | 02:00 | the slideshow as part of the file name.
| | 02:03 | Next is another menu, and by
default this menu is set to Date and Time.
| | 02:07 | I am going to leave it at that, and
then from the next menu, I can choose what
| | 02:11 | date I want as part of the file name.
| | 02:13 | I'll leave this at Date Created. By
default, that date will come in with the
| | 02:18 | four digits of the year first, and then two
digits of the month and two digits of the day.
| | 02:23 | But if I click the third menu here,
I see that I have lots of other
| | 02:26 | configurations for the date.
| | 02:29 | I'll leave this at its default.
| | 02:32 | The next part of the file name could
be more Text, which is the default, or I
| | 02:35 | could choose any of the
other options from this menu.
| | 02:39 | I am going to leave that at Text, and
leave an underscore there, so that there
| | 02:42 | is an underscore after the Date.
| | 02:44 | And then I'll go to the fourth menu,
and I am going to leave that set to
| | 02:48 | Sequence Number, so that elements will
add sequential numbers to each of the
| | 02:52 | photos that it's renaming.
| | 02:54 | And I can choose the number of
digits that I want for those numbers, I'll
| | 02:59 | set this to Two Digits.
| | 03:01 | In the Options area, I do want to
Preserve the Current filename in the XMP
| | 03:05 | Metadata, so that the current filenames
of the photos, the numerical names, will
| | 03:09 | be there, if I ever need
to go back and access them.
| | 03:12 | So I'll check that, and then I'll also
check Compatibility with Windows, as well
| | 03:16 | as Mac OS, just to be safe.
| | 03:19 | In the Preview Area, I can see the
Current filename of one of my selected photos,
| | 03:24 | and what that filename will be with
the renaming formula that I set up above.
| | 03:28 | Each of the selected renamed photos will
start with the word church, followed by
| | 03:33 | an underscore, will then have the date,
year, month and day, then underscore,
| | 03:39 | and then a sequential number.
| | 03:41 | And Elements tells me how many
files are going to be renamed this way.
| | 03:45 | Now if I like this particular formula,
I can save it for use later on other
| | 03:49 | photos by clicking the Save button here.
| | 03:53 | And I could name this. I'll call this 'jan.setting',
and that will automatically be
| | 03:59 | saved in the correct location
in the Batch Rename Settings.
| | 04:02 | I'll click the Save button, and then
let's say that I made a change here.
| | 04:06 | Perhaps I'll change Sequence Number to Metadata.
| | 04:11 | If I want to go back and load my
original formula, I can click on the Load
| | 04:15 | button, and here I'll find my jan.setting,
and I'll click Open, and that
| | 04:20 | reinstates that saved formula.
| | 04:22 | When I am done setting up the way that
I want the files renamed, I'll click the
| | 04:26 | Rename button here, and that
takes me back out to Bridge.
| | 04:30 | Here my files do still have their
original name, because if you remember, I
| | 04:35 | elected to copy these files and
rename the copies, and put them into my
| | 04:38 | saved files folder.
| | 04:40 | So I am going to go out to my hard drive
and look inside the Saved Files Folder,
| | 04:44 | and there I'll see those four files,
each renamed according to the formula that
| | 04:50 | I chose in the Batch Rename Window.
| | 04:53 | So that's a quick and easy way to
Batch Rename multiple files in Adobe
| | 04:58 | Bridge CS4.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
4. Organizing Photos in BridgeTagging photos with keywords| 00:00 | A really powerful way to organize and
then find images in Adobe Bridge CS4 is
| | 00:05 | by using keyword tags.
| | 00:07 | A keyword tag is a short piece of text,
maybe one word or a couple of words, that
| | 00:12 | describes the content of an image.
| | 00:14 | Keyword tags can be attached to an
image and then later used to search for all
| | 00:18 | the images that have that content.
| | 00:20 | A single photo could have more than one
keyword tag, making it easier to find.
| | 00:24 | For example, I might take this photo
of my son and daughter, and tag it with
| | 00:29 | both of their names, Katie and Coby.
| | 00:32 | Then when I search for Katie or when I
search for Coby, this image will come up
| | 00:36 | in the search results.
| | 00:37 | In this movie, I'd like to show you
how to create keyword tags and apply them
| | 00:41 | to images, and then in later movies, I'll show
you how to find images based on keyword tags.
| | 00:46 | First, to create keyword tags, I'll go
to the Keywords panel over here at the
| | 00:50 | bottom-right of Bridge.
| | 00:52 | If yours isn't showing,
click on the Keywords tab.
| | 00:54 | Here you'll see a list of some keyword
tags like Birthday, Graduation, Wedding,
| | 01:00 | and some keyword tag categories
like Events, People, and Places
| | 01:04 | that are just examples of the
kinds of keyword tags that you can use.
| | 01:08 | You don't have to use any of these.
| | 01:10 | In fact, you're probably going to
want to create your own keyword tags, and
| | 01:13 | maybe even some new keyword tag categories.
| | 01:16 | To make a new keyword tag that I'm
going to apply to some of these files, I'm
| | 01:20 | going to go down to the bottom of
the Keyword tags panel and click this Plus
| | 01:23 | symbol for new keyword.
| | 01:26 | That opens this text editing area,
and here I'm going to type the name of
| | 01:30 | the town where I took some of these pictures,
which is Boulder, and then press Return.
| | 01:35 | I've now created a new keyword.
| | 01:37 | I can drag that keyword into a
category, here in the Keywords panel, by
| | 01:40 | clicking-and-dragging on the Boulder
keyword and going down to the Places
| | 01:44 | category, and when there is a blue
highlight around Places, I'll release my mouse.
| | 01:48 | If I want to avoid the step of dragging
a keyword tag, I can first click on the
| | 01:53 | category in which I want the tag to be
located, and then I'll go down to the
| | 01:57 | bottom of the Keyword tags panel
and I'll choose New sub Keyword.
| | 02:02 | That creates a new keyword
right inside the Places category.
| | 02:05 | For this one, I'm going to type 'Gold
Hill', which is where I took some others of
| | 02:09 | the photos that you see here, and
then I'll press Return on my keyboard.
| | 02:12 | Now that I've created some more
relevant keywords, I'm going to apply those to
| | 02:17 | some of the images that you see here.
| | 02:18 | First, I'll add the keyword Boulder
to all of the photos I took in Boulder.
| | 02:22 | Those are the photos of the car.
| | 02:24 | So I'll click on the first car photo,
I'll hold the Shift key and I'll click on
| | 02:27 | the last to select all of those in between.
| | 02:30 | Then I'm going to go over to the Keyword
tags panel, and I'm just going to click
| | 02:34 | in the empty checkbox to the left of Boulder.
| | 02:38 | That applies the Boulder keyword tag
to each one of the selected images.
| | 02:42 | I'll deselect the images by clicking in
a blank area of the Content panel, and
| | 02:46 | then I'm going to select the other
five images here, clicking on one, holding
| | 02:50 | the Shift key and clicking on the fifth one.
| | 02:53 | That selects all in between, and I'll
add the keyword tag Gold Hill to these
| | 02:57 | photos by going to the Keywords panel
and clicking in the blank checkbox to
| | 03:01 | the left of Gold Hill.
| | 03:03 | Then I'll click in a blank area
of the Content panel to deselect.
| | 03:06 | Now if I click on one of these
thumbnails, you'll see in the Keywords panel a
| | 03:10 | checkmark next to any and all keyword
tags that have been applied to that photo.
| | 03:14 | And as I mentioned, I can have
more than one tag on a single photo.
| | 03:18 | So that's how you can
create tags and apply them.
| | 03:21 | How can you remove a tag that you
no longer want to have on a photo?
| | 03:24 | I'm going to select this first
photo here, and you'll notice that I
| | 03:28 | inadvertently applied the Gold Hill tag
to that photo, even though the photo has
| | 03:32 | nothing to do with Gold Hill,
it was actually taken in Mexico.
| | 03:35 | So to remove the Gold Hill keyword
tag from this photo, I make sure that
| | 03:39 | the thumbnail is selected in the Content
panel, and then I'll just uncheck Gold Hill.
| | 03:44 | If I were to click on another of the
Gold Hill photos, you can see that the Gold
| | 03:47 | Hill tag is still applied to those other photos.
| | 03:50 | Now what if I want to get rid of a
keyword tag completely in the Keywords panel.
| | 03:55 | For example, there are a couple of
People tags here that are examples that
| | 03:58 | came with the program and I don't
know anybody named Matthew or Ryan, so I
| | 04:02 | want to remove those tags.
| | 04:04 | To do that, I'll hold the Ctrl key and
click on the Matthew tag or right-click
| | 04:08 | on the Matthew tag and choose Delete.
| | 04:10 | Then I'll click Yes, and that tag is gone.
| | 04:13 | I can do the same for the
Ryan tag. Delete, and Yes.
| | 04:18 | Then I could add my own
People tags in this category.
| | 04:21 | So with the People category selected
in the Keywords panel, I'll click the
| | 04:26 | New sub Keyword icon at the bottom of the
Keywords panel, and I'll type 'Katie' and press Return.
| | 04:32 | Then I'll go down there again and click
the New sub Keyword icon and I'll type
| | 04:37 | 'Coby', and press Return.
| | 04:39 | Then I'm going to select that first
photo in the Content panel, and I'm going to
| | 04:44 | add the Coby keyword tag and the
Katie keyword tag to that photo.
| | 04:49 | Now what's the purpose of all this keywording?
| | 04:51 | Well, the purpose is to make it easier
to find images by subject matter later.
| | 04:56 | If I've added keyword tags to all my
photos, I really don't have to worry as
| | 04:59 | much about naming folders to keep the
photos in, or renaming the titles of
| | 05:04 | photos, because I know that I'll always
be able to find photos by their subject
| | 05:08 | matter keywords, no matter which folder
they're in or what their titles may be.
| | 05:12 | There are several ways to find images
that are keyword tagged in Bridge, and
| | 05:16 | I'll be covering those in more
detail in upcoming movies in this chapter.
| | 05:20 | One way is to go to the Edit menu, and use the
Find command, as I'll explain in another movie.
| | 05:26 | And another is to use the
Keywords Filter here in the Filter panel.
| | 05:30 | If your Keywords Filter is not
expanded like this, but rather it looks like
| | 05:34 | this, then you can click the arrow to
the left of keywords and you'll see there
| | 05:38 | a list of all of the keywords
that have been applied to photos.
| | 05:41 | If I want to see just the photos taken
in Gold Hill, for example, I can click
| | 05:45 | just to the left of the Gold Hill
keyword here in the Filter panel, and that
| | 05:49 | filters away all except those photos
that have the Gold Hill keyword on them.
| | 05:53 | I'll be telling you more about the
Filter functions in a later movie too.
| | 05:57 | So keywording is really, I think,
the most flexible and powerful of the
| | 06:01 | different ways to organize
and find images in Bridge.
| | 06:04 | I suggest that you adopt the habit
of keywording all your photos and it
| | 06:07 | really is easiest and best to do that when you
import a new card of photos to your computer.
| | 06:12 | That way you won't have to keyword
a huge number of photos all at once.
| | 06:16 | Also, when you're creating keywords,
think hard about what those are and try to
| | 06:20 | come up with keywords and keyword
categories that are likely to apply across
| | 06:24 | many of the kinds of photos
that you like to take the most.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Rating and labeling photos| 00:00 | Another way to organize images in
Bridge, making them easier to find later so
| | 00:04 | that you can open the ones you want
into Elements, is to use the star rating and
| | 00:08 | labeling system that's built into Bridge CS4.
| | 00:11 | Bridge offers a five-star rating system.
| | 00:14 | To add stars to a photo, I'll just
click on its thumbnail here in the Content
| | 00:17 | panel, and then I see these
five little dots under the photo.
| | 00:21 | This is a photo I really like, so I'm
going to give it five stars by clicking on
| | 00:25 | the rightmost dot, and you can now see
that those dots have changed into stars.
| | 00:29 | Here's a photo that I don't like very
much, so I'm going to select it and I'll
| | 00:33 | click on the leftmost dot,
and that gives it just one star.
| | 00:36 | Then I'll click in a blank
area of the Content panel.
| | 00:39 | Now some people use all five stars when
they go through and evaluate their images.
| | 00:43 | But I find that that kind of muddies the waters.
| | 00:46 | I prefer to mark images that I really,
really like with five stars and those
| | 00:50 | that I don't like very much, but I'm
not ready to get rid of with one star, and
| | 00:55 | then those in between, I just won't mark.
| | 00:57 | I could go through my images one-by-one
applying stars, but it's more efficient
| | 01:02 | to add stars to multiple images at once.
| | 01:04 | So here I see a number of images that I
really like and that I'd like to give five stars.
| | 01:09 | I'm going to select those by clicking
on one and then holding down the Command
| | 01:12 | key, and I'm going to click on some others.
| | 01:19 | With those images selected, I'll come
up to the Label menu at the top of the
| | 01:22 | screen, and here I can see
the five different star ratings.
| | 01:26 | I'm going to select the five-star
rating or I could just press Command+5 on my
| | 01:31 | keyboard, and that will add five
stars to each one of the selected images.
| | 01:36 | I'm going to click in a blank area
of the Content panel to deselect.
| | 01:40 | I mentioned that in addition to the star
rating system, there's also a labeling system.
| | 01:45 | One of the features in a labeling system
that I really like is the Reject feature.
| | 01:50 | If there is a photo, like this one, that
I've decided, hey, I really don't like
| | 01:53 | this, and I'm probably going to throw
it away, I can label it as a Reject by
| | 01:58 | going up to the Label menu and choosing Reject.
| | 02:02 | Then it's labeled in red with the text
Reject, and I'll click off of all the photos.
| | 02:07 | Now if I'm trying to compare some of my
better photos, and I just don't want to
| | 02:11 | see the Rejects, I don't have to delete
them completely from the computer yet,
| | 02:15 | I can just hide them.
| | 02:16 | The way to do that is to go up to the
View menu and go down to Show Reject
| | 02:21 | Files, and select that, which
disables or unchecks Show Reject Files.
| | 02:26 | Now that Reject photo doesn't show up
in Bridge, but the photo is still there.
| | 02:30 | So if I wanted to see the Rejects again,
I could go back to View and select Show
| | 02:35 | Reject Files, like that.
| | 02:37 | Another thing I sometimes do with my
Rejects is just move them so they're not
| | 02:41 | mixed in with the better photos by
selecting and dragging and releasing when I
| | 02:46 | see the blue bar, wherever I want to
put that Reject among the other photos.
| | 02:49 | And again, I'll click into the
blank area of the Content panel.
| | 02:52 | The labeling system can be
used for another purpose too.
| | 02:55 | I like to use the stars to evaluate
photo quality, and then I'll use other
| | 03:00 | labels to mark photos for particular
purposes for which I might use them.
| | 03:04 | So, for example, if I see a couple of
photos here that I think I'm going to want
| | 03:07 | to print, maybe this one, and I'll hold
the Command key and select this one too,
| | 03:13 | then I'll go up to the Label
menu and here I can choose a label.
| | 03:17 | Now, these are the default labels,
Select, Second, Approved, Review or To Do.
| | 03:22 | But I actually want a label for prints.
| | 03:24 | So before I mark these particular images,
I'm going to go up to Adobe Bridge CS4
| | 03:29 | at the top of the screen, choose
Preferences, and in the Preferences dialog box,
| | 03:34 | I'm going to go to the Labels section,
and I'm going to come in and I'm going to
| | 03:38 | rename one of these labels.
| | 03:40 | So I'll highlight the text next to the
purple label and I'll replace it with To
| | 03:45 | Print, and click OK.
| | 03:48 | Now I'm going to apply that new label
to the two selected images by going up to
| | 03:53 | Label menu at the top of the
screen, and choosing To Print.
| | 03:56 | I could do that with any of the other
colored labels, customizing them, so I
| | 04:00 | might label some images 'email to mom',
or other images 'use in my next photo
| | 04:05 | project', or whatever labels
are useful for my purposes.
| | 04:09 | I'm going to click off of those images
into a blank area of the Content panel too.
| | 04:14 | So the whole purpose of adding stars
and labels to images is so that you can
| | 04:18 | find those images quickly later.
| | 04:21 | There are several ways to find images
according to their ratings or their labels.
| | 04:25 | I can use the Edit>Find command, I can
create Collections or I can use Filters.
| | 04:33 | I'm going to show you how to use each
of those features in more detail in later
| | 04:37 | movies in this chapter.
| | 04:38 | But just to give you a little taste of
what I often do to find stars or labeled
| | 04:42 | photos, I'll go to the Filter panel here.
| | 04:45 | If the labels and rating sections are not
expanded, I'll click the arrow to the left of each.
| | 04:50 | Now if I wanted to see all of the files
that are labeled with my To Print label,
| | 04:56 | all I have to do is click to the left
of the To Print filter here in the Label
| | 05:00 | section of the Filter panel.
| | 05:02 | That shows me just those two labeled
images in the Content panel, or if I wanted
| | 05:06 | the opposite, I want to see all of the
photos that I don't want to print, I'll
| | 05:10 | click again on To Print, and instead,
I'll click on No Label, and then I'll
| | 05:15 | click again to remove that filter.
| | 05:17 | I can do the same thing with ratings.
| | 05:18 | If I want to see only my Rejects,
I'll click next to Reject, and I'll
| | 05:22 | click again to undo that.
| | 05:24 | If I want to see only the five stars,
my best photos, I'll click to the left of
| | 05:28 | the five-star filter.
| | 05:30 | If I want a combination, say, all the
five-star images that have no label on
| | 05:34 | them, I'll click next to the No Label
filter, and I get that kind of cumulative
| | 05:39 | result here in the Content panel.
| | 05:41 | So that's how you can apply star
ratings as well as labels to your photos
| | 05:46 | in Adobe Bridge, and use the stars
and the labels to help you isolate just
| | 05:50 | the photos that you want when
you're getting ready to open and work on
| | 05:53 | photos in Elements.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Sorting photos by filter| 00:00 | As the number of photos in your digital
collection grows, you're going to need
| | 00:03 | more tools to find just the ones that
you want to open into Elements for editing
| | 00:07 | or for inclusion in a photo project.
| | 00:10 | One way to do that is by using the
filters here in the Filter panel at the
| | 00:14 | bottom left of Bridge CS4.
| | 00:16 | If your Filter panel isn't
showing then click its tab now.
| | 00:19 | Here you'll find many different
parameters that you can use to narrow down the
| | 00:24 | photo thumbnails that you see in the
Content panel when you select a folder here
| | 00:28 | in the Folders panel.
| | 00:29 | So right now I'm looking at all of
the photos inside of the 04_03 Exercise
| | 00:34 | Files folder, but notice that there are a couple
of images here that are not in the JPEG format.
| | 00:39 | Down here, there are a couple of PSD
files and I can quickly see just the PSDs
| | 00:44 | by clicking the arrow to the left of the
File Type filter category, and clicking
| | 00:48 | to the left of Photoshop document, or
if I uncheck that by clicking again, and
| | 00:53 | click to the left of JPEG file, then
I'll see only the JPEGs in this folder.
| | 00:58 | As you can imagine, filters like this
are particularly powerful if you have
| | 01:01 | selected a folder higher up in your hierarchy.
| | 01:04 | For example, your entire hard-drive
folder, then this would be a quick way
| | 01:08 | to get to see all the JPEGs on
your hard-drive or all the Photoshop
| | 01:10 | documents on your hard-drive.
| | 01:12 | I am going to uncheck JPEG to show you some of
the other filter parameters that I often use.
| | 01:18 | Keywords is a big one for me.
| | 01:19 | I'll click the arrow to the left of
keywords and I can see that right now there
| | 01:23 | are no keywords listed here.
| | 01:25 | So I am going to go ahead and apply
Keywords to some of these images as I showed
| | 01:28 | you how to do in an earlier movie.
| | 01:30 | So I'll do it rather quickly.
| | 01:31 | I've already created the keywords
that I am going to use over here in the
| | 01:35 | Keywords panel using the techniques I
showed you in the earlier movie on keyword
| | 01:39 | tagging, and now I'm
going to apply some of those.
| | 01:42 | So I'm going to select this image by
clicking on it, and then I'll click to
| | 01:46 | the left of the Coby keyword tag and the
Katie keyword tag in the Keyword tags panel.
| | 01:51 | I'm also going to click on this image
of the car, hold the Shift key and click
| | 01:55 | on the last image of the car, and I'm
going to apply the Boulder keyword tag to
| | 01:59 | all of those selected images,
because I took them all in Boulder.
| | 02:03 | And then, I'll select the second image
and the fifth and hold the Shift key and
| | 02:08 | select the fifth image and that selects
all in between, and I'm going to apply
| | 02:13 | the Gold Hill keyword tag to those
images, and then I'll click in a blank area
| | 02:17 | of the Content panel.
| | 02:19 | Now notice that in the Keywords area of
the Filter panel, each of the keywords
| | 02:24 | that I've applied to at least one image
appears here in this list of keywords,
| | 02:29 | and to its right, the number of
photos to which it's been applied appears.
| | 02:33 | So the way that I use the Keywords
filter is to find all of the photos with
| | 02:38 | particular subject matter.
| | 02:39 | So for example, if I want to see all the
photos that I've taken in Boulder, I'll
| | 02:44 | click to the left of Boulder.
| | 02:46 | If I want to see the photos I've taken
in Gold Hill, I'll uncheck Boulder and
| | 02:50 | I'll click to the left of Gold Hill instead.
| | 02:52 | And what if I want to see all the
photos that I've taken in Gold Hill plus all
| | 02:55 | the photos of Katie?
| | 02:56 | I'll click to the left of Katie,
and I get this cumulative result.
| | 03:01 | So this way, I don't have to bother
putting all photos of a certain subject into
| | 03:05 | a special folder or giving them special
names, I can quickly and easily find all
| | 03:10 | photos on a particular subject or an
intersection of multiple subjects using the
| | 03:15 | Keywords filter in the Filter panel.
| | 03:17 | I'm going to uncheck both of those and
show you a couple more available filters.
| | 03:22 | If I click the arrow next to Date Created,
I can choose to see all of the photos
| | 03:26 | taken on a particular day,
or taken on multiple days.
| | 03:31 | I'll uncheck those.
| | 03:32 | The Orientation category often comes in handy.
| | 03:35 | If I'm looking for all the images that
are horizontal, I can click on Landscape
| | 03:40 | here, or if I want to see all images
that are vertical, I'll click to the left
| | 03:45 | of Portrait and I'll uncheck both of those.
| | 03:48 | I'll scroll down by using the scrollbar
to the right of the Filter panel to see
| | 03:52 | some other categories.
| | 03:53 | Here are categories that offer all kinds
of information about the photos themselves.
| | 03:57 | For example, here I could choose photos
taken with a particular lens, or here,
| | 04:04 | photos taken with a particular camera.
| | 04:05 | So if I want to see all the photos I
took with my iPhone, I can click to the
| | 04:09 | left of iPhone, I'll uncheck that.
| | 04:11 | If I want to see all the photos taken
with my Nikon, I'll click there and so on
| | 04:16 | and there are other categories as well.
| | 04:18 | If I scroll up, you'll notice that
there's no category here for stars or
| | 04:22 | labels, and that's because I haven't added
any stars or labels to any of the photos here.
| | 04:28 | So I go ahead and do that. I'll select
this image, then I'll hold the Command
| | 04:31 | key and select this one, and maybe
this one and this one, and then I'll go up to
| | 04:37 | the Label menu, and I'm going
to give those all five stars.
| | 04:41 | I'll select this photo, and from the
Label menu, I'll select the Reject label,
| | 04:47 | and then I'll click on another photo
and I'll give it the label To Print.
| | 04:52 | All of this I have shown you how to do in more
detail in an earlier movie on Rating and Labeling.
| | 04:57 | And then I'll click in the blank area of the
Content panel to deselect all of those images.
| | 05:02 | Now if I come over to the Filter panel,
notice that there is a Labels category
| | 05:06 | which I can expand by clicking the arrow
to the left, and here I could choose to
| | 05:10 | see only those images I've labeled for
print, or only those images to which I
| | 05:15 | haven't applied a label, and
there's now a Ratings filter as well.
| | 05:19 | I can expand that by clicking this
arrow, and I could choose to see, for
| | 05:23 | example, only my favorites by
clicking to the left of the five-star filter.
| | 05:27 | So you can see that filters are a
direct and powerful way of finding files,
| | 05:32 | particularly files to which you've
added keyword tags, stars or ratings, or
| | 05:36 | files that fall into any of
the other filter categories.
| | 05:39 | By the way, if there are some filter
categories showing here that you never use
| | 05:42 | and you want to make the list of filter
shorter, you can always come over to the
| | 05:47 | Panel menu right here on the right
side of the Filter panel and uncheck any
| | 05:51 | filter you don't think you're going to
use, say Serial Number, which is a filter
| | 05:55 | that will tell you the serial
number of the camera that you have used.
| | 05:58 | I can also go to that menu and, at
the bottom, choose to Collapse All of
| | 06:02 | the categories, and now you can see
there is no longer a Serial Number
| | 06:06 | category showing here.
| | 06:07 | I could bring that category back at
any time by I going to panel menu and
| | 06:11 | choosing Serial Number again and that
category now appears in the Filter list.
| | 06:16 | Now filters aren't the only
way to find your files in Bridge.
| | 06:19 | In the next movie, I'll show you
how to use the Find command to do the
| | 06:22 | same thing.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Finding photos| 00:00 | Another powerful way to use Bridge to
find particular photos in your growing
| | 00:04 | photo collection is to use the Find menu.
| | 00:07 | Before I show you how to use that, I'm
going to set up some keywords and some
| | 00:11 | ratings for some photos using
techniques that I've already shown you in earlier
| | 00:15 | movies in this chapter.
| | 00:16 | I am going to select some images here.
| | 00:18 | I'll start with this car. I'll hold
the Shift key and I'll click on the last
| | 00:22 | image, and then I'm going to keyword
those images, put the place in which they
| | 00:26 | were taken, which is Boulder, by going
over to the Keywords panel and clicking in
| | 00:30 | the box to the left of Boulder.
| | 00:32 | And then I'll click on a blank
area of the Content panel to deselect.
| | 00:35 | Next, I'm going to rate my
favorite images with five stars.
| | 00:39 | I'll click on one thumbnail.
| | 00:41 | I'll hold down the Command key and
click on others that I particularly like.
| | 00:48 | And then I go up to the Label menu and
I'll choose the five star rating, and
| | 00:53 | then I'll click in a blank
area of the Content panel.
| | 00:55 | Now I'm going to use the Find command by
going up to the Edit menu and down to Find.
| | 01:01 | In the Source field of the Find command,
I can tell Elements where I want it to
| | 01:04 | look when it's finding images that meet the
parameters of the query I'm about to set up.
| | 01:09 | Right now, it's set to just look in this
single folder, the 04_04 Exercise Files folder.
| | 01:15 | But if I click here, I could choose to
have it look at my entire hard-drive or I
| | 01:19 | could choose Browse and
select just a particular folder.
| | 01:22 | I'm going to leave that at 04_04.
| | 01:25 | In the Criteria area, I can set up
the parameters for my search query using
| | 01:29 | the three menus here.
| | 01:31 | The first menu offers lots of
different parameters by which I could search,
| | 01:35 | everything from Date Created to the
dimensions of photos, to the titles of
| | 01:41 | files, to metadata about
the way that I shot the photo.
| | 01:46 | Like whether I used Flash, or the Focal
Length of my lens, or the camera model,
| | 01:51 | or even the Serial Number of a
particular camera, so that I could see just
| | 01:55 | photos shot with that camera.
| | 01:57 | I'm going to set up a search
query that includes only photos with
| | 02:00 | particular keywords.
| | 02:01 | So I'll go ahead and select Keywords
from this menu, and then I'll go the next
| | 02:05 | menu, and here I'll choose a conjunction.
| | 02:07 | So I want photos with keywords that contain
and then I'll type in whatever text I want.
| | 02:14 | So I would like to see photos
with keywords that contain Boulder.
| | 02:18 | So that's one sentence in my query.
| | 02:20 | I'm looking for photos with the keywords
that contain the word Boulder in the keyword.
| | 02:25 | Then I'm going to click the Plus sign, right
here, to add another sentence to this query.
| | 02:30 | I'd also like to limit the search to
photos that have a five star rating.
| | 02:34 | So from the first menu, I'm going
to choose Rating, and I'll leave the
| | 02:41 | conjunction at equals.
| | 02:43 | And then from the third
menu I'll choose five-stars.
| | 02:46 | So if I were to read this like a
sentence it would say, "Show me photos with a
| | 02:50 | rating that equals five stars." And I'm
going to add yet a third sentence to this
| | 02:54 | query by clicking the Plus sign here.
| | 02:56 | I'd like to see just files
that are in the JPEG format.
| | 03:00 | So I'll click on this menu, and I'll
choose Document Type ,and then I'll leave
| | 03:04 | the conjunction set to equals, and from
the third menu in this sentence, I'll
| | 03:09 | scroll down to JPEG file.
| | 03:13 | Next, I'll go to the Results section of
the Find dialog box, and this is important.
| | 03:17 | If I leave this set to match if any criteria
are met, I'll get lots more files than I want.
| | 03:22 | I'm going to get all JPEGs in this
folder, and all photos with ratings of five
| | 03:27 | stars and all photos that
have the keyword Boulder.
| | 03:30 | But I just want photos that
intersect those three criteria.
| | 03:33 | In other words, I just want to see five
star JPEGs that have the keyword Boulder.
| | 03:39 | So I'm going to change Match from if
any criteria are met to If all criteria
| | 03:44 | are met. And I'll tell you if you set up
a search and you get results that don't
| | 03:48 | seem right to you, it's usually because you
haven't set the Match parameter correctly.
| | 03:52 | Now there are no sub-folders involved in
the 04_04 folder, but it doesn't hurt to
| | 03:57 | leave Include All Subfolders checked,
but I'm going to uncheck Include
| | 04:01 | Non-indexed files in order to ensure
that the search is as fast as possible, and
| | 04:06 | then I'm going to click Find.
| | 04:09 | And in just a moment, Elements
returns this response to my search query.
| | 04:13 | It's showing me those images that
are JPEGs that have five stars and that
| | 04:18 | contain the keyword Boulder.
| | 04:21 | So the Find command can be as simple
or as complex as you want to make it.
| | 04:25 | Either way, it's a really powerful way
for finding photos by lots of different
| | 04:29 | parameters here in Adobe Bridge CS4.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Organizing photos in Collections| 00:00 | There will be times when you want to
access a group of images that share certain
| | 00:04 | parameters, and you can do that by
using Collections in Adobe Bridge.
| | 00:08 | There are two kinds of collections.
There are Manual collections and then there
| | 00:12 | are Automatic collections that
automatically update as you add files to your
| | 00:17 | computer that contain particular
parameters that you specify and those Automatic
| | 00:21 | collections are called Smart Collections.
| | 00:23 | First, let's take a look at Manual collections.
| | 00:25 | I am going to go to the Collections
panel here on the left side Adobe Bridge and
| | 00:30 | I'm going to create a new Manual
collection by going down to the bottom of that
| | 00:34 | panel and clicking the icon with
the Plus sign, the New Collection icon.
| | 00:39 | That creates a new collection with the
default title highlighted and instead of
| | 00:44 | calling this New Collection, I am
going to call this 'antique cars' and then
| | 00:49 | press Enter on the keyboard.
| | 00:50 | I am going to go up to the top of
Adobe Bridge and click the back arrow to go
| | 00:53 | back to the last view where I can see
the thumbnails located inside the folder
| | 00:58 | that I've selected in the Folders
panel, the 04_05 Exercise Files folder.
| | 01:03 | Right now there are no files in my
brand-new antique cars collection, but I am
| | 01:07 | going to put some in there by
selecting some of these thumbnails and dragging
| | 01:10 | them over to that collection.
| | 01:12 | So I'll click on the first photo of an
antique car and then I'll hold down the
| | 01:16 | Shift key and click on the last photo
and then I can click and hold on any one
| | 01:20 | of the selected photos and drag over on
top of the antique cars collection and
| | 01:24 | when I see this blue border around
that collection, I'll release my mouse.
| | 01:29 | Now I am going to click in a
blank area of the Content panel.
| | 01:32 | So let's say that sometime later I
want to see all my photos of antique cars
| | 01:35 | because I might want to work on
some or all of those in Elements.
| | 01:39 | To do that, I can just go to the
Collections panel in Bridge and click once on
| | 01:43 | the antique cars collection and that
will show me thumbnails of all of the
| | 01:47 | photos that I manually put into that Collection.
| | 01:50 | It's important to understand that when
I put these photos into this collection,
| | 01:53 | I did not move them on my hard drive.
| | 01:55 | A collection is just a reference to
these files whereever they were originally
| | 02:00 | located on my drive and they
could all be in different folders.
| | 02:03 | It really doesn't matter.
| | 02:04 | The important point to remember is
that making a collection of thumbnails
| | 02:08 | doesn't actually move the
photos on my hard drive.
| | 02:10 | I am going to click the back arrow
again to go back to see all of the photos
| | 02:14 | in the 04_05 folder and now I will
show you how to make an automatically
| | 02:18 | updating Smart Collection.
| | 02:20 | A Smart Collection is much like a saved search.
| | 02:23 | In the last movie, I showed you how to
construct a search using the Find command
| | 02:28 | and you'll see that creating a
Smart Collection is much like that.
| | 02:31 | To make a Smart Collection, I'm going
down to the bottom of the Collections
| | 02:34 | panel and I am going to click the icon
with the gear on it and that opens the
| | 02:38 | Smart Collection window.
| | 02:40 | Here I will first choose where I want
Elements to look for photos to include in
| | 02:44 | this collection and I'll leave
this set to the 04_05 Folder.
| | 02:48 | But if I were to click this menu, I
could choose from any of these other options
| | 02:52 | or I could browse to a particular folder.
| | 02:55 | Next, I will set up criteria for what
we will basically be, as I said, a Saved
| | 03:00 | Search or a Smart Collection.
| | 03:02 | These are the criteria that I
last set up using the Find menu.
| | 03:05 | The Smart Collection dialog box shares
those criteria with the Find command.
| | 03:10 | I am going to eliminate these by
clicking the minus symbol to the left of the
| | 03:14 | last two and now I have just one set
of criteria for this Smart Collection.
| | 03:18 | Let's say that I'm planning to make
some prints and so I want to include only
| | 03:22 | photos from this folder that were taken
with my good camera, my Nikon camera, as
| | 03:26 | opposed to my iPhone.
| | 03:28 | I could come into the first menu
here and set this to Model and then I'll
| | 03:33 | leave the conjunction set to 'contains' and
in the last field here I'm going to type 'Nikon'.
| | 03:40 | I could add more criteria to this
search by clicking the Plus button, as I showed
| | 03:45 | you how to do when I was
describing how to use the Find command,
| | 03:48 | but I am going to keep this one simple.
I will just leave it at this one set
| | 03:51 | of criteria and so I don't have to worry
about whether I'm matching all or any criteria.
| | 03:56 | So I can leave that set to either of these.
| | 03:59 | There aren't any subfolders involved,
but its okay to leave that checked and I'm
| | 04:02 | going to leave Include Non-indexed
Files unchecked to speed up the process of
| | 04:07 | creating the Smart
Collection and then I'll click Save.
| | 04:10 | I also want to name this new Smart
Collection. The name is currently highlighted
| | 04:15 | so I am just going to type over that:
'print project' because that's what I'm
| | 04:20 | going to use these photos
for, and press Enter or Return.
| | 04:23 | Now let's say that I want to add
another parameter to this Smart Collection.
| | 04:27 | I decide that I only want it
to contain JPEGs, not PSD files.
| | 04:32 | And I do have some PSD files here
that I made from some of the photos that
| | 04:35 | I took with my Nikon.
| | 04:37 | I can edit this Smart Collection by holding
the Ctrl key, or right-clicking and choosing Edit.
| | 04:43 | Now I am going to add another set of
criteria by clicking the + symbol here and
| | 04:48 | I'm going to go to this first menu in
this next sentence of my search and I am
| | 04:52 | going to choose Document Type.
| | 04:54 | I will leave the conjunction set to
equals and I'll change the last menu to
| | 05:01 | JPEG file and then I will click Save.
| | 05:06 | And that changes the files that
Bridge returns in response to this
| | 05:09 | Smart Collection query.
| | 05:11 | Now if I were to add another file to
this folder that was in the JPEG format,
| | 05:16 | it would automatically be added to the
files that appear whenever I click on
| | 05:20 | the print project Smart Collection now or
sometime in the future when I'm using Bridge.
| | 05:25 | The beauty of using a Smart Collection
is that once I get it set up, I don't
| | 05:29 | have to worry about manually
updating it because it will be automatically
| | 05:32 | updated with any files that meet
the criteria of the Smart Collection.
| | 05:37 | And as with a regular collection, any
of the files that appear here are not
| | 05:41 | actually being moved on my hard drive
to become a part of the Smart Collection.
| | 05:44 | The Smart Collection is just a reference to
these files wherever they live on my hard drive.
| | 05:49 | So that's how you can use Manual
Collections and Smart Collections to access a
| | 05:53 | group of images all at once in Adobe Bridge CS4.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
5. Fixing Photos AutomaticallyTouring the Quick Fix workspace in the Editor| 00:00 | In this chapter, I will begin
extensive coverage of the editing functions
| | 00:03 | in Elements 8 for Mac.
| | 00:05 | Elements offers three levels of editing:
| | 00:07 | Quick Fix, Guided Edit and Full Edit.
| | 00:10 | The default Edit workspace is the one
that you see here, the Full Edit workspace
| | 00:14 | and I happen to have a couple
of images open in this workspace.
| | 00:18 | If I just want to make some quick
corrections to photo quality issues
| | 00:22 | like lighting, color and sharpness,
I don't have to do it here in the
| | 00:26 | Full Edit workspace.
| | 00:27 | Instead, I can switch these images
over into the Quick Fix workspace, which
| | 00:32 | offers some quick intuitive ways
to correct common photo problems.
| | 00:36 | To access the Quick Fix workspace, I
am going to go to this orange tab on the
| | 00:40 | right side of Elements and I will
click the arrow there, and from here I'll
| | 00:44 | choose I will choose Edit Quick.
| | 00:47 | That opens the two images that I had
opened in the Full Edit workspace over here
| | 00:51 | in the Quick Fix workspace.
| | 00:53 | Let's take a look at the
interface of this Quick Fix workspace.
| | 00:57 | Down at the bottom of the workspace is
the Project Bin and in the Project Bin
| | 01:01 | there is a thumbnail that
represents each of the two open images.
| | 01:05 | Up here is the Document Window,
where I can work on the active image.
| | 01:09 | If I want the other open image to be
the one I'm working on, then I can go down
| | 01:13 | to the Project Bin and double-click
that other image and it will appear here in
| | 01:16 | the Document Window.
| | 01:17 | I will go back to that first image by double-clicking
on its thumbnail in the Project Bin.
| | 01:22 | If I want to allocate more space to
the image that's being edited in the
| | 01:26 | Document Window, I can collapse the Project
Bin by double-clicking its tab, right here.
| | 01:31 | There are a couple of other useful features
down at the bottom of the Document Window.
| | 01:35 | If this image had come into my
computer from my camera lying on its side and I
| | 01:41 | hadn't corrected that in Bridge, I
could rotate the image here either 90 degrees
| | 01:45 | clockwise, using this icon, or 90
degrees counterclockwise, using this one.
| | 01:50 | There is also a Zoom slider here.
| | 01:52 | So if I want to magnify my view of
this image, I can click the arrow to the
| | 01:56 | right of this Zoom slider and drag to the right.
| | 02:00 | And if I want to zoom out so that I
can see more of the image, I can drag
| | 02:03 | this slider to the left.
| | 02:04 | Let's take a quick look at the Document Window.
| | 02:08 | You will notice that at the top left of the
Document Window, there's this label, After.
| | 02:12 | That means that by default, what I'm
seeing here in the Document Window is what
| | 02:17 | the image will look after I make
some corrections to it, using some of the
| | 02:20 | controls over here in the Quick Fix panel.
| | 02:23 | But sometimes I like to see not only
the After version but also the Before
| | 02:26 | version of the image.
| | 02:28 | So in that case I can go down to the
View menu and I can choose instead of After
| | 02:32 | Only, Before & After
either Horizontal or Vertical.
| | 02:36 | Because this is a landscape-oriented
image, I will choose Horizontal.
| | 02:40 | And now I get two views of the image.
| | 02:42 | So if I were to come over to the Quick
Fix panel and just drag this top slider
| | 02:46 | to the right, making a change to the
image, I could see the change in the After
| | 02:50 | view and compare it to the way that the
image looked before I made that change.
| | 02:54 | I am actually going to cancel that
change by clicking this x at the top of the
| | 02:59 | Smart Fix panel and I'm going to go back
to the After view only by going down to
| | 03:04 | the View menu and choosing After Only.
| | 03:06 | The heart of the Quick Fix interface are
the panels over here in the Quick Fix pane.
| | 03:11 | I will be taking you through the
Lighting panels, the Color panels and, if I
| | 03:15 | scroll down, the Detail panel in other movies.
| | 03:19 | But in this movie I do want to give
you an example of how to use the kinds of
| | 03:23 | controls that you will find
in these Quick Fix panels.
| | 03:26 | So I am going to scroll back up and I am
going to show you how to use Smart fix here.
| | 03:30 | Smart Fix is a one-stop shopping
attempt to correct not only lighting in a
| | 03:36 | photo, but also color.
| | 03:38 | And there are several
ways to apply the Smart fix.
| | 03:40 | One is just to go to this Auto button.
| | 03:43 | You will notice that several other controls
have an Auto button, and click that Auto button.
| | 03:49 | Clicking Auto gives me really no
subjective control over the result.
| | 03:53 | And so I don't often go with Auto, but
sometimes it's worth just trying out and
| | 03:57 | seeing if you get a pleasing result.
| | 03:59 | If I like this result, fine. If I don't,
I can always go up to the top of the
| | 04:03 | screen and click the Undo button and
that will take me back to just before I
| | 04:08 | applied Auto Smart Fix.
| | 04:10 | If I had applied more than one change to
this image, I could click Undo several
| | 04:14 | times to step back in time.
| | 04:16 | And there is also Redo button here. If
I click that, I will go forward in time.
| | 04:20 | So this is how the image looked with
Auto Smart Fix and if I press Undo this is
| | 04:25 | how it looked before I applied Auto Smart Fix.
| | 04:27 | Another way to apply Smart Fix is to
use this slider and this gives me a little
| | 04:32 | more control than just clicking the
Auto button on the Smart Fix panel.
| | 04:35 | As I drag the Amount slider over to
the right, I can see changes occurring
| | 04:39 | here in the Document Window and it's
just a subjective decision as to how I
| | 04:44 | want the image to look.
| | 04:46 | If I get into a place that it seems
reasonable, then I will come up to this
| | 04:49 | checkmark and this X. If I click the X, that
will send the Smart Fix slider back to
| | 04:54 | where it started and there
will be no change in the image.
| | 04:57 | If I like this result, I can click
the checkmark and that confirms the
| | 05:02 | change that I just made.
| | 05:04 | Even after I have clicked that checkmark,
I can still undo by going up to the Undo
| | 05:08 | button and clicking it, and
now I am back where I started.
| | 05:11 | There is one more thing I would like to
show you about Smart Fix that applies to
| | 05:15 | these other sliders as well, the
Lighting sliders and a Color sliders, and that
| | 05:19 | is this little grid icon
just to the left of this slider.
| | 05:23 | If I click that grid icon, Quick
Fix shows me a series of thumbnails.
| | 05:28 | Each of these thumbnails represents a
different level of the Smart Fix Amount slider.
| | 05:32 | I am going to move my mouse from
thumbnail to thumbnail and as I do, I am
| | 05:36 | not clicking or pressing down on the mouse,
I'm just moving the my mouse over a thumbnail.
| | 05:41 | And you will notice that the Amount
slider moves and that the appearance of the
| | 05:45 | image changes in the Document Window.
| | 05:48 | So these are basically
presets for the Amount slider.
| | 05:52 | Once I have previewed by moving the
mouse over a thumbnail, if I like that
| | 05:55 | result, I can click on the thumbnail
and then if I want to confirm this as my
| | 06:00 | change, I'll go up to the checkmark and
the X and I'll click the checkmark.
| | 06:05 | By the way no, matter what changes I've
made to my image using Smart Fix or any
| | 06:09 | of these other sliders, I can always
get the image back to the way it looked
| | 06:13 | before I made those changes by going
to this Reset button at the top of the
| | 06:17 | Document Window and clicking.
| | 06:19 | Another part of the Quick Fix
interface is the toolbar over here.
| | 06:23 | This is an abbreviated toolbar.
| | 06:25 | It has some of the same tools that you
will find in the Full Edit workspace.
| | 06:29 | It has a Zoom tool, a Hand tool, a
Quick Selection tool and a Crop tool.
| | 06:34 | Notice that as I click various tools,
the options available up here in the
| | 06:38 | Options bar change to show
me options for just that tool.
| | 06:42 | So for example, if I click on a Zoom
tool, I now see options here that are all
| | 06:46 | related to zooming in the image.
| | 06:48 | If I click this Minus icon in the Zoom
tool Options bar and then I click inside
| | 06:53 | the Document Window, I am zooming
out so I can see more of the image.
| | 06:57 | And if I click the Plus icon here and
then I click in the document window, I'm
| | 07:02 | zooming in, magnifying the
image, so I get a closer view.
| | 07:06 | If I want to fit the image in the space
available in the Document Window, I will
| | 07:10 | click the Fit Screen option for the
Zoom tool and if I want to see the image at
| | 07:15 | 100% view, meaning that one pixel in
the image will be assigned to one pixel on
| | 07:19 | my screen, I can click the 1:1
option for the Zoom tool.
| | 07:23 | When I am zoomed into a magnification
where I can't see the entire image in
| | 07:27 | the Document Window, the Hand tool can
come in handy to move the image around
| | 07:31 | in the Document Window.
| | 07:33 | I will select that tool and then I can
click and drag to see a different part of
| | 07:37 | the image in the Document Window.
| | 07:40 | There is also a Quick Selection tool here.
| | 07:42 | If I select that tool and then I click
and drag over a part of the image, that
| | 07:47 | selects an area and only that area will
be affected by any changes that I make
| | 07:51 | over here in the Quick Fix panels.
| | 07:53 | So if I drag that Smart Fix slider over,
only the sky is been affected here.
| | 07:58 | I am going to cancel that change by
clicking this X and then I am going to
| | 08:02 | eliminate this selection boundary by
going up to the Select menu at the top of
| | 08:06 | the screen and choosing Deselect, or I
could press Command+D on my keyboard,
| | 08:11 | which is a shortcut for Deselect.
| | 08:12 | I will show you the other
tools here in a later movie.
| | 08:15 | These are touch up tools that make
specific changes to an image, like making the
| | 08:20 | white parts whiter, or the
blue parts more saturated.
| | 08:23 | So that's a quick look at
the Quick Fix interface.
| | 08:27 | In the following movies, I am going to
take you through some of the specific
| | 08:30 | controls that you can use in Quick Fix.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Applying Quick Fix lighting controls| 00:00 | The Quick Fix panel on the right
side of the Quick Fix workspace contains
| | 00:04 | controls for adjusting lighting, and
color, and other common problems in photos.
| | 00:10 | The Lighting area of the Quick Fix panel
has several different controls that you
| | 00:14 | can use to try to adjust the
brightness and the contrast of an image.
| | 00:18 | There's an Auto Levels button and
Auto Contrast button and then a set of
| | 00:22 | three sliders that allow you to
adjust the Shadows, the Highlights, and the
| | 00:26 | Midtones separately.
| | 00:28 | And these are really three different controls,
not all one control to be used together.
| | 00:33 | Let's take a look at each of those.
| | 00:34 | I'm going to start with the Levels Auto button.
| | 00:37 | There are no sliders to use to adjust levels.
| | 00:40 | There is just this Auto button.
| | 00:41 | I'm going to click that button
to see the effect on this image.
| | 00:45 | In this case, I really don't
like the effect of the Auto Levels.
| | 00:48 | What's happening here is that
Elements is taking the brightest parts of the
| | 00:51 | image in this area here and pushing
those to appear white and the darkest parts
| | 00:57 | here and down here and
pushing those to appear black.
| | 01:00 | And then it's expanding the
Middle tones across the tonal range.
| | 01:05 | The result of that is an increase in
contrast, contrast being the difference
| | 01:09 | between the bright and dark areas of an image.
| | 01:12 | And increased contrast often
makes an image look more pleasing,
| | 01:16 | but the problem with doing that using
Auto Levels is that Auto Levels can also
| | 01:20 | have an effect on the color in an image.
| | 01:22 | As you see that it did here.
| | 01:23 | It's made everything really
saturated and unnatural-looking.
| | 01:27 | So, I'm not going to go
with Auto Levels in this case.
| | 01:30 | I'm going to Undo by going up to the
Undo button at the top of the screen.
| | 01:34 | So, this is where I started with this
really flat image that doesn't have bright
| | 01:37 | whites or dark darks.
| | 01:39 | Basically, all of the tones in the image
are somewhere around in the middle gray point.
| | 01:43 | Now I'm going to see what
Auto Contrast does to this image.
| | 01:47 | I'll click the Auto button to the right
of Contrast in the Lighting panel and
| | 01:50 | that gives me a little bit better result.
| | 01:53 | The sky doesn't look as blue as it did
with Auto Levels and their certainly is
| | 01:57 | more contrast in the image.
| | 01:58 | But I still think that the
colors are over saturated.
| | 02:01 | So, I am going to try it to use the
Lighten Shadows, Darken Highlights, and
| | 02:06 | Midtone Contrast sliders here, which
give me a little bit more control over the
| | 02:10 | results than I can get with either the
Auto Contrast or the Auto Levels button.
| | 02:14 | So undo by going up to the Undo
button at the top of the screen.
| | 02:17 | I'm going to come down and try
lightening the shadows, dragging the Lighten
| | 02:22 | Shadows button over to the right. And I
don't have to very far, maybe I'll leave
| | 02:27 | that at about 6, to
dramatically improve the image.
| | 02:31 | I could also try to darken the highlights
by dragging that slider over to the right.
| | 02:35 | And then I can adjust the Midtones
by taking the Midtone Contrast slider.
| | 02:40 | If I dragged it to the left, I would
make the Midtones less contrasty.
| | 02:44 | This is flattening the tones in the image.
| | 02:46 | I think I would do better
to increase the contrast.
| | 02:49 | So the contrast level started
about here. I'm going to take Midtone
| | 02:53 | Contrast up, to about there.
| | 02:57 | If I am happy with this result, I'll go
to the top of the Lighting panel and
| | 03:00 | I'll click the checkmark.
| | 03:02 | Now, to compare a before and after
view I'll go down to the View menu. I will
| | 03:06 | click there and I am going to
choose Before & After - Horizontal.
| | 03:09 | So this is where I started with
this image and this is where I ended.
| | 03:13 | If I want to compare the entire image, I
will go up to the tool bar. I will make
| | 03:18 | sure I have the Zoom tool selected and
then I'll click the Fit Screen option in
| | 03:22 | the tool options bar.
| | 03:24 | So that's how I can use these various
lighting controls to improve the lighting,
| | 03:27 | in another words, the contrast and the
brightness of an image, using Quick Fix.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Applying Quick Fix color controls| 00:00 | The Quick Fix workspace offers
several controls to help you quickly adjust
| | 00:04 | color in your photos.
| | 00:05 | The simplest of the color controls in Quick
Fix is the Auto button here on the Color panel.
| | 00:11 | Clicking the Auto button can sometimes
reduce what's called a Color Cast, an
| | 00:15 | unwanted predominance of a
particular color across a photo.
| | 00:18 | For example, in this photo taken in a
museum, the color of the artificial light
| | 00:23 | in the environment created
an overall orange colorcast.
| | 00:27 | To try to reduce or eliminate that
colorcast, I am going to click on the Auto
| | 00:31 | button in the Color panel of Quick Fix, and
that did a pretty good job with just one click.
| | 00:36 | Quick Fix tried to neutralize the color
in the dark areas, in the bright areas,
| | 00:41 | and in the mid-tones of the photo.
| | 00:43 | But the trouble with the Auto button on
the Color panel is first, that it doesn't
| | 00:48 | give you much control over the result,
and second, it doesn't always create a
| | 00:52 | result you are going to like.
| | 00:53 | So for example, I have another image
open in the Project Bin and I am going to
| | 00:56 | bring that image into the Document
window by clicking its thumbnail down here,
| | 01:01 | the thumbnail of the Book Cliffs.
| | 01:03 | This image has both lighting and color problems.
| | 01:05 | I am going to try to click the Auto
Color button and see if that fixes at least
| | 01:09 | the color and I actually think it makes
it worse, but in fact, it takes the color
| | 01:14 | in just the opposite direction.
| | 01:15 | It's no longer flat and colorless.
| | 01:17 | Now the color is oversaturated.
| | 01:20 | So Auto Color didn't work in this case,
and I offer you that just as an example
| | 01:24 | that you can't always just
rely on the Auto Color button.
| | 01:28 | But fortunately there are some other
color controls here in Quick Fix. There
| | 01:32 | are the balance controls
here in the Balance panel.
| | 01:34 | To try those out I'm going to double-
click another thumbnail in the Project Bin,
| | 01:39 | this thumbnail of the horse statue.
| | 01:41 | Now this image has a subtle blue
colorcast across the whole image.
| | 01:45 | I can try to use the Temperature and
Tint controls in the Balance panel to
| | 01:49 | compensate for the color of the light
in which this photo was shot, trying to
| | 01:54 | shift the overall color from
cool blue toward a warmer gold.
| | 01:58 | I'll start with the Temperature slider
and I am going to click the grid to the
| | 02:01 | left of the Temperature slider and then
I am going to scroll down, so that I can
| | 02:06 | see how the image will look
at various color temperatures.
| | 02:09 | I move my mouse over each one of
these thumbnails without clicking or
| | 02:13 | pressing down to get a preview of
the image in the document window with
| | 02:17 | different color temperatures.
| | 02:19 | So here is the default.
| | 02:20 | If I move to the right just a bit, I
get a warmer overall color to the entire
| | 02:25 | image, and I think that's a little bit too warm.
| | 02:27 | So I will select that thumbnail
and then I want to actually lower the
| | 02:31 | temperature making it a little
more blue than it currently is.
| | 02:34 | So as you can see in the
Temperature slider, this thumbnail has set the
| | 02:37 | temperature to a level of 63.
| | 02:40 | If I click, hold and drag to the left
on top of that thumbnail, I can fine-tune
| | 02:44 | that amount, bringing it down just a
little more toward the cool side of things.
| | 02:48 | And there's another slider here, the
Tint slider, which adjusts overall color on
| | 02:52 | another axis from Green to Magenta.
| | 02:55 | I could use the thumbnails or I can
just click on the slider and I am going to
| | 02:58 | move it slightly toward Magenta, and
if I am satisfied with the result, I'll
| | 03:03 | click the check mark on the Balance panel here.
| | 03:06 | To compare before and after view of
this image, I am going to go to the View
| | 03:09 | menu, and I will choose Before and
After Horizontal, and I can see the original
| | 03:14 | image with its blue cast, and the
image that I have warmed up with the
| | 03:18 | Temperature and Tint sliders.
| | 03:19 | Another property of color is its
saturation or its intensity, and in a Color
| | 03:25 | panel there is a Saturation slider that
I can use to make the color in an image
| | 03:29 | more or less intense.
| | 03:30 | I am going to click on the grid to the
left of the Saturation slider, and I'll move
| | 03:34 | my mouse over the first of the
thumbnails, and as you can see, that takes all of the
| | 03:38 | color out of the image,
essentially making it a black and white.
| | 03:41 | Although this isn't the way that I
would recommend that you convert a color
| | 03:44 | image to black and white.
| | 03:45 | I'll show you better ways later in the course.
| | 03:48 | And then I'll just move my mouse
over some of these other thumbnails.
| | 03:50 | I am not clicking. I am just hovering my
mouse over a couple of the thumbnails.
| | 03:54 | So there's the original, and I can
increase the saturation slightly by trying
| | 03:59 | one of these other thumbnails.
| | 04:00 | I think I'll go with 25, so I am going
to click on this thumbnail, and if I like
| | 04:05 | the result I'll click the
checkmark at the top of the Color panel.
| | 04:09 | Now I want to remind you that changes
that you make to the Saturation or the Hue
| | 04:14 | or the Temperature or Tint of an image
don't have to affect the entire image.
| | 04:18 | So let's say that I like the way that
the wall and the horse look, but I would
| | 04:22 | like the sky to be a little bluer.
| | 04:24 | I can go over to the Quick Fix
toolbar and choose the Quick Selection tool.
| | 04:28 | I'll move the Quick
Selection tool over the image.
| | 04:30 | If the brush size is bigger than this, I
use the Left Bracket key on my keyboard
| | 04:34 | to make the brush a little smaller,
and then I am going to start clicking and
| | 04:38 | dragging across the sky, trying not
to include much of the horse in the
| | 04:43 | selection that I am making.
| | 04:44 | If I do get part of the horse in the
selection I can go to the Options bar for
| | 04:48 | the Quick Selection tool, and choose
this Subtract from Selection icon, and then
| | 04:53 | I will come into the image, I'll make
my brush a little smaller by pressing the
| | 04:56 | Left Bracket key, and I'll click and
drag over the horse's ear, which was
| | 05:00 | inadvertently included in the
selection to remove that part of the photo from
| | 05:04 | the selection, and I'll do the same
down here at the back of the horse.
| | 05:08 | I see a little more sky that I want to
include in the selection, so I'll go back
| | 05:12 | up to the Options bar, and I'll switch
back to the Add to Selection button here,
| | 05:16 | and then I'll click and drag over those
areas to include them in this selection.
| | 05:21 | Now that I have that area selected,
I can shift the color, and only that
| | 05:25 | area will be affected.
| | 05:26 | So I am going to try coming over to
the Hue slider and dragging that toward
| | 05:32 | blue, and then I'll take the Saturation
slider, and I'll reduce the saturation
| | 05:36 | of the blue in the sky a bit to
make it more realistic looking.
| | 05:41 | And when I am done I can click the
checkmark at the top of the color panel, and
| | 05:44 | then I'll eliminate the selection by
going up to the Select menu and choosing
| | 05:47 | Deselect or pressing the keyboard
shortcut Command+D. So that's a look at how to
| | 05:52 | use the controls in Quick Fix that
affect color in an image, those in the Color
| | 05:57 | panel and Balance panel, and how to
limit your color changes to just a selected
| | 06:02 | portion of the image in Quick Fix.
| | 06:04 | The controls in Quick Fix offer an
alternative to try to adjust color in the
| | 06:07 | full edit workspace.
| | 06:09 | The upside of the controls in Quick Fix
is that they are somewhat easier to find
| | 06:13 | and to use than the equivalent
controls in the full edit workspace.
| | 06:17 | But the downside of using the Quick Fix
color buttons and sliders is that they
| | 06:22 | offer less control over the results than
equivalent adjustments in the full edit
| | 06:26 | workspace, which I'll cover later in the course.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Applying Quick Fix sharpening| 00:00 | The last step in your workflow, after
you have corrected lighting, color or
| | 00:04 | applied any other corrections to an
image in Quick Fix, is to sharpen the image
| | 00:09 | and you can do that right here in the
Quick Fix workspace from the Detail panel
| | 00:13 | down here at the bottom of the Quick Fix column.
| | 00:15 | The reason you want to sharpen an
image is because the very process of
| | 00:18 | digitizing an image, either by
scanning or by taking a digital photo, does
| | 00:22 | soften the image somewhat, and most images
will look better if they are a little crisper.
| | 00:27 | Before you begin to sharpen, you want
to make sure that the document window is
| | 00:30 | set to 100%, so that you can
seriously evaluate the results of sharpening.
| | 00:35 | To do that, I'll select the Zoom tool in
the toolbox and then I will go up to be
| | 00:39 | 1:1 option in the Options bar and click,
and now my image is zoomed into 100% as
| | 00:44 | reported down here at the bottom right.
| | 00:46 | The quickest way to apply sharpening is to go
to the Detail panel and click the Auto button.
| | 00:51 | I am going to do that now. Keep your
eye on the image as I do it. And you may
| | 00:55 | have noticed that the
image is a little bit sharper.
| | 00:57 | I actually think it's too sharp right
now, because I can see a lot of blemishes
| | 01:01 | and uneven areas in the model's skin.
| | 01:05 | You can see that even better if I
show you the Before and After view.
| | 01:08 | So I am going to go down to the View
menu and choose Before and After Horizontal.
| | 01:12 | Then I'll get the Hand tool, and I'll
click in either Preview and move over so
| | 01:16 | you can see the model's face.
| | 01:18 | Here on the left is the original rather
soft image, and here on the right is the
| | 01:23 | sharpened version of the same image.
| | 01:25 | So I would like the model's skin to
remain soft like this, and I would like her
| | 01:29 | eyes to be sharp, because the
eyes really are the focal point.
| | 01:32 | So I am going to undo by going up to
the Undo button at the top of the screen,
| | 01:36 | and I am going to go back to the Detail
panel, and I am going to click the grid
| | 01:39 | to the left of the Sharpen slider.
| | 01:41 | I'll scroll down using
the scroll bar on the right.
| | 01:44 | Here I see a series of thumbnails
with different amounts of sharpening.
| | 01:47 | The default is this first one,
the one with the orange arrow in it.
| | 01:51 | I am going to move my mouse over the
other thumbnails one by one to see a
| | 01:54 | preview of how the image will look
with a corresponding amount of sharpening.
| | 01:58 | Now I think that the third thumbnail
on the top row is already too much.
| | 02:03 | So I am going to go back to that second
thumbnail, and I think that's a little
| | 02:06 | much in the skin area as well.
| | 02:07 | So rather than apply sharpening to the
entire image, I am going to make use of
| | 02:11 | the Quick Selection tool to select
just the area that I want to sharpen.
| | 02:15 | I'll click on the Quick Selection tool
here in the toolbar, and then I am going
| | 02:18 | to go up to be Brush option
and click the arrow there.
| | 02:22 | Because I want to reduce the hardness of
the brush, I'll reduce it down to maybe 70%.
| | 02:26 | There is no magic number here.
| | 02:28 | I just want the edges of the brush to
be a little bit soft, so that the area I
| | 02:32 | am sharpening blends into the
area that won't be sharpened.
| | 02:35 | And then I'll click in a blank area
of the Options bar to close that menu.
| | 02:39 | I'll move into the image, and I'll make sure
my brush is about the size of the model's iris.
| | 02:44 | I am going to press the Right Bracket key on
my keyboard to make the brush a little bigger.
| | 02:48 | If I want make it smaller, I could
press the Left Bracket key on my keyboard.
| | 02:51 | And I am just going to brush
across the model's eyes here and here.
| | 02:56 | I might make my brush a little bit smaller,
and brush across her eyebrows as well. Like that.
| | 03:04 | Now I'll go back down to the Detail panel.
| | 03:06 | I am going to click the grid icon and
then I am going to scroll down, and I'll
| | 03:11 | move my mouse over the various thumbnails,
keeping my eye on the after version of the image.
| | 03:17 | I am going to select the third
thumbnail in the top row, and then I am going to
| | 03:21 | deselect by going up to the
Select menu and choosing Deselect.
| | 03:25 | That way I get a better view of the
edge of the sharpened selected area, and I
| | 03:29 | think that looks pretty good.
| | 03:31 | The subject's eyes are nice and
bright and clear, and the skin is soft.
| | 03:35 | So don't overlook this step when
you're done editing an image in Quick Fix.
| | 03:38 | You can make it look even better by
sharpening all or part of the image
| | 03:43 | for output.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Using Quick Fix touchup tools| 00:00 | The Quick Fix Workspace has a small
toolbar over on the left that contains in
| | 00:05 | addition to a Zoom tool and a Hand tool,
a quick selection tool and a crop tool,
| | 00:10 | these four touch up tools here, which
include a tool for eliminating red eye
| | 00:14 | caused by camera flash, a tool for
whitening teeth, a tool for making dull skies
| | 00:20 | blue, and a tool for converting
a color image to black-and-white.
| | 00:25 | I'll start by showing you the Red Eye
tool selecting it in his toolbar, and then
| | 00:29 | I'm going to zoom in by pressing
Command+Plus a couple of times, and I'll hold
| | 00:34 | the spacebar and drag until
I can see the girl's eyes.
| | 00:38 | The red glow that you see in her eyes is
caused by the camera's flash reflecting
| | 00:42 | off the back of her eye.
| | 00:44 | To eliminate that unearthly color, I'm
just going to click with the Red Eye tool
| | 00:48 | on one of her eyes, and the red glow is gone.
| | 00:50 | And I'll do the same on the other eye.
| | 00:53 | If you don't get the results that you
want with the Quick Fix Red Eye tool, you
| | 00:56 | can go up to the tool Options bar for
that tool and adjust the size of the area
| | 01:01 | that's darkened, or the amount by
which the Red eye will be darkened.
| | 01:05 | Now let's take a look at the Whiten Teeth tool.
| | 01:08 | I'll select that tool in the toolbox,
and I am going to bring up another image
| | 01:12 | from the Project Bin, the image
called teeth.jpg, by double-clicking its
| | 01:16 | thumbnail, and then I'll zoom in by
pressing Command+Plus a couple of times.
| | 01:22 | Notice that the girl's
teeth are a little bit yellow.
| | 01:24 | I can fix that with just a couple
strokes with the Whiten Teeth tool.
| | 01:28 | The first thing I want to do is move
my mouse over her teeth to check whether
| | 01:32 | the size of the brush tip is bigger than
her teeth. Because it is, I am going to
| | 01:36 | press the left bracket key on my
keyboard a few times to make the size of the
| | 01:40 | brush smaller, and then I'm going to
just click-and-drag over her teeth, which
| | 01:45 | both selects the teeth and
lightens them at the same time.
| | 01:49 | If I want to add some areas to this
selection, I can just click-and-drag
| | 01:52 | again, and if I go too far adding part
of her lip into the selection, I can go
| | 01:59 | up to the Options bar and click this brush tip
with a Minus symbol on it, and then come back in.
| | 02:04 | I'll make my brush a little smaller by
pressing the left bracket key, and I'll
| | 02:09 | remove those areas from the lightened selection.
| | 02:15 | Now I'll deselect by pressing Command+
D on my keyboard, and then to compare a
| | 02:20 | Before and After view, I'll go down to
the View menu, and I'll change that to
| | 02:23 | Before and After Horizontal, and
then I'll hold down the spacebar and
| | 02:27 | click-and-drag in either of the
previews, so that I can see her teeth here in
| | 02:33 | the After view and a little darker
and yellower here in the Before view.
| | 02:37 | I'll go back to the After view by
returning to the View menu and choosing After Only.
| | 02:41 | Now I am going to open another image to
show you the next tool, the Blue Skies tool.
| | 02:45 | I'll double-click on this image called
blue sky.jpg in the Project Bin, and then
| | 02:51 | I'll select the Blue Skies tool
by clicking on it in the toolbar.
| | 02:54 | I'll move into the image, and I'm
going to make my brush slightly bigger by
| | 02:58 | pressing the Right Bracket key.
| | 03:00 | I don't want to make the brush tip too
big, because this tool works better with
| | 03:04 | a relatively small brush, and then I
am going to click-and-drag over the sky.
| | 03:08 | This tool makes a quick selection of the
sky, and at the same time makes the sky
| | 03:13 | bluer and more saturated.
| | 03:14 | Notice that the selection and the change
includes part of the camera and the man's hand.
| | 03:19 | I can subtract those areas from the
selection by going up to the Options bar for
| | 03:23 | this tool and clicking on the
Subtract from Selection icon.
| | 03:27 | Then I'll move into the image, I am
going to make my brush a little smaller by
| | 03:30 | pressing Left Bracket key a few times,
and I'm going to subtract the man's
| | 03:36 | fingers from this selection,
as well as the camera here.
| | 03:41 | Now I want to add this area between
his arms to the selection, so I'll go
| | 03:44 | back to the Options bar and I'll
click the Add to Selection icon here, the
| | 03:48 | one with the Plus symbol on it, and
then I'll click-and-drag over that area
| | 03:52 | between his arms, and I am also
going to fine-tune this area right here,
| | 03:57 | adding that back into the selection.
| | 03:58 | I'll press Command+D to deselect, and
then I'll show you a Before and After view
| | 04:03 | going to the View menu and
choosing Before and After Horizontal.
| | 04:07 | So you can see that this tool did
saturate and make the sky more blue.
| | 04:11 | I'll go back to the After View from the
View menu, and then I'm going to bring
| | 04:15 | up the last image here, the blue cloak
JPEG, by double-clicking its thumbnail
| | 04:19 | in the Project Bin.
| | 04:20 | What I would like to do here
is to convert the background to
| | 04:23 | black-and-white, leaving the
mannequin and the cloak and the hat in color,
| | 04:26 | so the viewer's eye focuses there.
| | 04:28 | I'll go to the toolbar, and I'll select
the Black-and-White High Contrast tool.
| | 04:32 | I'll move into the image and make my
brush tip a little bit bigger, and then I
| | 04:36 | am just going to click-and-drag over
the background, and the tool selects the
| | 04:41 | background based on tone, color, and edge,
and at the same time converts it from
| | 04:49 | color to high contrast black and white.
| | 04:51 | Now let's just say that I go a little
too far include the hat by mistake, I can
| | 04:56 | go up to the Options bar for this tool,
select the Subtract from Selection
| | 05:01 | option, and come in and draw back over
the hat to convert it back to color, and
| | 05:07 | then I'll deselect by
pressing Command+D on my keyboard.
| | 05:10 | Now the results that you get here in
Quick Fix with these touch up tools are
| | 05:14 | all preset results, but you can
customize the result of a couple of these
| | 05:18 | tools, in particular, the Whiten
Teeth tool, and the Blue Skies tool, by
| | 05:22 | switching into Full Edit mode.
| | 05:25 | So I'm going to go back and reopen the
image on which I use the Whiten Teeth
| | 05:28 | tool, teeth.jpg, by double-clicking it
in the Project Bin, and then I'll set
| | 05:34 | that to 100% view by
double-clicking the Zoom tool.
| | 05:38 | Now I'll go to the Edit Quick Tab,
click the arrow to the right of it,
| | 05:41 | and choose Edit Full.
| | 05:43 | That opens all four of the images that
were in the Project Bin into document
| | 05:47 | tabs here in the full edit workspace,
and I'll explain more about document tabs
| | 05:52 | in this workspace in a later movie.
| | 05:54 | But for now, I'd like you to take a look
at the layers panel that shows the two
| | 05:58 | layers that now make up teeth.jpg. The
photo is on the background layer, but
| | 06:02 | there is another layer
here called pearly whites.
| | 06:05 | This is an Adjustment Type layer
that was made by the Whiten Teeth tool.
| | 06:09 | I'll explain all about Adjustment
layers later in the course, but for now I
| | 06:12 | want to show you that you can fine-tune or
customize this adjustment layer here in Full Edit mode.
| | 06:17 | For example, let's say that I want
the girl's teeth to be a little whiter
| | 06:21 | than they currently are.
| | 06:22 | Let me zoom in first, so that you can see
that better by pressing Command+Plus on my keyboard.
| | 06:27 | I'll select the pearly whites adjustment layer.
| | 06:29 | Take a look at the Opacity field
at the top of the layers panel.
| | 06:33 | You'll notice that the Whiten Teeth
tool set that to only 50% opacity.
| | 06:37 | I can increase the opacity by moving my
mouse under the Opacity label, until I
| | 06:42 | see this double pointed finger
icon and then scrubbing to the right.
| | 06:46 | And as I do the girls teeth get brighter,
and if I think I've gone a little bit
| | 06:50 | too far, I can move my mouse over the
Opacity label and drag a little bit to the
| | 06:54 | left, until I like the result.
| | 06:57 | Now not all of the Touch Up
tools can be customized in this way.
| | 07:01 | So for example, if I reopen the blue
cloak.jpg by double-clicking it in the
| | 07:05 | project bar, notice in the layers panel
that there is a high contrast red filter
| | 07:10 | layer, and that was created by the high
contrast black and white tool in Quick
| | 07:15 | Fix, but notice that there is a symbol
on this layer indicating that this is a
| | 07:19 | non-editable adjustment.
| | 07:21 | So I cannot make any changes to this
adjustment layer as I could do to the
| | 07:25 | adjustment layer made by the Whiten
Teeth tool, or the adjustment layer that's
| | 07:29 | made by the blue skies tool.
| | 07:31 | So that's a quick look at the Touch
Up tools that you'll find an Element's
| | 07:35 | Quick Fix Workspace.
| | 07:36 | These tools can come in really handy
when you need to make one of the specific
| | 07:40 | adjustments to a photo that they allow.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Fixing group shots in Guided Edit | 00:00 | In the preceding movies in this chapter,
I covered the Quick Edit Workspace.
| | 00:04 | Another workspace where you can make
automatic or semi automatic changes to
| | 00:08 | your images is the Guided Edit Workspace,
the second of Elements 3 Editing Workspaces.
| | 00:14 | I have a couple of images open here
in the Default Workspace, the Full Edit
| | 00:18 | Workspace, and I'm going to switch
them over to Guided Edit, by clicking the
| | 00:21 | arrow to the right of this
orange tab, and choosing Edit Guided.
| | 00:26 | Alternatively, I could have come to
the Guided Edit Workspace, and then opened
| | 00:30 | images directly here by clicking the
Launch Bridge icon, and opening images from
| | 00:35 | there directly into the Guided Edit Workspace.
| | 00:38 | Down in the Project Bin you can see
the two photos that I have opened.
| | 00:41 | They are both photos of the three
guys at lynda.com Kirk, Nick and Jacob.
| | 00:46 | So there is one shot of the three of them.
| | 00:49 | And I'll double-click on the other
thumbnail down here in the project bin to
| | 00:53 | see the other shot.
| | 00:54 | You can see that in this shot, Kirk
and Nick look pretty good, but Jacob is
| | 00:58 | looking off to the side.
| | 01:00 | In the second shot, which I'll double-
click, Nick and Jacob are looking at the
| | 01:04 | camera, but Kirk is looking off to the side.
| | 01:06 | This is really typical when you
photograph a group of friends or family.
| | 01:09 | It's almost inevitable that at least one
person in the group won't look his best.
| | 01:13 | Someone will be looking the wrong way,
or making a face, or closing his eyes.
| | 01:17 | So when you do take group shots, I
urge you to take more than one shot of the
| | 01:21 | same group, and then if you do have
problems like that, you can automatically
| | 01:26 | put those shots together to get just
the best parts of each, using one of the
| | 01:30 | guided edit techniques here in Elements.
| | 01:33 | I'm going to show you this guided edit
technique as an example of how to use
| | 01:37 | guided edit in general.
| | 01:38 | Over on the right side of the
Guided Edit Workspace is the Guided Edit
| | 01:42 | panel, and here is a categorized
list of specific techniques that you can
| | 01:46 | accomplish using Guided Edit.
| | 01:48 | Cropping a photo, Recomposing a photo,
Rotating or Straightening a photo, some
| | 01:54 | Lightening Techniques, some Color
Correction Techniques, and so on.
| | 01:57 | I would like to apply the Group Shot
Technique, here in the Photo Merge Category.
| | 02:02 | If your photo merge category isn't
expanded like this, click the orange arrow to
| | 02:06 | the left of photo merge.
| | 02:08 | Before I click on group shot here, I am
going to go down to the project bin, and
| | 02:12 | I am going to make sure that I
have both of these thumbnails selected.
| | 02:15 | I already have one thumbnail selected, as
you can see from the blue border around it.
| | 02:20 | I am going to hold down the Command
key, and I'm going to click once on the
| | 02:23 | other thumbnail, so that
that one is selected too.
| | 02:26 | And now I'm going to go over and click
on Group Shot in the Guided Edit panel.
| | 02:33 | That changes that panel on the right
to offer information about this specific
| | 02:38 | technique using the photo merge
functionality in Elements, to create the perfect
| | 02:42 | group shot from multiple photos.
| | 02:44 | And as in most of the guided edit
techniques, there are specific instructions
| | 02:49 | here about how to do that, as well as a
couple of controls that you can use to
| | 02:53 | accomplish this technique.
| | 02:55 | Here in the document window there are now
two areas, the Source Area and the Final Area.
| | 03:00 | The Final Area is where you are going
to put the image that will become the
| | 03:03 | basis of the Final Group Shot.
| | 03:05 | So what I am going to do first is look
at the two images again, and choose the
| | 03:09 | one that I like the best.
| | 03:11 | Right now the Group 1 shot is
showing here in the Source Window.
| | 03:14 | I'm going to click on the Group 2 shot, and
that one now appears in the Source Window.
| | 03:18 | I like the first photo best.
| | 03:20 | So I'm going to click on the thumbnail
for the first photo in the Project Bin,
| | 03:24 | and hold my mouse down and drag that
photo up into the Final Area on the right
| | 03:30 | side of the document window.
| | 03:31 | And I have the second photo
up here in the Source Area.
| | 03:35 | If I were adding yet another photo to
this group and that's the one I wanted in
| | 03:39 | the Source Area, I would just click
on its thumbnail once down here in the
| | 03:42 | Project Bin, and it would
appear in the Source Area.
| | 03:45 | In order to take the best of these two
photos, I'd like to leave Kirk and Nick
| | 03:50 | as they are in the final photo, but
replace this image of Jacob looking off to
| | 03:54 | the side, with this image of
Jacob looking straight at the camera.
| | 03:58 | To do that, as the instructions over
here on the right say, I'm going to
| | 04:02 | select the Pencil tool.
| | 04:03 | Then I am going to go over to the
Source Image, and I'm going to click-and-drag
| | 04:07 | the Pencil tool, down the length of Jacob.
| | 04:12 | In just a moment the program has
automatically taken the image of Jacob that I
| | 04:16 | identified with the pencil tool, and
used it to replace the image of Jacob
| | 04:20 | over in the Final Image.
| | 04:22 | If you remember Jacob was looking out
of the photo in the original final, and
| | 04:25 | now he's looking directly at the photo.
| | 04:27 | It almost seems like magic, doesn't it?
| | 04:29 | But I have to admit that this doesn't
always work as perfectly with every pair
| | 04:33 | of images, as it does in this particular
example, particularly if the content of
| | 04:38 | the multiple photos is difficult to align.
| | 04:40 | If you have difficulty with your own photos,
there are couple of things you can try.
| | 04:44 | You can go to the Guided Edit
Instructions and select the Eraser tool, and then
| | 04:49 | you can erase part or all of the line
that you drew with the Pencil tool, and
| | 04:54 | that will change the results.
| | 04:56 | I actually don't like the result of
that in this case, so I am going to go
| | 04:59 | back and select the Pencil tool again, and again,
scribble over the rest of Jacob's body here.
| | 05:06 | And that puts things right in the final image.
| | 05:08 | If you want to see the source image
without the yellow stroke, you can
| | 05:12 | uncheck Show Strokes.
| | 05:14 | If you'd like to see the area that's
being copied, you can click Show Regions.
| | 05:18 | And here in the Final you can see
which parts have been copied over.
| | 05:23 | I'll uncheck that for now, and if you're
having a lot of trouble getting this to
| | 05:26 | work for you, click the arrow to the
left of Advanced Options, and use the
| | 05:31 | Alignment tool, as instructed here, to
try to get better alignment between the
| | 05:35 | photos that you're trying to put together.
| | 05:37 | I like the result that I got here.
| | 05:39 | So I'm going to click Done at the
bottom of the Photo Merge Column, and
| | 05:43 | that creates a new image, which is a
combination of my first image and my second image.
| | 05:49 | And you can see there's now this third
thumbnail down here in the Project Bin.
| | 05:53 | I still need to save this composite
image, so I'll click the Close button up
| | 05:57 | here, and Elements asks if I want to save this?
| | 06:00 | I'll click the Save button, and I'll go
through the Save As dialog box, saving
| | 06:04 | it with a different name
or in a different location.
| | 06:07 | This clever Group Shots feature can
really come in handy whenever you trying to
| | 06:10 | make a photo of a group of people.
| | 06:12 | Just remember to take more than one
photo, so that you have the opportunity
| | 06:16 | to take the best out of multiple
photos, when you're processing them
| | 06:19 | together, using the Group Shot
Technique that you'll find here in the Guided
| | 06:23 | Edit Workspace.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Merging multiple exposures in Guided Edit| 00:00 | Sometimes the range of light in a
scene is so wide that your camera
| | 00:04 | can't capture it all.
| | 00:06 | One example is the when you are
shooting at night and your camera has
| | 00:09 | trouble registering bright lights,
like these in the background, and dim
| | 00:13 | lighting on a subject's face.
| | 00:15 | One solution to that problem is to
take two or more shots of the same pose
| | 00:19 | without flash like this
and with flash like this.
| | 00:23 | Or if you are shooting a contrasty
scene in the daytime, take multiple shots of
| | 00:27 | the same scene at
different exposures in your camera.
| | 00:30 | Once you have got more than one
photo of the same scene, you can use the
| | 00:34 | Photomerge Exposure feature in
Element's Guided Edit workspace to blend the
| | 00:38 | multiple photos together into one well
lit image and that's what I am going to
| | 00:42 | show you how to do in this movie.
| | 00:44 | Here in Bridge, I am going to select
these two photos by clicking on one holding
| | 00:48 | the Command key and clicking on the
other and then I am going to open them into
| | 00:53 | Elements by double-clicking either one
and both photos are now open down here in
| | 00:57 | the Project Bin in the
default Full Edit workspace.
| | 01:01 | I am going to switch them over to the
Guided Edit workspace by clicking this
| | 01:05 | arrow on the right of the orange tab
and I am going to choose Edit Guided.
| | 01:11 | Here in the Guided Edit workspace I
am going to scroll down the Photomerge
| | 01:15 | category in the panel on the right
and I am going to choose Exposure.
| | 01:21 | Now both of these photos are open
here in the Guided Edit workspace and you
| | 01:25 | can see that, because they are both
represented by thumbnails down here in the Project Bin.
| | 01:30 | In the right are instructions about the
Photomerge Exposure feature along with
| | 01:35 | some controls for performing the technique.
| | 01:37 | There are two Photomerge Exposure
workflows, one Automatic and one Manual.
| | 01:42 | The Manual one is selected by default
here so I will show you that one first.
| | 01:46 | The first step is to decide which
photo you want to use for the foreground
| | 01:50 | elements and I like the one that
Elements chose for me which is the flash image
| | 01:55 | of the model and then I need to
select an image for the background.
| | 01:58 | Well, I only have one other
so I am going to use that one.
| | 02:02 | To set an image as the background image
I will click and hold on its thumbnail
| | 02:06 | in the Project Bin and drag up to the
background area and release my mouse.
| | 02:10 | Next, I am going to identify which parts
of the foreground image I want to blend
| | 02:14 | into the background image.
| | 02:16 | To identify those portions of the
foreground image I am going to use the
| | 02:20 | Selection tool from over here in
the Manual tab of Photomerge Exposure.
| | 02:25 | So I will make sure that that tool is selected.
| | 02:27 | It's a little hard to see that its
icon is darker that means that this tool
| | 02:31 | is the selected one.
| | 02:33 | And then I'll come into the foreground
image and I am just going to scribble
| | 02:37 | over the parts of the foreground
image that I want Elements to include in
| | 02:41 | the background image, and keep your eye on
the background image as I release my mouse.
| | 02:46 | In just a second the portions of the
foreground image that I just scribbled over
| | 02:50 | are over here in the background image.
| | 02:53 | To get a better sense of exactly what
was brought in, I will go back over to the
| | 02:56 | instructions on the right and I
am going to check Show Regions.
| | 03:00 | The non-yellow parts of the background
image are the parts that were brought in
| | 03:04 | from the foreground image.
| | 03:06 | You can see that I have brought in
more than I need to around the model's
| | 03:08 | head and that's causing the edge of the model
to be a little jagged against the background.
| | 03:13 | I can fine-tune this result by using the
Eraser tool from here in the Photomerge
| | 03:18 | Exposure instructions.
| | 03:20 | So I will click on the Eraser tool
icon and then I will go back to the
| | 03:23 | foreground image and I am going to
erase some of the scribbles that went over
| | 03:27 | the edge there and there and right
away you can see the result over here in
| | 03:32 | the background image.
| | 03:34 | And if I needed to, I could go back
and forth between the Selection tool and
| | 03:37 | the Eraser tool as many times as I like,
fine-tuning what I am bringing in from
| | 03:41 | one image to the other.
| | 03:43 | But I am going to leave it as is for now.
| | 03:45 | I am also going to uncheck Show Regions,
so I can see the result more clearly.
| | 03:50 | One thing I can see is that the edge of
the girl's sweater is a little bit jaggedy.
| | 03:54 | So I am going to go over to the
instructions and I am going to check Edge
| | 03:57 | Blending and as the tooltip says,
this will smooth the blended edges of the
| | 04:03 | foreground and background elements.
| | 04:05 | I can do further fine-tuning of the
blend by using this Transparency slider.
| | 04:09 | As I move this slider to the right, I
am bringing in more of the background
| | 04:14 | image and fading out the foreground
image and as I go back over to the left, I
| | 04:19 | am using more of the foreground image.
| | 04:21 | And has a move that slider I can see an
automatic preview of the result here in
| | 04:25 | the background document.
| | 04:26 | I am going to scroll down on the right
so you can see that there are also some
| | 04:31 | Advanced Options here.
| | 04:32 | If yours aren't showing, you can click
the arrow to the left of Advanced Option.
| | 04:36 | To get a good blend between photos you
want the content of the photos to be aligned.
| | 04:41 | In this case the photos align
themselves pretty well one to the other, but if
| | 04:44 | you ever have problems lining up
photos that you are using with this
| | 04:47 | technique, you can set markers on the
photos using this Alignment tool and
| | 04:53 | following the instructions here to try
to align the photos to one another so
| | 04:57 | that they blend better.
| | 04:58 | Now when I am all done in the Manual
section of Photomerge, notice there is also
| | 05:02 | a Reset button down here.
| | 05:04 | If I wanted to start all over, I could
click Reset and that would take me back
| | 05:08 | to the original
foreground and background images.
| | 05:10 | On the other hand if I like the
result that I have, I can click Done.
| | 05:14 | But I am not going to do that right now
because I want to show you the other
| | 05:18 | workflow, the Automatic
workflow in Photomerge Exposure.
| | 05:21 | So I am going to move to the
scrollbar and scroll up to the top of the
| | 05:25 | instructions and I am going
to click on the Automatic tab.
| | 05:28 | As soon as I click the Automatic tab
with both of the thumbnail selected down
| | 05:33 | here in the Project Bin, Elements
attempts to blend them together into a final
| | 05:37 | image and that's really all I
have to do with the Automatic method.
| | 05:42 | Except if I want to, I can fine-tune the result.
| | 05:45 | Notice that there are two radio buttons
here, Simple Blending and Smart Blending.
| | 05:49 | By default, Smart Blending is selected
and when it is, I get a chance to adjust
| | 05:55 | the Highlight Details
and the Shadows separately.
| | 05:57 | So for example, if I take this Shadow
slider and I drag slightly to the left, I
| | 06:09 | have darkened shadows.
| | 06:10 | And if I drag the Highlight slider
slightly to the right, I will darken the
| | 06:14 | highlights and that causes the model
to look a little less over flashed.
| | 06:18 | Then there is also a Saturation slider.
| | 06:20 | Saturation refers to the intensity of
color particularly in the mid-tones.
| | 06:25 | If I drag the Saturation slider
to the left, I will desaturate.
| | 06:29 | If I drag to the right, I
will saturate the color.
| | 06:33 | I think I need to be somewhere in between there.
| | 06:35 | Now for some reason I didn't want to
have these options, I wanted everything to
| | 06:40 | be done completely automatically I could
choose the Simple Blending radio button
| | 06:44 | instead, but in this case it really
doesn't give me as good a result as I can
| | 06:47 | get with Smart Blending.
| | 06:49 | So I am going to go back to Smart Blending.
| | 06:51 | I like this result so I am going to go
down to the Done button and click there.
| | 06:58 | And now Elements has
created a blended image for me.
| | 07:01 | I can see there is now a third
thumbnail down here in the Project Bin
| | 07:04 | representing that blended image.
| | 07:07 | At this point I would click the Close
button and I would save the blended image.
| | 07:11 | So the next time you are in a situation
with a wide range of light, try shooting
| | 07:15 | multiple exposures with different
lighting and then blending them together using
| | 07:19 | Photomerge Exposure here
in a Guided Edit workspace.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Applying the Scene Cleaner in Guided Edit| 00:00 | If you have ever had people walk
through a scene that you are trying to
| | 00:02 | photograph, you know how
frustrating that can be.
| | 00:05 | But even if you can't get one clean
shot of your subject without passersby in
| | 00:09 | it, if you do take multiple shots of
the same scene from the same position, you
| | 00:14 | can then use the amazing Scene Cleaner
feature in Elements Guided Edit workspace
| | 00:19 | to create one blended image from those
multiple photos in which the passersby, or
| | 00:25 | any other moving elements, can be eliminated.
| | 00:28 | I have gone ahead and opened four
images of the same scene, each with different
| | 00:32 | people walking through it and I have
opened those into Elements Guided Edit
| | 00:36 | workspace as I have showed you
how to do in previous movies.
| | 00:39 | I am going to go down to the Project
Bin at the bottom of the Guided Edit
| | 00:43 | workspace and I am going to click on
the first photo thumbnail and then hold
| | 00:46 | down the Shift key and click on
the last photo thumbnail so all four
| | 00:50 | thumbnails are selected.
| | 00:52 | Then I am going to go over to the Guided
Edit panel on the right and down to the
| | 00:56 | Photomerge category where I am going
to click on the Scene Cleaner technique.
| | 01:03 | Over on the right there are now some
written instructions as to how to use the
| | 01:07 | Scene Cleaner and some tools
for performing the technique.
| | 01:11 | There are two windows here, the
Source window and the Final window.
| | 01:15 | The first image, the one with the blue
border around it, is currently showing
| | 01:18 | here in the Source window.
| | 01:19 | I am just going to cycle through all
four thumbnails, so you can see that each
| | 01:23 | of the photos of this scene has
different people walking through it.
| | 01:26 | So there is the first image,
the one with the blue border.
| | 01:30 | Here's the image with the yellow border,
the green border and the red border.
| | 01:35 | First, I am going to identify which
of these four images I want to use as
| | 01:39 | the base image or the final image into
which I am going to blend parts of the others.
| | 01:44 | I am going to use the second image, the one
with the yellow border around it, as my final.
| | 01:48 | So in the Project Bin I will click and
hold on the thumbnail with the yellow
| | 01:52 | border and drag it up into the Final
document area and release my mouse.
| | 01:57 | Now I want to set up which image I am
going to use as my first source image.
| | 02:01 | I am going to use this first one,
the one with the blue border.
| | 02:04 | So to make that the source image I
will just click one time on that thumbnail
| | 02:09 | in the Project Bin.
| | 02:10 | And as you can see there is a blue
border around the source image identifying
| | 02:14 | that first thumbnail as
the current source image.
| | 02:16 | So I'm working on the final image and
the first thing I am going to do is try to
| | 02:20 | remove this fellow, Jacob, from the final image.
| | 02:23 | I will go over to the instructions and make
sure that I have the Pencil tool selected.
| | 02:28 | Then I am going to go into the final
image and I am just going to scribble over
| | 02:32 | Jacob, and automatically Jacob is
eliminated from the final image.
| | 02:39 | To see that better I will go over to
the Photomerge instructions and uncheck
| | 02:42 | Show Strokes and now it's clear that Jacob
has been eliminated from the final image.
| | 02:48 | What has really happened is that when
I made that stroke in that area of the
| | 02:52 | final image, Elements took
corresponding pixels from the source image and
| | 02:56 | blended them into the final image over here.
| | 02:59 | And if I check Show Regions, you can
see exactly which areas it took from the
| | 03:04 | source image and put into the final image.
| | 03:06 | This area here that's not yellow.
| | 03:09 | So I am going to uncheck Show Regions
and I am going to check Show Strokes
| | 03:13 | again and I am going to go on to try to
eliminate this fellow who is walking out of the scene.
| | 03:18 | Again, with the Pencil tool selected I
am going to click and drag it over this
| | 03:22 | fellow and then I am going to move my
mouse out of the final window so that
| | 03:27 | you can see that the fellow who was
walking out of the scene is now eliminated
| | 03:31 | from the scene, because Elements has
come in and taken this area of the source
| | 03:36 | photo and blended it over the fellow who was
walking out of the scene in the final image.
| | 03:41 | However, at the same time, Elements
brought in someone new, this fellow in the
| | 03:46 | red shirt, Dave, and the reason is that
this line over here is too close to Dave.
| | 03:52 | So if I turn on Show Regions you
can see that it brought in the region
| | 03:55 | that includes Dave.
| | 03:57 | How can I fix that?
| | 03:58 | I can use the Eraser tool.
| | 04:00 | I will like select the Eraser tool and
then I will move over the final image
| | 04:03 | again and I am going to erase the
blue line over here on the right and that
| | 04:09 | brings back the fellow who was walking
out of the scene, but it eliminates Dave,
| | 04:13 | the fellow in the red
shirt from the final scene.
| | 04:15 | Well how am I going to get the result that I
want which is a final image with nobody in it?
| | 04:20 | To do that, I am going to
use yet another source image.
| | 04:23 | This time I will go down to the
Project Bin and I am going to click on the
| | 04:26 | source image with the green border and
now I am going to go back and get the
| | 04:30 | Pencil tool and I am going to click
and drag over the fellow who is walking
| | 04:34 | out of the scene just as they did
before and that does eliminate him from the
| | 04:38 | scene and it doesn't bring in anyone
else, because in the source image with
| | 04:42 | the green border there isn't anyone else near
the area where I have drawn this green stroke.
| | 04:48 | So I now have the result
that I wanted at the beginning.
| | 04:50 | I have an image that's free of all
people walking through it, which is a blend of
| | 04:55 | the first three
thumbnails here in the Project Bin.
| | 04:58 | But now let's say I change my mind
and I decide I do want to have somebody
| | 05:02 | in the final image.
| | 05:03 | I am going to bring in someone who
is in this last source image, the one
| | 05:07 | with the red border.
| | 05:08 | So I will click the thumbnail with the
red border and in this image I want to
| | 05:12 | bring in the woman who is
walking through the door here, Kelly.
| | 05:16 | So I will make sure I have the Pencil
tool selected in the instructions and then
| | 05:20 | I will come into this source image
and I will click and drag over Kelly.
| | 05:24 | And right away she appears
over here in the final image.
| | 05:27 | I will move by mouse out of the
final image so you can see her walking
| | 05:30 | through the doorway there.
| | 05:31 | So I think this feature is really amazing.
| | 05:33 | If you have taken more than one shot
and you have stayed in approximately the
| | 05:37 | same place when you made all your
shots, Elements can help you to blend all
| | 05:41 | those images together to get the
content that you want in your final.
| | 05:44 | I am going to scroll down on the right
side of Photomerge to show you that there
| | 05:49 | are some Advanced Options here.
| | 05:51 | If I click the arrow to the left of
Advanced Options, there is an Alignment tool
| | 05:55 | that you can use if you are having
trouble aligning your images, so that the
| | 05:59 | content blends well.
| | 06:00 | But in this case I didn't have any
trouble so I don't need to use Advanced Options.
| | 06:04 | Notice there is also a Reset button
down here, so if I don't like my final
| | 06:08 | result I can always click Reset to go
back to my original images and try again.
| | 06:12 | If I am satisfied with the final, I will
click Done and Elements creates another
| | 06:18 | image, represented by this new fifth
thumbnail down in the Project Bin, and here
| | 06:23 | is a preview of the
final here in the After view.
| | 06:26 | At this point I will click the Close
button and I would save this final image.
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| Running Automated Actions in Guided Edit | 00:00 | The Action Player is a
unique feature in Guided Edit.
| | 00:03 | The action player will playback a
series of recorded actions on an open image,
| | 00:07 | saving you the time and effort of
repeating the steps every time that you want
| | 00:12 | to apply the same technique.
| | 00:13 | Although you can't record an action in
Elements, you can make your own action in
| | 00:18 | Photoshop proper, and than apply it to
images here in Elements, or you can apply
| | 00:22 | one of the several interesting
actions that come with Elements 8.0.
| | 00:25 | Let me show you how simple it
is to run an action on an image.
| | 00:29 | With this photograph open in the
Guided Edit Workspace, I'm going to go over
| | 00:33 | to the Guided Edit panel on the right, and
go down to the Automated Actions Category.
| | 00:38 | There I'm going to click on Action
Player, and that brings up instructions for
| | 00:42 | how to use the action
player along with several menus.
| | 00:45 | The first venue is actually a
menu of Action Sets or Categories.
| | 00:49 | There are several different
caption configurations that you can
| | 00:52 | automatically add to photos.
| | 00:54 | There are some fun
features in the lose weight set.
| | 00:56 | There are a number of different
resizing and cropping options, and there are
| | 01:00 | some special effects, which is
the category I'm going to select.
| | 01:03 | And next sets the second menu to show
the various special effects that come with
| | 01:08 | the Action Player in Elements 8.0.
| | 01:09 | I am going to choose the
second one, Faded Ink with Vignette.
| | 01:13 | To run the action on this photo, all
I have to do is click the Play Action
| | 01:17 | button, and in just a few seconds, Elements
has applied this complex effect to the photo.
| | 01:23 | I think it looks pretty interesting.
| | 01:25 | but if I didn't like the result, I could
come down to the reset button and click
| | 01:29 | it, although I am not going to do that.
| | 01:31 | Take a look at this tip, what it's
saying is that I could add more actions
| | 01:35 | to this action player, but unfortunately I
can't record or create those here in Elements.
| | 01:40 | If I want to make an action, I would
have to have access to Photoshop proper.
| | 01:44 | Now before I accept the results of
running this action, I may want to compare
| | 01:48 | to the original photo.
| | 01:49 | The Before and After button is down here
at the bottom of the Guided Edit panel.
| | 01:53 | I am going to click this arrow icon.
| | 01:55 | And that shows me a Before and
an After version of the image.
| | 01:59 | And if I like the result, I'll
click Done, and then I'll go up to the
| | 02:03 | Close button where I'll Close and
Save an additional copy of the image
| | 02:07 | with this special effect.
| | 02:09 | So why are Actions important?
| | 02:11 | Because they save you time, rather than
repeat all the steps of performing this
| | 02:15 | complex action on different photos,
all I would have to do is open various
| | 02:20 | images in the Action Player, and use
the few simple commands in the Guided Edit
| | 02:25 | panel to get a result like this one.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
6. The Full Edit interfaceTouring the Full Edit workspace| 00:01 | Elements Full Edit workspace is the full
-featured editing workspace that's the
| | 00:05 | heart of Elements and the area in
which you'll ultimately do the bulk of your
| | 00:08 | work in Elements 8 for Mac.
| | 00:11 | In this and the following chapters, I'll
be covering the Full Edit workspace in
| | 00:15 | detail, but first I would like to
familiarize you with the interface of this
| | 00:19 | workspace, which has
changed in Elements 8 for Mac.
| | 00:22 | The new user interface in Photoshop
Elements takes many of its features from its
| | 00:27 | big brother, Adobe Photoshop CS4.
| | 00:30 | The Full Edit workspace is composed
of just a few different kinds of items.
| | 00:34 | I'll be covering much of the following
in more depth in other movies, but for
| | 00:38 | now an overview of that interface.
| | 00:40 | On the left here is the toolbar, which
contains the tools that you'll use to edit your images.
| | 00:46 | Above that is the tool Options bar
that contains all the options for whatever
| | 00:51 | tool happens to be selected
in the toolbar at the moment.
| | 00:54 | One of the new interface Elements is
this bar here, the application bar.
| | 00:59 | It contains shortcuts to commonly
used controls like the Save command, the
| | 01:05 | Help content, a shortcut for launching
Bridge, and for creating a new document
| | 01:10 | from scratch as well as the new
Arrange Documents window that you'll use when
| | 01:14 | you want to see multiple open documents at
once and I'll cover that in another movie.
| | 01:19 | At the very top is the traditional
menu bar with dropdown menus of commands.
| | 01:24 | On the right of the screen are that
panels like the Effects panel here, and the
| | 01:28 | layers panel down here.
| | 01:30 | The panels are full of commands for
working with images and I'll be covering
| | 01:33 | those in more detail later in this chapter too.
| | 01:36 | This is the document window, a
window that displays an open document.
| | 01:41 | By default document windows are free-
floating, but in Elements 8 the document
| | 01:46 | windows can be docked into non-free-
floating tabs another thing that I'll cover
| | 01:50 | in another movie in this chapter.
| | 01:52 | At the top of each document window you'll
find information about the opened document.
| | 01:56 | The name of the file, the current zoom
level, the color mode, in most cases RGB,
| | 02:03 | and the bit depth, which means the
amount of color information in the file, in
| | 02:06 | most cases this will be 8 bit,
but in some cases it may be 16 bit.
| | 02:12 | I can stretch the document window out
from the bottom-right corner by clicking
| | 02:15 | and dragging, and this gray area that
you see is not part of the photo. It's just
| | 02:20 | the background of the document window.
| | 02:22 | When I do that, down here I can find
information about the document, and I can
| | 02:27 | switch the information that's showing here.
| | 02:29 | Right now, my document window is showing
the color profile of this document, but
| | 02:33 | if I click this arrow here, I can
choose instead to see the document sizes, in
| | 02:39 | other words the amount of space that
the file will take up on my hard drive
| | 02:42 | with and without layers, I can click
that arrow again, and I could see the
| | 02:47 | document dimensions,
| | 02:49 | in this case, the width and height
in inches and the resolution, and I'll
| | 02:53 | be talking about the important
topics of resizing and resolution in a
| | 02:57 | separate movie later.
| | 02:59 | Another new interface element is the
Application Frame, which makes Elements 8
| | 03:03 | for Mac behave more like Elements for Windows.
| | 03:07 | When the Application Frame is enabled,
as it is by default, the area here behind
| | 03:12 | the document windows is solid gray
and that obscures my desktop or any
| | 03:17 | applications I may have open in
addition to Elements and it keeps me from
| | 03:22 | inadvertently clicking out of Elements
by clicking in this area, which has been
| | 03:26 | a problem in the past,
particularly for beginning users.
| | 03:29 | With the application frame enabled, I
can move the entire Elements interface as
| | 03:34 | one unit by clicking and holding on
this title bar up here and dragging.
| | 03:41 | I can also resize the entire interface
as a unit by moving my mouse over any one
| | 03:46 | of the borders like the left border
over here and dragging, and this would come
| | 03:52 | in handy if I wanted to see another
program that I had open behind Elements.
| | 03:57 | To make Elements take up my full screen
again, I'm going to go up to the green
| | 04:00 | button at the top left of the
interface and click to maximize.
| | 04:04 | Now if you don't like having the
Application Frame on because you're an old Mac
| | 04:08 | user and you're not used to it, you can
always disable the Application Frame by
| | 04:11 | going to the Window menu and
choosing Application Frame.
| | 04:16 | With the Application Frame disabled, I
do run the risk of clicking inadvertently
| | 04:20 | outside of the document window like
this and that takes me back to my desktop.
| | 04:24 | If that does happen to you, just click
back anywhere in the document window to
| | 04:28 | bring Elements back.
| | 04:29 | So that's one of the reasons that I
recommend leaving the Application Frame on,
| | 04:33 | and I'm going to do that for the rest
of this course, going up the Window menu
| | 04:37 | and choosing Application Frame.
| | 04:38 | Now before I end this tour of Elements
interface I want to address a question
| | 04:43 | that students often ask me.
| | 04:45 | Should I use Photoshop Elements
or should I use Photoshop proper?
| | 04:49 | My answer is that if you're a
professional photographer, a professional
| | 04:52 | designer, or someone else who makes
your living with photography or digital
| | 04:56 | imaging, then, yes, go ahead
and invest in Photoshop proper.
| | 05:01 | But if you're someone who just loves
photography or likes to do scrap booking
| | 05:05 | as a hobby or delights in posting
images online for friends and family to see,
| | 05:10 | then there is more than enough here in Elements
Full Edit Workspace to do the job that you need.
| | 05:15 | So what is the difference between
Elements for Mac, and Adobe Photoshop for Mac?
| | 05:20 | Well, Elements offers some more
discoverable features like the Quick Fix
| | 05:24 | workspace and the Guided Edit workspace
that I showed you earlier, and at least
| | 05:28 | theoretically, Element is
easier to learn and use.
| | 05:32 | On the other hand, the full-fledged
Photoshop offers some more advanced
| | 05:36 | features like CMYK color, access to
image channels, a direct way to apply
| | 05:42 | layer masks, and more.
| | 05:44 | But in most cases you're not going to need
those advanced features, if you are a hobbyist.
| | 05:49 | So in that case, Elements is great.
| | 05:52 | So that's an overview of the
Full Edit workspace in a nutshell.
| | 05:56 | The new interface that I have
showed you brings Elements into line with
| | 05:59 | the interface of other Adobe
applications and I think it makes it more
| | 06:03 | user-friendly.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Working with tabbed documents| 00:00 | When you open new documents into the
Full Edit workspace, each opens in a
| | 00:04 | separate free-floating window like you see here.
| | 00:07 | Some people like this because then you
can grab any of those document windows
| | 00:11 | by their title bar and drag and put
them anywhere on the screen like that.
| | 00:16 | The problem with the free-floating
windows is that if you have lots of documents
| | 00:19 | open, they tend to get
hidden one behind the other.
| | 00:23 | In Photoshop Elements 8, you can
solve this problem by using the new tabbed
| | 00:27 | document feature that's
modeled after Adobe Photoshop CS4.
| | 00:32 | To convert all three of these windows
into tabs in one window, I am going to
| | 00:36 | go up to the Application bar and I am
going to click on this Arrange Documents
| | 00:40 | icon, and I'm going to click on the arrow
to the right of the Arrange Documents icon.
| | 00:44 | And from this menu of various multiple
document layouts, I am going to select
| | 00:48 | the first one, Consolidate All, and
that puts all three documents into one
| | 00:53 | document window, each with a separate tab.
| | 00:56 | I can cycle through the documents by
clicking on the individual tabs, so there's
| | 01:00 | the blue hat photo, the green
hat photo, and the red hat photo.
| | 01:05 | Another way to cycle through tabbed
documents is to press a keyboard shortcut.
| | 01:09 | I am going to hold down the Ctrl key on
my keyboard and click the Tab key, and
| | 01:14 | that cycles through the documents in the
order in which I happen to have opened them.
| | 01:19 | Now if I want these documents to be
free-floating again, I'll go back to the
| | 01:23 | Arrange Documents icon in the
Application bar, click the arrow there, and I'm
| | 01:27 | going to choose Float All in Windows.
| | 01:30 | Another way to bring a floating
document into a tabbed document arrangement is
| | 01:34 | to click on its title bar and move it up
close to the top of the editing area or
| | 01:41 | toward the top of another document.
| | 01:43 | In both cases notice that there is now
a blue outline, and that outline means
| | 01:47 | that I am about to create a tabbed document.
| | 01:50 | So if I release here, the red hat is
now combined with the green hat in a
| | 01:55 | single document window.
| | 01:57 | If I take the title bar of that
combine document window, and move up towards
| | 02:01 | the top of the editing area, and release,
those documents now take over the editing area.
| | 02:06 | Well, what happened to the blue hat document?
| | 02:08 | If I want to get that one back, I can
go down to the Project Bin, which always
| | 02:12 | shows thumbnails of all open documents,
and I am going to going to double-click
| | 02:16 | on the blue hat document, which
was hiding behind the other images.
| | 02:20 | So that's one of the dangers of leaving
one document floating and the others tabbed.
| | 02:25 | If I want to bring the blue hat into
the tabbed arrangement, I'll click on its
| | 02:28 | title bar and move up toward the top of
the editing area until I see that blue
| | 02:33 | outline, and then I'll release my mouse.
| | 02:35 | Once I have all my documents in his
tabbed document arrangement, I can view them
| | 02:39 | one by one as I showed you.
| | 02:41 | But what if I want to see
more than one document at once?
| | 02:43 | For example, maybe I want to drag one
document into another to make a collage,
| | 02:48 | as I'll show you how to do in another movie.
| | 02:49 | Well, in that case I'll go up to
the Arrange Documents menu, and I can
| | 02:54 | choose any of these tiled document
layouts, and there are quite a few
| | 02:58 | different ones here.
| | 02:59 | I am just going to click on the second
one, Tile All in Grid, and now I can see
| | 03:03 | all of the open documents
each in a separate window.
| | 03:06 | It's actually pretty hard to see
them like this, so I am going to try a
| | 03:09 | different document arrangement.
| | 03:11 | Since these are all three vertical
documents, I'll go back to the Arrange
| | 03:14 | Documents window, and I'm going to
choose this 3 Up view and now I can see more
| | 03:19 | of each one of the documents.
| | 03:20 | I am going to take the Zoom tool from
the toolbar and I am going to go up to the
| | 03:24 | tool Options Bar and click the Zoom Out
icon, and then I'm going to zoom out on
| | 03:29 | one of the photos so that I can see
the whole thing in its document window.
| | 03:33 | If I wanted to see the other two photos
at the same magnification level, I can
| | 03:38 | do that by going to the Arrange
Document window and choosing Match Zoom.
| | 03:42 | So I think that these layouts are
pretty useful when you're comparing one shot
| | 03:46 | with another or when
you're trying to make a collage.
| | 03:49 | So now let's say that I want to
return all three tabbed documents into
| | 03:53 | one document window.
| | 03:55 | Again, I'll go up to the Arrange
Documents menu, click the arrow there, and I'll
| | 03:59 | choose Consolidate All.
| | 04:01 | Now how do I close documents that are tabbed?
| | 04:03 | I'll just go to the tabs and I'll
click the X on the right side of any tab to
| | 04:08 | close that document.
| | 04:09 | And if I want to close all the tabbed
documents, I can always go up to the File
| | 04:13 | menu and choose Close All.
| | 04:15 | I am a real fan of this
new Tabbed Document feature.
| | 04:19 | I think it's a great way to keep
your desktop organized and have all open
| | 04:23 | documents at your fingertips.
| | 04:24 | So give it a try and see what you think.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Arranging panels| 00:00 | The panels on the right side of the
screen contain many of the commands and
| | 00:04 | features that you'll use when you're
editing and building images in Elements'
| | 00:08 | Full Edit Workspace.
| | 00:09 | There are a lot more
panels than you see right here.
| | 00:12 | To see the full list of panels, I'll go
up to the Window menu at the top of the
| | 00:16 | screen and there they are listed alphabetically.
| | 00:19 | If I want to open another panel, say
the Histogram panel, which I often use when
| | 00:23 | I am editing a photo, I'll
just select it from this menu.
| | 00:27 | And that panel opens here in
the column of panels on the right.
| | 00:30 | I am going to open one more panel by
going up to the Window menu. I'll choose
| | 00:34 | the Adjustments panel because I want
to show you what happens if you get too
| | 00:37 | many panels open, so that they don't all fit.
| | 00:40 | Then some of the panels will collapse.
| | 00:42 | If I want to see one of these panels
in its full view, I'll double-click its
| | 00:46 | tab like the Layers panel here, and
that will expand the Layers panel and
| | 00:50 | collapse other panels.
| | 00:52 | By default, the panels are all in this
column on the right, but in Elements 8, I
| | 00:57 | can remove any panel from this
column so that the panel is free-floating.
| | 01:00 | I'll often do that with my Layers panel
because I use it so much and I like it
| | 01:04 | to be close to my document window.
| | 01:06 | I am going to click on the Tab for the
Layers panel and I am just going to drag
| | 01:10 | out and I can place it anywhere on my
screen and then I can click on its Title
| | 01:13 | bar and move it wherever I want it.
| | 01:16 | I can bring other panels out to
join with this free-floating panel.
| | 01:19 | So, for example, I'm going to double-
click the Histogram tab in the column on
| | 01:23 | the right to expand that panel and then
I'm going to click-and-drag on the tab
| | 01:27 | of the Histogram panel and move it up
underneath the Layers panel and when I see
| | 01:32 | that blue line, I'll release my mouse.
The blue line means that I'm going to be
| | 01:36 | docking the Histogram
panel with the Layers panel.
| | 01:39 | So that now if I click on the Title bar,
up here at the top of both panels, they
| | 01:44 | move around together.
| | 01:45 | If I want to undock the Histogram panel
from the Layers panel, I'll just click
| | 01:49 | on its tab and drag it away.
| | 01:52 | And now it's free-floating as well.
| | 01:53 | If I want to put a panel back into the
column on the right, I'll click on its
| | 01:57 | tab and I'll drag over to the column on
the right, in between two other panels
| | 02:02 | and when I see a blue line
like this, I'll release my mouse.
| | 02:05 | I can also join panels together into
a single panel group to save space.
| | 02:10 | Let's say I want to put the Layers
panel into a group with the Histogram panel.
| | 02:14 | I'll click on the Layers panel tab and
drag over on top of the Histogram panel.
| | 02:19 | Now this time I'm looking for a blue
border around the entire Histogram panel,
| | 02:23 | not just a line between panels.
| | 02:26 | When I see that blue border, I'll
release my mouse and I've now grouped the
| | 02:30 | Layers panel into a group
with the Histogram panel.
| | 02:32 | To bring either of the two panels to
the foreground, I'll just click on its tab
| | 02:36 | like this or like this.
| | 02:39 | Notice that every panel
group has a very small icon.
| | 02:42 | It's a little hard to see, but it looks like
a stack of lines with an arrow to the left.
| | 02:47 | I am going to click on that icon on
the right side of the layers in Histogram
| | 02:51 | panel group and because I have the
Layers panel open, what I see is a contextual
| | 02:55 | menu of commands that
relate just to the Layers panel.
| | 02:59 | So, if you're ever looking for a
command that relates to a particular panel, be
| | 03:02 | sure to click the panel
icon and look at this menu.
| | 03:07 | Among the commands in
this menu is a Close command.
| | 03:10 | If I select that command, the Layers
panel closes and notice that there's also a
| | 03:16 | Close Tab Group command and that would
have closed the entire group of panels,
| | 03:21 | the Layers panel and the Histogram panel.
| | 03:23 | Once I've closed a panel, I can always
bring it back by going up to the Window
| | 03:27 | menu and choosing that panel by
name, in this case, the Layers panel.
| | 03:31 | When I have customized my arrangement
of panels, I can always get them back to
| | 03:36 | the original default arrangement by
going up to the Reset panels button at the
| | 03:40 | top of the screen and clicking there.
| | 03:42 | Finally, take a look at the Project
Bin down at the bottom of the screen,
| | 03:45 | which is like a panel.
| | 03:47 | The Project Bin displays a
thumbnail for every image that's open in the
| | 03:51 | Full Edit Workspace.
| | 03:52 | Sometimes I have a really big image up
here and I'll need more room to edit it,
| | 03:56 | so I can collapse the Project Bin by
double-clicking its Tab like this and I can
| | 04:01 | bring it back by double-clicking that Tab again.
| | 04:04 | So that's a look at the new panel
behavior in Elements 8 for Mac, which is
| | 04:08 | now similar to the behavior panels
in Photoshop Proper and other Adobe
| | 04:12 | Creative Suite Applications.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Using tools| 00:00 | Elements packs lots of tools into its toolbar.
| | 00:03 | I think the best way to learn about
tools is to use them in context, as you
| | 00:07 | would do throughout this course.
| | 00:09 | So I am not going to go through the
tools in the toolbar with you here, but I do
| | 00:12 | want to tell you some things that will
help you to use tools more efficiently.
| | 00:16 | First, notice that the toolbar
is a single column on my screen.
| | 00:20 | That's what you will see if you reset
the panels to their defaults by clicking
| | 00:24 | the Reset Panels button up here on the right.
| | 00:27 | But, if you have a smaller screen that
can't display this long single column
| | 00:31 | of tools, you may want to make your
toolbar into a double column, and you can
| | 00:36 | do that by clicking the double-pointed arrow
at the top left of the toolbar, like this.
| | 00:40 | I am going to put mine back to
single column for now by clicking that
| | 00:43 | double-pointed arrow again.
| | 00:45 | Another thing about tools is that not
all the tools are visible at any one time
| | 00:50 | in the toolbar, because
there are just so many tools.
| | 00:53 | So when you see a tool that has a black
triangle on its bottom right, like all
| | 00:57 | of these tools, that means that there
are more tools behind that are related to
| | 01:02 | the tool that's in the slot.
| | 01:03 | So here, for example, is an
Eraser tool, with a black triangle.
| | 01:07 | If I click and hold on the Eraser tool,
I get this flyout menu that gives me
| | 01:11 | options to select other related tools,
like the Background Eraser tool or
| | 01:15 | the Magic Eraser tool.
| | 01:17 | If I hover over the Magic Eraser tool
and release my mouse, then the Magic
| | 01:21 | Eraser takes the place of
the Eraser tool in the toolbar.
| | 01:24 | Another thing to know about tools is
that you don't have to memorize the name or
| | 01:28 | location of any tool.
| | 01:30 | So here, for example, is a
tool that looks like a band-aid.
| | 01:33 | Let's say I don't know what that is.
| | 01:34 | All I have to do is move my mouse over
the tool and wait and a tooltip comes up.
| | 01:39 | That tells me not only the name of the tool,
but also the keyboard shortcut for the tool.
| | 01:44 | The most common way to access a tool
when you are first learning Elements is
| | 01:48 | to click on the tool here in the toolbar.
But as you get more experienced with
| | 01:52 | Elements, you will find it quicker to
access a tool by tapping its keyboard shortcut.
| | 01:57 | Tool shortcuts, as I said,
are listed in the tooltips.
| | 02:00 | So the Move tool, for example, is a
tool you will use a lot, and it makes sense
| | 02:05 | to memorize its shortcut.
| | 02:07 | If I hover over the Move tool here, I
see the shortcut is V. So I will move off
| | 02:12 | of the Move tool to show you that if I
press V on my keyboard, the Move tool is
| | 02:17 | now highlighted and ready
to be used on the image.
| | 02:21 | Another thing about the tools is that
every tool has options, and those options
| | 02:26 | appear here in the tool Options bar
whenever you select a particular tool.
| | 02:31 | Notice that the options in the Options
bar change as I choose different tools
| | 02:35 | here in the toolbar.
| | 02:36 | I am going to select the Crop tool, and
notice that it has some options to set
| | 02:42 | the Width and the Height of a Crop.
| | 02:44 | So let's say I type in that I want a
Width of 4 inches and a Height of 6 inches.
| | 02:51 | Now, let's say I crop an image and then
I go off and I am using some other tool,
| | 02:55 | like the Move tool, and later I come
back and I want to use the Crop tool again
| | 02:59 | on a different image.
| | 03:01 | If I select the Crop tool, notice that
those numbers that I typed into the Width
| | 03:05 | and Height field in the tool Options bar
are still there, and so that could trip
| | 03:09 | me up when I go to use
the Crop tool a second time.
| | 03:13 | I call these sticky settings, and
I showed you this because I want to
| | 03:16 | explain what I do whenever I sit down
to start a new project in Elements or
| | 03:21 | to launch the program again.
| | 03:22 | I will reset all the tools to their
default options and that will get rid of any
| | 03:27 | sticky settings like this.
| | 03:29 | The way to reset the tools to their
default options is, with any tool selected
| | 03:33 | in the toolbar, to go up to this tiny
arrow at the top left of the tool Options
| | 03:37 | bar, click there, and from the Contextual menu,
choose Reset All tools, and then click OK.
| | 03:45 | And now you can see that those sticky
settings for the Crop tool have gone away,
| | 03:49 | and in fact, the settings for all of the
tools have gone back to their defaults.
| | 03:54 | To show you one more thing about the
toolbox, I am going to put it back to
| | 03:57 | double column view and I am going to
move this document window over by clicking
| | 04:02 | and dragging on the Title bar.
| | 04:04 | I have done that so I can show you these
boxes here at the bottom of the toolbar.
| | 04:08 | These are the foreground color
box and the background color box.
| | 04:14 | Whatever color is showing in the
foreground color box is the color that will be
| | 04:18 | used by many of the tools.
| | 04:19 | For example, here is the Pencil
tool and behind it a Brush tool.
| | 04:26 | Both of those tools use whatever color
is showing in the foreground color box.
| | 04:31 | Here is a Gradient tool, and this
uses both the foreground color and the
| | 04:35 | background color, and there are
lots of other tools that use colors.
| | 04:40 | So you need to know how to
change the colors in these boxes.
| | 04:43 | There are several ways to change the
foreground color, which is the one that you
| | 04:46 | will use most often.
| | 04:47 | One way is to use the
Eyedropper tool right here.
| | 04:50 | I am going to select the Eyedropper
tool and then I am going to move into the
| | 04:53 | open image and I am going to click on a
color in the image and notice that that
| | 04:58 | color now appears here in
the foreground color box.
| | 05:01 | So if I were to now get the Brush tool
and then drag with the Brush tool, the
| | 05:06 | tool would paint with the green color
that's now in the foreground color box.
| | 05:11 | If I wanted to select a color for the
background color box, I would switch these
| | 05:15 | two boxes by clicking this double-
pointed arrow or pressing X on my keyboard,
| | 05:20 | and now, with the Eyedropper tool, I
will click on another color and that
| | 05:24 | becomes the foreground color and
the green is now the background color.
| | 05:27 | So now if I select the Brush tool and
drag, I will be painting with this orange
| | 05:34 | color, but the green is available to
me at any time by just clicking this
| | 05:38 | double-pointed arrow or
pressing X on my keyboard.
| | 05:42 | As I mentioned, if I use the Gradient
tool, I will be using both the green and
| | 05:46 | the orange at this point.
| | 05:48 | Another way to change the foreground
color is to use the Color Picker, and this
| | 05:52 | is actually a really common way.
| | 05:53 | I am going to click once in the
foreground color box and that opens this
| | 05:57 | Color Picker over here.
| | 05:58 | I will start by dragging the sliders on
this bar to the general hue that I want.
| | 06:04 | So let's say I am looking for a blue
color, I will move this slider up toward
| | 06:08 | the blues and then, in this large
area on the left, I will just click on
| | 06:12 | whatever shade of blue I want, and that
selected shade appears here in the new
| | 06:17 | area of this square.
| | 06:19 | If I click OK, that color blue becomes my
foreground color and I can use it here in my image.
| | 06:27 | Notice that there is a small circular
icon where I am painting with this tool.
| | 06:32 | That's called the Brush Tip.
| | 06:34 | The Brush tool isn't the only tool that
has a Brush Tip. Lots of the tools do.
| | 06:39 | Everything from the Eraser tool, to the
Clone Stamp tool, to the Healing Brush
| | 06:45 | tools, they all have Brush Tips.
| | 06:48 | So you need to know how to make the
Brush Tip bigger or smaller in the
| | 06:51 | most efficient way.
| | 06:52 | If I select a tool that has a Brush Tip,
say the Brush tool, and I look at the
| | 06:57 | Options bar, there's usually
a field here for Brush Size.
| | 07:02 | If I click the arrow on that field, I
can drag the slider to change the Brush
| | 07:06 | Size, but the problem is I don't
know what number to choose here.
| | 07:10 | It's just all a blind guess.
| | 07:13 | So I think a better way to change Brush
Size is to do it in the image using the
| | 07:17 | bracket keys on your keyboard.
| | 07:19 | I am going to click in a blank area of
the Options bar to close that slider and
| | 07:23 | move my mouse over the image.
| | 07:26 | Now, notice that I can see
the size of the Brush Tip now.
| | 07:29 | If I want that Brush Tip to be bigger, I
am going to press the Right Bracket key
| | 07:33 | on my keyboard a few times, and that key
by the way, is just to the right of the
| | 07:38 | P key and that makes the Brush Tip
bigger, and if I need a smaller Brush Tip, I
| | 07:43 | will press the Left Bracket key.
| | 07:46 | I can also change the softness of the edge
of this brush by holding down the Shift key.
| | 07:51 | Holding the Shift key and pressing
the Left Bracket key will make the brush
| | 07:55 | softer, although you won't see that
here in the Brush Tip icon, and holding the
| | 07:59 | Shift key and pressing the Right
Bracket key will make the brush harder.
| | 08:04 | So those are some productivity
enhancing tips for using tools in Elements.
| | 08:08 | I hope that you will find that they
save you time and effort as you apply tools
| | 08:12 | to your images in the full edit workspace.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Setting editing preferences| 00:00 | Elements' Preferences offer you ways that
you can customize your copy of Elements
| | 00:04 | to suit the way that you work.
| | 00:06 | In the Editor, I am going to go up
to Photoshop Elements and down to
| | 00:10 | Preferences, and then I am going
to choose General from this list of
| | 00:13 | categories of Preferences.
| | 00:15 | That opens the Preferences dialog box.
| | 00:18 | On the left I see the same categories
of Preferences, and as I select different
| | 00:22 | categories here, I will see
different Preferences over on the right.
| | 00:26 | There are lots of Preferences that you
could tweak in this dialog box, but I
| | 00:29 | recommend that if you are not sure
what all the consequences of changing a
| | 00:33 | particular Preference might be,
then leave it set to its default.
| | 00:37 | But I do want to tell you about a couple
of Preferences that you may want to change.
| | 00:40 | Here in General Preferences, if you
want Bridge to automatically launch when
| | 00:45 | you launch Elements, check
Automatically Launch Bridge here.
| | 00:49 | That way if you click the Bridge icon
at the top left of Elements, you won't
| | 00:53 | have to wait while Bridge launches.
| | 00:56 | There's also a Show Tool Tips
preference here that's checked by default, and
| | 01:00 | when its checked you do see
tooltips as you are working in Elements.
| | 01:03 | But as you become more familiar with
Elements, if the tooltip is popping up all
| | 01:07 | over the place or bothering you, then
you can come in here and uncheck Show
| | 01:11 | Tool Tips, like this.
| | 01:13 | Next I am going to go over to the left
column and click on the Display & Cursors
| | 01:17 | category of Preferences.
| | 01:19 | The Painting Cursors are cursors
like the Brush Tip for the Brush tool.
| | 01:24 | By default, the Painting Cursors are
set to show Normal Brush Tip, but that
| | 01:28 | doesn't give you a completely accurate
idea of the true size of a Brush Tip,
| | 01:32 | especially when you are
using a soft-edged brush.
| | 01:35 | So I suggest changing this to Full Size
Brush Tip instead, and also clicking in
| | 01:39 | the checkbox to the left of Show
Crosshair in Brush Tip, and here you can see a
| | 01:44 | preview of what your Brush
Tip is going to look like now.
| | 01:47 | Another item that you might want to
change, depending on what you are working
| | 01:49 | with is here in the Units & Rulers
category, which I am going to select now, and
| | 01:54 | that's the Rulers setting up here,
which by default is set to Inches.
| | 01:58 | That's great if you are creating
something for print, but if you are making
| | 02:01 | something that's going to be displayed
on a computer screen, like photos you are
| | 02:05 | going to display on a website, or a
blog, or an on-screen slideshow or
| | 02:09 | presentation, then you could come into
this setting and change it from Inches to
| | 02:14 | Pixels, so that the Rulers in the
document window display Pixels as the default
| | 02:19 | unit of measurement.
| | 02:20 | But don't worry, even if you do leave
this set to Inches, as I am going to do
| | 02:23 | now, you can change Rulers to Pixels
on the fly by coming into either of the
| | 02:27 | Rulers when they are displayed in a
document window, holding the Ctrl key and
| | 02:31 | clicking in the Ruler and then you will
get a contextual menu from which you can
| | 02:35 | choose Pixels or Inches temporarily.
| | 02:37 | Now, if you have made some changes to
your preferences and you decide that you
| | 02:40 | want to reset them all to their
defaults, you can always come in to this
| | 02:44 | Preferences dialog box and
click the Reset button here.
| | 02:47 | But I am not going to do that.
Instead, I am going to click OK to accept the
| | 02:50 | changes I just made.
| | 02:52 | Now you will notice that when I move my
mouse over any one of the tools, I don't
| | 02:56 | get the tooltip that used to come up
before I disabled the tooltip preference
| | 03:00 | in the Preferences dialog box.
| | 03:03 | So that's a brief look at how to
customize your copy of Elements
| | 03:06 | using Preferences.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Adjusting color settings| 00:00 | Have you ever been in a situation where
the colors in an image looked great on
| | 00:04 | your monitor, but when you printed the
image the colors didn't look the same?
| | 00:09 | Well, that's a problem of Color Management.
| | 00:12 | Elements makes it as easy as possible to
try to get the colors that you see when
| | 00:16 | you're working on an image in Elements
to match the Colors in your prints or in
| | 00:20 | photos that you display on screen,
| | 00:22 | but that's no easy task. The reason
is that colors in the digital world are
| | 00:26 | really just numerical values and those
values have to be interpreted to become
| | 00:31 | colors that we can see.
| | 00:33 | Every digital device that you use, your
camera, your monitor, your printer, your
| | 00:37 | scanner, translates color values into
visible colors in a unique way and that's
| | 00:42 | what causes a potential lack of
consistency of color from device to device.
| | 00:47 | The solution is that manufacturers of
printers and cameras and other digital
| | 00:52 | devices came up with a system of
adding small bits of information called ICC
| | 00:59 | color profiles to digital images.
| | 01:01 | You might think of color profiles as
descriptions for your printer and other
| | 01:05 | output devices of the way that you
want colors in an image to be interpreted.
| | 01:10 | Elements uses this system of Color
Profiles and in order to do that properly in
| | 01:15 | Elements, you first have to set
up the program's Color Settings.
| | 01:19 | That's done in the Color Settings dialog box.
| | 01:22 | To open that dialog box, I am going to go
to the Edit menu and down to Color settings.
| | 01:26 | Now this dialog box, although
simplified in Elements, can be intimidating.
| | 01:31 | So, let me explain what these choices
mean and what I recommend that you do here.
| | 01:36 | In this dialog box, you get to choose
how you're going to manage Color in your
| | 01:40 | images. The first choice, No Color
Management, is not the one that I recommend.
| | 01:46 | If you choose No Color Management,
then you are allowing Elements to display
| | 01:50 | Colors in a file using the
idiosyncratic way that your particular monitor
| | 01:54 | displays Color and that isn't
necessarily the way that Colors are going to be
| | 01:58 | displayed anywhere else, in a print or on
anyone else's monitor, to whom you send
| | 02:04 | an image or who have used the image on the web.
| | 02:07 | Also if you do choose No Color
Management, there will be no Color Profile
| | 02:10 | attached to your photo.
| | 02:12 | And so the next device down the line,
say your printer, won't know how you
| | 02:16 | expect the Colors in the
photo to be interpreted.
| | 02:18 | So, No Color Management, not a good choice.
| | 02:21 | The next choice, the default, Always
Optimize Colors for Computer Screens is a
| | 02:26 | good choice if most of the photos that
you work on are ones that you share with
| | 02:30 | other people online, either by
attaching them to emails or on a website or on a
| | 02:35 | blog or by posting them to Face Book or
Flickr or some other social media site
| | 02:40 | or even if you're making a slideshow or
you're preparing photos for a PowerPoint
| | 02:45 | presentation that is going to
be displayed on a computer screen.
| | 02:48 | This choice, Always Optimize Colors for
Computer Screens, keeps the colors that
| | 02:52 | you see on screen within a color range known as
the as the sRGB color range, as it says here.
| | 02:58 | The sRGB color range reflects the way
that most computer monitors, at least on
| | 03:03 | a PC, display Color.
| | 03:05 | So, this choice is best for images that
will be displayed on screen, as I said.
| | 03:09 | However, if you're someone who usually
prints their photos on a Desktop Inkjet
| | 03:13 | printer then the best choice for you is
not Always Optimize Colors for Computer
| | 03:18 | Screens but rather Always Optimize for Printing.
| | 03:22 | This will display your photos based on
a range of colors within the Adobe RGB
| | 03:26 | color space, which is a much broader
range of colors than the sRGB color space.
| | 03:31 | So this choice is a better bet when
you're preparing images for print.
| | 03:36 | The last choice, Allow Me to Choose, may
sound like a good one, but actually this
| | 03:41 | choice is going to give you a headache
because if you select the Allow Me to
| | 03:44 | Choose option, then every time that you
open a file that doesn't contain a Color
| | 03:48 | Profile, Elements is going to ask you
what you want to do and that means that
| | 03:52 | you have to make a Color
Management decision over and over again.
| | 03:56 | So, I don't suggest
selecting Allow Me to Choose.
| | 04:00 | Instead, as I said, if you generally
prepare images for print, then choose
| | 04:04 | Always Optimize for Printing. If you
generally prepare images for viewing on
| | 04:08 | screen, choose Always
Optimize Colors for Computer Screens.
| | 04:12 | And that's the choice that I am going to select.
| | 04:15 | When I'm satisfied with
my choice, I will click OK.
| | 04:17 | One more thing, if you really want your
Color Settings to do their job, you have
| | 04:21 | to calibrate your monitor and that
means setting your monitor to its standard
| | 04:25 | settings and generating a Color
Profile for your monitor, which describes how
| | 04:30 | your particular monitor interprets Color.
| | 04:33 | The way to do that is to go out and
purchase and then use a hardware calibrator,
| | 04:38 | which you can buy from a number of
different third-party manufacturers and
| | 04:41 | that's another important step in your
Color Management workflow in Elements.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
7. Full Edit BasicsUsing Undo History| 00:00 | Editing photos in Elements can
involve lots of trial and error.
| | 00:03 | So, knowing how to undo what you have
tried is one of the most important things
| | 00:07 | that you can know about using the program.
| | 00:09 | I'm going to try to eliminate
this black dog from the white snow.
| | 00:12 | To do that, I am going to select this
tool, the Spot Healing Brush and I'll
| | 00:16 | tell you in advance I already know that
this isn't going to work but that's the point.
| | 00:20 | I want to show you how to
undo something that doesn't work.
| | 00:23 | So with the Spot Healing Brush, I am
going to move over the dog and I'm going
| | 00:27 | to start clicking and what the Spot
Healing Brush does is sample pixels from
| | 00:31 | nearby and try to cover the dog by blending
those sample pixels with the pixels of the dog.
| | 00:38 | But as you can see, it's not working very well.
| | 00:41 | So, the question is how would I fix this?
| | 00:43 | Well, one way, if you have just made
a couple of clicks, is to use the undo
| | 00:47 | command located under the Edit menu.
| | 00:49 | So, here when I go to the Edit menu,
I find Undo Spot Healing Brush, I can
| | 00:54 | select that command and then I could go
back and do that again or I could come
| | 00:59 | over to the Undo button here on the
right side of the screen and click that
| | 01:02 | several times and that's a little more
efficient, or I could use the shortcut
| | 01:07 | for Undo, which is Command+Z. So, I'll
hold the Command key and press Z, Z, Z, Z
| | 01:16 | and each time I do, I'm going back one step.
| | 01:19 | So, the Undo Command or the Undo button
or Command+Z, the shortcut for undo work
| | 01:24 | fine if you have just made a few marks.
| | 01:27 | But what if I had made 20, 30
or 40 marks with various tools.
| | 01:31 | It could be really tedious and confusing
to try to back up using the Undo command.
| | 01:36 | In that case, a better way to work
is to use the Undo History panel.
| | 01:40 | To show you that, I'm going to
make some more marks on his image.
| | 01:43 | Again, with the Spot Healing Brush I
will make some marks, trying to cover up
| | 01:47 | the dog and when I see that doesn't work
, I will try another method, I am going
| | 01:51 | to choose the Healing Brush tool
from the same slot in the toolbox.
| | 01:56 | The Healing Brush tool works a lot
like the Spot Healing Brush, except that I
| | 02:00 | get to decide where I'm going
to sample the good pixels from.
| | 02:03 | So, I will go to this clean area of
snow, I will hold down the Option key to
| | 02:07 | change the cursor to this target and I
will click to sample from there and then
| | 02:12 | I'll try to cover the dog with
pixels from the clean part of the snow.
| | 02:16 | But it's still not doing a very good
job, Elements is trying the blend the
| | 02:20 | cover-up pixels with the pixels that
are already there and it was kind of
| | 02:23 | making a blurry mess.
| | 02:25 | So, I will try yet another tool, the Clone
Stamp tool, which is here in the toolbar.
| | 02:30 | The Clone Stamp tool works a lot like
the Healing Brush tool, except that it
| | 02:34 | doesn't try to blend the cover-up pixels.
| | 02:37 | So again, I'll go to a clean area of
snow, I will hold down the Option key and
| | 02:42 | I'll click to sample, some pixels from
there and then I will come in and start
| | 02:46 | trying to cover up the dog.
| | 02:48 | But that's not doing a very good job either.
| | 02:50 | I need to go back and Undo, but I've
made so many different marks that it would
| | 02:55 | be difficult to keep track of where
I was using the Undo command or it's
| | 02:59 | shortcut or the Undo button.
| | 03:01 | So instead I'm going to
open the Undo History panel.
| | 03:04 | To do that, I will go up to the
Window menu and choose Undo History.
| | 03:08 | There's the Undo History panel down
here. I am going to drag it out of this
| | 03:12 | column, so that you can see it
better and place it right up here and then
| | 03:16 | I'm going to make this panel longer by
clicking on its bottom-right corner and dragging down.
| | 03:21 | And you can see all of the many
marks that I have made in his image.
| | 03:25 | Each of the rows in the Undo History
panel represents a mark that I made,
| | 03:30 | starting with the most recent at
the bottom and moving back up to the
| | 03:34 | furthest away in time.
| | 03:35 | So, if I want to back up, I can just
click on different rows here and keep your
| | 03:40 | eye on the image as I do and you
can see there's marks going away.
| | 03:44 | And I don't have to click here row by row.
If I wanted to go all the way back to
| | 03:48 | before I had tried the Healing Brush and
the Clone Stamp, I could just come back
| | 03:52 | up here and click on the
Spot Healing Brush row here.
| | 03:55 | Another nice thing about the Undo
History panel is that if I want to go all the
| | 03:59 | way back to the original image, I can
do that at any time by going up to the
| | 04:03 | very top and clicking on the name of the file.
| | 04:06 | That takes me back to the original
dog, before I had done anything to it.
| | 04:09 | Another really great thing about Undo
History is that I can go forward in time too.
| | 04:14 | So, now if I change my mind and say
that I do want to see again, how the image
| | 04:18 | looks with the Spot Healing Brush
marks and the Healing Brush marks, I could
| | 04:22 | come down to this row and click and
that takes me back to that point in time.
| | 04:27 | Now there are some limitations to using the
Undo History panel that you need to know about.
| | 04:32 | One thing is that if I were to close
the image and then reopen it, there would
| | 04:36 | be nothing here in the Undo History panel.
| | 04:38 | These states only stay here
while I am working on an image.
| | 04:42 | Secondly, if I take any other action
after the row that I am on, the more recent
| | 04:47 | rows, the ones below the
row I am on, will disappear.
| | 04:51 | So, let's say that I am on this
Healing Brush row and I decide that I'm going
| | 04:55 | to try crop the image.
| | 04:57 | So, I select the Crop tool in the
toolbar and I come in and drag a Crop boundary
| | 05:02 | like this and then I accept the
crop by clicking this green checkmark.
| | 05:07 | Notice that there is now a Crop state
beneath the Healing Brush state that I had
| | 05:11 | selected, but all of the Clone Stamp
states that had occurred after the Healing
| | 05:15 | Brush state have now disappeared.
| | 05:17 | And finally, another limitation to
using the History panel and using the Undo
| | 05:21 | command is that by default, there are
only 50 states in the Undo History panel
| | 05:25 | and you can only undo 50 times.
| | 05:27 | Now, I can increase that number
by going to Photoshop Elements and
| | 05:31 | Preferences and choosing Performance
and here is where the number of History
| | 05:37 | States is set at 50.
| | 05:38 | But if I do increase that number, like
this, I run the risk of slowing down the
| | 05:44 | processing on my computer
depending how powerful a Computer I have.
| | 05:48 | So, I am going to reset and click OK.
| | 05:52 | So, if you have multiple steps to Undo,
do try using the Undo History panel or
| | 05:57 | if you have just a couple of things
to eliminate, use the Undo button, the
| | 06:01 | Edit>Undo Command or the
shortcut, Command+Z a couple of times.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Zooming and navigating| 00:00 | As you work on a photo in the Full Edit
workspace, you will do a lot of zooming
| | 00:04 | in and out and a lot of
moving around in the image.
| | 00:07 | So it's useful to know how to zoom
and pan in the image most efficiently.
| | 00:11 | When you first open a photo in the
Full Edit workspace, it will open in a
| | 00:15 | floating document window set to the
largest zoom magnification that will fit in
| | 00:20 | your Editing Workspace.
| | 00:21 | That magnification is recorded
at the top of the Document window.
| | 00:25 | In my case, the image opened
at 43.7% of its actual size.
| | 00:30 | Yours may be different depending on
the size and resolution of your monitor.
| | 00:34 | I can zoom in on the image for a
closer look, in which case the contents will
| | 00:37 | appear larger, or I can zoom out which
allows me to see more of the image but
| | 00:42 | makes the contents appear smaller.
| | 00:44 | Now keep in mind that zooming in and
out doesn't change the actual size of an
| | 00:48 | image just the magnification at which
it's displayed, much like zooming in and
| | 00:52 | out with a telescope.
| | 00:53 | There are multiple ways to zoom,
some more efficient than others.
| | 00:58 | When you are first learning Elements,
the most basic way to zoom is to go to the
| | 01:01 | toolbar and select the Zoom tool here
and then to go up to the Options bar and
| | 01:06 | click the Plus symbol to zoom in
or the Minus symbol to zoom out.
| | 01:10 | I will click the Plus symbol and then
I will come into the image and I will
| | 01:14 | click several times on the area
that I want to focus on, this red boat.
| | 01:21 | And that zooms me in.
| | 01:22 | To zoom out, I will click the Minus option
in the Options bar and click several times.
| | 01:28 | When I'm working with a document in a
free-floating window like this one, as
| | 01:32 | supposed to in a tabbed document
arrangement, which I explained in an earlier
| | 01:36 | movie, I like to resize the
window along with the document.
| | 01:40 | If I don't do that and I continue to
zoom out, I will get this gray area
| | 01:44 | around the photograph.
| | 01:46 | So, to avoid that, I'm going to go up
to the Options bar for the Zoom tool and
| | 01:50 | put a checkmark in this box to
the left of Resize Windows To Fit.
| | 01:54 | Now, if I zoom out further, the
window gets smaller to just fit around the
| | 01:58 | image and if I get the Plus symbol and I zoom in,
the window gets bigger along with the image.
| | 02:04 | As you get more familiar with
Elements, you will find it faster to use a
| | 02:07 | keyboard shortcut to zoom, rather than
going to the toolbar and getting the Zoom
| | 02:11 | tool and then using its options.
| | 02:13 | So, one shortcut for zooming in is to
hold the Command key on the keyboard and
| | 02:18 | then click the Plus key at the top-
right of the keyboard, like that.
| | 02:23 | And then to zoom out, the shortcut
is to hold the Command key and tap the
| | 02:26 | Minus key, like that.
| | 02:28 | Sometimes, it makes sense to look at
an image at 100% of its actual size.
| | 02:33 | That's important to do for example, when
you're sharpening an image and you want
| | 02:37 | to really see how it's
going to look when it prints.
| | 02:40 | One way to view an image at 100% is to
go back to the Zoom tool and then go up
| | 02:45 | to the Options bar for the Zoom
tool and click the 1:1 button there.
| | 02:49 | 1:1 means that one pixel in the image
will be assigned to one pixel on the screen.
| | 02:55 | So, there's 1:1 relationship between
image pixels and screen pixels, which
| | 02:59 | Elements considers to be 100% view.
| | 03:02 | With the image at 100%, it's too big to
fit in my Document window and so I can't
| | 03:07 | see the whole thing.
| | 03:09 | If I do want to see the entire image
on my screen, there is another option in
| | 03:12 | the Zoom tool Options bar for
that, the Fit Screen option.
| | 03:16 | So, I will click that and now
Elements has zoomed me out to a percentage at
| | 03:20 | which I can see the whole image.
| | 03:22 | There are shortcuts for both
the 100% view and Fit Screen view.
| | 03:26 | So, say that I'm working with another
tool, maybe the Spot Healing Brush and I
| | 03:30 | want to go back to 100% view.
| | 03:33 | Rather than going and getting the Zoom
tool and then going up to an option in
| | 03:36 | its Options bar, I can just double-
click the Zoom tool here in the toolbar and
| | 03:41 | that takes me to the 100% view.
| | 03:43 | And if I want to see the Fit Screen
view, rather than having to go up to the
| | 03:47 | Options bar, I can just double-
click the Hand tool here and that's a
| | 03:51 | shortcut for Fit Screen.
| | 03:53 | I am going to go back to 100% view by
double-clicking the Zoom tool again, so
| | 03:57 | that I can show you what panning is.
| | 03:59 | With this image at 100%, I
can't see the entire image.
| | 04:03 | It's just too big to fit, but let's say
that I want to see a different part of
| | 04:06 | this image at 100%, then I'll select
the Hand tool here in the toolbar and I
| | 04:12 | will come into the image and I will
just click-and-drag to move the image
| | 04:15 | around in the Document Window, so I can see a
different portion of it. This is called Panning.
| | 04:20 | Now, if I'm using a different tool,
let's say I am using the Spot Healing Brush
| | 04:23 | again to clean up an image and I don't
want to have to switch to the Hand tool,
| | 04:28 | there is a shortcut for Panning and
that is to hold down the Spacebar on my
| | 04:33 | keyboard and click-and-drag in the image.
| | 04:36 | When I release the Spacebar, I am
back using my Spot Healing Brush.
| | 04:40 | Another way pan around the
image is to use the Navigator panel.
| | 04:44 | I am going to open that panel from
the Window menu at the top of the screen
| | 04:47 | by choosing Navigator.
| | 04:48 | It's a little bit hard to see down
here at the bottom of this column, so I am
| | 04:52 | going to click on the Navigator tab and
drag it out and then I am going to make
| | 04:56 | it bigger by moving to the bottom-
right of the panel and dragging down.
| | 05:00 | Notice that there is a red bounding box
in the Navigator panel that identifies
| | 05:04 | the portion of the image that's
currently showing inside of the Document Window,
| | 05:08 | if I want to see a different portion of
the image, I can pan to that portion by
| | 05:12 | clicking-and-dragging inside this red
bounding box in the Navigator panel and
| | 05:16 | that moves the image
around in the Document Window.
| | 05:19 | There is also a Zoom slider
here in the Navigator panel. If I
| | 05:23 | click-and-drag that to the right,
I am zoomed in on just the area
| | 05:27 | surrounded by that red bounding box.
| | 05:29 | So, those are some efficient ways that
you can zoom in and out of an image and
| | 05:34 | pan around in an image.
| | 05:35 | Try these techniques out on your own images.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Creating a blank file| 00:00 | If the main thing that you do in
Elements is work with your photographs, most of
| | 00:04 | the time you'll be opening existing
JPEG's and other files into Elements, but
| | 00:08 | once in a while you may need to start
a new file from scratch, and you can do
| | 00:12 | that from here in the Full Edit Workspace.
| | 00:14 | You'll need a new blank file from
scratch, if you're creating buttons for a
| | 00:18 | webpage or a logo made of graphics
or text, or maybe a scrapbook page.
| | 00:24 | To create a new blank file, I am going
to go up to the File menu, choose New and
| | 00:28 | go over to Blank File, or I could use
this keyboard shortcut, Command+N. That
| | 00:34 | opens the New dialog box.
| | 00:36 | In the Name field, the default Untitled
name is highlighted, and I can type over
| | 00:41 | that with a more meaningful name.
| | 00:43 | I'll call this 'mynewfile', and I don't
have to type an extension because when
| | 00:48 | I save this document later, the
extension will be added to the file
| | 00:51 | automatically depending on
which format I save it in.
| | 00:54 | Next, I'll specify the dimensions of the file.
| | 00:56 | One way to do that is to go to the
Width field and the Height field here, and
| | 01:00 | type in the dimensions.
| | 01:01 | But first, I want to make sure that I'm
using the unit of measurement that makes
| | 01:05 | the most sense for my output.
| | 01:07 | If I'm creating an image that I'm
going to print, then I'll want the units of
| | 01:11 | measurement here to be inches,
which I can select from this menu.
| | 01:15 | If I'm creating an image for the web or
to be shown on a screen, I would change
| | 01:19 | the unit of measurement to pixels.
| | 01:21 | But I am going to leave this at inches. Then
I'm going to type in the dimensions I want.
| | 01:26 | In the Width field I'll type 8, and
in the Height field I'll drag over the
| | 01:30 | default amount and I'll type 10, to
make an image that is 8x10 inches.
| | 01:36 | Another way to set the image dimensions
is to go up to the Preset menu here and
| | 01:41 | click and choose the kind
of document that I'm making.
| | 01:44 | So, let's say I'm making a printed
scrap booking page, I'll click on Scrap
| | 01:49 | booking and then I'll go to the Size
menu where I have several common sizes for
| | 01:54 | our scrapbook pages to choose from.
| | 01:55 | I'll leave this set to 12x12 inches and
you can see that those numbers are now
| | 02:00 | filled into the width and height fields.
| | 02:02 | That preset also set the
Resolution field to 300 pixels/inch.
| | 02:07 | And I'll talk about resolution in just a moment.
| | 02:09 | But for now, I'll just mention that
300 pixels/inch is compatible with
| | 02:13 | most Inkjet printers.
| | 02:15 | Now, if I were making a webpage
layout, I would go up to the Preset menu and
| | 02:19 | instead of Scrapbooking I would choose
Web, and then I would go to the Size menu
| | 02:23 | and choose a document size in pixels.
| | 02:26 | Up here, our document size is for typical
webpages and down here some common web graphic sizes.
| | 02:32 | I am going to choose 1024 pixels wide
by 768 pixels high, and that sets those
| | 02:39 | numbers here in the Width and Height field,
and sets the unit of measurement to pixels.
| | 02:43 | It also sets the
Resolution field to 72 pixels/inch.
| | 02:47 | But actually it doesn't matter what
number is here, because Resolution in this
| | 02:51 | field means the number of pixels that
would be assigned to every inch, if the
| | 02:54 | document were printed.
| | 02:56 | So when I am creating an image in pixels,
I don't have to worry about what's in
| | 03:00 | the resolution field here.
| | 03:01 | I am going to go back to the Preset
menu, and this time and going to choose
| | 03:05 | Default Photoshop Elements Size.
| | 03:08 | That sets the Width and Height to 6
inches by 4 inches and the Resolution to
| | 03:12 | 300 pixels/inch, which is a typical size for a
photograph that you'll print on a Desktop printer.
| | 03:18 | Now let's talk about Resolution. I
mentioned that in this dialog box resolution
| | 03:22 | means the number of pixels/inch, and
that is the number of pixels that would be
| | 03:27 | assigned to every inch of this file,
if and when the file were printed.
| | 03:31 | Every file as you see it on your
screen is composed of pixels, which are tiny
| | 03:35 | squares of color information.
| | 03:37 | When you go to print a document, you
have to translate that number of pixels
| | 03:41 | into inches, so that the printer
knows how big to make the document.
| | 03:45 | Most often, you'll be printing to an
Inkjet printer on your Desktop, and as the
| | 03:49 | generalization most Inkjet printers
need somewhere around 300 pixels/inch to
| | 03:55 | produce a print that looks good.
| | 03:56 | So, this default of 300 pixels/inch
that comes with the Default Photoshop
| | 04:01 | Elements Size is a safe number to
put in the Resolution field when you're
| | 04:05 | printing to Desktop printer.
| | 04:07 | There are a couple more file
characteristics to choose when I'm creating a new
| | 04:11 | document from scratch. One is Color mode.
| | 04:14 | Color mode is a description of the
color model that the file will use.
| | 04:18 | There are just three choices in the
Color mode menu: Bitmap, which you're likely
| | 04:23 | never to use, Grayscale and RGB Color.
| | 04:26 | I recommended that in almost all cases
you leave Color mode set to RGB Color,
| | 04:31 | and that's true even if you're making a
document that's ultimately going to be
| | 04:34 | black-and-white, because RGB Color will
give you more tonal information to work
| | 04:39 | with than Grayscale.
| | 04:41 | And then there's the Background
Contents field that determines what color the
| | 04:46 | background layer of the new
blank file is going to be.
| | 04:49 | The choices are White, whatever color
happens to be in the background color
| | 04:54 | box in the toolbar, and I'll show you
that by clicking this double arrow on
| | 04:58 | the toolbar, so that you can see
what's in the Foreground and Background
| | 05:02 | fields at the moment.
| | 05:03 | So, right now, if I choose Background Color,
I'll get an image with a gold background.
| | 05:08 | There's also the choice of
Transparency as the background, but this isn't
| | 05:13 | available when I'm using this particular
preset because this is a preset meant for print.
| | 05:18 | If I'm making a graphic for the web
and I'm measuring that in pixels in these
| | 05:21 | fields, sometimes I will choose
Transparent to make the area around the graphics
| | 05:26 | see-through, so a viewer can
see the webpage background behind.
| | 05:29 | But I'm going to leave the Background
Content set to White for now, and when I'm
| | 05:34 | satisfied with all these fields I'll
click the OK button and that creates a
| | 05:38 | brand new blank file ready for
me to start creating content.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Photo resizing and resolution| 00:00 | After you've worked on an image in the
Full Edit Workspace, you can output that
| | 00:04 | image in many different sizes.
| | 00:06 | You could make a large version to print
and also a very small copy of the same
| | 00:10 | image to attach to an email.
| | 00:12 | Understanding resolution and knowing
how to resize an image correctly will
| | 00:16 | make sure that you don't compromise the
quality of the image when you change its size.
| | 00:20 | Here I have a photograph that
I'd like to resize for output.
| | 00:23 | The first step is to get a handle
on the current size of the photo.
| | 00:27 | To do that, I'm going to go down to the
information area here at the bottom of
| | 00:31 | the document window.
| | 00:32 | Currently, this is reporting the file
size that this image will take up on disk.
| | 00:37 | I'd like to see the dimensions of the image.
| | 00:39 | So I'm going to click this arrow and
then from the contextual menu, I am going
| | 00:43 | to choose Document Dimensions, and
now in the Document Information field, I
| | 00:47 | learned that if I print this image now,
it will print at a whopping 25 inches
| | 00:52 | wide by 16 inches high.
| | 00:54 | But there were only be 72 pixels in
every inch, and that probably isn't enough
| | 00:59 | to print well on an inkjet printer.
| | 01:01 | I'll talk more about how to fix the
resolution in just a minute, but before that,
| | 01:05 | I want to show you another way to view
the dimensions of this file, and that is
| | 01:09 | using the rulers in Elements.
| | 01:11 | First, I'm going to zoom out, so that I
can see the entire image by holding the
| | 01:15 | Command key and tapping the
Minus key on the keyboard.
| | 01:19 | Now I am going to bring up the rulers
by going up to the View menu at the top
| | 01:22 | of the screen and choosing Rulers, or
pressing the keyboard shortcut Shift+Command+R.
| | 01:29 | The rulers are now reporting the size
in inches, and you can see that they're
| | 01:33 | showing that the file will print at
about 25 inches by a little more than 16
| | 01:38 | inches, just as reported down here.
| | 01:40 | Now let's just say that I was creating
this image for use on the web. Then I
| | 01:44 | would want these rulers to be
measuring not in inches, but in pixels.
| | 01:48 | I could go into Preferences and change
the preference for the rulers units of
| | 01:52 | measurement there, but I can also do
the same thing temporarily by moving to
| | 01:56 | either one of the rulers, holding down
the Ctrl key and clicking on the ruler or
| | 02:01 | right-clicking on the ruler and
choosing pixels from the contextual menu.
| | 02:05 | And then if I want to go back to
inches, I can do the same thing:
| | 02:09 | Ctrl or right-clicking and choosing Inches.
| | 02:12 | The current width and height, 25
inches by 16 inches, is larger than I would
| | 02:17 | like this print to be.
| | 02:18 | So I am going to resize
the image to make it smaller.
| | 02:21 | To do that, I'm going to go up to the
Image menu at the top of the screen and
| | 02:25 | choose Resize and choose Image Size.
| | 02:28 | That opens the Image Size dialog box.
| | 02:31 | The Document Size section of this
dialog box reports the current width and the
| | 02:35 | current height in inches at a
resolution of 72 pixels per inch.
| | 02:41 | This Resolution field is very important
when I'm preparing an image for print
| | 02:45 | because my computer measures and
displays the image in pixels which are small
| | 02:49 | pieces of digitized color information,
but my printer is looking for a print
| | 02:54 | that's measured in inches, not pixels.
| | 02:56 | So I need to allocate the pixels in
the digital file to the inches in the
| | 03:01 | perspective print, and that's what
the Resolution setting does here.
| | 03:05 | It determines how many pixels will
be allocated to each inch of the file
| | 03:09 | that's to be printed.
| | 03:10 | Now if I leave the Resolution set to 72
pixels per inch and I try to print on an
| | 03:15 | inkjet printer, the print
probably won't look very good.
| | 03:18 | It will be blurry or even pixilated
because typically, an inkjet printer needs
| | 03:23 | more than 72 pixels per inch
to make a good-looking print.
| | 03:27 | Each printer is different in exactly
how many pixels it needs to make a good
| | 03:30 | print, but if you're looking for a nice
easy-to-remember round number, then when
| | 03:35 | you're preparing a resolution for
print, 300 pixels per inch will do.
| | 03:39 | 72 pixels per inch is okay if you're
planning to show a photo on screen like in
| | 03:44 | a slideshow or attached to an email or on
the web, but it's not enough for print.
| | 03:49 | Before I change the Resolution field
here to 300 pixels per inch, there is
| | 03:53 | something really important I need to do
and that's to go down to this box to the
| | 03:58 | left of Resample Image and click there
to disable the Resample Image command.
| | 04:03 | Doing this tells Elements to leave the
total number of pixels in the file the
| | 04:07 | same, or in computer speak, not
to resample the pixels in the file.
| | 04:12 | The number of pixels currently in
the file is reported here in the
| | 04:15 | Pixel Dimensions area.
| | 04:17 | There are now 1800 pixels of width,
and 1200 pixels of height in this file.
| | 04:23 | I don't want those numbers to change.
| | 04:25 | I just want to reallocate that same
number of pixels among the inches of the
| | 04:28 | file when it's printed.
| | 04:29 | And that's why I unchecked Resample Image.
| | 04:32 | Now I can type 300 in the Resolution
field, and notice that doing that did not
| | 04:38 | change the number of pixels of
width and height in the image.
| | 04:41 | What it did do is automatically change
the width and height of the document as
| | 04:46 | it would be in inches when it's printed.
| | 04:48 | The dimensions have been reduced to
only 6 inches wide and 4 inches high,
| | 04:53 | because I've substituted a higher
number here in the Resolution field.
| | 04:56 | Now I have told Elements to take this
1800 pixels in width and divide it by 300
| | 05:02 | to get the total number of
inches across, which is 6.
| | 05:06 | And I've told Elements to take the
total height of 1200 pixels and divide that
| | 05:11 | by 300 to get the total height of 4 inches.
| | 05:14 | The key to keeping 1800 pixels by 1200
pixels as the number of pixels in the
| | 05:19 | file was to uncheck Resample Image.
| | 05:22 | Now that I'm done with that task,
changing the resolution to the proper one for
| | 05:25 | my inkjet printer, I can click OK,
and the file is resized to 6 inches by 4
| | 05:31 | inches confirmed by the rulers.
| | 05:33 | Now let's imagine another scenario.
| | 05:35 | What if I want another copy of this photo
even smaller, one that might fit in my wallet?
| | 05:39 | I know that I am going to have to leave
the resolution at around 300 pixels per
| | 05:43 | inch, because this is a file that I'm
going to print on my inkjet printer.
| | 05:47 | But I would like the dimensions to be
smaller than they currently are 6x4 inches
| | 05:52 | at 300 pixels per inch.
| | 05:54 | So I'm going to go back to the Image
menu and again choose Resize and Image size.
| | 05:59 | This time in the Image Size dialog box,
I'm going to check Resample Image
| | 06:04 | because I'm instructing Elements to
resample or change the total number of
| | 06:08 | pixels in the image, which
are currently 1800x1200 pixels.
| | 06:13 | Now if I come down to the Document
Size area and I change the width or the
| | 06:17 | height, the total number of
pixels up here will change.
| | 06:20 | So instead of the width of 6 inches,
I'm going to type in the Width field 3
| | 06:25 | inches, and that sets the height
proportionately to 2 inches and notice that the
| | 06:30 | width and height in pixels have now been
reduced from 1800x1200 to only 900x600.
| | 06:37 | So basically what I've done here is to
tell Elements to throw away some pixels
| | 06:41 | in order to make a smaller copy of this file.
| | 06:44 | And that's okay as long as I'm
going to save this as a copy.
| | 06:47 | And one more thing, when I resize an
image like this to make it smaller, I need
| | 06:51 | to tell Elements what formula
to use to throw pixels away.
| | 06:55 | I am going to go down to this menu at
the bottom of the Image Size dialog box,
| | 06:58 | and look at my choices.
| | 07:00 | Here, I learn that the best method for
file reduction is the Bicubic Sharper formula.
| | 07:05 | So I'm going to select that.
| | 07:07 | The Bicubic Sharper formula will keep
the image looking as good and sharp as
| | 07:11 | possible through the process of size reduction.
| | 07:14 | If I were making an image bigger
rather than smaller, I would choose,
| | 07:17 | rather than Bicubic Sharper, Bicubic Smoother
to get the best image quality upon resizing up.
| | 07:24 | Having said that, I don't recommend
that you make your images much bigger,
| | 07:27 | because when you do that, Elements
has to manufacture image information.
| | 07:31 | It's better to capture a photo or make
a scan that's larger than you ever think
| | 07:35 | you'll need, so that you
never have to resize up.
| | 07:38 | And if you do have to resize up, be
conservative, and don't increase the size drastically.
| | 07:43 | So now that I've made all these
choices, I am going to click OK, and that
| | 07:47 | creates another copy of the
image that's 3 inches by 2 inches.
| | 07:52 | At this point, I would save the image in
a different location than the original,
| | 07:55 | so I didn't save over the original and close it.
| | 07:59 | So Elements does give you the
opportunity to resize your images.
| | 08:03 | When you do, keep a couple of things in mind.
| | 08:05 | Remember to save the resized image as a
copy and to avoid making resized images
| | 08:10 | too much larger than the original, and
follow the steps that I've outlined for
| | 08:14 | you here when you're trying to
change either the image dimensions or the
| | 08:18 | resolution of a photograph.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Enlarging the canvas| 00:00 | You might think of a photo that's open
in the Full Edit workspace as sitting
| | 00:04 | on a virtual canvas.
| | 00:06 | You can change the size of the canvas
without changing the size of the photo itself.
| | 00:11 | Why would you want to do that?
| | 00:12 | Well, you might want to add a little
extra space at the bottom of the photo for
| | 00:16 | a caption or maybe you want extra space
around the entire photo for a frame or
| | 00:21 | maybe you just want a lot of blank
space around the photo so that you can add
| | 00:24 | other photos to make a collage.
| | 00:27 | Let me show you how to increase the canvas
size of a photo without changing the image size.
| | 00:31 | First, I am going to look at the
document window down here to find out how
| | 00:35 | big the image is now.
| | 00:37 | If your document window isn't revealing
the dimensions of the image, then click
| | 00:40 | this arrow and choose Document Dimensions.
| | 00:43 | So this tells me that the file is
currently 1.5 inches wide by 1 inch tall.
| | 00:49 | Now I am going to add to the canvas
around this 1.5x1 inch image by going up to
| | 00:54 | the Image menu, choosing
Resize and choosing Canvas Size.
| | 00:59 | The first thing I am going to do is go
down to this Relative field here and put
| | 01:03 | a check next to Relative, so that
whatever amount of width and height that I add
| | 01:08 | to this image will be in addition
to or relative to the original size.
| | 01:13 | So then I am going to go to the Width
field, I am going to highlight 0 there and
| | 01:18 | over that, I am going to type 0.25 or
a quarter inch because I want to add a
| | 01:22 | quarter inch on the left
and right sides of this image.
| | 01:25 | And then I will type in 0.25 in the
Height field so that I will be adding
| | 01:30 | another 0.25 to the top and 0.25 to the bottom.
| | 01:33 | In other words, I am going to add a
quarter inch of canvas on each of the
| | 01:37 | four sides of the photo.
| | 01:39 | Next, I will check the Anchor area
and I want to make sure that I have
| | 01:42 | this center portion selected, so that the
additional canvas is added all the way around.
| | 01:48 | If I had clicked this arrow, for
example, then the additional canvas would be
| | 01:52 | added only on the left and right
sides and the bottom and not on the top.
| | 01:55 | To go back to the center anchor point
view, I'll click the bottom arrow here.
| | 02:00 | Next, I'll go down to the
Canvas extension color field.
| | 02:03 | If in my layers panel, I have a
special kind of layer called a Background
| | 02:07 | layer rather than just a regular layer,
I can choose the color that will be
| | 02:11 | added around this image.
| | 02:12 | Otherwise, the additional
canvas will come in as transparent.
| | 02:16 | But because I do have a Background
layer there, I can choose from this menu
| | 02:20 | whether I want the canvas to be
whatever color happens to be in the Foreground
| | 02:23 | color box in the toolbar, which
happens to be Black, or in the Background
| | 02:27 | color box, which happens to be Red, or
whether I want the canvas to be White,
| | 02:31 | Black, Gray or if I click Other, that opens
the color picker where I can choose any color.
| | 02:37 | I am going to cancel the color picker
and I am going to choose as my Canvas
| | 02:41 | extension color, Black, and then I am
going to click OK and that's all I have to
| | 02:46 | do to add a quarter inch of black
canvas around the original photo.
| | 02:50 | The photo is still 1.5 inches wide by 1
inch tall, but the total document size
| | 02:55 | has been increased by a
quarter inch all the way around.
| | 02:59 | So that's how you can increase canvas
size without changing the size of an image.
| | 03:03 | This comes in handy for making frames
like this, for adding captions, for scrap
| | 03:07 | booking and for making collages.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Cropping and straightening an image| 00:00 | When you take a photograph or when
you are scanning a printed photograph,
| | 00:03 | sometimes you will end up with
a crooked image like this one.
| | 00:07 | Fortunately, there are tools in the Full
Edit workspace to fix your crooked images.
| | 00:12 | One way to straighten is with the Straighten
tool which is located right here in the toolbar.
| | 00:16 | I am going to select the Straighten
tool and then I am going to go up to the
| | 00:20 | Options bar for this tool and I am
going to go to this Canvas Options field,
| | 00:24 | click there and I am going to choose
Crop to Remove Background, so that Elements
| | 00:29 | will crop away any pixels around the
edges of the image after it straighten the
| | 00:33 | image in the document window.
| | 00:35 | If there were multiple layers in the file,
I would be sure to check Rotate All layers.
| | 00:39 | I will just leave that checked which
is the default even though there is only
| | 00:42 | one layer in this file.
| | 00:43 | Then I am going to move into the image
and I am going to click somewhere on a
| | 00:47 | line that I think should be straight
in the image, in this case, the horizon.
| | 00:51 | So I will click and hold and then I
will drag out this line, move it to another
| | 00:56 | place on the horizon and release.
| | 00:58 | Immediately, Elements straightens the
image in the document window and it trims
| | 01:03 | away all the extra area around the
outside of the image that was caused by
| | 01:07 | turning the image in the document window.
| | 01:10 | Now I have to admit, this doesn't
always work as perfectly as in this example
| | 01:13 | and if it doesn't work for you, I want
to show you another way that you can try
| | 01:17 | to straighten an image.
| | 01:18 | So I am going to undo by holding
the Command key and tapping the Z key.
| | 01:22 | Once again, I have my crooked image.
| | 01:24 | This time, with the same Straighten
tool, I am going to go back up to the
| | 01:28 | Canvas Options and I am going to
change that to Grow or Shrink Canvas to Fit,
| | 01:34 | which is the default.
| | 01:35 | Again, I'll come into the image.
| | 01:37 | I'll click on the horizon line,
hold, drag and release my mouse.
| | 01:42 | This rotates the image so that the
horizon is straight, but it leaves me with
| | 01:47 | all this untrimmed background.
| | 01:49 | The color of the background is
whatever color happens to be in the background
| | 01:53 | color box in the toolbar at the moment.
| | 01:55 | I can get rid of this white trim
manually by using the Crop tool.
| | 01:59 | So I will select the Crop tool.
| | 02:01 | I will make sure the Aspect Ratio is
set to No Restriction and that there is
| | 02:05 | nothing in any of these fields.
| | 02:07 | And then I am going to come into the
image and I am going to drag a crop boundary.
| | 02:11 | Now I want to be sure not to include any
of the white area in the crop boundary.
| | 02:15 | So after I have dragged out this
boundary, I can adjust it by moving my mouse
| | 02:19 | over any one of the borders,
clicking, holding, and dragging.
| | 02:22 | When I am satisfied, I'll go to this
green checkmark and click to commit
| | 02:28 | the crop and that has taken away all that
white trim and I have a nice straight image.
| | 02:33 | So those are two ways that you
can straighten and trim your images.
| | 02:36 | Now before I finish this movie, I want to
mention one other thing about the Crop tool.
| | 02:41 | Cropping can be used not only to help
trim away the edge of a straighten image,
| | 02:44 | but also to fix a composition.
| | 02:47 | So even when you have a straight image,
you can still take your Crop tool and
| | 02:51 | use it to crop out unwanted things, like
this little boat over here at the edge.
| | 02:55 | If I didn't want the boat in the
image for composition reasons, I could
| | 02:59 | click-and-drag a crop boundary, move
it right up against that boat and then
| | 03:04 | click the green checkmark.
| | 03:05 | So do try using the Straighten and
the Crop tools to fix imperfections in
| | 03:10 | your own photos.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Using the Recompose tool| 00:00 | Have you ever taken a photo as a
horizontal or landscape orientation photo and
| | 00:05 | wished that you taken it as a vertical
or a portrait orientation, maybe because
| | 00:09 | you have a special vertical frame
that you want to use with the photo?
| | 00:13 | Well, there is a new tool in Elements 8,
the Recompose tool, that can help you
| | 00:17 | to change the orientation of a photo
and it does that by cropping away areas
| | 00:22 | inside the photo as opposed to the
Crop tool which can only crop away around
| | 00:26 | the edge of a photo.
| | 00:27 | I have actually dragged out the
document window so you can see where the edge
| | 00:31 | of this photograph is.
| | 00:32 | I am going to select the Recompose tool,
which is located behind the Crop tool here.
| | 00:37 | Then I am going to go up to the
Options bar for the Recompose tool.
| | 00:40 | I am going to select this first icon,
which looks like a green paintbrush.
| | 00:45 | With this brush, I am going to
identify for Elements the areas that I want to
| | 00:49 | retain in the photo.
| | 00:50 | So I am just going to scribble over
this flag here and if I need to make my
| | 00:54 | brush bigger, I can press the Right
Bracket key on my keyboard to do that.
| | 00:57 | I am also going to paint with green
over the calf and then I am going to go to
| | 01:04 | another tool, the red brush icon, in
the Options bar, select that and with that
| | 01:10 | one I am going to indicate which areas
could be removed during the process of
| | 01:14 | changing the orientation of the photo.
| | 01:16 | And I am going to make a little
mistake there and paint over onto the flag
| | 01:20 | because I want to show you yet another
option here in the Options bar and that
| | 01:23 | is this Eraser icon.
| | 01:25 | I will select that one and I will come
in and I will erase the red that I added
| | 01:30 | on top of the flag because I do want
to protect the flag as I change the
| | 01:33 | orientation of the photo.
| | 01:35 | If there were any people in this image,
I would make sure that this icon was
| | 01:38 | enabled so that the people would be
protected as the orientation of the photo changes.
| | 01:43 | From the Preset menu, I could choose
a set size for the final image or I
| | 01:49 | could just choose Use Photo Ratio to
create a final image that's in a typical
| | 01:54 | ratio for a photograph.
| | 01:56 | Now I am going to click on the right
anchor point here and I am going to drag to
| | 02:00 | the left to start recomposing the photo.
| | 02:05 | And notice, as I do, Elements is cropping away
areas in middle between the flag and the cow.
| | 02:14 | And it does a pretty good job, although
there are some little jagged edges here
| | 02:20 | and if I was going to be really
fastidious about this, I would undo and try to
| | 02:24 | redraw in this area with the red brush icon.
| | 02:28 | But I am just going to leave that for now.
| | 02:29 | I think this is an acceptable
result and I am going to click the green
| | 02:32 | checkmark here and I have now
changed the orientation of the photo from
| | 02:37 | horizontal to vertical.
| | 02:38 | There is only one thing left to do
and that's to remove this gray and white
| | 02:42 | checkerboard, which represents the
leftover transparent area from the original image.
| | 02:47 | To do that, I am going to go to the
Recompose tool, click and hold and choose
| | 02:51 | the Crop tool instead.
| | 02:52 | And then with the Crop tool, I'll start
outside of the top-left corner and drag
| | 02:57 | down and to the right to surround the
vertical photo and then I'll click the green
| | 03:03 | checkmark to crop down to that vertical
shape, removing the transparent pixels
| | 03:07 | that were left over after
use of the Recompose tool.
| | 03:10 | I might come into this area and try to
retouch that with the Healing Brush or
| | 03:14 | perhaps with the Clone Stamp tool.
| | 03:16 | So that's how to use the new
Recompose tool to change the orientation of an
| | 03:20 | image from horizontal to vertical.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Processing multiple files| 00:00 | If you have multiple files that you
want to resize or rename or reformat, one
| | 00:05 | of the most useful features in Elements 8 is
the Process Multiple Files Automatic command.
| | 00:10 | I am going to use that feature on these
three images but normally, I would have
| | 00:14 | more images on which I would run the
feature and I might use it if I want to do
| | 00:18 | something like create a batch of
thumbnails for use on a webpage or resize and
| | 00:23 | reformat a number of images to
send by email or to post to a blog.
| | 00:28 | Before I get started, I want
to see how big these files are.
| | 00:31 | So I am going to click-and-drag on the
bottom-right corner of one of them and
| | 00:35 | there in the document information area,
I'll click to see that this file is 430
| | 00:40 | pixels tall by 286 wide and I
know that the other two are the same.
| | 00:44 | I would like to cut that height in half
making them all 215 pixels tall so that
| | 00:49 | they are thumbnail sized.
| | 00:50 | I will move this image away
so you can see the other two.
| | 00:54 | With these three files open in Elements,
I am going to go up to the File menu
| | 00:59 | and go down to Process Multiple Files.
| | 01:02 | That opens the big Process
Multiple Files dialog box.
| | 01:06 | Let's run through the fields here setting it up.
| | 01:08 | I will go to the Process Files From
field and I could choose to process files
| | 01:14 | that are in a folder or those I am
importing from a scanner or those that I
| | 01:18 | have selected in Bridge.
| | 01:19 | But I am going to use Opened Files
because I do have these three files open
| | 01:24 | already in Elements.
| | 01:26 | So that sets the Source field.
| | 01:28 | Now I'll go to the Destination field
and I'll tell Elements where to save
| | 01:31 | the processed files.
| | 01:33 | I'll click the Browse button. I'll go to
my desktop and I am going to make a new
| | 01:37 | folder called 'processed' and click
Create and I'll choose that folder.
| | 01:43 | I'll leave Same as Source unchecked
because I don't want the processed files in
| | 01:48 | the same location as my source files.
| | 01:50 | Then I'll go to the File Naming section.
| | 01:52 | I don't have to rename the
processed files, but I can.
| | 01:54 | So I'll make sure that Rename
Files is checked and then I'll set up a
| | 01:58 | formula for renaming here.
| | 02:00 | I am going to click this first menu
and I am going to start off with a date,
| | 02:05 | year, month, and then day.
| | 02:07 | I'll click the next menu and this one I
am going to set to a 2 Digit Serial Number.
| | 02:13 | In the Starting serial number field,
if I already have some files that are
| | 02:17 | named in this series starting with number 1,
I could change this to another number, say, 5.
| | 02:23 | And here, I have an example of what a
file name might look like, the year, the
| | 02:27 | month, the day and a 2 Digit Serial
Number starting with 5 and then the format,
| | 02:32 | although I am going to change
the format from GIF to JPEG.
| | 02:35 | I will also make the resulting files
compatible with all of the operating
| | 02:39 | systems and then I will
come to the Image Size field.
| | 02:42 | I don't have to resize the images but
I am going to, so I will make sure that
| | 02:46 | Resize Images is checked.
| | 02:48 | I am going to go to this Width field,
which is currently set to pixels and has a
| | 02:52 | number in it and I am going to select
that number of pixels and then press the
| | 02:56 | Delete key on the keyboard.
| | 02:58 | Then I am going to go down to the
Height field, make sure it is set to
| | 03:01 | pixels and click there.
| | 03:03 | Now you remember that I said before I
started that I wanted to make the height
| | 03:06 | of the images 215 pixels.
| | 03:09 | So I will type that in and I will
leave Constrain Proportions checked so that
| | 03:13 | the width will be proportional to the height.
| | 03:15 | I don't have to fill in a number there.
| | 03:17 | I am also not going to worry about
resolution because, in this case, I am sizing
| | 03:22 | images by pixels and so the
Resolution field doesn't really matter.
| | 03:26 | Now I'll go to the File Type field
and I do want to convert these files so
| | 03:30 | that they are in the proper format for
posting to the web as photographs and that's JPEG.
| | 03:35 | So, I will click Convert Files to,
I'll click on this Format menu and I will
| | 03:40 | choose one of the JPEGs.
| | 03:41 | I am going to choose JPEG Medium Quality.
| | 03:44 | The higher the quality the bigger the
file size will be and because I am going
| | 03:48 | to post these to the web, I'd like the
file size to be relatively small, but I
| | 03:52 | don't want to lose too much photo-quality.
| | 03:54 | So, I'll compromise with JPEG Medium Quality.
| | 03:57 | I am going to ignore this field for
now and I will come over to the Quick Fix
| | 04:01 | area where I can choose to apply
either Auto Levels, Auto Contrast or Auto
| | 04:06 | Color, some features that I covered in
the movies about the Quick Fix workspace.
| | 04:11 | I actually don't like to apply auto
settings particularly when I can't see the
| | 04:15 | results but just as an example, I'll put
a checkmark next to Sharpen so that the
| | 04:20 | images are sharpened as they are processed.
| | 04:23 | And finally, I can add either a watermark or
a caption to my photos as they are processed.
| | 04:28 | I'll leave this set to Watermark and
in the Custom Text field, I am going to
| | 04:33 | type some copyright information.
| | 04:35 | I'll press the Option key and tap the
G key to create a copyright symbol and
| | 04:40 | then I'll type my name and the date.
| | 04:43 | I am going to position this
watermark on the bottom right.
| | 04:47 | I'll leave the font at its default and
I'll make the font size somewhat smaller.
| | 04:51 | I'll try maybe 12 points.
| | 04:54 | I'll leave the watermark at 50% opacity
so it's relatively see-through and then
| | 04:59 | in the Color field, I am going to click
to open the color picker and I am going
| | 05:02 | to make my watermark white and click OK.
| | 05:06 | Now that I've set up all these controls,
I am finally ready to run the Automatic
| | 05:11 | Multiple File Processing on these three images.
| | 05:13 | So I will click OK and in just a
second, Elements has done its work.
| | 05:19 | I am going to go out to my
desktop to see the results.
| | 05:22 | There is my destination
folder, the processed folder.
| | 05:25 | I am going to open that by double-
clicking and in that folder, I can see three
| | 05:30 | processed images with their brand-
new names and if I open one of them by
| | 05:34 | double-clicking it, I see that it
does contain the watermark, the copyright
| | 05:38 | symbol and my name and 2009 in faint
letters and I am going to make this
| | 05:43 | document window bigger by clicking and
dragging on the bottom-right corner, so
| | 05:48 | that I can see the document information.
| | 05:50 | If I click-and-hold, I'll see that the
image has been resized to 215 pixels with
| | 05:56 | a proportionate width and the other two
images were processed the very same way.
| | 06:00 | So you can see how very useful this
command, File>Process Multiple Files can be
| | 06:06 | when you want to rename, resize,
reformat or apply some quick fixes or add
| | 06:12 | watermarks or captions to
multiple images at once.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Saving and formats| 00:00 | Knowing how to save a file is a
fundamental skill in Elements.
| | 00:04 | I have a file open here and I haven't
saved it since I made a change to it.
| | 00:08 | I know that because there is an
asterisk here in the Title Bar that tells me
| | 00:12 | that I need to save it to save that last change.
| | 00:15 | The asterisk will disappear as soon as
I save the file, but if I then make even
| | 00:19 | one more change, the asterisk will
reappear to remind me to save it again.
| | 00:23 | To save I will go up to the File
menu and I could choose Save or Save As.
| | 00:28 | I usually choose Save As just to
make sure that I don't save over the
| | 00:32 | last version by error.
| | 00:33 | So I am going to choose Save As and
that opens the Save As dialog box.
| | 00:38 | Here I could give the file another name, but
I am going to leave it with its current name.
| | 00:43 | And then I am going to
choose a place to save the file.
| | 00:45 | I don't want to save over the
original, which is right here.
| | 00:48 | So I will go to this menu and I am
going to choose Desktop and there I will
| | 00:52 | select my saved files folder in which I
have some other saved files as well and
| | 00:57 | that's all I have to do
to select the destination.
| | 00:59 | Next, I am going to go to the Format field.
| | 01:02 | This is an important field.
| | 01:03 | There are lots of formats available here,
but most of these you will never use.
| | 01:07 | But I do want to tell you about
the most commonly used formats.
| | 01:11 | The first is the Photoshop document format.
| | 01:14 | If I select this, Elements adds a .PSD or
Photoshop document format suffix to the saved file.
| | 01:21 | The Photoshop document format is the
native format for Photoshop Elements as
| | 01:26 | well as for Adobe Photoshop.
| | 01:28 | After I have edited a file I normally
do save a master copy in the Photoshop
| | 01:32 | document format and archive
that on an external hard drive.
| | 01:36 | The reason that I do that is that the
Photoshop document format will retain all
| | 01:40 | special proprietary features that I
have added in Photoshop, like layers,
| | 01:45 | Filters, layer Styles and more.
| | 01:48 | And so that means that if I ever need
to come back and make a change to the
| | 01:51 | image it's best to come back to
the Photoshop document format.
| | 01:55 | Then from there I might make
other copies in other formats.
| | 01:58 | So if I need to post a copy on the web
I will save a JPEG, for example, as well.
| | 02:03 | Let's see what other formats are available here.
| | 02:06 | JPEG is the format in which you'll want to
save photographs for use on the Web or
| | 02:11 | to attach to E-mail or to
otherwise show on screen.
| | 02:15 | JPEG stands for Joint
Photographic Experts Group.
| | 02:18 | JPEG is what's called a lossy file
format and so what that means is that it
| | 02:23 | compresses the image to make it smaller,
but at the same time it throws away a
| | 02:27 | little bit of file information.
| | 02:29 | That's fine if you save as a JPEG once
maybe twice, but you don't want to save
| | 02:33 | the same file in JPEG format over and
over because each time you do that and you
| | 02:38 | make a change and then resave,
| | 02:39 | you are losing a little more image information.
| | 02:42 | Another format that you might
use here is the TIFF format.
| | 02:46 | This is not a lossy format.
| | 02:47 | So you don't have to worry
about saving as TIFF multiple times.
| | 02:51 | TIFF is often used by graphic designers
for images that are to be included in a
| | 02:56 | page layout program like Adobe
InDesign or for handoff to a print shop for
| | 03:00 | commercial graphic design printing.
| | 03:03 | And finally there is CompuServe GIF.
| | 03:05 | GIF is a file format that comes in
handy when you are saving a graphic or text,
| | 03:10 | but it's not used very often for photographs.
| | 03:13 | So I am going to choose JPEG here and
there is one more field to look at and
| | 03:17 | that is the Color field.
| | 03:19 | I almost always check Embed Color
Profile here because I want to embed a profile
| | 03:24 | that tells the printer or the next
device down the line my intentions about how
| | 03:29 | I want the color to look in the image.
| | 03:31 | Including the color profile with the
saved image is the second step in a color
| | 03:35 | management workflow that I started to
describe in the movie on setting up your
| | 03:40 | color settings in Elements.
| | 03:41 | I am not going to bother saving
as a copy because I am saving to a
| | 03:44 | different destination.
| | 03:46 | So at this point I will just click the
Save button and that opens some options
| | 03:50 | for the JPEG format.
| | 03:51 | The most important of
which is the Quality option.
| | 03:54 | The higher the quality, the
larger the total file size will be.
| | 03:57 | In most cases, I will put the quality
at somewhere around 10 in an effort to
| | 04:02 | compromise on file size, and I will click OK.
| | 04:05 | And I have now saved a copy of
this image into my Saved folder in the
| | 04:09 | JPEG format.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
8. Working with Layers Understanding layers| 00:00 | Layers are arguably the most
important feature in the Full Edit
| | 00:03 | Workspace, because layers give you
the freedom to treat individual pieces
| | 00:07 | of artwork separately.
| | 00:09 | You might think of layers like panes of
glass stacked one on top of the other,
| | 00:13 | each pane of glass with
some separate artwork on it.
| | 00:16 | Where a layer has no artwork, it's
transparent and so you can see down through
| | 00:20 | it to the layer below, or in this
analogy to the pane of glass below.
| | 00:24 | Let's see how that works on this file.
| | 00:26 | I am going to go to the Layers panel,
here in the column on the right, which is
| | 00:31 | the place from which you'll manage your layers.
| | 00:33 | I am going to click the tab on the Layers panel
and drag it out so that you can see it better.
| | 00:37 | And then, I'll make the Layers panel
longer by clicking in its bottom-right
| | 00:41 | corner and dragging down.
| | 00:43 | In the Layers panel you can see that
this particular image is a composite
| | 00:47 | photograph that has three separate
layers each with different pieces of artwork.
| | 00:52 | Each of the bars in the layers
panel represents a different layer.
| | 00:55 | I can make layers temporarily
invisible by turning off the Eye icons to the
| | 01:00 | left of the layers.
| | 01:01 | To see what's on the background layer
only, I am going to hold down the Option
| | 01:04 | key and click on the Eye icon to
the left of the background layer.
| | 01:08 | And now in the document window, I
see only the photograph that fills the
| | 01:12 | entire background layer.
| | 01:14 | Now to see what's on the Palm Tree
layer, I am going to hold down the Option
| | 01:17 | key, and click in the Visibility
field to the left of the Palm Tree layer.
| | 01:21 | Here on this layer is just
this photograph of a palm tree.
| | 01:25 | I've selected everything else,
and deleted it from that layer.
| | 01:28 | The gray and white checkerboard pattern
here represents transparency or the area
| | 01:33 | of the Palm Tree layer through which
you can see down to the image on the
| | 01:36 | background layer below.
| | 01:38 | I am going to turn on just the Sign
layer now, so you can see what's on it, by
| | 01:42 | holding the Option key, and clicking in the
visibility field to the left of the Sign layer.
| | 01:46 | This layer contains these
rocks and this sign and this flag.
| | 01:51 | Everything else has been selected
and deleted leaving transparent pixels
| | 01:55 | through which you can see down to the
content on the layers below, the Palm Tree
| | 01:59 | and the Background.
| | 02:00 | Now I'll turn all the layers back on by
holding the Option key, and clicking on
| | 02:05 | the Eye icon to the left
of the Sign layer again.
| | 02:08 | So what's the reason to use
multiple layers in a composition?
| | 02:11 | It's so that you can work on the
content of one layer without disturbing the
| | 02:16 | content of the rest of the image.
| | 02:18 | To work on the content of a layer, you first
have to select that layer in the Layers panel.
| | 02:22 | I would like to move the
Content of the Palm Tree layer.
| | 02:25 | So I'm going to click in a blank area of
the Palm Tree layer in the Layers panel
| | 02:30 | to select that layer, and you can
see that it turns light blue like this.
| | 02:34 | To move the content of the Palm Tree
layer without disturbing the content of the
| | 02:38 | other layers in the file, all I have to
do is have the Palm Tree layer selected
| | 02:42 | and then I'll get the Move tool from
the toolbox, which adds a bounding box
| | 02:46 | around the content of the Palm Tree layer.
| | 02:49 | I'll click inside that bounding box,
and I'll drag to the right, and as you
| | 02:53 | can see the palm tree moves, but
nothing on the Sign layer or on the
| | 02:57 | Background layer is disturbed.
| | 03:00 | And moving the content of a layer isn't
the only thing that you can do to a layer.
| | 03:03 | You can paint on a layer.
| | 03:05 | You can add graphics to a layer.
| | 03:06 | You can add effects and layer styles
to a layer, all without disturbing the
| | 03:10 | content of other layers.
| | 03:12 | So you can imagine how useful layers can
be when you're creating a complex photo
| | 03:16 | composition using various pieces of artwork.
| | 03:19 | Layers give you the freedom to be a
true digital artist in Photoshop Elements.
| | 03:24 | Stay tuned for the rest of the movies
in this chapter where I'll cover the
| | 03:27 | important subject of layers in more detail.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Working in the Layers panel| 00:00 | The layers panel contains important
features for managing the layers in a file.
| | 00:05 | In this movie, I'll run through
some essential layers panel features.
| | 00:08 | First let's talk about selecting a layer.
| | 00:11 | I think that the number one thing that
slips people up when they are editing is
| | 00:14 | that they try to do something to the
content of a layer without selecting that
| | 00:18 | layer first in the layers panel.
| | 00:20 | The easy way to select a layer is to go
to the layers panel, which I've dragged
| | 00:24 | out of the column on the right so that
you can see it better, and just click on
| | 00:28 | the layer on which you want to work.
| | 00:29 | So if I want to do something to the
Sign layer, I'll just click on a blank area
| | 00:33 | of the Sign layer, and the focus in the
layers panel goes to that layer and it's
| | 00:38 | ready to be worked on.
| | 00:38 | I am not limited to
selecting just one layer at a time.
| | 00:41 | I can select more than one layer.
| | 00:44 | Let's say that I want to select both
the Sign layer and the Palm tree layer.
| | 00:48 | I already have the Sign layer selected.
| | 00:50 | Now I am going to hold down the Command
key on my keyboard and click on the Palm
| | 00:54 | Tree layer as well, and
that selects that layer too.
| | 00:57 | Now if I got the Move tool for example
and I clicked and dragged in the image,
| | 01:01 | the content of both layers would move with me.
| | 01:04 | I am going to undo that by
pressing Command+Z on my keyboard.
| | 01:08 | If I wanted to select all three of
these layers, I could click on the topmost
| | 01:13 | layer, and then hold the Shift key and
click on the bottom most layer and that
| | 01:17 | would select those two
layers and all layers in between.
| | 01:20 | I am going to go back and click on just the
Sign layer, so that only that layer is selected.
| | 01:25 | There is one other way to select a
layer and that's with the Auto Select
| | 01:28 | option of the Move tool.
| | 01:30 | So to show you that I'm going to
select the Move tool in the toolbar and
| | 01:33 | notice that up in the Options bar
for this tool, there is a feature, Auto
| | 01:38 | Select layer, which is checked by
default, and the next feature Show Bounding
| | 01:43 | Box is also checked by default.
| | 01:45 | Because Show Bounding Box is checked
here, there is a dotted line around the
| | 01:49 | content of the selected layer, in the image.
| | 01:53 | I'll turn all the other layers off
temporarily by holding the Option key, and
| | 01:57 | clicking the Eye icon to
the left of the Sign layer.
| | 01:59 | So that you can see that its content is
all down here in the bottom portion of
| | 02:03 | the image, and that's where the
bounding box is, and then I hold the Option
| | 02:06 | key and click on the Visibility Field
of the Sign layer again, to turn the
| | 02:10 | other layers back on.
| | 02:12 | Now, the Auto Select
layer feature works like this.
| | 02:15 | If I click on part of the image in the
Document window, the highlight in the
| | 02:18 | layers panel will go to that area of the image.
| | 02:21 | So keep your eye on the layers panel as
I move my mouse over the image and click
| | 02:26 | on the Palm Tree. Notice that the
Palm Tree layer is now selected, and if I
| | 02:30 | click on the background, the
Background layer is now selected.
| | 02:34 | And that only happens when I have the
Move tool selected in the toolbar and Auto
| | 02:38 | Select layer is checked in the Options bar.
| | 02:41 | This feature can be useful, but it also
can trip you up by switching layers on
| | 02:45 | you, and when you don't
realize that that's happened.
| | 02:48 | So if this feature bothers you, you can
always disable it by unchecking Auto Select layer.
| | 02:53 | Now let's talk about how to create a new layer.
| | 02:56 | As you build compositions in Elements,
you're going to want to add layers to
| | 02:59 | your compositions, so the different
pieces of artwork are on their own
| | 03:02 | independent layers, so that you can
work on them separately without impacting
| | 03:06 | the rest of the image.
| | 03:07 | I want to make a new layer now above the
Sign layer, and so the first step is to
| | 03:12 | select the Sign layer in the layers panel.
| | 03:14 | I want to select the layer beneath
which the new layer is going to come in, and
| | 03:19 | then to make the new layer above that,
I'll go down to the Create New layer icon
| | 03:23 | on the bottom-left of the layers panel
and I'll click and that creates a new
| | 03:28 | layer called layer 1.
| | 03:30 | I'm a real stickler for naming layers
with meaningful names, so that they are
| | 03:33 | easier to find later, when you have lots
and lots of layers in the layers panel.
| | 03:36 | So I am going to double-click right on
that default layer 1 name, to open this
| | 03:41 | text editing field, and I'm going to
name the layer, I'll type Arrow instead of
| | 03:45 | layer 1, and then I'll click
off of that text editing area.
| | 03:48 | Let me show you this new layer by
holding the Option key, as I click on the
| | 03:52 | visibility field for the Arrow layer,
and you can see that there currently is
| | 03:56 | nothing on the Arrow layer, and in
fact the Arrow layer is completely
| | 03:59 | transparent, which is what this gray
and white checkerboard pattern means.
| | 04:04 | I'll hold the Option key and click
again on the Visibility field on the Arrow
| | 04:07 | layer to turn the other layers back on.
| | 04:10 | I have the Arrow layer selected right now.
| | 04:12 | So whatever I do in the image is
going to take place on the Arrow layer.
| | 04:16 | What I'd like to do is to
draw an arrow right here.
| | 04:19 | So first I'll select a red color
sampling it out of the image using the
| | 04:23 | Eyedropper tool as I showed you
how to do in an earlier movie.
| | 04:26 | With that tool, I'll just click
on top of the red, and that becomes
| | 04:30 | the foreground color.
| | 04:31 | Then I'll select the Brush tool in the toolbar.
| | 04:34 | I'll move into the image. I want to
make the brush smaller, so it's about the
| | 04:38 | same size as these lines.
| | 04:40 | So I'll press my Left Bracket key a
couple of times, and then I'm going to
| | 04:44 | draw an arrow here.
| | 04:48 | That arrow is located on the Arrow layer.
| | 04:50 | So if I hold the Option key and click
on the Eye icon on the Arrow layer, you
| | 04:55 | can see that that is the
only content of the Arrow layer.
| | 04:57 | I'll hold the Option key, and
click on the Eye icon again.
| | 05:00 | Now how do you delete a layer?
| | 05:02 | So let's say I decide I don't want
that entire layer that has the arrow.
| | 05:06 | I really don't like that.
| | 05:08 | I can delete that layer by clicking and
holding and dragging the layer down here
| | 05:12 | to the Trash icon at the
bottom of the layers panel.
| | 05:16 | Now the layer has gone as well as its content.
| | 05:18 | Next I want to talk about the
stacking order of layers in the layers panel.
| | 05:22 | The order in which the layers are
stacked here affects the order of the way the
| | 05:26 | content is arranged in the image.
| | 05:28 | To show you that, I am going to click
on the Palm Tree layer to select it.
| | 05:31 | Then I'm going to get the Move tool,
I'm going to click inside of the bounding
| | 05:35 | box that surround the content of the
Palm Tree layer and I am going to drag the
| | 05:39 | palm tree over here behind the sign.
| | 05:42 | Now the reason that the palm tree
appears behind the sign in the image is that
| | 05:47 | the Palm Tree layer is beneath
the Sign layer in the layers panel.
| | 05:51 | I can change the stacking order if I
click-and-drag on the Palm Tree layer in
| | 05:55 | the layers panel, and I drag it above
the Sign layer and then release my mouse
| | 06:00 | when the border at the top of the
layers stack gets a little thick like this.
| | 06:04 | The Palm Tree layer is now above the
Sign layer in the layers panel, and here in
| | 06:08 | the image, the palm tree
is now in front of the sign.
| | 06:11 | If I go the other way dragging the
palm tree beneath the Sign layer, and when
| | 06:16 | the border lights up down here
releasing my mouse, now the Sign layer is above
| | 06:20 | the Palm Tree layer in the layers panel,
and now in the image, the content of
| | 06:23 | the Sign layer is in front of the
content of the Palm Tree layer, and both are
| | 06:28 | in front of the content of the Background layer.
| | 06:30 | One last thing I want to tell you about
the layers panel, and that has to do
| | 06:33 | with this Background layer.
| | 06:35 | Notice that it look slightly different
than the other two layers, in that it
| | 06:39 | has a lock on it, and it's
name Background is in italics.
| | 06:42 | By default when you open a photograph,
you usually get only one layer with a
| | 06:47 | name Background like this, and the
Background layer acts differently than
| | 06:50 | other kinds of layers.
| | 06:52 | For one thing you cannot move the Background
layer in the stacking order. It just won't go.
| | 06:57 | For another, if you erase the Background
layer it acts differently than the other layers.
| | 07:00 | I am going to get the Eraser tool and
I'm going to click on the Sign layer, and
| | 07:06 | then I'm going to start erasing and as
you can see that eliminates the content
| | 07:10 | of the selected Sign layer.
| | 07:14 | If I show you that content now by
holding the Option key and clicking on the
| | 07:17 | Visibility field for the Sign layer,
you can see that where there was a flag,
| | 07:21 | there are now transparent pixels.
| | 07:24 | I'll hold the Option key, and click on
that Eye icon again to turn the other
| | 07:27 | layers back on, but the
Background layer acts differently.
| | 07:31 | If I select the Background layer
and I start erasing, I do not get
| | 07:34 | transparent pixels, instead I get
whatever color happens to be in the
| | 07:38 | background color box in the toolbar.
| | 07:40 | I also can't move the content of the
Background layer like I can the content
| | 07:44 | of the other layers.
| | 07:46 | So if I get the Move tool and I try to drag
in the Background layer, nothing happens.
| | 07:51 | So for those reasons, the
Background layer can trip you up.
| | 07:54 | If you need to do something to the
Background layer, and you can't, the way
| | 07:58 | around that is to change it into a
regular layer and the way that you change the
| | 08:01 | Background layer to a
regular layer is kind of odd.
| | 08:04 | You may not anticipate this.
| | 08:06 | You double-click the layer name Background.
| | 08:09 | That opens the New layer dialog box.
| | 08:11 | I could leave the name here at its
default layer 0, or I could type another name
| | 08:16 | here, like Beach Scene and click OK,
and that not only renames the Background
| | 08:23 | layer, it turns it into a regular layer.
| | 08:25 | So now with the Move tool, I can move
its content, with the Eraser tool, I
| | 08:32 | can erase that layer to transparency, and I can
change its stacking order in the layers panel.
| | 08:38 | So with those essential layers panel
features under your belt, you can start to
| | 08:42 | build yourself some really
interesting layered compositions.
| | 08:44 | In the next movie, I am going to show
you how you can bring one image into
| | 08:48 | another and blend layers
together using a Faux layer Mask.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Combining images with layer masks| 00:00 | One of the techniques for which I get
the most requests in Elements is to learn
| | 00:04 | how to join images together, to
make new layered compositions.
| | 00:08 | To do that I am going to show you how
you can fake a layer Mask to make a joint
| | 00:12 | image look really professional.
| | 00:13 | First, I am going to set things up here.
| | 00:16 | I have two images open, each
in a floating document window.
| | 00:19 | I will move those apart a little so
you can see them by clicking on the Title
| | 00:22 | Bar of the plant image with the Move
tool selected in the toolbar and dragging.
| | 00:27 | Now, both images are too big to fit on
my screen, so I am going to zoom out by
| | 00:31 | selecting the Zoom tool, clicking the
Minus symbol in the Options bar, and
| | 00:36 | putting a checkmark next
to Resize Windows To Fit.
| | 00:39 | Then I am going to click twice in the
plant image and drag it over to the side.
| | 00:44 | I will do the same in the lizard image,
clicking twice, and now I can see both images.
| | 00:50 | Before I start to combine these images,
let's take a look at the layers in each image.
| | 00:54 | With the document window for the lizard.
jpg, the active one, notice that there's
| | 00:59 | a single layer in the Layers panel.
| | 01:01 | It's called the Background layer.
| | 01:02 | I will click on the Title Bar of the
plant image and notice that it also has
| | 01:06 | a single image and notice that it also has
a single layer, its own Background layer.
| | 01:11 | Notice that I am leaving both images
in floating document windows like this.
| | 01:16 | I think that's easier than combining images
when the images are docked into tabs like this.
| | 01:22 | If that happens to you, you can undock
the images by going up to the Arrange
| | 01:26 | Documents menu here, clicking, and
choosing Float All in Windows, and then
| | 01:31 | dragging the two images apart.
| | 01:32 | Now, the first step in combining these
images is to drag one into the other.
| | 01:37 | So I am going to drag the
plant image into the lizard image.
| | 01:40 | To do that, I will select
the Move tool in the toolbox.
| | 01:43 | I will click on the plant image to make
it active and then I will click and hold
| | 01:47 | in the plant image and
drag into the lizard image.
| | 01:51 | Notice that there is a faint gray border
appearing, as I move my mouse over the lizard image.
| | 01:57 | When I see that border, I can release
the mouse and the plant image now appears
| | 02:01 | on top of the lizard in the lizard image.
| | 02:04 | If you take a look at the Layers panel,
you will see that that's created a brand
| | 02:07 | new layer automatically called layer 1.
| | 02:10 | So that's one way to do it, and now
with layer 1 selected and the Move tool
| | 02:14 | selected, I could move that layer into place.
| | 02:16 | But I am going to Undo, pressing Command
+Z a couple of times, until there is no
| | 02:21 | layer 1 in the lizard image, because I
want to show you a way that you can drag
| | 02:25 | one image into another and
have them automatically line up.
| | 02:29 | So I am going to do that again, I will
click once on the plant image, then I
| | 02:33 | will click and hold and start
dragging into the lizard image.
| | 02:36 | When I see that light gray bounding box
, I am going to press and hold the Shift
| | 02:40 | key on my keyboard and then continue
dragging and then release my mouse.
| | 02:44 | This time when the plant comes into the
lizard image, its layer is aligned with
| | 02:49 | the Background layer.
| | 02:50 | If these layers weren't exactly the
same size, then the plant layer would be
| | 02:54 | centered on top of the lizard layer.
| | 02:56 | Now that I have both images together
in one document, I can close the plant
| | 03:00 | image, so I will click on it once and then I
will click the red button to close the plant.
| | 03:05 | Then I am going to take that lizard
image and drag it over here, and I am going
| | 03:09 | to make it bigger by
double-clicking the Zoom tool.
| | 03:11 | Now take a look at the Layers panel
and you will see the two layers, layer 1
| | 03:15 | that contains the plant and the
Background layer that contains the lizard.
| | 03:19 | I am gong to rename the plant layer by
double-clicking the default layer 1 name
| | 03:24 | and typing 'plant', and then
clicking off of that text-editing field.
| | 03:27 | So now what's happening is that the
content of the plant layer is completely
| | 03:31 | obscuring the content of
the Background layer below.
| | 03:35 | I don't want that, instead I want to
blend the lizard from the Background layer.
| | 03:39 | I will show you that by holding the
Option key and clicking the Eye icon on the
| | 03:43 | Background layer, and I will do that
again with the plant on the top layer.
| | 03:48 | So for that I need to use a layer Mask.
| | 03:50 | Now unfortunately, in Elements, there
is no direct way to create a layer Mask,
| | 03:56 | but there is a workaround, and
that's what I am going to show you now.
| | 03:59 | The first step in creating what I call a
faux layer Mask is to select the bottom
| | 04:05 | layer here, so I will click on the
Background layer in the Layers panel.
| | 04:09 | Next I am going to create
what's called an Adjustment layer.
| | 04:12 | Now, normally Adjustment layers are
used to correct photo characteristics,
| | 04:16 | like lighting or color in an image,
but I am going to use an Adjustment layer
| | 04:20 | for another purpose, to make use of the layer
Mask that comes with every Adjustment layer.
| | 04:25 | To create an Adjustment layer above the
Background layer, I will go down to this
| | 04:28 | black and white circle icon at
the bottom of the Layers panel.
| | 04:31 | I will click and that brings
up a menu of Adjustment layers.
| | 04:35 | I can use Levels, Brightness, Hue/
Saturation, any that I want, because I am not
| | 04:39 | really going to use any of
the controls in this adjustment.
| | 04:42 | So I will just select the
Levels Adjustment layer.
| | 04:44 | That brings up the Adjustments layer,
which I really don't need and causes the
| | 04:48 | Layers panel to collapse.
| | 04:49 | So that I can see the layers
panel better, I am going to close the
| | 04:53 | Adjustments panel by clicking the
panel menu on the right of the Adjustments
| | 04:57 | panel and choosing Close.
| | 05:00 | Then I will double-click the layers
panel, and to give more room to layers
| | 05:03 | panel, I move my mouse over the
border between the Layers panel and this
| | 05:07 | Effects panel about it, and then my
mouse changes to a double-pointed arrow and
| | 05:10 | I am going to drag up.
| | 05:15 | Now you can see that above the Background
layer is a brand new layer called Levels.
| | 05:20 | This layer has two thumbnails on it.
| | 05:22 | It has one thumbnail on the left,
representing a potential levels
| | 05:26 | adjustment, and another on the right,
representing the layer Mask that comes
| | 05:30 | with all Adjustment layers.
| | 05:31 | I will tell you more about Adjustment
layers later when I am discussing how to
| | 05:35 | adjust photo qualities of an image.
| | 05:37 | But for now I would like you to focus
on this layer Mask, which I am going to
| | 05:40 | use to make my composite image.
| | 05:43 | First of all, I am going to clip the
Levels layer, the one with the layer Mask
| | 05:47 | to the layer about it, the plant layer.
| | 05:49 | The way that I am going to do that is
to hold down the Option key and move my
| | 05:53 | mouse over the border between the
Levels layer and the plant layer.
| | 05:56 | When I get right on top of the border,
the cursor changes to this double-circle
| | 06:01 | icon, and at that point I am going to click.
| | 06:03 | Notice that the plant layer is now
indented to the right, and there is a very
| | 06:07 | faint bent arrow to the left of the
thumbnail, indicating that the plant layer
| | 06:12 | is now clipped to the Levels layer.
| | 06:14 | The underline under the Levels layer
name is another indication that these two
| | 06:18 | layers are clipped together.
| | 06:20 | Now I am going to make sure that I
have selected the layer Mask on the Levels
| | 06:23 | layer, and I see that I have because there
is a double border around the layer Mask.
| | 06:28 | Next, I am going to go over to the
toolbar and I am going to click the
| | 06:31 | double-pointed arrow to make it a
double column toolbar, so that I can see the
| | 06:35 | foreground and background color
boxes at the bottom of the toolbar.
| | 06:38 | When I have the layer Mask selected,
the only possible colors in these boxes
| | 06:42 | will be black, white, or gray, and that's
because a layer Mask is a Grayscale element.
| | 06:48 | I want to foreground color to be black.
| | 06:50 | If it isn't, I will press the D key
on my keyboard to set the foreground
| | 06:54 | color to a pure white, and then the X key,
and that sets the foreground color to black.
| | 06:58 | Then I am going to get the
Brush tool in the toolbar.
| | 07:01 | I will move into the image, and I am
going to press the Right Bracket key, until
| | 07:04 | my brush is really big, like this.
| | 07:07 | I also want to hold the Shift key
and press the Left Bracket key so that
| | 07:10 | my Brush Tip is soft.
| | 07:11 | Now I am going to paint with black
directly on the mask that's on the Levels layer.
| | 07:16 | As I do that, that mask will be hiding
the content of the plant layer wherever I
| | 07:21 | paint, allowing the content of the
Background layer below to show through.
| | 07:27 | So now I can see the lizard over here
on the left, and I can see the plant
| | 07:31 | over here on the right.
| | 07:33 | So that you understand what is
happening, I am going to go over to the layers
| | 07:36 | panel and I am going to hold down the
Option key on the keyboard, and I am going
| | 07:40 | to click on that layer Mask on the Levels layer.
| | 07:42 | That reveals the layer Mask
here in the document window.
| | 07:45 | I am going to make my brush a little
smaller so it's not in the way, by pressing
| | 07:48 | the Left Bracket key.
| | 07:50 | You can see that where I painted with
black on this layer Mask is the area
| | 07:54 | that's hidden on the plant layer, and
where I left the layer Mask white, the
| | 07:59 | plant layer is still displayed, and
where there are some gray pixels in
| | 08:03 | between caused by the soft edge of the
brush, the content of the plant layer
| | 08:07 | is partially visible.
| | 08:09 | So I will Option+Click again on that layer
Mask, so that you can see the blended image.
| | 08:15 | So that's one way to do it is to
use the Brush tool with a soft edge.
| | 08:18 | I am going to undo that to show you what
I think is a better way, and that is to
| | 08:22 | use a black to white gradient on the
layer Mask to blend these two images.
| | 08:26 | So I am going to hold the Command key
and click the Z key once, and that removes
| | 08:31 | the black paint from the layer Mask.
| | 08:33 | I still have my Levels Adjustment layer
here, and I still have the plant layer
| | 08:37 | clipped to the Levels Adjustment layer.
| | 08:39 | This time I am going to go over to the
toolbar and click on this tool, the Gradient tool.
| | 08:43 | Up in the Options bar for the
Gradient tool, I can see a representation of
| | 08:47 | the gradient I am about to draw, which
will be black on the left and white on
| | 08:51 | the right. By default, the gradient is set to
show the foreground color and the background color.
| | 08:57 | If your gradient isn't black and white
like this, click on the Gradient here in
| | 09:00 | the Options bar to open the Gradient
Editor and make sure the first preset is
| | 09:05 | selected right here, and then click OK.
| | 09:07 | Now I am going to come into the
image, with the Gradient tool.
| | 09:10 | I am going to start over on the left
and I am going to click and drag a line,
| | 09:15 | and the length and the direction of the
line will determine the gradient that I draw.
| | 09:19 | I am going to stop in about the middle
of the image and that draws a gradient
| | 09:22 | that's dark over here, so part of
the plant layer is being obscured over
| | 09:27 | here, and then it's fading into gray,
so there's some part of the plant layer
| | 09:31 | that's partially visible.
| | 09:32 | And then where the gradient on the
layer Mask is white, the plant layer is
| | 09:36 | completely visible,
obscuring the Background layer.
| | 09:39 | Now, I really don't like that
result, so I am going to try again.
| | 09:42 | You can draw this gradient
line as many times as you wish.
| | 09:45 | So I will start on the left and I will
click and drag, and this time I am going
| | 09:48 | to go further, all the way
over where the red plant is.
| | 09:51 | That shows more of the lizard,
obscuring more of the plant because there's
| | 09:55 | more black area here.
| | 09:57 | I can fine tune this with the Brush
tool, selecting it, making sure that I
| | 10:01 | have black as my foreground color,
moving into the image and maybe making my
| | 10:05 | brush a little bigger.
| | 10:07 | Holding the Shift key and pressing the
Left Bracket key to make sure that the
| | 10:10 | brush is soft, and then painting where
I want to be sure to see that lizard.
| | 10:17 | I think that this method creates a
softer blend between the two images.
| | 10:21 | I will show you the layer Mask so you
can understand why it's working the way
| | 10:24 | that it is, by holding down the Option
key and clicking on the layer Mask on the
| | 10:28 | Levels layer in the Layers panel.
| | 10:30 | So here you can see the soft gradient
between black, that's hiding the plant
| | 10:34 | layer, white, that's displaying the
plant layer, and the grays that are
| | 10:38 | partially displaying the plant layer.
| | 10:40 | And then the area where I painted with
black over the lizard to make sure that
| | 10:44 | that area of the plant layer is
completely obscured so the lizard shows through.
| | 10:48 | I will hold the Option key and I will click
again on the layer Mask on the Levels layer.
| | 10:53 | So that's how you can create a faux
layer Mask, to make a professional looking
| | 10:57 | blended composition from
multiple images like these.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
9. Making SelectionsUnderstanding selections| 00:00 | There are times when you are
going to want to act on just part of a
| | 00:03 | photograph or another image, but if
you don't have multiple layers in the
| | 00:06 | image, that's difficult to do.
| | 00:08 | That's where selections come in.
| | 00:10 | Selections allow you to isolate part
of an image and work on just that part,
| | 00:14 | without disturbing the rest of the image.
| | 00:16 | This movie is an introduction to
selections, to show you why they come in handy,
| | 00:20 | and then I will go into more detail
about making and using selections in the
| | 00:24 | rest of this chapter.
| | 00:25 | So here, let's say that I want to change
the color of just this pink balloon and
| | 00:30 | nothing else in the image.
| | 00:32 | There's only a single layer in the
image, so I can't rely on layers to
| | 00:35 | isolate the pink balloon.
| | 00:37 | Instead I will make a selection
that contains just the pink balloon.
| | 00:41 | There are lots of different Selection
tools and methods, and I will cover some
| | 00:44 | of those in the movies to come.
| | 00:46 | For now I am going to use one of my
favorite selection tools, the Quick
| | 00:49 | Selection tool, which is
located right here in the toolbox.
| | 00:55 | Be sure to get the Quick Selection tool and
not the Selection Brush tool for this example.
| | 01:00 | With this tool, I will move into the
image and I am going to make my brush
| | 01:03 | smaller, because the Selection Brush tool
tends to work better with the small brush.
| | 01:07 | So I will press the Left Bracket key a
couple of times, and then I am going to
| | 01:11 | click on top of the pink
balloon and start dragging over it.
| | 01:16 | The Quick Selection tool
immediately moves ahead of me and creates this
| | 01:20 | selection around just the pink balloon.
| | 01:22 | Its selected the balloon based on its
color and its tone, and it's even able to
| | 01:26 | recognize the edges of the balloon.
| | 01:28 | The animated dashes that you see
here are called marching ants, and they
| | 01:33 | represent the boundary of a selection.
| | 01:35 | Now when I take some kind of action on
this image, it will affect only the area
| | 01:39 | inside the marching ants.
| | 01:40 | What I would like to do is to fill the
selection with a color other than pink.
| | 01:44 | To do that I am going to go up to the Edit
menu, I am going to go down to Fill Selection.
| | 01:50 | That opens this dialog box, where I can
choose the color with which to fill the selection.
| | 01:55 | I will go to the Use menu to do that,
and I have a choice between whatever
| | 01:59 | colors are in the Foreground or
Background Color boxes, the choice to fill with
| | 02:04 | a Pattern or with Black, Gray, or White.
| | 02:07 | There's also a choice here Color, so I am
going to click that to open the Color Picker.
| | 02:12 | In the Color Picker, I will use the
sliders on this bar to move up to the blue
| | 02:16 | area, as I showed you how to do earlier.
| | 02:19 | Then in the area on the left, I am
going to choose a shade of light blue with
| | 02:23 | which to fill, and then I am going
to click OK to close the Color Picker.
| | 02:27 | Back in the Fill dialog box, I want to
be sure to come down to the Blending mode
| | 02:32 | menu and change it from Normal to Multiply.
| | 02:36 | That will change the formula with which
the blue color will blend with the tones
| | 02:41 | in the pink balloon.
| | 02:42 | If I just left that at Normal, I would
get a really solid graphic blue here,
| | 02:47 | instead of a blue that lets
the photograph show through.
| | 02:50 | Now I am ready to click OK to fill the
selection with blue, and that's the result.
| | 02:55 | The blue blends with the pink on the
underlying layer to give me this purple
| | 02:58 | color, and I can even see the
highlights in the balloon, all because I chose
| | 03:02 | that Multiply Blend mode.
| | 03:04 | Now, I still have the
marching ants around the selection.
| | 03:07 | How do you get rid of
marching ants? You deselect.
| | 03:10 | One way to deselect is to move up to
the Select menu at the top of the screen
| | 03:14 | and choose Deselect.
| | 03:15 | But this is a command you are going to
use so often that I strongly recommend
| | 03:19 | that you memorize the keyboard shortcut
for Deselect, which is Command+D. Either
| | 03:24 | way the marching ants disappear
and the selection is now gone.
| | 03:28 | So the beauty of selections is that
they allow you to work on just part of an
| | 03:32 | image without affecting the rest of the
image, regardless of whether or not your
| | 03:36 | artwork is isolated on separate layers.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Manual selection tools| 00:00 | There are a number of different
methods and tools for selecting an area in a
| | 00:04 | photograph in the Full Edit workspace.
| | 00:06 | The selection methods fall into two
categories, those that are manual and
| | 00:10 | those that are automatic.
| | 00:12 | In this movie, I will cover
some manual selection methods.
| | 00:15 | The Selection tools are located in the
toolbar in this second section right here.
| | 00:19 | I am going to start with
the Rectangular Marquee tool.
| | 00:22 | This tool right here,
clicking on it in the toolbar.
| | 00:25 | And then I will move into the
image and I'm going to click and drag a
| | 00:29 | rectangular selection
around some of these tiles.
| | 00:34 | After I draw the selection, as long as
I still have a Selection tool selected
| | 00:38 | in the toolbar, I can move the selection
boundary by clicking inside of it and dragging.
| | 00:43 | Notice that I didn't use the Move tool.
| | 00:46 | If I take the Move tool and I try to
move a selection, it actually moves the
| | 00:49 | content of the selection along with the
boundary and that isn't what I want it to do.
| | 00:53 | So I am going to press Command+D to undo.
| | 00:56 | Then I will go back and get the
Rectangular Marquee tool that I can use to move
| | 01:00 | just the selection boundary.
| | 01:02 | If I want to reshape the selection after
I make it, I can do that by going up to
| | 01:06 | the Select menu and
choosing Transform Selection.
| | 01:10 | That adds this bounding box with
anchor points around the selection.
| | 01:13 | I can click on any of the borders and
drag to modify the shape of the selection.
| | 01:22 | This is one way to get a selection
boundary to be more true fit around
| | 01:26 | particular content like these tiles.
| | 01:28 | When I like the results, I will
click the checkmark right here.
| | 01:31 | Now let's talk about making another selection.
| | 01:34 | Now, I want to show you what happens if
I click and drag to make a new selection.
| | 01:38 | With any of these Selection tools
selected in the toolbox, if I click and drag,
| | 01:45 | the initial selection goes
away and I have a new selection.
| | 01:49 | That's because by default, in the
Selection tools Options bar, this first icon
| | 01:54 | Make a New Selection is highlighted by default.
| | 01:57 | I am going to show you how you can
add to and subtract from and make
| | 02:01 | intersecting selections in a later movie.
| | 02:03 | But I didn't want you to be surprised
by the fact that your initial selection
| | 02:07 | will go away by default when
you create another selection.
| | 02:10 | How do you make a square selection
using the Rectangular Marquee tool?
| | 02:14 | I am going to deselect by pressing
Command+D on my keyboard, and I'm going to
| | 02:18 | make a selection that's constrained
to a square shape using this tool.
| | 02:22 | To do that, I will press the Shift key
on my keyboard, and then I will click and
| | 02:26 | drag, and the selection that I draw, no
matter how big it is, will be a square.
| | 02:31 | Again I'll deselect by pressing Command+
D. Another useful manual Selection tool
| | 02:36 | that draws geometric shapes is here
behind the Lasso tool in the toolbox, and
| | 02:42 | that's the Polygonal Lasso tool.
| | 02:43 | I will select that and then I am going
to come into the image and use it to draw
| | 02:49 | a straight-sided selection.
| | 02:50 | With the Polygonal Lasso, I could
draw any straight edge selections like a
| | 02:54 | triangle or a diamond or a pentagon.
| | 02:57 | I will click at one point of this
diamond, and I'm not pressing down on my
| | 03:00 | mouse, I am just moving my mouse,
creating this thread, I will go to another
| | 03:05 | point of the diamond and I will click
and then I'll release the mouse, go to
| | 03:09 | another point and click, release,
click and when I get back to the
| | 03:13 | beginning, there is a tiny little
circle next to the tool icon, meaning that
| | 03:17 | I'm at the beginning.
| | 03:18 | So I will click and that closes the selection.
| | 03:21 | Back in the toolbar, notice that
there are two other Lasso tools.
| | 03:25 | There is the regular Lasso tool which
draws free-form selections like this, and
| | 03:31 | I don't use that one very often because
I find it hard to draw accurately using
| | 03:35 | a mouse but sometimes it comes in handy
to just fill in the edge of a selection
| | 03:38 | I've made with another Selection tool.
| | 03:40 | There is also a Magnetic Lasso tool here.
| | 03:43 | To show you that, I'm going to bring
up another image that's open here in the
| | 03:46 | Project Bin, this
photograph of portholes on a ship.
| | 03:49 | I will double-click that photograph in
the Project Bin to appear here in the
| | 03:54 | Document Editing area.
| | 03:55 | I am going to zoom in by selecting the
Zoom tool, making sure the Plus symbol is
| | 03:59 | selected in the Options Bar and
then clicking in this porthole here.
| | 04:03 | I have the Magnetic Lasso tool
selected and with that tool, I am going to
| | 04:07 | come in and click on the edge of this
porthole, and then I'm going to release my mouse.
| | 04:12 | So I'm not pressing down on the mouse,
I am just going to move my mouse around
| | 04:16 | the edge of the porthole, and the
Magnetic Lasso automatically pins these
| | 04:20 | anchor points through the edge where
it sees contrast between the dark window
| | 04:29 | and the light ship.
| | 04:31 | Now, sometimes it may make a little error.
| | 04:33 | For example here it's
snapped a point away from the edge.
| | 04:37 | If I need to delete that, I just
press the Delete key on my keyboard, and I
| | 04:41 | back up a few points.
| | 04:44 | If I want to, I can click and put my own
anchor points down to help the tool out a little.
| | 04:49 | When I get back to the first anchor point,
I see this little tiny circle next to
| | 04:54 | the tool icon, which means
I'm back at the beginning.
| | 04:57 | So I will click to close that selection.
| | 04:59 | The Magnetic Lasso tool works best
along an edge where there is a lot of
| | 05:03 | contrast between light and dark.
| | 05:05 | I am going to deselect by pressing
Command+D on the keyboard to show you another
| | 05:09 | way to make a circular or oval selection
and that's using the Elliptical Marquee
| | 05:13 | tool, which is in the toolbar
behind the Rectangular Marquee tool.
| | 05:17 | I am going to click on the edge of
this porthole, and then I'm going to hold
| | 05:21 | down the Shift key to constrain the
selection I am going to draw to a circle.
| | 05:25 | Then I'll start dragging to create a
circle but notice that it isn't fitting up
| | 05:30 | against the edge of the porthole.
| | 05:32 | So I still have my mouse and the Shift
key held down, and I'm going to turn my
| | 05:36 | hand and with my thumb, I'm going to
press down the Spacebar on my keyboard, and
| | 05:41 | then I'm going to drag to the left
which moves the selection back over toward
| | 05:47 | the edge of the porthole.
| | 05:49 | Then keeping my mouse and the Shift
key down, I am going to release just my
| | 05:53 | thumb from the Spacebar, and now I
can drag out the rest of the porthole.
| | 05:57 | Again, I can press down on the Spacebar
with the Shift key and the mouse still
| | 06:01 | held down and push up this way and
then I release the mouse and finally, I
| | 06:05 | release the Shift key in that order.
| | 06:07 | So that's kind of hard to do, but it's
often successful in getting a circular
| | 06:12 | selection or an oval
selection right where you want it.
| | 06:15 | If that's too hard, you can always just
draw a so-so selection and then use the
| | 06:20 | select Transform Selection Command,
which I showed you earlier in this movie to
| | 06:24 | try to get the selection
to better fit the content.
| | 06:27 | There is one more Manual tool that
I want to show you and that is the
| | 06:31 | Selection Brush tool.
| | 06:32 | That's located in the toolbox here
behind the Quick Selection tool, which I
| | 06:37 | showed you in the last movie.
| | 06:38 | The Selection Brush tool
allows you to draw in a selection.
| | 06:42 | I find this tool most useful for
drawing in a little bit extra where I
| | 06:46 | have tried to make a selection with another
tool but haven't exactly gotten it perfect.
| | 06:50 | So I will select the Selection Brush tool.
| | 06:52 | I will move into the image, I'm going
to make my brush really small by pressing
| | 06:57 | the Left Bracket key and then I can
just click and drag if I have a sure hand
| | 07:04 | with the Selection Brush tool.
| | 07:06 | And it's just like drawing in a
selection along this edge and maybe I will do a
| | 07:10 | little bit over here as well, like that.
| | 07:15 | So that's how to use Manual Selection
tools to make selections including the
| | 07:20 | Elliptical Marquee tool, the
Rectangular Marquee tool, the Lasso tool, the
| | 07:25 | Magnetic Lasso tool, and the Polygonal
Lasso tool, and the Selection Brush tool.
| | 07:31 | In the next movie, I will cover
some more automatic selection methods.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Automatic selection tools| 00:00 | There are a couple of selection tools
in elements that select automatically on
| | 00:04 | the basis of color and tone and those
are the Magic Wand tool and the newer and
| | 00:09 | often more effective, Quick Selection tool.
| | 00:11 | I will show the Magic Wand tool by
selecting it in the toolbar and then I'm
| | 00:15 | going to go into the image with all of
the Magic Wand options at their defaults
| | 00:18 | and click in this area of the sky to
see if I can select the entire sky.
| | 00:22 | Well, the Magic Wand didn't do a very
good job of that. What the tool does is
| | 00:27 | looks at the pixel on which I've
clicked and then selects a range of pixels of
| | 00:31 | similar color and tone.
| | 00:33 | There are a couple of things that I
can do with a Magic Wand to try to get
| | 00:36 | a better selection.
| | 00:37 | So I'm going to deselect by pressing
Command+D on the keyboard and then I'm
| | 00:41 | going to go up to the Options bar
for the Magic Wand and I'm going to
| | 00:44 | uncheck Contiguous.
| | 00:46 | When contiguous is checked, the Magic
Wand will only select pixels that are
| | 00:50 | adjacent to one another in the image.
| | 00:52 | With contiguous unchecked, it
should select more pixels across the sky.
| | 00:57 | I go back again and I click in
approximately the same area and it did actually
| | 01:02 | select more pixels, but it
didn't select the entire sky.
| | 01:06 | So I'll try something else, I'll
deselect by pressing Command+D and this time in
| | 01:11 | the Options bar, I'm going
to go to the Tolerance field.
| | 01:14 | By default the Tolerance of this tool
is set, so that it selects 32 levels
| | 01:19 | of tonal values on either side of the
tonal value of the pixel on which I've clicked.
| | 01:24 | If I increase this number,
it should select more pixels.
| | 01:28 | So I'll highlight 32 and I'll
just take a guess and type in 30.
| | 01:33 | That's one of the troubles with the Magic Wand.
| | 01:35 | It's really hard to predict what
setting to use for tolerance and what pixels
| | 01:40 | the tool is going to select.
| | 01:41 | Now I'll come in and I'll try one more
time and this time I see that I almost
| | 01:46 | got the entire sky in my selection.
| | 01:48 | I think the easiest way to get the rest
of the sky in this case is to go down to
| | 01:52 | the bottom right of the document window
and click and drag to make the document
| | 01:56 | window a little bigger, so I have this
area to work with around the photo.
| | 01:59 | Then I'm going to go and select the
Lasso tool, I am going to set to Lasso to
| | 02:04 | add to the existing selection by
clicking the second icon up here in the Options
| | 02:09 | bar and then I'm going to just click
and draw a big freehand selection around
| | 02:15 | all those missing pixels.
| | 02:17 | Those are all that included in the selection.
| | 02:20 | So as you can see the Magic Wand tool
requires a lot of trial and error and some
| | 02:25 | creative tactics to get it to work well.
| | 02:28 | But by contrast, the Quick
Selection tool can often do a better job.
| | 02:32 | I showed you this tool in an earlier
movie, but it's worth showing again because
| | 02:35 | it works so well on so many images.
| | 02:38 | I am going to deselect by pressing
Command+D and then I am going to click on a
| | 02:42 | Quick Selection tool and I'll come into
the sky and I am going to start to click
| | 02:46 | and drag and the selection
moves right ahead in front of me.
| | 02:50 | Selecting on the basis of color and
tone, but also looking for edges and
| | 02:55 | that's what makes it work so well,
particularly where there are some high contrast edges.
| | 03:00 | So that's a look at the Magic Wand
tool and the Quick Selection tool, both of
| | 03:04 | which you can use to automatically
select on the basis of color and tone.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Refining a selection| 00:00 | Some of these Selection tools have a
special option for refining the edge of
| | 00:05 | a selection boundary.
| | 00:06 | One of these tools is the Quick Selection tool.
| | 00:08 | I am going to get the Quick Selection
tool in the toolbar and I'll make a quick
| | 00:12 | selection of the land here by
clicking and dragging with that tool.
| | 00:15 | I'd like to fill the selected area with
white by going up to the Edit menu and
| | 00:20 | down to fill selection.
| | 00:22 | I'll make sure that Blending mode is set
to normal and I go to the use field and
| | 00:26 | I'm going to choose
white and then I'll click OK.
| | 00:29 | Now I'm going to teach you a trick for
hiding a selection without deleting it,
| | 00:33 | just so that I can see pass these
marching ants, I'm going to press the Command
| | 00:38 | key and the H key on my keyboard.
| | 00:40 | I did that so that you can see
that the edge of that selection is
| | 00:43 | actually rather rough.
| | 00:45 | If I wanted a smoother selection here, I
could try to use the Refine Edge command.
| | 00:49 | So I'm going to undo the fill by
pressing Command+Z and then I'm going to bring
| | 00:54 | back my hidden selection by pressing
Command+H. Now I am going to refine the
| | 00:59 | edge of that selection by going to the Options bar,
for the Quick Selection tool and clicking Refine Edge.
| | 01:05 | I find the same option by the way in
the Magic Wand tool's Option bar, in the
| | 01:12 | Lasso tool's Options bar, in the
Polygonal Lasso tool's Options bar and up in
| | 01:21 | the Select menu by choosing Refine Edge.
| | 01:24 | Any of those methods open
the Refine Edge dialog box.
| | 01:28 | The first thing to notice here is that
there are several ways to preview the
| | 01:31 | edge of the selection.
| | 01:32 | The standard way shows
the marching ants like this.
| | 01:35 | But I'm going to click on this other
icon, the Red icon, which displays the
| | 01:40 | selection in the image not as marching
ants, but rather as a mask, with this
| | 01:45 | red overlay over the non-selected area
of the sky and with the selected area
| | 01:49 | without an overlay.
| | 01:50 | I have done that because now I can
see where the edge of my selection is
| | 01:54 | impinging on the foreground elements here.
| | 01:57 | There are three sliders up here
that I can use to refine this edge.
| | 02:01 | I am going to take this smooth slider
and drag it to 0 and the Feather slider
| | 02:05 | and drag it to 0 and I'll leave Contract
/Expand at its default of 0 as well, so
| | 02:10 | that I can show you what these sliders do.
| | 02:12 | If I have a little halo at the edge of a
selection, as often occurs, I can try to
| | 02:17 | use the Contract and Expand
slider to get rid of that.
| | 02:20 | If I drag the Contract/Expand slider to the
left, notice that the selected area contracts.
| | 02:27 | So I see more of the mask that represents the
non-selected area at the edge of the mountains.
| | 02:32 | That isn't what I want in this case,
but I just wanted to show it to you.
| | 02:36 | I'll go back to the other way to
show you what happens when I expand.
| | 02:39 | Now I've expanded my selection of the
mountains, so that is impinging on the sky.
| | 02:44 | That isn't what I wanted either, I'm going
to put Contract/Expand back to 0 in this case.
| | 02:49 | I could try smoothing out the edge of
the selection by dragging the Smooth
| | 02:54 | slider to the right.
| | 02:55 | That really doesn't do too much in
this case, but notice when I move my mouse
| | 02:59 | over the Smooth slider, down in the
Description field, the bottom of Refine
| | 03:03 | Edge, I get an explanation
of what this control does.
| | 03:06 | It will help to remove any
jaggedy edges along a selection edge.
| | 03:10 | So if you do have jaggedy
edges, try the Smooth slider.
| | 03:13 | I am going to put that back and then
I'm going to try the Feather slider.
| | 03:18 | What Feather does, as described at the
bottom of the dialog box, is to soften the
| | 03:22 | selection edge with a blur.
| | 03:24 | I usually don't add too much feather
to a selection, but just a bit can blend
| | 03:29 | the selection, making it
softer and more realistic.
| | 03:33 | I'll click OK and that takes me back to
this view of the image with the marching ants.
| | 03:39 | Again I'm going to fill with White, Edit,
Fill Selection, click OK and I'll hide
| | 03:46 | my selection by pressing
Command+H on the keyboard.
| | 03:49 | As you can see, there's now much
softer edge along the selection border and I
| | 03:53 | could refine that selection even more by
going back into Refine Edge and working
| | 03:57 | with the sliders further.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Modifying and saving selections| 00:00 | There are often times when a single
initial selection won't be sufficient, so
| | 00:04 | I'd like to show you some ways that you
can modify your selections to make them
| | 00:07 | a little more complex.
| | 00:09 | I'll start by explaining these
icons up here in the Options bar.
| | 00:14 | You'll find these with
any of the selection tools.
| | 00:16 | The first icon creates a new
selection and will make your initial selection
| | 00:20 | disappear, as I explained earlier.
| | 00:22 | The next icon will add to a selection.
The next will subtract from a selection
| | 00:28 | and the next will select only
intersecting parts of multiple selections.
| | 00:32 | I am going to get the rectangular
Marquee tool from the toolbar and I am going
| | 00:36 | to come into this image and make
a selection around this blue tile.
| | 00:41 | Now let's say that I want
to add to this selection.
| | 00:44 | To do that, I'll go up to the Options
bar for the Rectangular Marquee and click
| | 00:48 | the Add to Selection icon here and
then I can come in and I can expand that
| | 00:53 | selection by clicking inside of it and
dragging off to the left and that makes
| | 00:58 | that selection bigger or I could add to
the selection elsewhere in the image in
| | 01:02 | nonadjacent areas like this.
| | 01:05 | Now let's say that I want to remove
part of the selection, to do that I'll
| | 01:09 | go up to the Subtract From Selection
icon and I can come into the image and
| | 01:14 | click and drag over part of an existing
selection to eliminate that part of the selection.
| | 01:18 | I can also eliminate this part as
well and then finally, there is the
| | 01:23 | intersecting selection icon here, which I
will select, and then I'll come into the
| | 01:27 | image, I'm going to draw a vertical
selection right in the middle of the
| | 01:31 | existing selection around this blue tile.
| | 01:33 | Now the only part that is selected is the
part that intersected those two selections.
| | 01:38 | I am going to deselect by pressing
Command+D and by the way there's also a
| | 01:42 | Reselect command up here in the Select menu.
| | 01:45 | So if I haven't made any other
selections in the meantime, I can choose Reselect
| | 01:50 | and that will bring back the last selection.
| | 01:52 | I am going to deselect again by
pressing Command+D on my keyboard.
| | 01:57 | Now I'd like to show you some of these
selection modification commands in the Select menu.
| | 02:01 | Let's say that I want to select all of
this tile. Rather than have to try to fit
| | 02:06 | a selection around the whole thing,
| | 02:08 | I can just make a small selection of
blue pixels in the tile and then go up to
| | 02:13 | the Select menu and choose Grow.
| | 02:16 | That causes the selection to expand to
encompass all of the adjacent pixels to
| | 02:21 | those that I'd selected that
are similar in color and tone.
| | 02:24 | Now let's say that I actually want to
try to select all of the blue tiles in
| | 02:28 | this image. This time, with a selection
of some of the blue tiles active, I'll go
| | 02:32 | up to the select menu and I'll choose Similar.
| | 02:36 | The program attempts to select all of
the blue pixels throughout the image that
| | 02:40 | are similar in color and tone
to those in my initial selection.
| | 02:43 | So you can see that that
command can save you a lot of work.
| | 02:47 | Now let's say that I've made a
relatively complex selection like this and I
| | 02:51 | don't want to spend the time
to reselect it in the future.
| | 02:54 | I can save any selection and bring it
back later, even after I saved and closed
| | 02:59 | the image and reopened it again.
| | 03:01 | To save this selection, I go up to the
Select menu at the top of the screen and
| | 03:05 | I'll choose Save Selection.
| | 03:07 | In the Save Selection dialog box
I will give the selection a name.
| | 03:10 | I call this one Blue tiles and in the
operation area, I'll leave New Selection
| | 03:15 | chosen and I'll click okay.
| | 03:18 | Now I'm going to deselect by pressing
Command+D. So let's say sometime in the
| | 03:22 | future I want to get that selection back.
| | 03:24 | All I have to do is go to the Select
menu, go down to Load Selection and in the
| | 03:29 | Load Selection dialog box choose the
correct selection from the selection menu
| | 03:34 | and their can be more then one save
selection in the same image and then I will
| | 03:38 | click OK and that brings
the selection right back.
| | 03:41 | So I don't have to spend
time and effort reselecting.
| | 03:43 | So try using some of the techniques I
have shown you here to modify your initial
| | 03:48 | selections, adding to selections,
subtracting from selections, growing
| | 03:53 | selections, making similar selections
of color and tone and when you're done,
| | 03:57 | saving your selections so that
you can bring them back later.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
10. Correcting PhotosUsing adjustment layers| 00:00 | This is a really exciting chapter.
| | 00:02 | It's all about how to correct your
photos in Elements' Full Edit Workspace.
| | 00:06 | In many of the movies in this chapter, I
will be showing you how to apply various
| | 00:10 | kinds of Adjustment layers.
| | 00:12 | In this movie, I would like to explain
what Adjustment layers are and why they
| | 00:15 | are preferable to making
direct adjustments on a photo.
| | 00:18 | Notice in the Layers panel that
I have two layers in this image.
| | 00:22 | I have a photo on the top layer.
| | 00:24 | I will hold down the Option key and
click on the Eye icon on that layer to show
| | 00:28 | you the content of the photo layer.
| | 00:30 | And then I will hold the Option key and
click on the Eye icon to the left of the
| | 00:34 | frame layer to show you what's on that
layer, the blue frame around the photo.
| | 00:38 | I will Option-Click that Eye icon on
the frame layer one more time to bring
| | 00:42 | back the photo layer.
| | 00:43 | Now, I want to adjust the photo on the
photo layer, making it a little brighter.
| | 00:48 | I could do that directly on the photo
layer by selecting the photo layer in the
| | 00:52 | Layers panel and then going up to the
Enhance menu, down to Adjust Lighting, and
| | 00:58 | choosing one of the lighting commands here.
| | 01:00 | I will try Brightness/Contrast.
| | 01:02 | Here in the Brightness/Contrast dialog
box, I might drag the Brightness slider
| | 01:06 | over to the right to brighten up
the entire photo, and then click OK.
| | 01:10 | But if I do it that way, I have made a
permanent change to the photo, and that's
| | 01:14 | something that I generally try to avoid.
| | 01:17 | Instead of making permanent
adjustments to image layers, I like to practice
| | 01:21 | what's called nondestructive editing,
where the photo or other image layers stay
| | 01:26 | in their initial state and all
corrections are done in a way that doesn't
| | 01:30 | permanently alter the photo.
| | 01:32 | A big part of a nondestructive
editing workflow is to use Adjustment layers
| | 01:37 | rather than direct adjustments,
as I just did on this photo layer.
| | 01:40 | So I am going to undo by pressing
Command+Z on my keyboard and the photo goes
| | 01:45 | back to being a little bit dark.
| | 01:46 | I can apply the same sort of adjustment,
a Brightness/Contrast adjustment as an
| | 01:50 | Adjustment layer, and here's how to do it.
| | 01:53 | First, I will select the photo layer
and then I will go down to the bottom of
| | 01:56 | the Layers panel, and I am going to
click this black and white circle icon to
| | 02:00 | bring up a menu of Adjustment layers.
| | 02:02 | One of those is Brightness/Contrast.
| | 02:04 | I am going to select the Brightness/
Contrast Adjustment layer, but basically
| | 02:08 | these other Adjustment layers work the same way.
| | 02:12 | That does two things.
| | 02:13 | First, it adds a new Brightness/
Contrast Adjustment layer above the selected
| | 02:18 | photo layer, and I will be making my
changes to Brightness and Contrast in a
| | 02:22 | separate Adjustment layer, and the
changes will affect everything on both layers
| | 02:27 | below, but they won't permanently
change the pixels on the photo layer as the
| | 02:31 | direct adjustment did.
| | 02:32 | The other thing that adding this
Adjustment layer did is that it opened the
| | 02:36 | Adjustments panel, where I can make
changes to Brightness and Contrast for
| | 02:41 | this Adjustment layer.
| | 02:42 | So down here I am going to take the
Brightness slider and drag to the right.
| | 02:46 | I get an immediate preview in my image,
so I can just place it where I think it
| | 02:50 | should be subjectively
looking at the document over here.
| | 02:53 | Now that I have an Adjustment layer there,
I want to tell you about the benefits
| | 02:58 | of using an Adjustment layer.
| | 03:00 | You have already heard about the first
one, which is that an Adjustment layer is
| | 03:03 | nondestructive of the actual image layer.
| | 03:06 | Because this adjustment is on a separate
layer, I could lower the Opacity of the
| | 03:11 | Adjustment layer without
affecting the image itself.
| | 03:15 | I could change the Blend mode of the
Adjustment layer, which affects the way the
| | 03:24 | adjustment blends with the photo.
| | 03:26 | I am actually going to put that back to Normal.
| | 03:29 | I could turn the adjustment on and off
temporarily by clicking the Eye icon to
| | 03:33 | the left of the layer.
| | 03:34 | In other words, I could do almost
everything to this Adjustment layer that I
| | 03:37 | could do to a regular layer.
| | 03:39 | If I decide I don't like the
adjustment anymore, I can always delete the
| | 03:43 | Adjustment layer by dragging it down
to the Trash icon at the bottom of the
| | 03:47 | Layers panel, like this.
| | 03:48 | I am going to put that Adjustment layer
back on by going back to the Adjustment
| | 03:51 | layer icon and again choosing Brightness/
Contrast, and in the Adjustments panel,
| | 03:56 | dragging the Brightness slider to
the right to increase brightness.
| | 04:00 | So that's the first advantage
of using an Adjustment layer.
| | 04:03 | The second advantage is that at any time I
can come back in and modify this adjustment.
| | 04:09 | It's permanently editable as long as I
save the file in a format like the .psd
| | 04:14 | or Photoshop document format that honors layers.
| | 04:18 | So even after I have saved and closed
this file, and I reopen it, and let's say
| | 04:22 | I am working on another layer, I can
always reedit the Adjustment layer by going
| | 04:26 | back and selecting it, and in the
Adjustments panel tweaking the controls.
| | 04:31 | So I might use the Contrast slider to
increase the contrast in the image a little too.
| | 04:36 | By the way, contrast is the difference
between the shadows and the highlights in
| | 04:39 | an image, and a little boost to
contrast often makes an image look better.
| | 04:43 | The third reason to use an Adjustment
layer as opposed to a direct adjustment is
| | 04:48 | that every Adjustment layer comes with
its own layer Mask, and I can use this
| | 04:52 | layer Mask to hide the
adjustment from some parts of the image.
| | 04:55 | So in this case I think that most of the
image looks great, but this bright area
| | 05:00 | in the background is too bright and is
drawing the viewer's eyes to a part of
| | 05:03 | the image that's not important.
| | 05:05 | So I am going to hide the brightness
increase and the contrast increase from
| | 05:10 | this area by going over to the
toolbar and selecting the Brush tool.
| | 05:14 | Then I will take a look at my
foreground and background colors.
| | 05:17 | When I have the layer Mask on the
Brightness/Contrast layer highlighted, as I
| | 05:22 | currently do, the only colors that I
will see in the foreground and background
| | 05:25 | color boxes are black, white, or
shades of gray, because a layer Mask is a
| | 05:29 | grayscale item inherently.
| | 05:31 | If black is not my foreground color,
the quick way to get black as the
| | 05:34 | foreground color is to press the D key
on my keyboard for the default colors of
| | 05:39 | white and black, and then the X key on
my keyboard to switch those colors, so
| | 05:43 | black is in the foreground.
| | 05:44 | Then I will move into the image.
| | 05:46 | I am going to make my brush a
little bit bigger by clicking the Right
| | 05:49 | Bracket key on my keyboard.
| | 05:50 | I will hold the Shift key and click the
Left Bracket key on my keyboard, as you
| | 05:54 | have heard me say before, to make the
brush softer, and then I am going to paint
| | 05:58 | with black in this area.
| | 06:00 | Now, I am not painting directly on the
image. I am painting on the layer Mask,
| | 06:04 | hiding the brightness adjustment, and
that's having the effect of putting this
| | 06:08 | whole area back to its original brightness,
which is darker than it is after the adjustment.
| | 06:13 | Now, I see that I included a little bit
of the stands here, and I didn't mean to
| | 06:17 | do that, so this is another nice
thing about using a layer Mask.
| | 06:21 | I can just paint back in this area
with white to add the brightening
| | 06:25 | adjustment back in right here.
| | 06:26 | To do that, I will switch my foreground
and background colors by pressing X on
| | 06:30 | my keyboard, and then I
will go back into the image.
| | 06:33 | I am going to make this brush a
little harder, so it doesn't have this soft
| | 06:36 | edge, by holding the Shift key and
pressing the Right Bracket key, and then I am
| | 06:41 | going to paint over that area
on the layer Mask with white.
| | 06:45 | Now, let's take a look at the layer Mask.
| | 06:47 | I am going to hold down the Option
key and click on the layer Mask on the
| | 06:50 | Brightness/Contrast Adjustment layer,
so that you can see that where the layer
| | 06:55 | Mask is white, the Brightness/
Contrast adjustment is enabled.
| | 06:59 | It's making the image brighter.
| | 07:00 | Where the layer Mask is black, the
Brightness/Contrast adjustment is hidden.
| | 07:04 | It's not affecting the layers below.
| | 07:07 | And where there is some gray
around the edges of that black, the
| | 07:10 | Brightness/Contrast adjustment is
partially affecting the layers below.
| | 07:13 | I am going to hold the Option key
and click again on the layer Mask.
| | 07:17 | I want to mention one more thing
about an Adjustment layer like this.
| | 07:21 | By default an Adjustment layer affects
all of the layers below it in the layers
| | 07:25 | panel, but I can limit the effect of the
Brightness/Contrast Adjustment layer to
| | 07:29 | just the photo layer beneath it.
| | 07:31 | The way to do that is to
clip those two layers together.
| | 07:34 | In Elements 8, the way to clip layers
together is to select the topmost layer
| | 07:39 | and then to go down to the bottom of the
Adjustments panel and click this icon, the Clip icon.
| | 07:47 | Now the frame is no longer brightened
and more contrasty, but the photo is.
| | 07:51 | The effect of the Brightness/Contrast
Adjustment layer is limited to the photo layer only.
| | 07:56 | You can see the signs that these
two layers are clipped together.
| | 08:00 | The Brightness/Contrast layer now has
this bent arrow on the left, and the photo
| | 08:04 | layer has an underline under the name
of the layer, both indications that these
| | 08:09 | are layers that are clipped together.
| | 08:11 | With the Brightness/Contrast
Adjustment layer selected, there are a couple of
| | 08:15 | other icons to show you at the
bottom of the Adjustments panel.
| | 08:18 | The second icon from the left, the Eye icon,
is just like an Eye icon on the Layers panel.
| | 08:23 | If I click that, it turns the
Brightness/Contrast Adjustment layer off
| | 08:26 | temporarily, making it invisible, and so
you see no effect on the photo layer in
| | 08:31 | the document window.
| | 08:32 | I will click that icon again to
make the Brightness/Contrast Adjustment
| | 08:36 | layer visible once again.
| | 08:38 | Finally, there is a Trashcan here at
the bottom of the Adjustments panel that
| | 08:42 | I can use to delete the selected
Brightness/Contrast Adjustment layer if I want to.
| | 08:47 | But I am not going to do that.
| | 08:48 | I am going to leave things as they are.
| | 08:50 | So that's a general look at how to apply
an Adjustment layer and why to apply an
| | 08:55 | Adjustment layer as opposed to a direct
adjustment, because an Adjustment layer
| | 08:59 | is nondestructive of the image
layers beneath it, because it always can be
| | 09:03 | reedited if you save the file
in a format that retains layers,
| | 09:06 | and because you can make use of the
layer Mask that comes with every Adjustment
| | 09:11 | layer to limit the area
affected by an Adjustment layer.
| | 09:14 | And finally, you can limit the layers
that are affected by an Adjustment layer
| | 09:18 | by clipping layers together.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Adding a Levels adjustment layer| 00:00 | When you are shooting a photo on an
overcast day, you sometimes end up with
| | 00:04 | the result like this.
| | 00:05 | This image is flat.
| | 00:07 | In other words, it doesn't have a
wide enough range of tones to look good.
| | 00:11 | There are no bright whites and no dark darks.
| | 00:14 | Most of the tones in the
image are close to middle gray.
| | 00:17 | One of the features that I can use to
adjust the lighting in this image is levels.
| | 00:21 | I think you are going to be surprised at
how levels can really save an image like this.
| | 00:25 | There are two places from which I
could apply a levels adjustment.
| | 00:28 | One is a direct adjustment from the
Enhance menu>Adjust Lighting, and I could
| | 00:34 | choose Levels from there.
| | 00:35 | But as I explained in the preceding
movie, I don't like to apply direct
| | 00:40 | adjustments to a photo, because that
will permanently change the pixels.
| | 00:44 | Instead I like to apply adjustments
with Adjustment layers wherever possible.
| | 00:48 | So I am going to exit out of that menu,
and I am going to go over to the layers
| | 00:52 | panel, where I have a single
Background layer that contains this photo.
| | 00:56 | With that layer selected, I will go down
to the New Adjustment layer icon at the
| | 01:00 | bottom of the layers panel, I will click
there, and I am going to choose Levels,
| | 01:04 | to apply a Levels Adjustment layer.
| | 01:06 | You can see the Levels Adjustment layer
here, above the Background layer, and in
| | 01:10 | the Adjustments panel, the
controls for Levels now appear.
| | 01:13 | The Levels Adjustment layer is just
like the Brightness/Contrast Adjustment
| | 01:17 | layer that I showed you in the last movie.
| | 01:19 | It comes with its own layer Mask, which
can be used to limit the effect of the
| | 01:23 | adjustment on different parts of the
image, and it affects all the layers below,
| | 01:27 | unless clipped to a single layer, in
this case there is only one layer, so there
| | 01:31 | is no need to do that.
| | 01:33 | If you open the file later after saving
it with layers intact, you can always go
| | 01:37 | back and edit this Adjustment layer.
| | 01:39 | Now let's take a look at the Levels
controls in the Adjustments panel.
| | 01:43 | Here is a chart that represents all
the possible tonal values in this image.
| | 01:48 | So if you can imagine the image without
color and just think of it as grayscale,
| | 01:52 | picture a range of possible tones, from
the brightest white on the right side of
| | 01:56 | the chart, to the darkest black on the
left side of the chart, and a variety of
| | 02:00 | great tones in between.
| | 02:02 | This mound of black in the middle
represents the actual tones in this particular
| | 02:06 | image, and the height of the bars
clustered together here represents the
| | 02:10 | frequency of a particular tone.
| | 02:12 | So as you can see the most frequent
tones here are those directly in the
| | 02:16 | midrange, middle gray, and all the
tones are clustered around middle gray.
| | 02:20 | There are no tonal values in the
white area and no tonal values in the dark
| | 02:25 | area, and that's why the image looks so flat.
| | 02:27 | But I can fix that here in the Levels controls.
| | 02:31 | The way to do that is to move my
mouse over the white slider on the right
| | 02:35 | side of this chart.
| | 02:36 | By the way, this chart is called a Histogram.
| | 02:39 | I am going to hold down the Option Key,
as I click on that white slider, and
| | 02:43 | start dragging it to the left.
| | 02:44 | As I reach this mound of black bars,
notice that there are a few colors
| | 02:50 | appearing in the document window.
| | 02:52 | Those colors represent the pixels in
the corresponding color channel that are
| | 02:57 | going to be set to pure white, as a
result of my moving the white slider to
| | 03:00 | its new position here.
| | 03:02 | So I am going to release the Option
key and release my mouse, and you can see
| | 03:06 | that there are now some bright areas
here in the hill, and the whole image in
| | 03:11 | fact is lighter, because along with
the white slider moving to the left, the
| | 03:14 | gray slider, which represents
midtones has also been pushed to the left.
| | 03:18 | Basically what I have done here is to
push all of the tones to the right of this
| | 03:22 | white slider to pure white.
| | 03:24 | Now I am going to do the same
thing with the black slider.
| | 03:27 | I will hold the Option key, I will
click on the black slider in the Levels
| | 03:31 | controls in the Adjustments panel, and
I will start dragging to the right, and
| | 03:35 | soon I will see just a few hints of
color, and that means that there are some
| | 03:39 | pixels that are being pushed to pure black.
| | 03:41 | So I am going to release my mouse, and
look at the difference in that image.
| | 03:45 | If I go down to the bottom of the
Adjustments panel and I clicked the Eye icon
| | 03:49 | there, this is how the image looked
when I started this adjustment, this is how
| | 03:53 | it looks with this adjustment.
| | 03:55 | What's happened is that I have set a
white point, I have set a black point, and
| | 04:00 | I have managed to expand the tonal
range of grays in between those two points,
| | 04:05 | something that you really can't see on
the Histogram in the Adjustments panel.
| | 04:09 | But there is another Histogram that will
show that and that's in the Histogram panel.
| | 04:13 | I will open that for you now by going up
to the Window menu and down to Histogram.
| | 04:19 | In the Histogram panel, I will go to
the Channel menu, and I will change it
| | 04:22 | from Colors to RGB.
| | 04:25 | Now it looks more like the
Histogram in the Levels controls.
| | 04:28 | As you can see, there are now black
bars across the entire tonal range, and
| | 04:33 | those bars have been strung out so that
there are actually spaces between them,
| | 04:36 | and they don't look like a
solid mound in the middle.
| | 04:39 | So that's the incredible kind of job
that a good Levels Adjustment can do.
| | 04:43 | This has really saved an image that I
might have thrown away, and made it into
| | 04:47 | one that I think is quite dramatic.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Applying a Shadows/Highlights adjustment| 00:00 | It's common to make photographs that have
areas that need two different kinds of corrections.
| | 00:05 | For example, if you shoot on a bright
day and there is a lot of sky in the
| | 00:08 | scene, you are likely get a result like
this, with a foreground that is too dark
| | 00:13 | and a sky that's slightly too light.
| | 00:15 | Fortunately, Elements has the perfect
feature to fix this kind of problem, and
| | 00:20 | that is the Shadows/Highlights Adjustment.
| | 00:22 | Before I apply a Shadows/Highlights
Adjustment, I am going to make a copy of the
| | 00:27 | photo layer, and that's because this is
one of the few adjustments that I can't
| | 00:30 | apply as an Adjustment layer. I
have to apply it directly on the photo.
| | 00:35 | So I am going to go to the layers
panel, where there is a single Background
| | 00:38 | layer that contains the photo, and I
am going to hold down the Ctrl key and
| | 00:41 | click on that layer, or if I have a two
button mouse, right-click on that layer
| | 00:46 | and choose Duplicate layer
from the contextual menu.
| | 00:49 | I will click OK, and that makes
a copy of the Background layer.
| | 00:52 | I will make sure that Background Copy
layer is selected and this will be the one
| | 00:56 | that gets the Shadows/Highlights
treatment, and I will be preserving my original
| | 01:00 | image here on the Background layer.
| | 01:02 | Now I will go to the Enhance menu at the
top of the screen and I will go down to
| | 01:05 | Adjust Lighting, and I will
come over to Shadows/Highlights.
| | 01:09 | That opens the Shadows/Highlights dialog
box, which I am going to bring up here,
| | 01:13 | so you can see it better.
| | 01:15 | There are three sliders here.
| | 01:16 | By default, the Lighten Shadows slider
sits at 25%, and what this is doing is
| | 01:23 | lightening the darkest areas of
the photo, the areas down here.
| | 01:27 | If I uncheck Preview, you can see how the
image looks without the shadows lightened.
| | 01:33 | This is the original image, and this is
the image with Lighten Shadows set to 25%.
| | 01:40 | If I want to I can lighten the shadows
even more by dragging the Lighten Shadows
| | 01:44 | slider to the right.
| | 01:47 | When I did that, the dark areas got
lighter, but there was very little impact on
| | 01:52 | the highlights in the image, the sky,
or the midtones, and that's the beauty of
| | 01:56 | using the Shadows/Highlights Adjustment
is that I can affect the lighting of the
| | 02:00 | shadows, the highlights, and
even the midtone separately.
| | 02:03 | Now, the next thing I would like to do
is to darken the highlights, make the sky
| | 02:07 | a little darker, so that the
clouds there are more dramatic.
| | 02:10 | To do that I will click on the Darken
Highlights slider and I will drag to the
| | 02:13 | right, and this is just a matter of taste.
| | 02:16 | I might put this as far as maybe there.
| | 02:19 | Finally, I can adjust the contrast in
the midtones, by dragging the Midtone
| | 02:23 | Contrast slider to the right, and
this affects primarily the midtones in
| | 02:27 | this area, the grass.
| | 02:29 | Now I will compare this result with
the original by going to the Preview
| | 02:33 | checkbox and unchecking.
| | 02:35 | So there is the original.
| | 02:36 | As you can see your eye is drawn to
the bright sky, which isn't really the
| | 02:40 | subject of this photo.
| | 02:41 | But with the changes that I have made
here, my eye is drawn more to the bicycle
| | 02:46 | and the yellow flowers in the grass,
which are set off nicely against the
| | 02:50 | darkened, more dramatic sky.
| | 02:52 | And because I like this result, I will click OK.
| | 02:55 | The Shadows/Highlights Adjustment is a
great tool to use on images like this
| | 03:00 | that are backlit, but those aren't the only
kinds of images that this control will help.
| | 03:05 | It's also very useful if you have an
image that you have taken with a flash on
| | 03:09 | your camera, and the foreground is too
bright but the background is too dark.
| | 03:13 | It also does a nice job on
lots of images in between.
| | 03:17 | So if you do have lighting problems,
you might try the Shadows/Highlights
| | 03:20 | Adjustment and see if they
will improve your situation.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Adding a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer| 00:00 | The most common photo problems
fall into one of two categories:
| | 00:03 | problems with lighting and problems with color.
| | 00:06 | One of the ways to address
problems with color is with a
| | 00:09 | Hue/Saturation Adjustment.
| | 00:11 | I can apply a Hue/Saturation
Adjustment directly to an image from the
| | 00:15 | Enhance menu, going down to Adjust
Color and choosing Adjust Hue/Saturation,
| | 00:20 | but as I have said in other movies,
I prefer using Adjustment layers to
| | 00:24 | direct adjustments.
| | 00:25 | So I am not going to use the direct
adjustment. Instead I am going to go to the
| | 00:30 | bottom of the layers panel, I will
click the black and white icon and I will
| | 00:33 | choose from the menu of
Adjustment layers, Hue/Saturation.
| | 00:37 | I am going to close the Effects panel
here so that I can show you both the
| | 00:41 | layers panel and the
Adjustments panel at the same time.
| | 00:44 | I will click the Panel menu on the
Effects panel and I will choose Close.
| | 00:49 | Then I will double-click the layers Tab
so I can see the content of that panel
| | 00:53 | and the content of the Adjustments panel.
| | 00:55 | So here is the new Hue/Saturation
Adjustment layer, floating above the
| | 00:58 | Background layer that contains the photo.
| | 01:00 | With the Hue/Saturation Adjustment
layer selected, down in the Adjustments
| | 01:05 | panel, I have controls for tweaking the
three different characteristics of color
| | 01:09 | in an Elements image, and those
are Hue, Saturation, and Lightness.
| | 01:13 | Of the three of these, Saturation is
the most important in this dialog box.
| | 01:17 | Saturation refers to the purity of color,
in other words the amount of gray in color.
| | 01:22 | If I move the Saturation slider way
over to the right, you can see that the
| | 01:26 | colors in the image become
way saturated, very intense.
| | 01:30 | If I move the Saturation slider all the
way over to the left, all of the color
| | 01:34 | comes out of the image and it
becomes a grayscale image, although I don't
| | 01:38 | recommend this as the best way to
convert a color image to grayscale.
| | 01:41 | I will put Saturation back to 0.
| | 01:45 | The Hue slider affects the
actual color of the image.
| | 01:48 | I don't often use this because it can
give very unrealistic results, like this.
| | 01:54 | The Lightness slider is for
brightening or darkening an image.
| | 01:57 | I rarely use this slider either,
unless I am using the Saturation slider and
| | 02:02 | just need to tweak Lightness a little bit.
| | 02:04 | Instead I will use a Brightness/Contrast
Adjustment layer or a Levels Adjustment
| | 02:08 | layer to adjust image lightness.
| | 02:11 | So in this case, let's say I want the
entire image to be more saturated, I will
| | 02:15 | drag the Saturation slider over to the right.
| | 02:18 | I can compare the way the image looks
now with the way it looked before this
| | 02:23 | adjustment by going down to the bottom
of the Adjustments panel and clicking
| | 02:26 | the Eye icon there.
| | 02:28 | So that's where I started, and I
pumped up the intensity of the image by
| | 02:32 | increasing Saturation.
| | 02:34 | Now, I don't have to increase the
Saturation of all colors at once.
| | 02:37 | I am going to put this Saturation
slider back to 0 to show you that I can go up
| | 02:42 | to this Master menu and from there I can
choose the hue of colors that I want to
| | 02:46 | saturate or desaturate.
| | 02:48 | For example, if I just want to pop the
Reds in the image, I will choose Reds,
| | 02:52 | and then I will drag the Saturation
slider to the right, and the Reds become
| | 02:56 | more intense but not the
other colors like green.
| | 02:59 | If I want to make the greens more
intense, I will click that same menu and I
| | 03:03 | will choose Greens, the Saturation
slider goes back to 0, in so far as it
| | 03:07 | affects Greens, and as I pull that to
the right, you can see that green roof in
| | 03:12 | the image becoming more intense in color.
| | 03:14 | If I want to get even more specific
about the colors that I am affecting with
| | 03:19 | this increase in Saturation, I can come
down to the bars here in this spectrum.
| | 03:23 | The greens in between the inner bars
are the ones that are being affected most,
| | 03:28 | and the colors between the inner bars
and the outer bars are the fall off area,
| | 03:32 | which are being affected by
this change, but not as much.
| | 03:35 | I can take this entire Gray bar and I can
move it, impacting which colors are changing.
| | 03:42 | I can also click on any of these
bars and move them, also affecting the
| | 03:48 | distribution of saturated colors.
| | 03:51 | Another way to saturate specific
colors is to use these Eyedroppers here.
| | 03:56 | If I click on an Eyedropper and then I
come into the image and click on that
| | 03:59 | area, that particular area will be
affected most by the saturation increase.
| | 04:05 | In this case that's too much
saturation, so I am going to decrease the
| | 04:08 | Saturation slider, moving
it over toward the left.
| | 04:11 | Notice that I have now created a new
category of Reds, Reds 2, centered on the
| | 04:17 | color on which I clicked with this Eyedropper.
| | 04:19 | If I click the Plus Eyedropper and I
click on some other colors of red, I have
| | 04:24 | increased the range of colors affected
by the saturation here, and that was done
| | 04:29 | by expanding the middle area
here in this bar in the spectrum.
| | 04:33 | Then there is also a Minus Eyedropper,
and I could use that to remove a specific
| | 04:37 | range of colors from the Reds category
that's currently being affected by the
| | 04:41 | increase in the Saturation slider.
| | 04:43 | There is also a Colorized checkbox
here that I can use to tint an image.
| | 04:47 | I am going to check that and that gives
a monochrome look to the entire image.
| | 04:52 | I can change the Hue of that
monochrome look, pulling it to the right to make
| | 04:55 | more of a sepia tone, or going over
this way to make a blue cyan type tone.
| | 05:01 | In this case, I think I would desaturate
a bit and maybe brighten slightly as well.
| | 05:06 | So the Hue/Saturation Adjustment layer
is one that I think you will use a lot to
| | 05:10 | manipulate the saturation and in some
cases the tint of color in your images.
| | 05:15 | Like any Adjustment layer, a Hue/
Saturation Adjustment layer comes with its own
| | 05:19 | layer Mask, which you can use to hide
the Hue/Saturation Adjustment from parts
| | 05:23 | of the image by painting on this mask
with black, gray, or white, or using a
| | 05:27 | black to white gradient on this mask.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Adjusting with Color Curves| 00:00 | The Adjust Color Curves command
offers a sophisticated level of control
| | 00:04 | over tone and color.
| | 00:06 | With this one command you can
individually adjust color and tone in the
| | 00:10 | highlights, the midtones, and the
shadows of a photo to your liking.
| | 00:14 | This command, the Color Curves command,
is the one to use when you need more
| | 00:18 | control and fine tuning than you can
get with other color and tonal adjustments
| | 00:22 | that I have shown you in this chapter.
| | 00:24 | Some photo adjustments like Levels
and Hue/Saturation are available as
| | 00:27 | Adjustment layers, as I have shown you.
| | 00:30 | Unfortunately, Color Curves is not.
| | 00:32 | So before I apply a Color Curves
adjustment, I am going to make a copy of the
| | 00:36 | layer that contains the photo,
in this case the Background layer.
| | 00:39 | I will hold the Ctrl Key and click
on the Background layer in the layers
| | 00:42 | panel, or if I have a two-button mouse,
I will right-click on that layer and
| | 00:46 | choose Duplicate layer.
| | 00:48 | I will click OK, and with the
Background Copy layer selected, I will apply
| | 00:53 | a Color Curves adjustment to that
layer, preserving my original photo on
| | 00:57 | the Background layer.
| | 00:58 | I will go up to the Enhance menu and
down to Adjust Color, and I will choose
| | 01:02 | Adjust Color Curves.
| | 01:04 | That opens this big
Adjust Color Curves dialog box.
| | 01:08 | I am going to try to move it out of the
way as much as possible, putting it up
| | 01:11 | here, so that I can see some of the
image behind, because whatever changes I
| | 01:16 | make in this dialog box will be
automatically reflected as a preview over here
| | 01:20 | in the document window.
| | 01:22 | Another place that I can preview the
adjustments is here in the After portion of
| | 01:26 | the Adjust Color Curves dialog box, and
I can compare the adjustments that I am
| | 01:30 | making there to a Before version of the image.
| | 01:34 | I will start with the Select a Style menu,
which contains some preset Color Curves.
| | 01:39 | The way that I use this is basically to
start at the first choice and just cycle
| | 01:43 | through them using the Arrow keys on
my keyboard and keeping my eye on this
| | 01:47 | After image, until I see a result that I like.
| | 01:53 | In this case I think I am going to use
the Up Arrow key on my keyboard to start
| | 01:57 | with Increase Contrast.
| | 01:59 | Now, I see that the image is still
pretty dark, so I need to do some tweaking to
| | 02:03 | this preset, and that's done with the
Adjust sliders here in the middle of the
| | 02:08 | Adjust Color Curves dialog box.
| | 02:10 | I want to adjust the
Shadows, making them brighter.
| | 02:12 | So I will go to that slider
and I will drag to the right.
| | 02:16 | As I do, keep your eye on this
curve, in the Curves diagram.
| | 02:21 | Dragging the Adjust Shadows slider to the
right moves the point on the curve right here.
| | 02:27 | That represents the three-quarter shadows.
| | 02:30 | I also want to increase the
brightness of the midtones in the image.
| | 02:34 | So I am going to go to the Midtone
Brightness slider and I am going to drag that
| | 02:38 | one to the right as well, and you can
see that point moving up in the Curves
| | 02:42 | diagram, and the midtones in the image
are now significantly brighter in the
| | 02:48 | After preview than they
are in the Before preview.
| | 02:51 | If I want the highlights to be brighter
too, I will go to the Adjust Highlight
| | 02:54 | slider and I will drag that one to the right.
| | 02:59 | Now, all this could have been
accomplished by going to this Curves diagram
| | 03:03 | and clicking on these points and
dragging them, but I think it's a lot more
| | 03:06 | intuitive and easier to use the Adjust
sliders here to fine tune the initial style.
| | 03:12 | When I am satisfied with the result, I
can go up and click OK, but before I do
| | 03:16 | that, notice that I could cancel all
the changes that I have made from here or
| | 03:19 | reset all the sliders to
their defaults by clicking Reset.
| | 03:22 | I am going to click OK and here is
my image with its changes back in
| | 03:27 | the document window.
| | 03:28 | Now unfortunately, because this is not
an Adjustment layer, there is no way for
| | 03:31 | me to go back into the Color Curves Adjustments.
| | 03:34 | So if I wanted to further tweak this
image, I could do that with another kind of
| | 03:38 | Adjustment layer, maybe a Levels
Adjustment layer, or I could make yet another
| | 03:43 | copy of this Duplicate layer and apply
more of a Color Curve adjustment to it.
| | 03:47 | But I am going to leave
things as they are for now.
| | 03:51 | If you have got a photo that needs
different tonal adjustments in the shadows,
| | 03:54 | the highlights, and the midtones, I
think you will find that Color Curves
| | 03:58 | gives you the control that you need to
manually adjust each one of these tonal
| | 04:01 | areas separately.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Removing a color cast| 00:00 | A photo can sometimes have an unwanted
predominant color, which is called a Color Cast.
| | 00:05 | And that colorcast often comes from
the light under which the photo was shot.
| | 00:09 | For example, if you shoot under
fluorescent lights indoors, your photo may
| | 00:13 | have a greenish cast.
| | 00:15 | And it's typical to see a bluish cast in
snow and in fog, as you see in this photo.
| | 00:19 | The Remove Color Cast command is the
most direct way to correct a colorcast when
| | 00:24 | you're working in the Full Edit Workspace.
| | 00:26 | Before I apply the Remove Color Cast
command to this photo, I want to diagnose
| | 00:30 | the colorcast, because
sometimes colorcasts are hard to see.
| | 00:34 | To do that I am going to open the Info
panel from the Window menu at the top
| | 00:37 | of the screen, and in the Info panel,
I am interested in this top left
| | 00:44 | quadrant, which will report the amount of red,
green and blue under my cursor in the image.
| | 00:49 | I am going to get the Eyedropper tool from
the toolbox and move my cursor over the image.
| | 00:55 | Notice that in that top left quadrant,
the value of blue is much higher than the
| | 01:00 | value of green and red, and that
confirms that there is a blue colorcast, and
| | 01:04 | the same is true if I
move elsewhere in the image.
| | 01:07 | So now I have confirmed that there is a
colorcast and it's one that I do want to remove.
| | 01:11 | Unfortunately, the Remove Color
Cast command is not available as an
| | 01:14 | adjustment layer, so I am going to
make a duplicate of the photo layer, the
| | 01:18 | background layer here, and work on that,
preserving the original photo on the background layer.
| | 01:24 | I'll Ctrl+Click on the background
layer in the layers panel, right-click if I
| | 01:28 | have a two-button mouse, and choose
Duplicate layer, and I'll click OK.
| | 01:33 | And with the Background Copy layer
selected in the layers panel, I am going to
| | 01:36 | go up to the Enhance menu at the top
of the screen, down to Adjust Color, and
| | 01:41 | I'll choose Remove Color Cast.
| | 01:44 | That opens the Remove Color Cast dialog
box, which I am going to move over, so I
| | 01:48 | have a better preview of the image.
| | 01:50 | This dialog box tells you exactly what to do.
| | 01:53 | It says, take this Eyedropper and
click on part of the image that you think
| | 01:57 | should be either gray, white or black.
| | 01:59 | In other words, on part of the image
that you want to set to neutral without
| | 02:04 | a colorcast, and that should make the
other colors in the image fall into line also.
| | 02:09 | But actually there is quite a bit of
trial and error involved in figuring
| | 02:13 | out where to click.
| | 02:14 | So I might start by clicking under the
table here, which looks to me like it
| | 02:17 | should be neutral, but if I do that,
then the rest of the image turns aqua.
| | 02:22 | So let me try clicking over
here perhaps on these bushes. No.
| | 02:26 | That doesn't work either.
| | 02:27 | That turns the snow to magenta.
| | 02:29 | I'll try one more time clicking right
in the snow, and I think that that's the
| | 02:33 | best result that I've seen.
| | 02:35 | Now this isn't a perfect result.
| | 02:36 | It has made the snow neutral, but I
still would tweak the image further,
| | 02:41 | perhaps adding a Hue/Saturation
Adjustment layer to pump up the intensity of
| | 02:45 | the color that's left here.
| | 02:46 | But at least I have
minimized that blue colorcast.
| | 02:49 | And to confirm that, take a look in the
top left quadrant of the Info panel, the
| | 02:54 | numbers to the right of the slash
indicate that under my cursor there is now an
| | 02:59 | even balance of red, green and blue.
| | 03:01 | If I like these results, I'll click OK
in the Remove Color Cast dialog box, and
| | 03:06 | just to remind you of what a
difference that command has made, I am going to
| | 03:10 | make the Background copy
layer temporarily invisible.
| | 03:13 | So this is where I started with the blue
colorcast, and this is where I ended up
| | 03:17 | with just a click of the Eyedropper
tool in the Remove Color Cast dialog box.
| | 03:22 | So if you shoot a photo under less than
ideal lighting conditions, use the Info
| | 03:27 | panel to check for a colorcast, and then the
Remove Color Cast command to try to correct that.
| | 03:32 | But do keep in mind that there is nothing
inherently wrong with a color cast all the time.
| | 03:37 | If you have a color cast that's
appealing to you, then by all means keep it.
| | 03:41 | For example, if you have a sunset
photo, there could be a golden cast that
| | 03:45 | enhances that end of day mood.
| | 03:47 | But if there is a color cast that you
find unappealing, then do try to reduce it
| | 03:52 | using the Remove Color Cast Command.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Correcting skin tone| 00:00 | It's sometimes difficult to reproduce
skin tones accurately in a photograph.
| | 00:05 | For example, although it's a good idea
to shoot a portrait in the shade, so that
| | 00:09 | you get a full range of tones in the
faces, you might end up with a bluish skin
| | 00:13 | tone as in this photo.
| | 00:15 | When you are working in Elements Full
Edit Workspace, the most direct way to
| | 00:18 | correct a problem like this with skin tone is
using the Adjust Color for Skin Tone command.
| | 00:24 | Before I apply that command, I am
going to make a copy of the photo layer, so
| | 00:28 | that I am preserving my original photo.
| | 00:30 | I will do that by right-clicking or
Ctrl+Clicking on the Background layer and
| | 00:34 | choosing Duplicate layer, and clicking OK.
| | 00:37 | With that Background Copy layer
selected in the layers panel, I am going to go
| | 00:42 | up to the Enhance menu, and go down to
Adjust Color, and I am going to choose
| | 00:46 | Adjust Color for Skin Tone.
| | 00:48 | That opens this dialog box,
which I will move over this way.
| | 00:52 | What I love about working in Elements
is that many of the dialog boxes tell you
| | 00:55 | exactly what to do, and this one does just that.
| | 00:59 | It tells you to Adjust Color for Skin
Tones, just click on any person's skin.
| | 01:04 | So I am going to click on the boy's face,
and right away I see a change in the image.
| | 01:09 | If I go to the Preview area and uncheck,
that's where I was a second ago, and
| | 01:13 | that's where I am now.
| | 01:15 | The skin tones have definitely been warmed up.
| | 01:17 | I can tweak this result
using these three sliders.
| | 01:21 | If I think the result is too yellow,
I could take the Skin slider and drag
| | 01:25 | it over toward Tan.
| | 01:26 | And if I think that the skin needs a
little more blush, I can drag the Blush
| | 01:32 | slider over to the right to add a rosy glow.
| | 01:36 | Then there is the Ambient Light slider
that affects the global lighting of the image.
| | 01:40 | To the left, adds more cooler blue,
to the right, more warm golden tones.
| | 01:47 | Over on the right there are a couple of buttons.
| | 01:49 | The Cancel button will cancel out of
this dialog box, leaving the image as it
| | 01:53 | was originally, and the Reset button.
| | 01:55 | The Reset button will put the three
sliders back to their original positions
| | 01:59 | so I can try again.
| | 02:00 | But I am satisfied with this
result, so I am going to click OK.
| | 02:04 | If you tend to shoot lots of portraits,
give this command a try to get your skin
| | 02:08 | tones just the way you want them.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Reducing digital noise| 00:00 | When you shoot with a digital camera,
it's inevitable that you will get some
| | 00:03 | noise in your photographs.
| | 00:05 | This is most likely to happen when you
are shooting with a high ISO, or when
| | 00:09 | there are lots of shadow areas in your
photographs, or if you are shooting in dim light.
| | 00:13 | So if I were to zoom into this image,
selecting the Zoom tool and the Plus
| | 00:18 | symbol, and then clicking several times.
| | 00:21 | When I get in real close, you can see
that there are tiny specks of color,
| | 00:25 | representing color digital noise, as
well as tiny specks of black and white,
| | 00:30 | representing grayscale digital noise,
and there are some square artifacts that
| | 00:34 | are a result of compressing
the image in the JPEG format.
| | 00:37 | I am going to use the Reduce Noise
Filter to reduce all of those artifacts.
| | 00:42 | I will take this image back to 100% by
double-clicking the Zoom tool in the toolbox.
| | 00:47 | Then I am going to go up to the Filter
menu at the top of the screen, down to
| | 00:50 | Noise, and I am going to choose Reduce Noise.
| | 00:54 | That opens the Reduce Noise dialog box.
| | 00:56 | I will move that over so I can see a
preview of my image at 100% over here.
| | 01:02 | Then I am going to zoom in on the nice
big preview in the Reduce Noise dialog
| | 01:06 | box by clicking several times on this Plus
symbol at the bottom of the Preview window.
| | 01:13 | Then I will click and drag, panning
over to another area of the image,
| | 01:18 | around the seal's head.
| | 01:20 | The way that this preview works is that
when I click and hold with my mouse, I
| | 01:24 | see the digital noise and the
JPEG artifacts in the original image.
| | 01:29 | When I release my mouse, the filter
is applied with the default settings
| | 01:33 | that you see over here.
| | 01:34 | I am going to start by taking the
Reduce Color Noise slider and dragging it
| | 01:38 | all the way over to 0.
| | 01:40 | I will do the same with the Strength slider.
| | 01:42 | So now I have no settings over here.
| | 01:44 | Now I will take the Reduce Color Noise
slider and I will drag it to the right,
| | 01:48 | until I have eliminated
the little specks of color.
| | 01:52 | Now that doesn't mean there is no noise
here, there still is noise represented
| | 01:55 | by these gray pixels, but the
color noise has been reduced.
| | 01:59 | To reduce this gray noise, I will take the
Strength slider and I will drag that to the right.
| | 02:04 | I will take that to about 6.
| | 02:08 | As I moved that slider, the Preserve
Detail slider moved over to 60% in order to
| | 02:13 | retain some sharpness in the image.
| | 02:14 | I am going to drag the Preserve Detail
slider over to the left to try to reduce
| | 02:19 | a bit more of the noise.
| | 02:21 | Now, I don't want to go too far, because
I don't want the image to look too blurry.
| | 02:25 | But I can always check this 100%
preview over here to make sure that it's
| | 02:29 | still to my liking.
| | 02:31 | Finally, I will check Remove JPEG
Artifact, and that will help to eliminate some
| | 02:36 | of the square artifacts
caused by JPEG compression.
| | 02:39 | When I am done, I will take the
Preview back to 100%, by clicking the
| | 02:42 | Minus symbol down here.
| | 02:45 | And then I will do a Before
and After by unchecking Preview.
| | 02:49 | That's how the image was and that's
how it is now with noise reduction.
| | 02:52 | Now that's a really subtle difference,
but I think it's one that counts.
| | 02:56 | So I am going to click OK to accept
those changes, and here is the result.
| | 03:01 | If I thought there should be more
noise reduction, I can always go back up to
| | 03:05 | the Filter menu, and notice that the
last filter that I have applied is now here
| | 03:09 | at the top of the Filter menu.
| | 03:11 | So I could select that again, and
that would basically double the amount
| | 03:15 | of noise reduction.
| | 03:17 | But I think that makes the image too
blurry, so I am going to Undo, by pressing
| | 03:20 | Command+Z on my keyboard, and I am
going to go with the result like this.
| | 03:24 | At this point I would save
and then close the image.
| | 03:27 | So when you are shooting either in dim
light, or with a high ISO in your camera,
| | 03:32 | or you are shooting a scene that has
lots of shadow areas, be sure to visit the
| | 03:36 | Noise Reduction Filter to smooth out
the color digital noise, the black and
| | 03:40 | white digital noise, and
to reduce JPEG artifacts.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Sharpening photos| 00:00 | When I am all done correcting a photo, my
last step is to sharpen the photo for output.
| | 00:05 | Almost every photograph is going to
need output sharpening, even if it looks
| | 00:09 | sharp to you already, because just the
process of capturing and working on a
| | 00:13 | digital image will soften it.
| | 00:15 | There are a couple of things to
do before you start sharpening.
| | 00:18 | If I plan to resize a copy of the
photo for output, I make sure to resize it
| | 00:23 | before sharpening, using the Image
Size command under the Image>Resize menu,
| | 00:28 | which I am going to cancel out over
right now, and that's because the size of a
| | 00:32 | photo affects how much sharpening it will need.
| | 00:34 | Also, if there is more than one layer
in a file, in this case there is only one
| | 00:38 | layer, I will make sure to flatten the
layers and sharpen the remaining single
| | 00:43 | flattened layer, and that's because
you can only sharpen one layer at a time.
| | 00:46 | I will also remember to save this
resized flattened sharpened version with a
| | 00:52 | different name than the original file,
so that I don't save over the original
| | 00:55 | file with its layers and other photo fixes.
| | 00:59 | Finally, when I am ready to sharpen, I
will set the zoom level of the image to
| | 01:02 | 100%, so that the live preview in the
document window best approximates the way
| | 01:07 | that the final image will look
with sharpening when it's output.
| | 01:11 | One way to view the image at 100% is
just to double-click the Zoom tool here in
| | 01:16 | the toolbar, like that.
| | 01:18 | Having said that, just for teaching
purposes, I am going to zoom in closer than
| | 01:22 | 100% on the subject's eye, so that you can
get a clearer view of what sharpening does.
| | 01:27 | So with the Zoom tool selected, I will
go up to the Options bar and click the
| | 01:30 | Plus symbol and then I will move over
the subject's left eye, and I am going to
| | 01:34 | click three times to zoom into about 400%.
| | 01:36 | Then I am going to move her eye over by
holding the Spacebar, which temporarily
| | 01:42 | changes the tool to a Hand tool, and
then holding the Spacebar down, clicking
| | 01:46 | and dragging in the image to the left.
| | 01:49 | Now it's time to sharpen.
| | 01:51 | I will go up to the Enhance menu at
the top of the screen, and I am going to
| | 01:54 | choose one of the two sharpening
commands at the bottom of this menu.
| | 01:58 | I can use either Unsharp
Mask or Adjust Sharpness.
| | 02:02 | These are alternatives and you are
welcome to use either one, whichever one is
| | 02:05 | more comfortable to you.
| | 02:06 | I will start by showing you Unsharp Mask.
| | 02:10 | The Unsharp Mask dialog
box has three sliders in it:
| | 02:13 | Amount, Radius, and Threshold.
| | 02:16 | So that you can see what these sliders
do, I am going to exaggerate the Amount
| | 02:20 | slider, dragging it farther to
the right than I normally would.
| | 02:23 | I am also going to exaggerate the
Radius slider more than I normally would.
| | 02:33 | Notice that there is a preview here in
the Unsharp Mask dialog box of how the
| | 02:37 | image will look at 100% magnification.
| | 02:40 | It's important to always keep an eye on
this 100% magnification, because that's
| | 02:45 | the way that the image will look
when its output with whatever sharpening
| | 02:48 | settings you choose.
| | 02:50 | I can move the image around in
this preview by clicking and dragging.
| | 02:54 | So I am going to put her
eye right in the center there.
| | 02:56 | And when I click and hold in this preview,
I see the image as it was originally,
| | 03:01 | without any sharpening.
| | 03:02 | When I release my mouse, I see the
image as it will look with the sharpening
| | 03:06 | settings that I have currently chosen.
| | 03:07 | I have cranked up the sharpening here
more than I normally would in order to
| | 03:11 | show you what sharpening really does.
| | 03:14 | The way that sharpening works is that
it looks for edges in a photo, which is
| | 03:18 | any place where dark pixels meet light pixels.
| | 03:21 | In this case the girl's
eyebrow is a good example of an edge.
| | 03:24 | What sharpening does is take the light
pixels at an edge and makes them lighter
| | 03:29 | and also takes the dark pixels
in an edge and makes them darker.
| | 03:33 | Here in the 400% view you can really
see those light pixels and those dark
| | 03:37 | pixels, which are being exaggerated
by the controls in the Unsharp Mask
| | 03:41 | dialog box right now.
| | 03:42 | These lightened and darkened pixels,
which create the optical illusion of
| | 03:46 | sharpness, are called the sharpening halo.
| | 03:49 | So that's how sharpening works.
| | 03:51 | Now, what exactly do these sliders
in the Unsharp Mask dialog box do?
| | 03:55 | Well, the Radius slider controls
the width of the sharpening halo.
| | 03:59 | So watch what happens as I move Radius
to the right, and again, this is more
| | 04:03 | than I would normally do.
| | 04:05 | As you can see here the width of the
sharpening halo has really expanded.
| | 04:10 | If I drag the Amount slider to the
right, the bright pixels in the sharpening
| | 04:14 | halo get brighter and the dark pixels
get darker, because the Amount slider
| | 04:18 | controls the brightness of the halo pixels.
| | 04:20 | So now that you understand how
sharpening works, I would like to show you how
| | 04:24 | I approach the sliders in the
Unsharp Mask dialog box when I am really
| | 04:28 | sharpening an image.
| | 04:29 | So I am going to cancel out of this
dialog box, and I am going to go back to the
| | 04:34 | image and I am going to make the image
fit in the document window, so that I
| | 04:37 | will have at least one view of
the entire image as I sharpen.
| | 04:41 | One way to do that is to have the Zoom
tool selected in the toolbar, and then to
| | 04:45 | go up to the Options bar and click Fit Screen.
| | 04:48 | Then I will open the Unsharp Mask
dialog box again from the Enhance menu.
| | 04:51 | As you can see, it has gone
back to its default settings.
| | 04:55 | The way I usually start in this
dialog box is to set the Threshold slider,
| | 04:59 | which I will explain in a moment, to 0, and
the Radius slider all the way over to the left.
| | 05:04 | Then I will take the Amount slider and
I will drag it way over to the right,
| | 05:08 | which is more than the amount of
sharpening I would normally use.
| | 05:12 | With Amount set all the way to the right,
I will drag the Radius slider to the right.
| | 05:15 | I am careful with the Radius slider to
never go above about 2 pixels, because I
| | 05:20 | don't want the image to look too crispy.
| | 05:22 | Now that I have got the Radius slider
set, I will take the Amount slider and I
| | 05:25 | will drag it back over to the left,
until the sharpness looks right to me.
| | 05:30 | This is really a subjective decision.
| | 05:32 | I am primarily consulting the 100%
view here in the Unsharp Mask dialog box,
| | 05:37 | but I am also going to move the dialog
box out of the way so that I can see the
| | 05:41 | entire image, so that I see what the
sharpening is doing everywhere in the photograph.
| | 05:45 | In this case, I think I might take it even
lower, maybe somewhere in this neighborhood.
| | 05:50 | If I am preparing an image for print,
I usually sharpen it until it looks a
| | 05:54 | little bit to sharp on the screen and
then I will get a nice sharp but not
| | 05:58 | over sharpened print.
| | 05:59 | Now I do want to emphasize that there
are no magic numbers for sharpening.
| | 06:03 | Basically it's trial and error and
your subjective approach to your image.
| | 06:07 | There's one more slider to deal with
here and that's the Threshold slider.
| | 06:11 | When the Threshold slider is set to 0,
everything in the image is being sharpened.
| | 06:16 | But sometimes I don't want that.
| | 06:17 | For example, here I really don't want
her skin so sharp, because it just doesn't
| | 06:22 | look nice and smooth.
| | 06:24 | So I am going to take the Threshold slider
and I am going to drag it over to the right.
| | 06:28 | I don't go too far with it or the
image will start to look blurry everywhere.
| | 06:32 | So in this image I might take
it back to about 6 levels here.
| | 06:36 | And now her skin looks smoother, but I
can see that in the 100% view, her eyes
| | 06:40 | still looks relatively sharp.
| | 06:42 | So that's how to use Unsharp Mask.
| | 06:44 | At this point I would normally click OK in
order to apply these settings to the document.
| | 06:49 | But I am actually going to click Cancel
in the Unsharp Mask dialog box, so that
| | 06:52 | I can show you the other method
of sharpening, Adjust Sharpen.
| | 06:57 | Adjust Sharpen is just an alternative to
Unsharp Mask. Use either one that you prefer.
| | 07:01 | I will go back to the Enhance menu.
| | 07:04 | I am going to choose Adjust Sharpness,
and I will move the dialog box up and to
| | 07:09 | the right to get it out of the way,
so I can see the entire document.
| | 07:12 | In this dialog box there is an Amount slider
and a Radius slider, just like in Unsharp Mask.
| | 07:18 | I am just going to leave them
set to their defaults for now.
| | 07:20 | And notice that there is no
Threshold slider as in Unsharp Mask.
| | 07:24 | However, there is a feature that you
don't find in Unsharp Mask, and that
| | 07:28 | is this Remove menu.
| | 07:29 | This menu offers three formulas that attempt
to reduce different kinds of blur in an image.
| | 07:35 | Gaussian Blur, the default, works just
like the formula used by Unsharp Mask.
| | 07:40 | Lens Blur will sometimes make a photo
look better by concentrating on sharpening
| | 07:44 | the details in the image.
| | 07:46 | And Motion Blur is for reducing the
blur caused by the subject or the camera
| | 07:50 | having moved when the shot was taken.
| | 07:52 | But keep in mind that Motion Blur
won't completely fix a really blurry photo.
| | 07:57 | That's because none of the sharpening
commands are designed to fixed blurry
| | 08:01 | content, they are really just designed
to counteract the softness that's caused
| | 08:05 | by digitizing an image.
| | 08:06 | So I will try Lens Blur here.
| | 08:09 | Then I am going to go down to the
More Refined command here and check that
| | 08:12 | command, which will sometimes produce
a better result, although it may take
| | 08:16 | a little bit longer.
| | 08:17 | To apply these settings, I am going to
click OK in the Adjust Sharpness dialog box.
| | 08:22 | So that's what you are normally going to
do when you sharpen an image at the end
| | 08:25 | of the editing process.
| | 08:26 | I do want to mention that there are
a couple of other Sharpness features,
| | 08:29 | although they are not used as often
as Unsharp Mask or Adjust Sharpness.
| | 08:34 | In the toolbox down here, behind the
Blur tool, there is a Sharpen tool.
| | 08:40 | The Sharpen tool can be used to add
just a little more sharpening to a very
| | 08:44 | small portion of an image.
| | 08:45 | For example, if I wanted the model's
eyes to be a little sharper, I could click
| | 08:49 | and drag with this tool over
the eye, maybe the eyebrow.
| | 08:53 | The same on the other side.
| | 08:55 | If I am not getting the result that I
want, maybe it's too sharp or not sharp
| | 08:59 | enough, I can go up to the Options
bar for the Sharpen tool and vary the
| | 09:03 | Strength of the Sharpen tool.
| | 09:05 | Also, in the Enhance menu,
there is an Auto Sharpen command.
| | 09:10 | However, I don't use this Auto Sharpen
command very often because I like more
| | 09:13 | control over my adjustments than it
offers, and there's plenty of control in the
| | 09:17 | Unsharp Mask or Adjust Sharpness dialog boxes.
| | 09:20 | So I am going to cancel out of there,
and remind you to please get in the habit
| | 09:25 | of sharpening all your photos at the
end of your digital editing workflow.
| | 09:28 | If you have got a really blurry image,
unfortunately, the sharpening features
| | 09:32 | aren't going to help you remove extreme
blur, but sharpening will usually make
| | 09:36 | a normal digital image look crisper
and better, particularly if you are going
| | 09:40 | to be printing it.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Working with raw photos| 00:00 | When you shoot JPEGs with a digital
camera, a lot of the photo processing goes
| | 00:04 | on inside the camera, before
you ever get to see the photo.
| | 00:08 | By contrast, when you shoot RAW,
you're the one who does the processing.
| | 00:12 | What you get from your camera is RAW
data that's unprocessed, the equivalent of
| | 00:17 | an original negative in film photography.
| | 00:19 | The big advantage of shooting RAW is
that you get to control the processing
| | 00:23 | yourself, in the Adobe Camera Raw
Editor that comes with Elements.
| | 00:28 | Another advantage of RAW is that RAW
files have a higher bit depth or more color
| | 00:32 | information, than 8-bit JPEGs have.
| | 00:35 | So there's more latitude to edit RAW files.
| | 00:38 | Not all cameras will shoot RAW, so if
you're interested in shooting RAW, check
| | 00:42 | your camera manual, and see
if your camera will do that.
| | 00:45 | When you bring RAW files from your
camera into your computer, you'll see a
| | 00:49 | special extension on the filename that
represents the flavor of RAW photo that
| | 00:53 | your particular camera takes.
| | 00:55 | This file for example, has a CRW extension,
which means that it was taken with a Canon camera.
| | 01:00 | But if I'd have taken it with my
Nikon, it would have a .NEF extension.
| | 01:05 | To open RAW files from here in Bridge
into Elements, I work the same way that
| | 01:09 | I would with JPEGs.
| | 01:10 | I'll select this photo in the Bridge
Content panel by clicking on it once, and
| | 01:14 | then I'm going to right-click and choose
Open With Adobe Photoshop Elements 8.0.
| | 01:20 | That will launch the Adobe Camera Raw
Editor, a special interface for adjusting
| | 01:25 | RAW files and converting them, so
that Photoshop Elements can read them.
| | 01:29 | In the Camera Raw Editor on the right
side is the basic column of settings that
| | 01:34 | you'll use to control the way
that this photo would be processed.
| | 01:37 | At the top of that column is a histogram.
| | 01:39 | A histogram is a graph of all the
tones in the image, from the brightest
| | 01:44 | possible whites on the right, to the
darkest possible blacks on the left, and
| | 01:48 | all of the gray tones in
between black and white.
| | 01:51 | It's useful to keep your eye on this
histogram as you manipulate the controls
| | 01:54 | in this column for a visual representation of
what you're doing to the tones in the image.
| | 01:59 | What you want to look out for is pushing
this graph of tones over too far to the
| | 02:04 | left, or too far to the right,
making a spike in either direction.
| | 02:08 | You want to avoid that.
| | 02:09 | The first control in the
column is White Balance.
| | 02:12 | White balance controls the overall color
temperature of the photo, from warm to cool.
| | 02:17 | Here in the Raw Editor, you can change
the white balance that you used when you
| | 02:21 | shot the photo in your camera, which
is another advantage of shooting RAW.
| | 02:25 | Changing the white balance will change
the overall mood of the entire photo by
| | 02:29 | adjusting the color of the light.
| | 02:31 | The way that I approach white
balance is by starting with this menu of
| | 02:35 | White Balance Presets.
| | 02:36 | I'm going to open that menu, and I'll
just cycle through the various options
| | 02:40 | here, until I see the one that
I think looks best on the image.
| | 02:44 | There is a live preview right over
here in this area of the Raw Editor.
| | 02:48 | If you don't see a preview there, then
check this box to the left of preview.
| | 02:53 | I think that Cloudy is the best starting
place for this particular image, so I'm
| | 02:56 | going to leave the menu there.
| | 02:58 | Once I've chosen a Preset from the menu,
I'll come down to the Temperature and
| | 03:02 | Tint sliders, and tweak that Preset
with these sliders to get just the white
| | 03:06 | balance that I want.
| | 03:07 | So in this case, I might move the
Temperature slider a little to the right to
| | 03:11 | make the image warmer or more golden,
and I might add a little bit of magenta by
| | 03:15 | dragging the Tint slider to the right as well.
| | 03:18 | If I think it's too gold, I might take
that Temperature slider and move back
| | 03:21 | a little to the left.
| | 03:22 | Down in the next area of the Basic
column, there is an Auto button, and if
| | 03:27 | I were to click that Auto button, all the
controls would be set for me automatically.
| | 03:31 | But I hardly ever do that, because the
whole point of working with RAW photos is
| | 03:35 | that you can do the processing yourself.
| | 03:37 | So rather then click Auto, I'm going to adjust
the sliders in this area of the column myself.
| | 03:43 | I'll start with the Exposure slider,
which sets the white point of the photo.
| | 03:47 | I'm going to hold down the Option key
on my keyboard, and click the Exposure
| | 03:51 | slider as I drag slightly to the right,
until I see just a little bit of color
| | 03:56 | up here in the image.
| | 03:57 | This color represents the pixels in
the red channel of the image that will be
| | 04:01 | set to the brightest point in that channel.
| | 04:03 | I'm going to back off on that a bit,
so that there are just a few spots of
| | 04:07 | color, and then I'll release the Option
key, so I can see the result, and then
| | 04:11 | I'll release my mouse.
| | 04:13 | Next, I'm going to go down to the
Black slider, which is used to set the
| | 04:16 | black point in the image.
| | 04:18 | Again, I'm going to hold down the Option key
and click, and I'll drag just a bit to the right.
| | 04:23 | As I do so, I start to see little spots
of color, which are going to be set to
| | 04:27 | the darkest points in
the corresponding channels.
| | 04:30 | When there are just a few of those, I'll
release the Option key and I'll release my mouse.
| | 04:34 | To see the difference that just those
two sliders have made, I'll go up to the
| | 04:38 | Preview field and uncheck that box.
| | 04:40 | So that's where I started with this
RAW image, and here's what it looks like
| | 04:44 | now, with just the White
Balance Exposure and Blacks adjusted.
| | 04:48 | There is also a
Brightness slider that I can tweak.
| | 04:51 | If I want the entire image to be darker,
I'll click on the Brightness slider
| | 04:54 | and drag to the left.
| | 05:00 | I can also tweak the Contrast to
extend the Tonal Range of the image.
| | 05:03 | If I drag that to the right,
the image gets more contrasty.
| | 05:07 | If I drag to the left, the image gets flatter.
| | 05:09 | I'm going to leave it just about there.
| | 05:15 | The Clarity slider is useful for
restoring any loss of detail or sharpness that
| | 05:19 | might have occurred as a result of making
other tonal adjustments in the digital process.
| | 05:24 | Most images will benefit
from increasing clarity.
| | 05:27 | I'm going to drag the Clarity slider
to the right until I like the result.
| | 05:31 | There are two ways to increase the intensity of
the colors in the photo here in the Raw Editor.
| | 05:37 | I can use either the Vibrance
slider or the Saturation slider.
| | 05:40 | Often the Vibrance slider does the best job.
| | 05:42 | Watch what happens when I increase
Saturation, everything in the image gets saturated.
| | 05:47 | I'm going to put that back to its
starting point of zero, and instead, I'm going
| | 05:52 | to use the Vibrance
slider to increase saturation.
| | 05:56 | What the Vibrance slider does is affect only
the intensity of the less saturated colors.
| | 06:01 | It also does a better job with skin tones
in many cases, than the Saturation slider.
| | 06:06 | So those are the basic settings.
| | 06:08 | There is another tab at the top of the
column that contains detail settings.
| | 06:13 | In the Detail tab, I'll often take the
Sharpening Amount slider and drag it to zero.
| | 06:17 | I'll do that when I plan on bringing
the image into Photoshop Elements to do
| | 06:21 | further editing there, perhaps adding
filters or dragging in another photo.
| | 06:26 | Then when I'm done doing that in
Elements, I'll do my sharpening there at the
| | 06:30 | end of the editing process,
rather than here in the Raw Editor.
| | 06:33 | But if all I'm going to do to the image
is run it through the Raw Editor, then I
| | 06:36 | will use the Sharpening sliders here
in the Detail area to sharpen the image.
| | 06:41 | If there are little specks in the
image known as digital noise, I can reduce
| | 06:45 | that noise here in this
area of the Detail column.
| | 06:48 | The Luminance slider will
reduce black and white noise.
| | 06:51 | The Color slider will reduce colored noise.
| | 06:54 | In this case I don't think I
have to tweak those sliders.
| | 06:57 | Down here at the bottom of the
Document Preview Window is a Depth menu.
| | 07:02 | Here I can choose whether to retain
the 16-bits of color information in this
| | 07:07 | RAW image, making it a high bit image, or
whether to reduce it to just 8-bits per channel.
| | 07:13 | I'm going to leave it at 16-bits.
| | 07:15 | I can always reduce it to 8-bits
in Elements itself.
| | 07:17 | When I'm all done with my edits in
the RAW Editor, I have several choices.
| | 07:22 | I can just save the image with these
settings and then reopen it later into the
| | 07:26 | RAW Editor with the settings that I've
chosen, or if I want to open the image
| | 07:30 | into Elements, I'll click the Open Image button.
| | 07:34 | That opens the image into Elements
Editor, and as I mentioned, there are some
| | 07:37 | things I can do here in the Elements
Editor that I can't do in the RAW Editor.
| | 07:42 | For example, I can add text, I can add
filters, I can make image collages, I can
| | 07:50 | use the various create and
share functions, and lots more.
| | 07:53 | If I do bring the image into the
Elements Editor at 16-bits, as I've done here,
| | 07:58 | there will be some functions
that aren't available in Elements.
| | 08:01 | For example, I'll click on the Filter
menu, and you can see that some of the
| | 08:05 | filters are grayed out.
| | 08:06 | These are filters that can
only be applied to an 8-bit image.
| | 08:10 | Similarly, if I wanted to save this
file as a JPEG image, I would find that in
| | 08:16 | 16-bits, I don't have that
option here in the Save As dialog box.
| | 08:20 | I'm going to cancel out of there.
| | 08:22 | So what I can do here in Elements, when
I'm ready, is to convert the image to 8-bits.
| | 08:26 | I might make most of my edits at 16-bits,
and then go up to the Image menu, go
| | 08:31 | down to mode, and go over to 8-bits/channel.
| | 08:36 | Now the filters are available, and I
could if I wanted to, Save As in the JPEG
| | 08:42 | format, but I'll just
cancel out of there for now.
| | 08:45 | When I do save the image in another
format, like JPEG or PSD or TIFF, the RAW
| | 08:50 | image remains untouched.
| | 08:52 | I can always go back and reopen the
RAW image into the Camera Raw Editor, and
| | 08:56 | make yet another copy of the
file with different RAW settings.
| | 09:00 | So if you have the opportunity to shoot
RAW with your camera, I suggest that you
| | 09:04 | do it, so that you have the flexibility
to do image processing yourself in the
| | 09:08 | Adobe Camera Raw Editor, as
well as in Photoshop Elements.
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|
|
11. Touching Up PhotosUsing the Smart Brush tool| 00:00 | There are a couple of new tools in Elements
8 for Mac located down here in the toolbar.
| | 00:06 | One of those is the Smart Brush tool,
which I'll cover in this movie, and the
| | 00:09 | other is the Detail Smart Brush tool,
which I'll cover in the next movie.
| | 00:13 | I'm going to select the Smart Brush tool,
which I can use to select an area of
| | 00:17 | the image and apply an effect to
that area, all in one quick step.
| | 00:21 | First, I'm going to select the effect
that I want to apply, by going up to the
| | 00:25 | Options bar for the Smart Brush tool,
and clicking on this thumbnail to open a
| | 00:29 | menu of Preset Effects.
| | 00:31 | There is a submenu here with
categories of effects, black and white effects,
| | 00:36 | color effects, lighting effects and more.
| | 00:39 | I'm going to choose Color Effects, and
then I see a menu of lots of different
| | 00:43 | color effects that I could apply.
| | 00:45 | I'll choose Going Green, and to apply
that effect, I'll move into the image, by
| | 00:51 | pressing the left bracket key on
my keyboard, and then, I'm going to
| | 00:54 | click-and-drag over the cloak, and it
immediately is selected and changes color.
| | 00:59 | Notice that I went a little bit too
far here, I actually did that on purpose,
| | 01:03 | so that I could show you that if you
select too much with this tool, you can
| | 01:06 | always go up to the Options bar, and
choose the minus icon here, and then drag
| | 01:11 | over that extra bit to remove it from
the selection, and to remove the effect
| | 01:15 | that's been applied there.
| | 01:16 | Now take a look over at the Layers Panel, and
you can see what's happening under this scene.
| | 01:22 | The Smart Brush tool has added this
Adjustment layer to the Layers Panel.
| | 01:26 | Like any Adjustment layer,
this one has two thumbnails.
| | 01:29 | The one on the left represents the green color.
| | 01:32 | The one on the right is a layer mask that
contains some black paint and some white paint.
| | 01:37 | The black areas of this layer mask are
hiding this green effect from parts of
| | 01:41 | the image, which appears only where
there's white or gray in the layer mask.
| | 01:46 | I'm going to click off this layer onto
the Background layer to hide the marching
| | 01:50 | ants around the cloak.
| | 01:52 | One nice thing about some of the
adjustments made with the Smart Brush tool is
| | 01:56 | that they're editable.
| | 01:57 | So if I were to close and save this
image in a format that retains layers, it
| | 02:02 | would retain this Adjustment layer, and I
could come back in and make a change to it.
| | 02:06 | I can select that Adjustment layer by
clicking on this little icon right here in the image.
| | 02:11 | That brings back the selection, and
then with the Smart Brush tool still
| | 02:15 | selected, I could go back up to the
Options bar, click on the Preset Picker
| | 02:20 | icon, and choose a different
preset, maybe this pink one.
| | 02:24 | That immediately changes the adjustment.
| | 02:26 | I'll click the X on the right side
of the Preset Picker to close it.
| | 02:30 | Another thing I can do to an
adjustment is to modify the layer mask.
| | 02:34 | So, let's say that I wanted to soften
the edge of the mask, so that there was a
| | 02:38 | softer transition between this
pink cloak, and the background.
| | 02:42 | With the Smart Brush tool still
selected in the toolbar, and the Adjustment
| | 02:46 | layer selected in the Layers Panel, I can
go to the Options bar and click Refine Edge.
| | 02:52 | That opens a Refine Mask dialog box,
which is similar to the Refine dialog box
| | 02:57 | that I showed you in the
movies about selections.
| | 02:59 | There are two ways to preview the
selected area, one with marching ants, and
| | 03:04 | another as a red mask like this.
| | 03:06 | I have a few sliders I can use to
refine the mask, one that will smooth
| | 03:10 | its edges, one that will soften
the edges, and one that will either
| | 03:14 | contract or expand the edge.
| | 03:16 | I'm going to click OK to apply that,
and then I'll click on a different layer,
| | 03:20 | and I've managed to change
the way that the edge looks.
| | 03:23 | It's a little bit softer
than it was a moment ago.
| | 03:25 | Now I could apply more than one Preset
Adjustment to this image using the Smart Brush.
| | 03:31 | The trick here is to first make sure
that I've selected a layer other than one
| | 03:35 | of the adjustment layers.
| | 03:36 | So I do have the Background layer that
contains the photo selected right now.
| | 03:40 | With the Smart Brush tool still selected
in the toolbar, I can go up to the icon
| | 03:45 | for the Preset Picker and click, and I
could choose a different effect, maybe
| | 03:49 | this Chocoholic Color Effect.
| | 03:51 | Then I'll come into the image, and
I'll click-and-drag over the hat, applying
| | 03:55 | that effect to the hat.
| | 03:57 | Notice in the Layers Panel, there's
now a new Adjustment layer for the
| | 04:01 | Chocoholic Effect, with its own layer
mask limiting that effect to just the hat.
| | 04:05 | I'll click off that layer, and down
on the Background layer, to remove this
| | 04:09 | selection around the hat.
| | 04:10 | Now some of these adjustments, not
all, but some, can be customized.
| | 04:14 | The Color Adjustments are among those.
| | 04:16 | So let's say that I want to change the
color of the hat, but I don't see the
| | 04:21 | particular color that I want,
here in the Preset Picker.
| | 04:24 | I'll close the Preset Picker, and I'm
going to go to the Layers Panel and select
| | 04:28 | the Chocoholic layer that controls this effect.
| | 04:31 | I'll double-click on the thumbnail on
the left side of the Chocoholic layer, and
| | 04:35 | that opens the Adjustments panel to
the Gradient Map Controls, because this
| | 04:39 | particular color is being
applied by a Gradient Map Adjustment.
| | 04:44 | I can customize the gradient that's
being applied, by clicking the arrow to the
| | 04:47 | right of the gradient to
open the Gradient Picker.
| | 04:50 | From this Gradient Picker, I could choose
a different gradient, maybe purpled orange.
| | 04:55 | Keep your eye on the hat as I do this, and
you'll see that it changes color right away.
| | 04:59 | And I'll close this Gradient Picker,
and you can see that I've changed the
| | 05:03 | Gradient Map Control here
in the Adjustments panel.
| | 05:06 | Again, I'm going to click on the
Background layer in the Layers Panel to
| | 05:09 | remove the selection.
| | 05:10 | So that's a quick look at the
Smart Brush tool in Elements 8 for Mac.
| | 05:14 | I think this is one of the most
exciting new features in Elements 8, and I urge
| | 05:17 | you to give it a try on your own images.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Using the Detail Smart Brush tool| 00:00 | The Detail Smart Brush tool is
another new tool in Elements 8.
| | 00:04 | It's located behind the Smart Brush
tool in the toolbar and it's similar to
| | 00:08 | the Smart Brush tool.
| | 00:10 | In the last movie, I showed you how the
Smart Brush tool can be used to create a
| | 00:13 | selection and apply an adjustment
to that selection all in one step.
| | 00:17 | Well, the Detail Smart Brush
tool doesn't make a selection.
| | 00:21 | Instead, it allows me to paint in an
adjustment wherever I want it, so I get a
| | 00:25 | little more control than I do with the
Smart Brush tool, but it's not as useful
| | 00:29 | for covering a large area.
| | 00:31 | I am going to select the Detail Smart
Brush tool here in the toolbar and then
| | 00:35 | I'll go up to the Options bar for
this tool and I am going to click on the
| | 00:38 | Preset Picker icon here to open this
list of effects that I can apply with the
| | 00:43 | Detail Smart Brush tool.
| | 00:44 | These are the same effects that I
can apply with the Smart Brush tool.
| | 00:48 | There are categories of effects
in this menu. I am going to choose
| | 00:51 | Lighting effects and then I am
going to scroll down and I am going to
| | 00:55 | select the Spotlight effect.
| | 00:56 | I would like to paint in a Spotlight
effect on top of the spotlight on the truck.
| | 01:02 | So I'll just come into the image and
I'll start painting over that spotlight and
| | 01:06 | you can see as I do that the
spotlight is getting a little brighter.
| | 01:09 | If I go too far, painting down here by
mistake, I get this little pop-up menu
| | 01:14 | with a Minus icon on it.
| | 01:17 | I can select that Minus icon and then
I can come in and just paint away my
| | 01:21 | mistake, removing the effect from that area.
| | 01:24 | Alternatively, that Minus icon is
available from the Options bar up here.
| | 01:29 | In the LAYERS panel, you can see that
the tool has made a new adjustment layer
| | 01:33 | that contains its own layer mask limiting the
area to which the Spotlight effect is applied.
| | 01:38 | The black part of the layer mask
is hiding the Spotlight effect.
| | 01:42 | The white part of the layer mask is showing it.
| | 01:44 | The Detail Smart Brush tool comes in
handy when you want to just clean up an
| | 01:48 | adjustment that you've made
with the Smart Brush tool.
| | 01:50 | To show you that, I am going to click
off of this adjustment layer and on to a
| | 01:54 | different layer, I'll click on the
Background layer and then I am going to go
| | 01:57 | over to the toolbar and I am
going to select the Smart Brush tool.
| | 02:01 | Here in the Preset Picker menu, I am
going to choose a different effect.
| | 02:06 | I'll go to the Category menu there and
I am going to choose Special Effects and
| | 02:10 | then I'll select the Color Inversion
special effect, then I'll close this Preset
| | 02:14 | Picker by clicking the X.
| | 02:15 | Now, I am going to move into the image and I
am going to click-and-drag over this truck.
| | 02:19 | And I am being a little bit sloppy as I
do that, I've actually allowed the tool
| | 02:24 | to select and apply this
effect to more than just the truck.
| | 02:27 | I can use the Detail Smart
Brush tool to clean this up.
| | 02:31 | So I'll go back to the toolbar and
I'll choose Detail Smart Brush tool.
| | 02:35 | In the LAYERS panel, notice that there
is a new layer for the adjustment that I
| | 02:38 | just applied with the Smart Brush tool.
| | 02:40 | It's this Color Inversion layer.
| | 02:42 | I have that layer selected and if it's
not selected, I can select it by clicking
| | 02:47 | this little icon right here on the truck.
| | 02:50 | Now, with that Detail Smart Brush tool
selected in the toolbar, I'll go up to
| | 02:54 | the Options bar and I'll click this
Minus icon and then I'll come into the image
| | 02:58 | and I'll paint away some parts of the
adjustment that I made with the Smart
| | 03:03 | Brush tool, where I don't want the
image to change, here and maybe in this
| | 03:08 | window in the back of the truck.
| | 03:10 | And if I go too far and paint away
some of the effect that I really want to
| | 03:13 | keep, I could go back to the Options
bar and click the Plus icon for the Detail
| | 03:18 | Smart Brush tool and
paint back in, in this area.
| | 03:21 | So that's the Detail Smart Brush tool,
which you can use in conjunction with the
| | 03:25 | Smart Brush tool to refine
adjustments applied to an image.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Dodging and burning| 00:00 | At the bottom of the toolbar are a
trio of tools that are like darkroom tools
| | 00:05 | that you can use to paint in lighting and
saturation effects in small areas of an image.
| | 00:10 | These are the Sponge tool for
saturating and desaturating, the Dodge tool for
| | 00:15 | making small areas lighter, and the
Burn tool for making small areas darker.
| | 00:19 | I am going to start with the Burn
tool selecting it from this flyout menu.
| | 00:24 | In the Options bar for the Burn tool, I can
select the range of tones that will be affected.
| | 00:29 | I'll leave this set to Midtones, but I
also have the choice of Shadows or Highlights.
| | 00:33 | I can also control the strength of
this tool from the Exposure menu here.
| | 00:38 | I'll leave that at its default of 50%,
and I am going to come into the image, I
| | 00:42 | want to darken the sign a little bit, so
I'll just click-and-drag over the sign.
| | 00:47 | The Dodge tool does the opposite.
| | 00:49 | It makes small areas lighter.
| | 00:51 | I am going to go back to the Burn tool and
from its flyout menu I'll select the Dodge tool.
| | 00:57 | In the Options bar for that Dodge tool,
I'll go to the range area and this time
| | 01:02 | I'm going to select Highlights, so
that I'm making highlights brighter.
| | 01:05 | Then I'll come over to the balloons,
and I will click-and-drag to lighten some
| | 01:08 | of the highlights there.
| | 01:10 | The Saturation tool can be used
to increase the intensity of color.
| | 01:14 | I'll go over to the toolbar again, and
from the same flyout menu, I am going
| | 01:19 | to choose Sponge tool.
| | 01:20 | Now here it's important to look at the
Options bar and make sure that the mode
| | 01:24 | is set to Saturate, if that's what
you want to do, or Desaturate, if that's
| | 01:28 | what you want to do.
| | 01:29 | In this case, I want to saturate, so
I'll choose that option, and I'm going to
| | 01:33 | click-and-drag it over the flag to
make its colors brighter, to draw some
| | 01:37 | attention to that area of the image.
| | 01:39 | So that's a quick look at the trio of
darkroom tools in the toolbar that you
| | 01:44 | can use to make subtle changes to the
lighting and saturation of color in your
| | 01:47 | images.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Healing blemishes| 00:00 | One of the nice things that you can do
for your family and friends is to use the
| | 00:04 | retouching tools in Elements, to
make their portraits look better.
| | 00:08 | Here in the toolbar, there is a Spot
Healing Brush tool and the Healing Brush
| | 00:12 | tool that you can use to remove
blemishes, wrinkles, facial hair, scars, bags
| | 00:17 | under the eyes, and in general, to
retouch your portraits so that your
| | 00:21 | subjects look better.
| | 00:22 | I am going to start by selecting the
Spot Healing Brush tool, and I'm going to
| | 00:26 | come into this image, and I am
actually going to zoom in, so you can see the
| | 00:28 | blemishes on the face better, by
pressing Command, and then tapping the plus
| | 00:32 | key Plus a few times.
| | 00:33 | Then I'm going to hold the
spacebar down and pan down on this image.
| | 00:38 | I see that the model has a few
blemishes including this little freckle here
| | 00:43 | and a scar over here.
| | 00:45 | The Spot Healing Brush tool comes in
really handy for cleaning up areas like this.
| | 00:49 | Before I apply this tool, I like to
make a new layer that will contain all the
| | 00:54 | corrections that I make with the tool,
and that way I can eliminate those
| | 00:58 | corrections easily by throwing away the
new layer, or it can reduce the opacity
| | 01:02 | of the layer to make the
corrections look more realistic.
| | 01:05 | So I am going to go over to Layers Panel,
and I'm going to click the Create New
| | 01:09 | layer button right here, and
then I will name the new layer.
| | 01:13 | I'll double-click the default layer name,
and I'll call this layer 'retouching',
| | 01:18 | and then I'll press the
Return key on my keyboard.
| | 01:21 | I'll make sure I have that retouching
layer selected, and then, and this is
| | 01:25 | important, I'm going to go up to the
Options bar for the Spot Healing Brush and
| | 01:29 | I'm going to click Sample All layers.
| | 01:32 | This will cause the Spot Healing Brush
to sample or use some good pixels from
| | 01:37 | other layers in the image.
| | 01:38 | In this case from the background layer,
but to lay down those sample pixels on
| | 01:43 | the selected Retouching layer.
| | 01:45 | So now, all I have to do to retouch the
image is move into the image, place my
| | 01:49 | mouse over one of the blemishes like
this scar, use the bracket keys to make
| | 01:54 | the brush tip just a little bit bigger
than the area that I want to cover, and click.
| | 01:59 | With just one click that scar goes away.
| | 02:03 | I can do the same thing up here on
this freckle, or I can click and drag over
| | 02:07 | some of these scars on the boy's
forehead, and like magic they disappear.
| | 02:13 | I can just quickly go through an entire
image cleaning up blemishes like this.
| | 02:17 | Now sometimes I want a little more control
over where I'm sampling good pixels from.
| | 02:23 | So let's say that I want to remove some
of the hairs in the boy's eyebrow here.
| | 02:27 | If I use the Spot Healing Brush, I'm
not getting the best result, because the
| | 02:30 | Spot Healing Brush is picking up some
pixels that include some hairs, rather
| | 02:34 | than pixels from the clean skin up here.
| | 02:37 | So I am going to undo a couple of times
pressing Command key and Z key together
| | 02:42 | and I am going to go over and get
another tool, the Healing Brush tool, which
| | 02:46 | gives me more control over the area
from which the good pixels are sampled.
| | 02:50 | With the Healing Brush tool, I'm going
to go up to the Options bar, and again,
| | 02:54 | check Sample All layers.
| | 02:56 | I'm also going to check Aligned, so
that the area from which I'm sampling moves
| | 03:01 | with me as I lay down good pixels.
| | 03:03 | Then I'm going to come into the image,
and I'm going to hold the Option key down
| | 03:07 | as I click on some clean
skin on the boy's forehead.
| | 03:10 | Now I'm going to move over these hairs
and drag, and notice that cross that's
| | 03:15 | moving with me, that indicates the location
from which the good pixels are being taken.
| | 03:20 | I'll just drag over the hairs, I'll do
the same on the other side, and that's a
| | 03:27 | quick way to shape the eyebrows.
| | 03:29 | I also like to use the Healing Brush
tool when I'm trying to remove bags
| | 03:33 | under the eyes like this, or when
I'm trying to remove stray hairs, like
| | 03:36 | those along the hairline here.
| | 03:38 | The Healing Brush tool and the Spot
Healing Brush tool come in handy for
| | 03:41 | cleaning up lots of areas of portraits,
and that will make your subjects feel a
| | 03:45 | lot better about themselves.
| | 03:46 | So I urge you to use these
Retouching tools on your own portraits.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Removing content with the Clone Stamp tool| 00:00 | One of the things people ask me about
all the time is how do I remove an old
| | 00:05 | boyfriend or a lamppost or a hair
or some other content for an image?
| | 00:09 | Well, sometimes you can do that using
the Healing Brush tool or the Spot Healing
| | 00:13 | Brush tool that I covered in an earlier movie.
| | 00:16 | But sometimes those tools aren't strong
enough for the task, because what they
| | 00:20 | do is attempt to blend in the cover-
up pixels with the image below, and
| | 00:25 | sometimes the image below will just
show through in a way that doesn't
| | 00:28 | completely eliminate content.
| | 00:30 | If you find that to be the case,
give the Clone Stamp tool a try.
| | 00:34 | I'm going to select the Clone Stamp
tool in the toolbar, and then I'm going to
| | 00:37 | go over to the layers panel, and I am
going to make a new layer on which to
| | 00:41 | use the Clone Stamp tool, by
clicking the Create New layer button at the
| | 00:44 | bottom of the layers panel.
| | 00:46 | I'm going to name this layer, double-
clicking its name, and I will call this
| | 00:50 | 'clone', and then press Return, and I'll
make sure the Clone layer is selected.
| | 00:55 | Next, I'm going to go out to the
Options bar for the Clone Stamp tool, and I
| | 00:59 | want to make sure to check Sample All layers.
| | 01:02 | What that does is it tells the tool to
sample some good pixels from other layers
| | 01:07 | in the file, in this case from the
photo on the background layer, but to lay
| | 01:12 | those correcting pixels down
on the selected Clone layer.
| | 01:15 | I am also going to go to the mode menu
here, and click, and I am going to choose
| | 01:20 | a different formula for blending the
correcting pixels that I am going to use to
| | 01:24 | cover up part of this
image with the image itself.
| | 01:27 | Let me close that for a minute, so that
you can see that what I'm going to try
| | 01:30 | to do is to remove this dog from the beach.
| | 01:33 | And the dog is darker than the
surrounding waves and sand, so I'm going to
| | 01:38 | change the mode menu to Lighten,
because that's what I want to do is lighten
| | 01:42 | this area to remove the dog.
| | 01:44 | I am also going to go to this menu in the
Options bar, Show Selected Brush presets.
| | 01:49 | I want to be sure to use a
relatively hard-edged brush for this purpose.
| | 01:53 | So I'm going to select one of the hard
round brushes here, and then I'll click
| | 01:56 | the X. Now I'm ready to
use the Clone Stamp tool.
| | 02:00 | So I am going to move into the image,
and I'm going to place my mouse over the
| | 02:04 | dog that I want to eliminate, and I am
going to use the right bracket key on my
| | 02:07 | keyboard to make the brush tip just
a little bit bigger than that dog.
| | 02:12 | Then I'm going to move off to the right
of the dog, putting a brush tip over the
| | 02:15 | pixels that I want a sample to hide the dog.
| | 02:18 | I'll hold down the Option key, and that
changes the cursor to this target icon,
| | 02:22 | and I'll click to sample some
pixels, and then I'll release.
| | 02:26 | Now I'm going to carefully move to
the left staying in line with my target
| | 02:30 | point, and when I get over the dog, I'll click.
| | 02:33 | You can see that with a single click, I've
managed to eliminate the dog from the photo.
| | 02:37 | Going back over to the layers panel, I'm
going to hold the Option key as I click
| | 02:41 | on the eye icon to the left of the
Clone layer, and you can see there, the
| | 02:45 | pixels that I laid down
that are covering up the dog.
| | 02:49 | I'll Option click again on the eye
icon to the left of the Clone layer, and
| | 02:52 | then I am just going to click on
that eye icon to make the Clone layer
| | 02:56 | temporarily invisible, so you can
see that the dog is still there on the
| | 03:00 | background layer below.
| | 03:01 | He's just being covered up by the
pixels that I laid down on the Clone layer.
| | 03:05 | Then I'll click in the
Visibility Field of the Clone layer again.
| | 03:08 | So that's how to set up and use the
Clone Stamp tool to remove unwanted
| | 03:12 | content from your images.
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| Removing red-eye| 00:00 | When you take a photograph with flash,
you often get this glowing red eye effect
| | 00:05 | like you see in this girl's eyes.
| | 00:07 | In an earlier movie, I showed you how
you can remove red eye like this in the
| | 00:11 | Quick Fix Workspace.
| | 00:12 | Well, you can do the same thing when
you're working here in the Full Edit Workspace.
| | 00:16 | You don't have to switch over to Quick Fix.
| | 00:18 | The way that you do it here is to use the
Red Eye tool that's here in the toolbox.
| | 00:23 | I am going to zoom in on the girl's
eyes by pressing Command+Plus a couple
| | 00:27 | of times, and then holding the spacebar and
panning over it, so you can see the girl's face.
| | 00:34 | With the Red Eye tool selected in the
toolbar, I am just going to move over the
| | 00:37 | girl's eyes and click, and it's that
simple to remove the red eye covering it
| | 00:42 | with gray pixels that look a lot more natural.
| | 00:44 | I'll click in the other
eye to do the same thing.
| | 00:46 | Now sometimes you don't get exactly the
results that you want. In that case you
| | 00:51 | could Undo and go up to the Options
bar for the Red Eye tool where you can
| | 00:55 | change the size of the pupil, in
other words, the size of the area that's
| | 00:59 | corrected, or you can change the
darkening amount, the darkness of the gray
| | 01:03 | pixels that are used to cover up the red eye.
| | 01:06 | So that's how quick and easy it is to
fix red eye in the Full Edit Workspace
| | 01:10 | using the Red Eye tool from the toolbar.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
12. Adding Special EffectsApplying filters| 00:00 | Filters offer lots of
options for enhancing your photos.
| | 00:04 | Many of the filters in Elements are
decorative, fun to play with, but there are
| | 00:07 | also some filters that are useful for
photographic techniques, like sharpening,
| | 00:12 | blurring, reducing noise.
| | 00:14 | Before I get started showing you how
to apply filters, I want to be sure you
| | 00:17 | know that you can apply a
filter to only one layer at a time.
| | 00:21 | So if I look in the layers panel over
here, I see that I have a layer with a
| | 00:25 | photo, and I have another layer with
a frame, and if I want to apply filter
| | 00:30 | to both of these, and I need to be
sure to select the layer to which I want
| | 00:34 | to apply the filter.
| | 00:35 | So if I wanted the filter only on the
photo, I would click on the photo layer,
| | 00:39 | and then apply a filter.
| | 00:40 | What if I do want to apply
a filter to multiple layers?
| | 00:43 | Well, here's a little trick for you.
| | 00:45 | In the layers panel I'll select the
topmost layer to which I want a filter to
| | 00:49 | apply, and then I'm going to go over
to the Panel menu, and I'm going to go
| | 00:54 | up to Merge Visible.
| | 00:56 | Before I click that, I am going to
hold down the Option key, and then I'll
| | 00:59 | click on Merge Visible.
| | 01:01 | What that does is create a new layer
that's a composite of the content of
| | 01:05 | all the layers below.
| | 01:06 | So if I hold the Option key and click
on the eye icon to the left of that new
| | 01:10 | layer, you can see that it contains
all of the content of the photo layer and
| | 01:15 | the frame layer, and now, I could
apply a filter to this Composite layer, so
| | 01:19 | that it would affect the whole image.
| | 01:21 | To show you how to apply layers, I
am going to bring up another image by
| | 01:24 | double-clicking it down here in the
Project Bin, this photograph of some
| | 01:28 | skulls in Santa Fe.
| | 01:30 | There are three different places
from which I can apply filters.
| | 01:33 | I can go out to the Filter menu and
apply a filter from one of the categories
| | 01:36 | here, or I can use the Filter Gallery
from the filter menu, or I can go over to
| | 01:41 | the Effects panel, click on this
first icon, and apply filters using the
| | 01:46 | thumbnails that you see here.
| | 01:48 | When I'm applying a photographic
type filter, like Noise Reduction or
| | 01:52 | Sharpening, I will usually just go up
to the Filter menu, and I'll go down to
| | 01:57 | the filter category, say, Noise, and
then I'll select the filter that I want to
| | 02:01 | apply, like this Reduce Noise Filter.
| | 02:04 | That will open a dialog box where I can
make some choices that control the way
| | 02:08 | the filter looks, and if I
like the result, I'll click OK.
| | 02:12 | I am actually just going to click
Cancel at this point, so I can go on and show
| | 02:15 | you the other ways to apply filters.
| | 02:18 | If I'm applying a decorative filter,
the method I just showed you isn't
| | 02:21 | very satisfying, because I don't get
a terrific preview when I am choosing
| | 02:25 | which filter to apply.
| | 02:27 | So in that case, I might choose Filter Gallery.
| | 02:31 | The Filter Gallery dialog box shows
me a preview of the image over here.
| | 02:35 | If I want to see the whole image,
I can click the little minus at the
| | 02:39 | bottom-left of the preview.
| | 02:40 | In the center are
categories of decorative filters.
| | 02:44 | I can expand any category by clicking
the arrow to the left of it, which I will
| | 02:48 | do now for the Artistic category, and
here I see thumbnails that represent each
| | 02:52 | of the filters in that category.
| | 02:54 | I am going to select one of those
thumbnails, the Poster Edges Thumbnail, and
| | 02:58 | that brings up some options for this
particular filter over here on the right.
| | 03:02 | It also previews the way that the
image will look with the filter with
| | 03:06 | its default options.
| | 03:08 | Dragging the sliders on the right will
change the way that the image appears
| | 03:12 | with the filter on it.
| | 03:13 | In this list down here, I can see all
of the filters I've chosen to apply to
| | 03:17 | this image, and I can
apply more than one filter.
| | 03:20 | The way to add another filter is to
go down to the bottom of this list
| | 03:24 | of filters and click this icon right
here, and that makes a duplicate of
| | 03:28 | the existing filter.
| | 03:29 | With that duplicate selected in this
list, I'm going to go back over to the
| | 03:33 | categories in the middle, and I am
going to expand the texture category by
| | 03:37 | clicking the arrow there, and then
I'll scroll down, and I'm going to click
| | 03:40 | on the Texturizer Filter and that changes
that Duplicate Filter to the Texturizer Filter.
| | 03:46 | Here I can experiment with the sliders,
which change the look of the filter.
| | 03:52 | I also have options here to delete
any one of these filters by selecting it
| | 03:56 | and clicking the Trash icon, or I can
turn a filter off temporarily, so I can
| | 04:01 | see what the image looks like without
it by clicking the eye icon to the left
| | 04:05 | of it in this list.
| | 04:06 | When I'm satisfied with
my filters I'll click OK.
| | 04:09 | And that applies them to the image.
| | 04:11 | Because I can't really come back in
and tweak a filter after I've applied it,
| | 04:14 | you can see how the Filter Gallery with
its large preview and all of its options
| | 04:18 | can come in quite handy.
| | 04:20 | There's one more way to apply filters and
that's from the Effects panel over here.
| | 04:24 | I have the first icon on
the Effects panel selected.
| | 04:27 | And that's the Filter icon.
| | 04:28 | There are categories of filters in
this menu. Choosing a different category,
| | 04:33 | like the Pixelate category, changes
the thumbnails that are available here.
| | 04:37 | If I want to apply one of these filters,
I can select its thumbnail and then
| | 04:41 | click the Apply button.
| | 04:43 | Then in the dialog box it opens, and
sometimes this is the Filter Gallery, I can click OK.
| | 04:48 | So that's applied a Halftone filter.
| | 04:50 | It's not really a filter that I want
to keep, so I am going to undo it by
| | 04:54 | pressing Command+Z on my keyboard.
| | 04:56 | So those are three different ways to
apply filters, from the Filter menu, the
| | 05:01 | Filter Gallery, and the Effects panel,
here in Elements' Full Edit Workspace.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Adding effects| 00:00 | Effects offer lots of different
looks that you can apply to your photos.
| | 00:04 | Effects are similar to filters,
but they are a little more complex.
| | 00:07 | A single effect can automatically add
layers and layers styles and special
| | 00:12 | effects, all with one click.
| | 00:14 | Before I apply an effect, I always
check my LAYERS panel, and if I have more
| | 00:18 | than one layer here, I'll make sure to
click on the topmost layer that I want to
| | 00:22 | have affected by an effect, because when
I apply an effect, it will apply to the
| | 00:28 | visible areas of all of the layers beneath it.
| | 00:30 | To apply an effect, I'll go
to the EFFECTS panel here.
| | 00:33 | If yours isn't open, you can open it from
the Window menu at the top of the screen.
| | 00:39 | In the EFFECTS panel, I'll click the
third icon for Photo Effects, and then
| | 00:44 | I'll go to the Category menu and I'll choose
the category of effects that I want to use.
| | 00:48 | I am going to try out Vintage Photo.
| | 00:50 | There is only one effect here.
| | 00:52 | To apply it, I'll select its
thumbnail and I'll click Apply.
| | 00:56 | In just a moment, the
effect is applied to the image.
| | 00:59 | This particular effect
has added some sepia toning.
| | 01:02 | It's given the background the look of
antique paper and it's created a new layer
| | 01:06 | here in the LAYERS panel.
| | 01:08 | This effect looks good on this particular
photo but it may not look good on another.
| | 01:12 | But really the only thing that you
can do is just practice trial-and-error.
| | 01:16 | Applying an effect and if you don't
like it, undoing or in this case, I could
| | 01:20 | just remove the Background copy layer
that the effect created by dragging that
| | 01:24 | to the trash can at the
bottom of the LAYERS panel.
| | 01:26 | I am going to try an
effect from another category.
| | 01:29 | I'll go up to the Category menu in the
EFFECTS panel and this time, I am going
| | 01:33 | to choose Miscellaneous Effects.
| | 01:35 | Now, there are lots of icons here, and
I really don't know one from the other.
| | 01:39 | So one thing I can do is click on this
panel menu, which is a little bit hard
| | 01:43 | to see over on the top-right of the
EFFECTS panel, and from the contextual
| | 01:47 | menu, choose Show Names.
| | 01:49 | And that at least gives me a name under
each one of these thumbnails, suggesting
| | 01:53 | what that effect might do.
| | 01:54 | I am going to try out this Oil Pastel
effect by clicking its thumbnail and
| | 01:59 | then clicking Apply.
| | 02:00 | Now, I can apply more than
one effect to the same image.
| | 02:03 | Effects are cumulative.
| | 02:05 | So this time, I am going to go up to the
Category menu and I am going to choose Frame.
| | 02:09 | I'll select the first icon here,
which is going to add a Drop Shadow type
| | 02:14 | frame to this image.
| | 02:16 | Because I want the frame to be white,
I want to make sure that white is the
| | 02:19 | background color here in the toolbox.
| | 02:21 | If it isn't, I will press D on my
keyboard to set the colors to their defaults,
| | 02:26 | which are black as the foreground
and white as the background color.
| | 02:30 | And then with the Drop Shadow effect
highlighted in the EFFECTS panel, I'll click Apply.
| | 02:35 | If you get a result like this, just go
to the bottom-right corner of this inner
| | 02:39 | document window, move your mouse over
that corner and click-and-drag a little to
| | 02:43 | see the full effect.
| | 02:44 | I think effects can create some
really beautiful looks for your photos.
| | 02:48 | But like any special effect feature, I
suggest that you apply effects with a
| | 02:52 | light hand judiciously rather than just
piling them on, and that will make your
| | 02:56 | photos look more interesting and sophisticated.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Using layer styles| 00:00 | A Layer Style is an effect like a Drop
Shadow or a Bevel and Emboss or a Glow
| | 00:05 | that is applied to just one layer at a
time, and that will affect the edge of
| | 00:09 | that layer, the area between the content
on the layer and any transparent pixels
| | 00:14 | around the outside of the layer.
| | 00:16 | Many of the layer styles that come
with Elements add dimension to a photo,
| | 00:19 | helping you to get the photo
look like it's up and off the page.
| | 00:23 | Before I apply a layer style, I always
check the LAYERS panel, and I make sure
| | 00:27 | that I've selected the proper layer on
which I want the layer style to appear.
| | 00:31 | Let me show you what's on
each layer in this image.
| | 00:34 | I am going to hold down the Option key
and click on the Eye icon to the left of
| | 00:37 | the photo layer and you can see that
that layer contains this photograph as well
| | 00:42 | as some transparent pixels
all around the photograph.
| | 00:46 | Then I'll show you what's on the
white background layer by holding the
| | 00:49 | Option key and clicking in the visibility
field to the left of the white background layer.
| | 00:53 | This layer is filled entirely with white.
| | 00:55 | So when I turn on the photo layer again
by Option+clicking the white background
| | 00:59 | layer icon, what you see is that
where the photo layer is transparent,
| | 01:05 | you can see down through to
the white background below.
| | 01:08 | And that makes the white kind of
look like a frame around the photo.
| | 01:11 | But now to make that frame look even
more realistic, I am going go to the
| | 01:14 | EFFECTS panel, where I am going to
click the second icon to display thumbnails
| | 01:18 | of available layer styles.
| | 01:21 | This menu offers categories of layer styles.
| | 01:24 | So, let's say that I leave this at Bevels.
| | 01:27 | I can select one of the thumbnails and
to apply that kind of a bevel, I'll go
| | 01:31 | down to the Apply button and click,
and that's applied this Inner Ridge style
| | 01:35 | bevel to the photo layer.
| | 01:37 | I'll make the white background layer
temporarily invisible by clicking its Eye
| | 01:41 | icon, so that you can see that that
layer style is on the photo layer, around
| | 01:46 | the edge of the layer.
| | 01:47 | Once I apply a layer style to a layer,
the layer gets a little fx icon on the
| | 01:52 | right side of it here in the LAYERS panel.
| | 01:54 | I am going to turn the white background
on again by clicking the Eye icon to the
| | 01:58 | left of the white background layer.
| | 02:00 | Now let's say I want to
try out another layer style.
| | 02:03 | I really need to use a trial-and-
error process because there is no real
| | 02:06 | preview of layer styles.
| | 02:08 | So if I want to try out a different
layer style, I'll undo this one by pressing
| | 02:12 | Command+Z. This time I am going to go
to another category of layer style, I am
| | 02:16 | going to choose Inner Shadows, and I am
going to click on the second icon below
| | 02:20 | Inner Shadow and apply that, but first,
I want to make sure that I am on the
| | 02:25 | photo layer in the LAYERS
panel, which is really important.
| | 02:28 | So I've selected the photo layer, I have
the Low Inner Shadow thumbnail selected
| | 02:33 | in the layer styles area of the
EFFECTS panel and I am going to click Apply.
| | 02:38 | That put this Inner Shadow around the
inside of the photo layer, making it look
| | 02:43 | like the photo is recessed inside of the frame.
| | 02:46 | Now layer styles are cumulative. I
can have more than one on a layer.
| | 02:50 | So with the photo layer still selected,
I am going to go up to the Category menu
| | 02:54 | in the EFFECTS panel and this time, I
am going to choose the Strokes category.
| | 02:58 | Here I'll click on the second
icon, Black Stroke 10 pixels.
| | 03:02 | If I leave my mouse over that thumbnail,
by the way, a tool-tip comes up and
| | 03:06 | tells me the full name of that layer style.
| | 03:08 | And then I'll go down and I'll click Apply.
| | 03:10 | That applies this stroke around the
outside of the selected photo layer.
| | 03:15 | In addition to the Inner Shadow layer
style that I had applied to that same layer.
| | 03:20 | I've shown you only a few of the
many layer styles that are available.
| | 03:23 | There are lots of choices and I urge
you to explore them on your own time.
| | 03:27 | My favorites are the ones that add
dimension, like the ones I have shown you here.
| | 03:30 | Try using them to make a photo pop up
off of the frame, as I've shown you how
| | 03:34 | to do.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Using shapes| 00:00 | Elements comes with a collection of
graphic shapes that you can use to embellish
| | 00:04 | a project like a scrapbook page, a
card, an invitation or a collage.
| | 00:09 | These shapes are vector graphics, which
means that unlike photographs they can
| | 00:14 | be reshaped or distorted
without losing image quality.
| | 00:18 | To access the shapes that comes with
Elements, I'll go to Shape tool slot, which
| | 00:22 | is right here in the toolbox.
| | 00:24 | And from the flyout menu, I can choose
from any of these geometric shape tools:
| | 00:29 | the Rectangle, the Rounded Rectangle,
which is good for making buttons for a
| | 00:33 | website, the Ellipse tool for making
ovals and circles, the Polygon tool for
| | 00:38 | making triangles and other polygons,
the Line tool and finally the Custom
| | 00:43 | Shape tool, which is the most
flexible of the Shape tools, and the one that
| | 00:47 | I'm going to show you here.
| | 00:48 | I'll select the Custom Shape tool, and
then I am going to come up the Options
| | 00:52 | bar for this tool, and click the
arrow to the right of the Shape field.
| | 00:56 | This opens the Shape Picker, where you can
see some of the shapes that come with Elements.
| | 01:00 | But this is just a small
subset of all the available shapes.
| | 01:04 | To see more, I'm going to click this
double pointed arrow here, and from the
| | 01:08 | menu that pops-up, I am going
to choose All Elements Shapes.
| | 01:13 | I still can't see them in this picker,
so I am going to make the picker longer
| | 01:16 | by going to it's bottom
right corner and dragging down.
| | 01:22 | As you can see there are many shapes available.
| | 01:24 | I am going to go to the scrollbar on the
right side of this picker and drag down
| | 01:28 | to see even more shapes.
| | 01:31 | Down at the bottom of the
menu are some Talk Bubble Shapes.
| | 01:34 | I am going to select one of those,
and then I'm going to close this Shape
| | 01:38 | Picker, by going up to the little X on
the top right of the picker and clicking.
| | 01:42 | And you can see, the shape that I
have selected here in the Shape field.
| | 01:45 | Before I apply this shape, I want to
select a color for it from this menu, so
| | 01:49 | I'll click the arrow to the right of
the Color Field in the Options bar, and
| | 01:53 | that brings up these Swatches.
| | 01:55 | I can make the Swatches panel bigger
by going to the bottom right corner and
| | 01:58 | dragging, and I could just click on a
swatch here or I can click More Colors,
| | 02:03 | and that opens the Color Picker
from which I can choose a color.
| | 02:06 | I am going to go to the gold area and
choose a gold color from there, and click OK.
| | 02:11 | Now, also before drawing out this shape,
I'm going to select a Style for the shape.
| | 02:17 | The default is No Style,
represented by this icon.
| | 02:20 | I am going to click the arrow to the
right of the Style Field, and at first,
| | 02:24 | what I see are some different Bevel Styles.
| | 02:27 | If I click the double pointed arrow on
the right side of the Style Picker, I see
| | 02:31 | that there are other categories of styles.
| | 02:33 | I am going to choose the Drop Shadow Style.
| | 02:36 | That changes the thumbnails available here.
| | 02:38 | I'm going to select the Low Drop Shadow,
and then I'm going to close this Style
| | 02:42 | Picker by clicking in a
blank area of the Options bar.
| | 02:46 | Now, I am finally ready to draw out this shape.
| | 02:48 | So I'll come into the image.
| | 02:50 | I am going to hold down the Shift key
on my keyboard to constrain proportions,
| | 02:54 | so the shape doesn't distort, and I'm
going to drag out a Talk Bubble like this.
| | 02:59 | Notice in the layers
panel there's now a new layer.
| | 03:01 | This is a special kind of
layer called a Shape layer.
| | 03:04 | And it comes with this thumbnail
representing the vector outline that
| | 03:08 | creates this shape.
| | 03:09 | I am going to rename this Shape layer
by double-clicking it's name, and I'll
| | 03:13 | call this Talk Bubble Shape,
and then I'll press Return.
| | 03:17 | And you can see that there is a Drop
Shadow Style on the shape, because there's
| | 03:21 | an fx icon on the Shape layer. The
jaggedy edge that you see here is really just
| | 03:27 | the vector outline around the shape.
| | 03:29 | If you don't want to see that, you can
always click off of the Shape layer onto
| | 03:32 | another layer, like this Background layer,
and now you can see that the shape is
| | 03:36 | indeed really smooth around the edge.
| | 03:39 | Because this is a vector shape, I can
resize it, reshape it, rotate it, all
| | 03:43 | without disturbing its quality.
| | 03:45 | To do that I'll select the Shape layer
again, and then I'm going to go over to
| | 03:50 | the toolbar, click on the Custom Shape
tool, and from the flyout menu I'm going
| | 03:54 | to choose the Shape Selection tool.
| | 03:56 | With this tool I'll click inside the
shape, and that creates this bounding
| | 04:01 | box with anchor points.
| | 04:02 | If I want to change the size of this
shape, I'll move my mouse over one of the
| | 04:06 | anchor points on a corner, I'll hold the
Shift key to constrain proportions, and
| | 04:10 | I can make the shape bigger or smaller.
| | 04:13 | If I want to rotate the shape, I'll
move my mouse outside one of the anchor
| | 04:16 | points till the cursor changes to a
curved double-pointed arrow, and then I'll
| | 04:21 | drag to rotate the shape.
| | 04:23 | And if I do want to distort or change
the shape, I can move my cursor over any
| | 04:29 | of the anchor points and drag.
| | 04:31 | So I'm making the shape a
little bit narrower this time.
| | 04:33 | When I'm all done with these changes.
| | 04:35 | I'll go down to this green checkmark and
click to commit my changes to the shape.
| | 04:41 | And now, I'm going to click off of the
Shape layer onto the Background layer to
| | 04:44 | see how the shape looks
without the vector outline.
| | 04:47 | Another thing that I like to use a
Custom Shape for is to mask a photograph to
| | 04:51 | give it a more interesting outline.
| | 04:53 | This is similar to applying a full
layer mask, which I showed you how to do
| | 04:57 | in the layers chapter.
| | 04:58 | And it's a really specialized technique,
the one that I think you are going to like.
| | 05:02 | The first thing I am going to do is go
to the layers panel, and notice that the
| | 05:05 | photograph is on a special
layer called a Background layer.
| | 05:08 | I am going to change this into a
regular type layer by double-clicking the word
| | 05:12 | Background on this layer.
| | 05:14 | I'll name the Regular layer
'cowboy', and I'll click OK.
| | 05:19 | Now that that's a regular layer, I
can create a new layer beneath it.
| | 05:22 | To do that, with the cowboy layer
selected, I'll hold down the Command key on
| | 05:26 | my keyboard, and I'll click the Create
New layer icon down here at the bottom
| | 05:30 | left of the layers panel, and that makes a
new layer beneath the selected cowboy layer.
| | 05:35 | I'll double-click this layer name, and
I am going to call this one 'color', and
| | 05:40 | then I'll press the Return key.
| | 05:41 | I am going to fill the new color layer with
color, so I have it selected in the layers panel.
| | 05:46 | I'm going to go up to the
Edit menu and choose Fill layer.
| | 05:51 | Here in the Use menu, I'll
choose 50% Gray, and I'll click OK.
| | 05:56 | That will fill the color layer with 50% Gray.
| | 05:59 | But I don't see that in the document
window, because the Cowboy layer is
| | 06:03 | completely obscuring the Color layer right now.
| | 06:05 | The next thing I am going to do is to
add a Custom Shape between the Color layer
| | 06:09 | and the Cowboy layer.
| | 06:10 | So with the color layer selected, I'm
going to go back to the toolbar and select
| | 06:15 | the Custom Shape tool.
| | 06:17 | I'll go up to the Options bar, and click
the arrow to the right of the Shape field.
| | 06:20 | I am going to scroll up in this list of
shapes, until I see these mask shapes.
| | 06:30 | I'll select one of those, and then I'll
close the Shape Picker by clicking the
| | 06:34 | X at the top right.
| | 06:36 | Next, I'll choose a color for this
mask by going to the arrow to the right of
| | 06:39 | the Color field, clicking there, and
I'm going to select a Black Chip, from
| | 06:44 | these color swatches.
| | 06:45 | And then I'll click in a blank area
of the Options bar to close that menu.
| | 06:49 | Next, I am going to go to the Style
Picker, click the arrow there, and what I
| | 06:53 | want to do is set this to, No style, so
I'll click the double pointed arrow, and
| | 06:57 | I'm going to choose Remove Style, and
then I'll click in a blank area of the
| | 07:01 | Options bar to close that picker.
| | 07:03 | Now I am ready to add a new shape
layer, containing this mask shape.
| | 07:08 | So I'll come into the image to the top
left corner, and I'll draw out a mask
| | 07:13 | moving down to the bottom right
corner, and then I'll release my mouse.
| | 07:17 | That creates a new Shape
layer here, in the layers panel.
| | 07:20 | I am going to double-click its default
name and call it Mask, and then press Return.
| | 07:25 | Now comes the last and a really important step.
| | 07:28 | And that is to clip this Mask layer
to the Cowboy layer, so that the mask
| | 07:32 | acts like a clipping mask or a layer mask,
defining the area where the cowboy image will appear.
| | 07:38 | So to clip the cowboy and the mask
layers together, I am going to hold
| | 07:42 | the Option key, as I move my mouse over the
border between the cowboy and mask layers.
| | 07:48 | And when the cursor changes to this
double-circle icon, I'll click, and that
| | 07:52 | clips the two layers together.
| | 07:54 | Now I am going to click off of the mask layer.
| | 07:57 | I'll click on the color layer
instead, so you can see the final result.
| | 08:01 | The mask is limiting where the cowboy
is showing up, and if I make the color
| | 08:06 | layer temporarily invisible by
clicking it's eye icon, you can see the
| | 08:10 | transparent pixels around the edge of that mask.
| | 08:13 | So try using shapes to embellish a
photograph, or to create a mask as I have
| | 08:18 | shown you here, or to make some
interesting graphics in your projects like
| | 08:22 | scrapbook pages, invitations or cards.
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| Using the Cookie Cutter tool| 00:00 | Here's a tool that's made
specifically for you scrapbookers.
| | 00:03 | The Cookie Cutter tool will take any
photograph and create a shape from it, and
| | 00:08 | then you can use those
shapes on your scrapbook pages.
| | 00:11 | The shapes that the Cookie Cutter
makes are vector graphic shapes, just like
| | 00:14 | those created with Shape tool.
| | 00:16 | In this image, I have two layers. There
is the aqua water layer, which you see
| | 00:20 | here, and then I'll make that
temporarily invisible by clicking its eye icon, so
| | 00:25 | you can see the blue water layer beneath it.
| | 00:27 | I'll turn the aqua water layer back on
by clicking in its visibility field, and
| | 00:32 | I'm going to select the aqua water
layer, because that's the one from which I
| | 00:35 | want to make a shape.
| | 00:37 | Now, I'll go over to the toolbar, and I am
going to select the Cookie Cutter tool here.
| | 00:41 | Up in the Options bar for the Cookie
Cutter tool, I'll click the arrow to the
| | 00:45 | right of the Shape field and this
reveals a menu of the same shapes that are
| | 00:49 | available with the Custom Shape tool.
| | 00:51 | I am going to scroll up to the top of
this menu and by the way, if you don't see
| | 00:54 | all of these options in your menu,
click the double-pointed arrow here and
| | 00:58 | choose All Elements Shapes and then go
to the bottom-right of the Shape Picker
| | 01:04 | and drag down, so that you can see more shapes.
| | 01:06 | I am going to select a shape from the
top of the Shape Picker, this fish shape,
| | 01:11 | and then I'm going to click X at the
top right of the shape picker to close it.
| | 01:15 | There are some options I can set up
here in the Options bar before I draw out a
| | 01:19 | Cookie Cutter Shape.
| | 01:21 | One is to go to the Shape Options menu
by clicking this arrow, and selecting
| | 01:26 | defined proportions, and that will
protect the shape from being distorted as I
| | 01:31 | drag it out, and I won't have to hold
down the Shift key to make that happen.
| | 01:34 | I am going to click in a blank area of
the Options bar to close that menu and
| | 01:39 | then I'm going to go to the Feather Field.
| | 01:41 | If I want the edge of my shape to be
slightly soft, I can add a small amount of
| | 01:45 | feather, but it's always a guess as to
how much to put in here, I am just going
| | 01:49 | to put 2 pixels and see how that works.
| | 01:51 | And finally, I'm ready to draw out my
shape, so I'll come into to the image, and
| | 01:56 | I'll click-and-drag the shape of the fish.
| | 01:58 | Because I haven't yet committed this
shape, I can rotate it by moving my mouse
| | 02:02 | outside one of the corners, and dragging.
| | 02:06 | I can change the size of the shape by
moving the mouse over one of the corner
| | 02:10 | anchor points, holding the Shift key
and dragging, or I could even distort the
| | 02:14 | shape by just dragging on
one of the anchor points.
| | 02:17 | So, here I'll make the fish longer.
| | 02:19 | When I'm done doing all that, I can
click the green checkbox, and that creates
| | 02:24 | this fish shape with a slightly blurry
edge, because I added a little bit of
| | 02:27 | feather, and if you look at the layers
panel, you'll see that the content of the
| | 02:31 | aqua water layer is now simply this fish.
| | 02:34 | If I hold the Option key and click on
the eye icon to the left of the aqua water
| | 02:38 | layer, you'll see the resulting fish
made from this photograph of water, and
| | 02:42 | I'll Option+Click or Alt+Click again,
to turn the Background layer back on.
| | 02:45 | So you can see that the Cookie
Cutter tool has lots of possibilities.
| | 02:49 | It's great for scrapbookers, or for
anyone who may need a shape to work with.
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| Converting color to black and white| 00:00 | When you want a black and white
photograph, it's best to shoot the photograph
| | 00:03 | in color, and then convert it later to
black and white in Elements Full Edit Workspace.
| | 00:08 | That's because a color image has much
more tonal information to work with, than
| | 00:13 | does a grayscale image that
comes straight out of the camera.
| | 00:15 | I'm going to convert this color photo
to black and white by going up to the
| | 00:19 | Enhance menu in the Full Edit Workspace
and choosing Convert to Black and White.
| | 00:24 | That opens this big Convert
to Black and White dialog box.
| | 00:27 | I am going to click its Title bar and
move it over to the right, so I can see a
| | 00:31 | preview of the image over here,
with the settings in this dialog box.
| | 00:35 | There's also a preview over here on
the right side of the dialog box, labeled
| | 00:39 | After, and this shows how the image
will look with whatever settings are set
| | 00:43 | down here at the bottom of the dialog box.
| | 00:46 | And then there is also before a Before
view, which shows the original color photo.
| | 00:50 | In this dialog box, I would like to
start with one of the Preset Styles.
| | 00:53 | So, I'll usually go right up to the
top of this menu and click on each style
| | 00:58 | looking at the After view
to see if I like the results.
| | 01:06 | I think, I'm going to start with the
Newspaper preset, and then I'm going
| | 01:10 | to tweak that preset to get just the result
that I want in the black and white conversion.
| | 01:14 | I can tweak the preset using the
sliders over here in the Adjust Intensity
| | 01:18 | area of the dialog box.
| | 01:20 | There is a Red, Green and Blue slider,
one for each of the three colors in this
| | 01:25 | RGB Color mode image and then
there is also a Contrast slider.
| | 01:29 | If I move the Red slider to the right,
keep your eye on the After image or
| | 01:33 | on the preview over here and you'll see
that the red parts of the image get lighter.
| | 01:37 | Now that's way too much.
| | 01:39 | So I'm going to take that
back maybe to about there.
| | 01:43 | There isn't much green in this
image, so I'll skip that slider, but
| | 01:46 | there's plenty of blue.
| | 01:47 | If I drag the blue slider to the left,
then the blue parts of the image get dark
| | 01:52 | in the black and white conversion.
| | 01:53 | I am actually going to drag that to
the right, until I like the result.
| | 01:58 | And finally, there is a Contrast slider.
| | 02:01 | Dragging the Contrast slider to the
right increases the Contrast, dragging to
| | 02:05 | the left decreases Contrast.
| | 02:07 | As with most images, increasing
Contrast a bit can make the image pop in the
| | 02:12 | black and white conversion.
| | 02:13 | So there is no right or wrong to these
results, except that I try to keep detail
| | 02:17 | in the bright areas, the
dark areas and the mid tones.
| | 02:20 | Notice that there's an Undo button here.
| | 02:23 | If I click the Undo button, it takes me
back just before the last thing that I
| | 02:27 | did in this dialog box.
| | 02:28 | So keep your eye on the Contrast slider.
| | 02:30 | When I click this Undo button, you'll
see the Contrast slider move, but all of
| | 02:34 | the other sliders stay where they were.
| | 02:36 | And then there's a Redo button,
to move forward one step, like this.
| | 02:39 | To put the Contrast slider back.
| | 02:41 | And there's also a Reset button. If I were to
click that, and I'm not going to do that now,
| | 02:46 | it would reset all of the
sliders to their original positions.
| | 02:49 | I can cancel out of the dialog box
without making any change to the original
| | 02:53 | color image, or if I'm happy with the
black and white conversion, I'll click OK.
| | 02:58 | And in the main Document Window, I
see the image in black and white.
| | 03:02 | I would save this image with a
different filename, maybe I would call it
| | 03:05 | floatsbw.jpg, so that I don't
save over the original color image.
| | 03:10 | So, I like converting to black and
white this way, rather than say, adding a
| | 03:14 | Hue/Saturation Adjustment layer and just
desaturating, because with this method,
| | 03:19 | I get to decide exactly how the
primary colors in the image are going to be
| | 03:23 | converted to black and white.
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|
|
13. Adding TextCreating text| 00:00 | You can add editable text
to any image in Elements.
| | 00:03 | You have control over the Font, the
Size, the Color and more, when you
| | 00:07 | create text in Elements.
| | 00:09 | Here's how to do it.
| | 00:10 | I'd like to add some text on top of
this talk bubble, which is on a special
| | 00:14 | shape layer that I created in an earlier movie.
| | 00:17 | Because I want the type to come in on
top of the talk bubble, I'm going to
| | 00:20 | select the Talk Bubble Shape layer in
the Layers panel, and then I'll go over
| | 00:24 | to the toolbar, and I am going to select
one of the Type tools from behind this T icon.
| | 00:29 | I'm going to choose the Horizontal Type tool.
| | 00:31 | There's also a Vertical Type tool, and
then there are two Type Mask tools, which
| | 00:36 | you'll hardly ever use.
| | 00:37 | I'll come into image and I'll click
on top of the Talk Bubble, and before I
| | 00:42 | start typing, I'm going to go up
to set the options for my text.
| | 00:45 | And those are up here in
the Type tool Options bar.
| | 00:48 | To set the Font, I'll click the arrow
to the right of the Font field, and that
| | 00:52 | brings up this long menu of available fonts.
| | 00:55 | Notice that to the right of each font name,
there is a sample of what that font looks like.
| | 00:59 | I am going to stick with the default
font here, Myriad Pro, but you can choose
| | 01:03 | any font you want on your computer.
| | 01:06 | Next, I'll go to the Font Style
field clicking the arrow there.
| | 01:09 | Depending on which font you have
selected, you may have different choices in
| | 01:12 | this menu, but from here you can
choose styles like Italic, Bold and more, if
| | 01:18 | your font has these options.
| | 01:20 | I am going to leave mine set to Regular.
| | 01:22 | Next, I'll come into the
important Font Size Field.
| | 01:25 | The font is measured in points by
default, I am going to choose around 30
| | 01:29 | points, because I have actually tested
this before, but you never really know
| | 01:33 | what size to start with until after
you type a little bit and then you can
| | 01:36 | always come back in and change the font size
of letters that you have typed, if you need to.
| | 01:41 | There are more options here in the Options bar.
| | 01:43 | This is Anti-alias button, I usually
leave this enabled, unless I'm creating
| | 01:47 | very small type for use on a website.
| | 01:49 | Anti-aliasing helps to
smooth the edges of the type.
| | 01:52 | Then there are some word
processing style buttons.
| | 01:55 | A Faux Bold button that you can use
with a font that doesn't have a Bold style,
| | 01:59 | a Faux Italic button for the same
purpose, a Text Underlining button and a Text
| | 02:04 | Strike through button and then
there is an Alignment icon here.
| | 02:07 | I'll the arrow to the right of alignment,
and from this menu, I can choose the
| | 02:10 | way that I want multiple lines of text
to align, either by their Left sides,
| | 02:15 | their Centers or their Right sides.
| | 02:16 | I'll leave this set to
the default of Center Text.
| | 02:20 | Next is a menu from which you can set the
leading or the space between lines of text.
| | 02:24 | I usually leave this set to Auto,
unless I'm doing some special
| | 02:27 | typesetting effect.
| | 02:29 | Next is the Type Color field. I'll
click there, and I can either choose a color
| | 02:34 | of type from the swatches here or I
can click more colors to open the Color
| | 02:38 | Picker and choose a color
from there and click OK.
| | 02:42 | The next button is for Warping Text,
a subject that I'll cover in another
| | 02:45 | movie in this chapter.
| | 02:47 | And this button is for converting
between Horizontal and Vertical text.
| | 02:51 | Now that I have set up my options, I
have the blinking cursor ready to go, and
| | 02:55 | I'm going to type something.
| | 02:57 | I'll type 'Howdy from', and then I'll
press the Return key on my keyboard, and
| | 03:02 | I'll type 'Denver, Colorado'.
| | 03:04 | And I'll click the green checkmark to
commit my type edit, something that you
| | 03:09 | always have to do when you create or edit type.
| | 03:12 | Now, I am going to get the Move
| | 03:13 | Tool in the toolbar, and click
inside that type and drag it into place on
| | 03:17 | top of the talk bubble.
| | 03:18 | Now obviously, I need to do a little
editing on this text, maybe changing its
| | 03:22 | Size, Rotating it, Changing its Color and more.
| | 03:26 | But I just wanted to show you at this
point how to create text, and in the next
| | 03:29 | movie, I'll show you how to edit it.
| | 03:31 | What's important about Type in
Photoshop is that it always comes in on a
| | 03:35 | separate layer that's made automatically
for you, and it's a special text layer,
| | 03:40 | a layer that remains editable even
after you save, close, and reopen the file,
| | 03:45 | as long as you saved it in a format
that recognizes layers, like the PSD or
| | 03:50 | Photoshop document format.
| | 03:52 | So, at this point, I might save this
file, and I would be sure to do it in a
| | 03:56 | layer-honoring format like PSD, rather
than in JPEG format, which is a format
| | 04:01 | that flattens all the layers, and that
wouldn't retain my Editable Type layer
| | 04:05 | for me to work on again.
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| Editing text| 00:00 | Text that's created with the
Horizontal or Vertical Type tools in Photoshop
| | 00:04 | Elements 8 is always editable, as long as
the Type layer remains in the layers panel.
| | 00:10 | You can change the Text Font, its Font
Size, its Color or even the Text Content.
| | 00:15 | In this file, this Howdy from Denver,
Colorado text is located on this Type
| | 00:20 | layer in the layers panel.
| | 00:22 | To edit that text, I have to do two things.
| | 00:24 | First, select this Type layer and second
go to the toolbar and select either the
| | 00:30 | Horizontal or Vertical Type tool.
| | 00:32 | I'll get the Horizontal Type tool.
| | 00:34 | Now, I am going to go up to be Options
bar for the Type tool and from the first
| | 00:38 | field, I could choose a
different font for this text.
| | 00:40 | I am going to scroll all the way down,
and I am going to choose Verdana, which
| | 00:45 | is a font I like to use when I am
preparing something for the web.
| | 00:48 | From the Style field, I could change the
Style, and Verdana only has a few styles.
| | 00:53 | I'm going to choose the
Bold Italic Verdana Style.
| | 00:56 | Now I see the text is too big to fit in
this talk bubble at this size, so I'll
| | 01:00 | go to the Font Size field, and I'll
make the text smaller, maybe 18 points.
| | 01:06 | From the Text-Alignment button, I can
choose to align the text by its Center, by
| | 01:11 | its Right side or by its Left side.
| | 01:14 | And notice that all of those alignments
take place from a baseline point that's
| | 01:18 | right here next to the H at
the beginning of the text.
| | 01:22 | So that's why when I chose Right Align,
the text moved out of the talk bubble.
| | 01:26 | I could have left it at Right Align and
then gotten the Move tool and moved it back in.
| | 01:30 | But I'll leave it here at Left Align.
| | 01:32 | I can change the space between these
lines of text by going to the Leading field
| | 01:37 | here, and choosing a number a
little bit bigger than the Font Size.
| | 01:40 | I'll try 24 points, and you can see
that there is now a little more space
| | 01:44 | between the two lines.
| | 01:46 | I can change the color of the text
by going to the Color field here, and
| | 01:50 | choosing another color, and then
clicking in a blank area of the Options bar to
| | 01:53 | close that dialog box.
| | 01:55 | I can also select just one or two
words or a few letters, and change the
| | 02:01 | color of just that text.
| | 02:03 | And I'll click off of that word, so
that you can see that only the word 'Howdy'
| | 02:09 | has now changed color.
| | 02:11 | From the next button, the Warp Text
button, I can bend the shape of the text.
| | 02:16 | In this dialog box, I can use one of
the Preset Styles, like perhaps the Flag
| | 02:21 | Style and then I can use
the sliders to fine-tune that.
| | 02:24 | So, I might bend this a little less, I
might add a little bit of distortion in
| | 02:29 | there, and then I'll click OK.
| | 02:31 | With the next button, I can convert
this Horizontal Text to Vertical like that
| | 02:35 | or back, and finally, I could add a
style to the text like a Drop Shadow, by
| | 02:40 | clicking the arrow to the right of the
Style field and choosing one of the Drop
| | 02:44 | Shadows here, or going to the double-
pointed arrow and choosing a different
| | 02:48 | category of style, like Bevel, to
change the available thumbnails.
| | 02:52 | I'll click in a blank area of the
Options bar to close that dialog box, and
| | 02:56 | finally I can change the actual
content of this Type layer, by just
| | 03:00 | clicking-and-dragging over one and
more words or letters, and typing
| | 03:04 | something else in its place.
| | 03:05 | So I changed Denver to Boulder there.
| | 03:08 | When I am all done making my changes
to the Type, I have to go up the Options
| | 03:12 | bar and click this Green
checkmark to commit those changes.
| | 03:15 | And as long as I save this file with
layers in a format like Photoshop Document
| | 03:19 | format that retains layers, I'll be able
to come back at any time, and tweak any
| | 03:24 | of these settings on this Editable Type layer.
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|
|
14. Creating Photo ProjectsMaking a photo collage| 00:00 | If you want to create a photo collage
or maybe a scrapbook page with multiple
| | 00:04 | photos on it, you can do that by hand,
using various techniques that I have
| | 00:08 | shown you in this course.
| | 00:09 | But you don't have to do it all from scratch.
| | 00:12 | Instead, you can use the Photo
Collage feature in the Create Workspace to
| | 00:16 | help you along the way.
| | 00:17 | I've started here by opening four
images into the default Full Edit Workspace.
| | 00:23 | With those four images open, I am
going to switch to the Create Workspace, by
| | 00:26 | clicking this purple tab at the
top of the column on the right.
| | 00:30 | That opens the four images into
document tabs here in the Create Workspace.
| | 00:35 | I see a list here of projects
that I can Create with Elements help.
| | 00:38 | I am going to choose Photo Collage.
| | 00:40 | That switches the Projects panel to
show instructions about how to make a photo
| | 00:44 | collage and to offer some artwork and
some layouts to help me with that job.
| | 00:49 | The first task is to select a paper size.
| | 00:52 | I want to be sure to select a paper
size for which I have photo paper, and that
| | 00:56 | will fit in my printer.
| | 00:58 | So I'm going to select Letter.
| | 01:00 | The next step, although it's optional,
is to choose a theme for the collage.
| | 01:04 | The theme is a combination of a
decorative background and frames that will
| | 01:08 | appear around each image in the collage.
| | 01:10 | I'm going to choose this one,
and I see a preview of it up here.
| | 01:14 | I will click in a blank area of the
Projects panel to close that preview.
| | 01:18 | Next I am going to move down to the
Layout Field here, and I am going to choose
| | 01:21 | a layout for the photos in the collage.
| | 01:23 | I'll click and drag the scrollbar
until I see a layout that I like.
| | 01:28 | I am going to choose this
one, the Three Tiled Layout.
| | 01:30 | There is a preview of it.
| | 01:32 | I'll click in a blank area to close the preview.
| | 01:35 | Now I'm going to select the first three
images in the Photo Bin, clicking on the
| | 01:39 | first, holding the Shift
key and clicking on the third.
| | 01:42 | And I'm now ready to have Elements
start creating a collage for me by clicking
| | 01:47 | the Done button here in the panel on the right.
| | 01:51 | Here's the collage that Elements made for me.
| | 01:53 | It contains the first three
photos in the Project Bin.
| | 01:56 | There's actually a second page to this
collage, because I did have a fourth image open.
| | 02:00 | So if I go to that second page, I can
see that it has just that one single photo.
| | 02:05 | I'm most interested in the first page.
| | 02:08 | Here in the Content panel, I can access
lots of different kinds of artwork that
| | 02:12 | I can use to customize this collage.
| | 02:14 | I am going to click on the menu on the
right side of the Content panel, and here
| | 02:18 | I can see categories of
artwork that come with Elements.
| | 02:21 | I am going to choose the Backgrounds category.
| | 02:23 | That shows me Thumbnail views of
lots of different background designs.
| | 02:28 | If I want to change out the red
background that came with the theme that I
| | 02:31 | applied, I can just click
on one of these thumbnails.
| | 02:34 | I'll select this one right here, and
then click Apply, and Elements will switch
| | 02:39 | out the background for me.
| | 02:41 | If I see a background that I might
want to use later on another image, I can
| | 02:44 | save it as a Favorite.
| | 02:46 | So maybe I'll take that same background,
click and hold and drag down from the
| | 02:50 | Content panel into the
Favorites panel, and release my mouse.
| | 02:54 | This way I can start to build up a
library of my favorite pieces of Content,
| | 02:59 | Backgrounds, Frames, Text Styles, and more.
| | 03:03 | I may want to add some text to this collage too.
| | 03:05 | So I'll go up to the menu on the
right side of the Content panel and I'm
| | 03:10 | going to choose Text.
| | 03:11 | This brings up thumbnails
representing different text styles.
| | 03:15 | I am going to scroll down
until I see a style that I like.
| | 03:18 | I'll choose this Red Bevel
Style, and then I'll click Apply.
| | 03:23 | That brings in this line of
text in the center of the image.
| | 03:26 | Yours may come in large like this, or it
may come in really small, and hard to see.
| | 03:31 | In any event, I'm going to get the
Move tool in the toolbox, and that will
| | 03:34 | remove the highlight from the text,
and will allow me to see this bounding
| | 03:38 | box around the text.
| | 03:39 | I'm going to make the text smaller by
holding the Shift key, and moving my
| | 03:42 | mouse over one of the corner anchor points on
this bounding box, and dragging toward the center.
| | 03:47 | Holding the Shift key will constrain
the proportions, and then I'll click and
| | 03:52 | move the whole bounding box over, and
I'll hold the Shift key and drag from this
| | 04:00 | anchor point toward the center, and then
I'm going to take the whole textbox and
| | 04:04 | put it down here at the bottom.
| | 04:06 | I want to make it just a little smaller,
so again, I'll hold the Shift key, and
| | 04:10 | I'll drag in toward the center, and
I'll do the same from this corner, until
| | 04:15 | finally the text fits in this space.
| | 04:18 | If I want to make it a little bigger,
still with the Shift key held down, I'll
| | 04:21 | drag on a corner anchor point.
| | 04:23 | So that's a little awkward, but I ended up
with text that I like, and it's the right size.
| | 04:29 | At this point I'm going to click the green
checkmark that appears under the bounding box.
| | 04:33 | So I've now styled some text.
| | 04:35 | However, I don't want it to say Your Text Here.
| | 04:38 | So I'm going to double-click inside
the bounding box, and I am going to
| | 04:42 | type something else.
| | 04:43 | I'll type Carousel, and then I'll go
up to the Options bar at the top of the
| | 04:48 | screen, and I'll click the green checkmark.
| | 04:50 | I still can change the size or rotate
this bit of text, but I am just going to
| | 04:54 | leave it as is for now.
| | 04:55 | There are other kinds of artwork
that I can select from this menu.
| | 04:58 | For example, I could change the frames
around each one of the photo collages.
| | 05:02 | I could add graphics or shapes,
or I could change the entire theme.
| | 05:06 | But I'm going to leave the artwork as
it is for now, and I'm going to come in
| | 05:11 | and work on the photos a bit.
| | 05:13 | One thing I'd like to do is to change
out the content of this particular frame,
| | 05:17 | adding a different photo
instead of the one that's there.
| | 05:20 | I am going to go down to the Project
Bin at the bottom of the workspace, and
| | 05:24 | click on this fourth thumbnail of the
carousel horse, and drag up from there and
| | 05:29 | drop it on top of this frame, and
Elements changes the image out for me.
| | 05:34 | It also gives me this little slider
that I can use to change the size of the
| | 05:39 | photo inside the frame.
| | 05:40 | So if I want to, I can drag to the
right to size the image up a little bit, so
| | 05:47 | that the horse is easier to see, and
then I'll click the green checkmark.
| | 05:51 | I also can move anyone of
these framed photos around.
| | 05:55 | So for example, I can click inside of
this picture and drag to the left, or I
| | 06:01 | can select this picture, move my mouse
just underneath the picture where there
| | 06:06 | is a tiny circle, and I can drag in
either direction to rotate that photo, and
| | 06:11 | then I'll click the green checkmark.
| | 06:13 | So all of the changes that I made here,
are made only to page 1 of this collage.
| | 06:18 | If I go to page 2 by clicking the
arrow, you can see that it looks as it
| | 06:21 | originally did with the original
theme, and just one photo in the frames.
| | 06:25 | So I probably won't even print this page, I'm
just going to concentrate on the first page.
| | 06:31 | Now I'm going to save this collage by
going up to the File menu, choosing Save
| | 06:35 | As, navigating to my Desktop
and to my Saved Files folder.
| | 06:41 | I will give the collage a name.
| | 06:42 | I'll replace the untitled name with Collage.
| | 06:46 | Notice that there is a PSE extension on
this file, and the Format menu is set to
| | 06:51 | Photo Project format.
| | 06:53 | This is a special format for photo
projects created here in Elements, and it's
| | 06:58 | important to use this format, so that
I can edit the collage if I need to.
| | 07:01 | So I'll just click save.
| | 07:04 | So the next time that you want to make
a scrapbook page, or a photo collage,
| | 07:08 | rather than do it all from scratch, try
using some of the features that I have
| | 07:11 | shown you here in the Create Workspace.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Stitching a photo panorama| 00:00 | Sometimes you want to photograph a
really wide scene, but you don't have a lens
| | 00:04 | that's wide enough to take it all in.
| | 00:06 | In that case, I suggest that you take a
sequence of photographs overlapping each
| | 00:10 | one slightly, maybe by about a third
or 33% and then have Elements seamlessly
| | 00:17 | stitch them altogether for you in
one continuous photo, a panorama.
| | 00:22 | When you're shooting to make a panorama,
I suggest that you put your camera on
| | 00:25 | a tripod so that it remains steady
as you rotate the camera to take the
| | 00:29 | sequence of pictures.
| | 00:31 | If you don't have a tripod, then
put the camera on a flat surface.
| | 00:35 | Also, turn off Auto Exposure, so that
the exposures don't change as you move the
| | 00:39 | camera between shots, and also, don't
change the focal length in between shots
| | 00:44 | if you're working with a telephoto lens.
| | 00:47 | So I followed those rules when I took
these photos of the Rocky Mountains here
| | 00:51 | in Boulder, Colorado.
| | 00:52 | I am working in Adobe Bridge CS4, where
I am going to start making this panorama.
| | 00:57 | I am going to select the first of these
images and then I am going to hold the
| | 01:00 | Shift key and select the last,
to select all of those in between.
| | 01:04 | Notice that I went ahead and renamed
each one of the images, so that the names
| | 01:09 | contain numerals in
sequential order from 1 through 6.
| | 01:12 | With the six images selected, I'll go
up to the tools menu in Bridge and I'll
| | 01:16 | choose Photoshop Elements and then
I'll go down to Photomerge Panorama.
| | 01:22 | That switches me over to Photoshop
Elements and opens all six of the images in
| | 01:27 | the Full Edit workspace.
| | 01:29 | It also opens the Photomerge dialog box here.
| | 01:32 | I am going to be using Files rather
than a Folder, so I'll leave the Use menu
| | 01:36 | set to Files and because all the
files are currently open in Elements, I'll
| | 01:41 | click the Add Open Files button here
and that gives me a list of the six open
| | 01:45 | files here in the middle of
the Photomerge dialog box.
| | 01:49 | The only other thing to do
here is to choose a Layout method.
| | 01:52 | I usually start with the Automatic
Layout method and if that doesn't give me a
| | 01:56 | result that I like, I'll try these
other methods, until I find one that does
| | 02:00 | give me a result that I think is the right one.
| | 02:02 | So with the Auto Layout selected, I
am going to go over and click the OK
| | 02:06 | button and Elements goes ahead and
brings all six of those images into a brand
| | 02:12 | new image, blending them altogether into a
wide panoramic photo and here is the result.
| | 02:20 | If you look in the LAYERS panel for this
panoramic photo, you can see that there
| | 02:23 | are six layers, one for each of the
photos that make up the panorama and that
| | 02:28 | each of the layers has a layer mask on
it on which Elements has applied some
| | 02:33 | black paint to blend the six images together.
| | 02:36 | Now in this document window you can
see that the edges of the panorama are
| | 02:39 | not even and there are some gray
and white pixels around the edges that
| | 02:44 | indicate transparency.
| | 02:46 | I want to trim all of that away, so I am
going to get the Crop tool in the toolbox.
| | 02:50 | I am going to come into the image
and I am going to click-and-drag out
| | 02:53 | a crop-bounding box.
| | 02:56 | I can then fine-tune that bounding
box by moving my mouse over any of the
| | 03:00 | borders and dragging, and I want to
be careful not to include any of the
| | 03:03 | transparent pixels when I do that.
| | 03:05 | I think that looks just about right.
| | 03:07 | So I am going to accept the crop by
clicking this green checkmark and now all
| | 03:12 | that's left to do is to save
this panorama, like any file.
| | 03:15 | I would probably save a master copy
in the PSD or Photoshop Document format
| | 03:20 | and then if I wanted another copy maybe to put
online, I might save a copy in the JPEG format.
| | 03:27 | So the next time you're faced with a
situation like this where you have a really
| | 03:30 | wide scene that you want to
photograph, consider taking a sequence of
| | 03:34 | photographs and then using Photomerge
Panorama to join them all together into a
| | 03:39 | wide panoramic photo here in Photoshop Elements.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Saving for the web| 00:00 | If you're planning on putting a
photograph on a website, a blog or elsewhere
| | 00:04 | online, it's important that you save
the photo in the correct format, usually,
| | 00:08 | the JPEG format, and make it as small
as possible but with the kind of photo
| | 00:13 | quality that you wanted to have, so
that it's fast to download at the viewers
| | 00:17 | end but on the other hand,
so that it still looks good.
| | 00:20 | And those two qualities, small file
size on the one hand, and acceptable photo
| | 00:25 | quality on the other, are always a trade-off
when you're preparing an image for the web.
| | 00:29 | Elements' Full Edit workspace provides a
special interface where you can prepare
| | 00:34 | an image for the web.
| | 00:35 | It's called the Save for Web workspace.
| | 00:37 | To access that workspace, I'm going to
go up to the File menu, after I finished
| | 00:41 | editing my photo and go down to Save for Web.
| | 00:45 | And that opens the photo
here in the Save for Web window.
| | 00:48 | On the left is the original photo
and on the right is a copy of the photo
| | 00:53 | optimized for the web with whatever
settings happen to be over here at the moment.
| | 00:58 | I can use these two views to compare
the optimized version with the original,
| | 01:02 | to make sure I'm not degrading the photo
quality too much as I try to get the file size down.
| | 01:07 | Over on the right, the first
setting that I'll look at is the format.
| | 01:11 | When I'm working with a photograph,
I'll usually want to save it in the JPEG
| | 01:15 | format, which stands for
Joint Photographic Experts Group.
| | 01:19 | The most important setting for
optimizing in the JPEG format is the Quality
| | 01:23 | setting and there are two
ways to change the quality here.
| | 01:27 | One is to come to the Quality slider
and just drag it to increase the quality
| | 01:32 | amount but usually, I'll
use the Presets over here.
| | 01:36 | If I choose the Low preset,
that sets a quality of only 10.
| | 01:41 | If I choose a Medium
preset, I get a quality of 30.
| | 01:44 | High is a quality of 60 and so on.
| | 01:47 | Now the higher I make the quality, the
less compressed the image will be when I
| | 01:51 | save it in the JPEG format.
| | 01:54 | And the less compressed that the image
is the larger its file size will be and
| | 01:58 | the file size is reported down here at the
bottom left of the optimized view of the image.
| | 02:04 | So notice the file size now with
the quality of High, if I reduce that
| | 02:08 | quality to Medium, the file size
goes down but the trade-off is that the
| | 02:13 | photo quality also goes down.
| | 02:15 | So that you can see that, I'll put the
quality down at Low and you can start to
| | 02:19 | see that the image is breaking up a
little in the green area here of the door.
| | 02:24 | It's showing what are called JPEG
artifacts, which basically look like
| | 02:27 | square groups of pixels.
| | 02:29 | Now when I'm judging for JPEG artifacts,
I want to be at 100% view of the image
| | 02:35 | so that I see it the same way my viewers
will when they look at it on a website.
| | 02:39 | And viewing this image at 100%, I can
see those artifacts here and over here
| | 02:44 | around the black number.
| | 02:45 | They are most often visible in
areas of high-contrast like this.
| | 02:50 | But just so that you can see them
better, I'm going to get the Zoom tool from
| | 02:53 | the abbreviated toolbox on the top-
left of the Save for Web window and I'm
| | 02:57 | going to zoom in, in the optimized image so
that you can see those squares more clearly.
| | 03:02 | That's what I'm trying to avoid.
| | 03:04 | To go back to 100% view, I'm going
to double-click the Zoom tool and to
| | 03:09 | eliminate some of those JPEG artifacts, I am
going to increase the photo quality to Medium.
| | 03:14 | If I still see some artifacts as I do
here, I might go to the Quality slider and
| | 03:19 | drag it over just a bit, putting it
somewhere between medium and high quality.
| | 03:25 | Now I find the appearance of the photo is
acceptable to me and the file size is okay too.
| | 03:30 | But there is no magic number for
file size that I can recommend.
| | 03:33 | That depends on a lot of factors, many
of which you can't control, like the speed
| | 03:38 | of the Internet on a given day, or the
number of other graphics that might be in
| | 03:42 | the pipeline and it also depends on
how important photo quality is to you.
| | 03:47 | But just remember that file size is
always a trade-off with photo quality when
| | 03:52 | you're compressing a
photo as a JPEG for the web.
| | 03:54 | There are just a couple of
other settings to look at over here.
| | 03:57 | One is the ICC Profile setting.
| | 04:00 | ICC profiles are part of a color
management system that I explained in an
| | 04:04 | earlier movie on color settings.
| | 04:07 | If you're interested in that subject,
you can go back and listen to that movie.
| | 04:11 | But in a nutshell, if you think your
viewers will be using a web browser like
| | 04:15 | Apple's Safari, which can read ICC
profiles, then I suggest that you check ICC
| | 04:21 | Profile here and that will attach a
little bit of textual information to your
| | 04:25 | photograph that will describe to the
web browser at your viewers end, how you
| | 04:30 | intended the colors in the image to look.
| | 04:32 | So, there will be more consistency
between the colors that your viewer sees and
| | 04:36 | the colors that you saw while
preparing the image for the web, here in
| | 04:40 | Photoshop Elements.
| | 04:41 | However, if you do add an ICC
Profile, it will increase the file size.
| | 04:46 | In this case, it increased the
file size by about 3 kilobytes.
| | 04:50 | Sometimes that's not worth it if you
think your viewers will be using a web
| | 04:53 | browser that can't read ICC profiles.
| | 04:56 | However, I think that in the future,
we're going to see more web browsers that
| | 04:59 | can read these profiles.
| | 05:01 | So in general, I recommend that you include
an ICC profile with your images for the web.
| | 05:07 | One more thing to show you in the
controls over here is in the Image Size field.
| | 05:12 | Let's say that I decide that 18
kilobytes is just too big and I need to get this
| | 05:16 | file size down lower but I'm not willing
to compromise anymore in photo quality.
| | 05:20 | Then what I can do is to reduce the
actual dimensions of the file in pixels.
| | 05:25 | So I could come over to the Height
field here, select the current height in
| | 05:29 | pixels and type a lower number, say, 250 pixels.
| | 05:33 | Because Constrain Proportions
is checked, the width will be
| | 05:37 | reduced proportionately.
| | 05:39 | Then to apply that change, I am
going to click the Apply button.
| | 05:42 | As I do, keep your eye on the file
size down here and you see it would be
| | 05:46 | reduced significantly.
| | 05:48 | But at the same time the
dimensions of the image are smaller too.
| | 05:52 | So that's all I would do to set
up this image for JPEG compression.
| | 05:56 | If I didn't like the result and I wanted
to go back to ground zero, I could move
| | 06:00 | my mouse over the Cancel button,
holding down the Option key and that would
| | 06:04 | reset all of the settings in this window.
| | 06:06 | But I actually like this result so I
am going to click OK and that opens the
| | 06:11 | Save Optimized As dialog box, saving the
optimized version of the file in the JPEG format.
| | 06:17 | At this point, I would navigate to a
destination where I wanted to save this
| | 06:21 | file and click Save.
| | 06:23 | So the next time that you're preparing
files for the web, don't just go up to
| | 06:27 | the File menu and choose Save As
and save another copy as a JPEG.
| | 06:31 | Instead, use the special controls and
the previews that you'll find here in the
| | 06:35 | Save for Web window to prepare
your images for display on the web.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Creating web galleries in Bridge| 00:00 | The easy way to display your photos on
the web is to make a Web Gallery in Adobe
| | 00:05 | Bridge CS4, which as you
know comes with Elements 8.
| | 00:09 | You can start building that Web Gallery
directly in Bridge CS4 or you can open
| | 00:14 | images here into Elements and then
there is a hook from Elements into the part
| | 00:19 | of Bridge where you can build a Web Gallery.
| | 00:21 | So, I am starting here with six images
open in Elements' Full Edit workspace and
| | 00:27 | I am going to switch those over to
the Create workspace by clicking on the
| | 00:31 | Purple Tab at the top of the panel on the right.
| | 00:34 | Now here in the Create workspace there
is a list of projects you can create,
| | 00:39 | including a Web Photo Gallery.
| | 00:41 | So, I am going to click that and that
opens Adobe Bridge, and it opens Bridge to
| | 00:47 | the special output workspace where
you can create a Web Photo Gallery.
| | 00:52 | When the Web Photo Gallery button is
enabled, as it is now, you'll see all of
| | 00:56 | the controls here for creating that gallery.
| | 00:59 | The first step is to choose a
template for the Gallery, which I'll select
| | 01:03 | from this Template menu.
| | 01:04 | Most of these are Flash-based templates,
except for the one at the bottom, the HTML Gallery.
| | 01:10 | I am going to use the first one, the
Left Filmstrip template. Then I can go
| | 01:14 | to the Style menu and I can choose
the style of the photo thumbnails that
| | 01:18 | will be in the Gallery.
| | 01:19 | I'll leave that set to Medium Thumbnail.
| | 01:21 | Now here is another thing that may trip you up.
| | 01:24 | If you want to see what the Web
Gallery is going to look like, now or at any
| | 01:28 | time as you are setting the controls here,
you need to click this button Refresh Preview.
| | 01:33 | So, I am going to do that now and
that creates a preview of the entire Web
| | 01:38 | Gallery, and that preview will be
displayed to the left of the output column in
| | 01:43 | this Output Preview panel.
| | 01:45 | As you can see here, there are
thumbnails on the left and as I click on
| | 01:49 | different thumbnails, I get a
transition in the Gallery area here to a larger
| | 01:54 | version of that image.
| | 01:55 | There is also a slideshow down here
that I can start playing by clicking the
| | 02:00 | Play button or I can move slide-by-
slide by clicking the Forward arrow or
| | 02:06 | the Back arrow here.
| | 02:08 | So, this is all representing what your
viewers will see in their Web Browsers
| | 02:13 | when and if you publish this Web Gallery.
| | 02:15 | I am going to stop this slideshow by
clicking right here and now, I am going to
| | 02:19 | go back over to the Output panel and
now I'll go back to the Output panel.
| | 02:23 | There is another button here Preview in Browser.
| | 02:26 | If I click that button, my default Web
Browser will open with a preview of my
| | 02:31 | Web Gallery here, and it works
the same way that it did in Bridge.
| | 02:36 | If I click the thumbnails, I get a
transition to a larger version of the image
| | 02:41 | here or I can play a slideshow down here.
| | 02:47 | Now notice that there is some generic
language up here, Adobe Web Gallery and My
| | 02:52 | Photographs and Contact name.
| | 02:55 | I can customize this Web Gallery so that
there is text here that makes sense for
| | 02:59 | my particular situation.
| | 03:01 | So, to do that I am going to close out
of my Web Browser, by clicking this red
| | 03:06 | button and back here in Bridge, I am
going to go down to some of the other areas
| | 03:11 | of the Output panel.
| | 03:12 | Here in the Site Info area in the
Gallery Title field, I can change Adobe Web
| | 03:17 | Gallery to something customized for my Gallery.
| | 03:22 | So, I'll click and type Kabili Gallery,
and I can have a tagline, instead of My
| | 03:30 | Photographs, I might type Union Station
Photographs, because all of these were
| | 03:37 | taken in the Union Station,
train station in Los Angeles.
| | 03:42 | Now in the About This Gallery
field I can type whatever I want.
| | 03:45 | So, I can say, Photos by Jan
Kabili, taken at Union Station in LA.
| | 03:57 | Down here, I could put my Contact Name,
which would appear here instead of the
| | 04:02 | generic contact name.
| | 04:03 | So, I'll type 'Jan Kabili'.
| | 04:06 | I could put my E-mail Address here.
| | 04:08 | Here I can add some Copyright
Information, so I am going to press Option+G
| | 04:11 | Key on my keyboard, to type a
Copyright symbol and then I'll put my name
| | 04:17 | again and the date.
| | 04:18 | And I can still down further using
the scroll bar on the right, where I can
| | 04:23 | change the colors in the default gallery,
but I am going to leave those all the same.
| | 04:27 | I could choose to Show File
Names under the thumbnails over here.
| | 04:31 | I could change the duration of slides,
and if I scroll down further, I can
| | 04:38 | change the name that will appear at the
top of a Web Browser in the Title field.
| | 04:42 | So, I'll change that to Kabili Gallery as well.
| | 04:47 | When I am done with all those
settings, I can choose either to save the
| | 04:50 | completed Web Gallery to my hard drive,
by clicking Save to Disk or if I happen
| | 04:56 | to already have an FTP Server hosted
by a web service and I know the upload
| | 05:02 | information, I could click Upload here
to directly upload the entire Web Gallery
| | 05:07 | with all of its files to my Web Server.
| | 05:10 | If I don't have that
information right now, that's fine.
| | 05:13 | I'll just Save to Disk, which means save
to my hard drive, and later I can use a
| | 05:18 | separate FTP program to upload my Web
Gallery to my own personal web server.
| | 05:23 | When I save to disk I'll click the
Browse button and I'll browse to my Desktop
| | 05:28 | and I'll save my Web Gallery there,
and then I'll click the Save button.
| | 05:32 | Elements now creates my Web Gallery,
writing HTML files and creating SWF
| | 05:38 | files and optimizing the images and
when it's all done, it tells me that it
| | 05:43 | is and I can click OK.
| | 05:45 | Now, if I go out to my Desktop,
I'll see a Kabili Gallery folder, if I
| | 05:50 | double-click that to open it, I'll see
an index.html file which is the first
| | 05:55 | page of my website, and then in the
resources folder, I'll see Flash files, this
| | 06:01 | gallery.swf and loading.swf, some
JavaScript files, some XML and all of that
| | 06:07 | makes up my Web Gallery.
| | 06:09 | If I want to view the Web Gallery,
here in a Web Browser on my machine, I can
| | 06:14 | double-click the index.html file and
that will open my default Web Browser,
| | 06:19 | which is Safari in my case, and let me
see my entire working website, complete
| | 06:25 | with all of the settings that I chose.
| | 06:27 | I am going to stop that slideshow and
you can see that all of the text is now
| | 06:33 | customized from my particular Web Gallery.
| | 06:36 | So, the next time that you want to
create a website to show off your photos, try
| | 06:40 | using the Web Gallery settings in the
Output workspace in Adobe Bridge CS4.
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| Creating a PDF slideshow| 00:00 | In Photoshop Elements 8 for Mac, you
can't create a full-featured slideshow
| | 00:05 | complete with music and
narration and other advanced features.
| | 00:09 | But you can create a simple PDF
slideshow, a slideshow saved in the portable
| | 00:14 | document format that you could put up
on a website or send to someone by e-mail
| | 00:19 | or display on a computer screen.
| | 00:21 | I've opened six images here into
Elements, and I'm working in the Create
| | 00:25 | workspace, which I accessed
by clicking this Purple Tab.
| | 00:29 | From this list of projects, I'm going
to choose PDF slideshow and that opens
| | 00:34 | Adobe Bridge CS4, which is where I
can go to create a PDF slideshow.
| | 00:38 | You can't make the slideshow directly
in Elements, but you can go from Elements
| | 00:44 | to Bridge to make this slideshow.
| | 00:46 | Bridge opens to its special output
workspace with the PDF button highlighted and
| | 00:52 | with all six of the images
selected here in the Content panel.
| | 00:55 | I am going to go to the Template field and
I'm going to choose a template for my slideshow.
| | 01:00 | I'll choose the Fine Art Mat template,
which will allow me to see each image one
| | 01:05 | by one on a single screen surrounded by a mat.
| | 01:08 | I am going to click Refresh Preview
to preview how each image will look.
| | 01:13 | I am going to leave all the Document
settings as they are, as well as the
| | 01:17 | Layout settings and I'm going to scroll
down all the way to the settings for Playback.
| | 01:23 | I am going to leave everything
checked here because I am going to want my
| | 01:26 | slideshow to open in Full-Screen mode
so that it takes over my entire screen.
| | 01:31 | I do want the slides to advance automatically.
| | 01:34 | I might make them advance at some
other number of seconds than 5 seconds.
| | 01:39 | I'll put 2 seconds.
| | 01:41 | If I want the slideshow to play over
and over, I'll leave Loop After Last
| | 01:45 | Page checked here and then from this menu, I
can choose a transition between the slides.
| | 01:51 | I could choose no transition at all, so
that the slides would just change from
| | 01:55 | one static image to another or I
could choose one of these animated
| | 01:59 | transitions like Fade.
| | 02:01 | I can also choose the Speed of that transition.
| | 02:04 | I'll leave that at Fast.
| | 02:06 | Then I'll scroll all the way down
to the bottom of the Output panel.
| | 02:10 | I am going to make sure that View PDF
After Save is checked and I'm going to
| | 02:14 | click the Save button.
| | 02:15 | I'll give the slideshow a name, I'll
call this carousel and I'll save it to my
| | 02:20 | Desktop and I'll click the Save button.
| | 02:23 | Adobe Bridge generates this PDF
slideshow for me and saves it to my Desktop.
| | 02:29 | It then asks whether I want to put
Adobe Acrobat into full-screen mode, so that
| | 02:33 | I can view the slideshow and I'm going
to click Yes, and here is my slideshow
| | 02:38 | automatically playing on my Desktop.
| | 02:43 | When I'm done looking at it, I'll press
the Escape key on my keyboard and when I
| | 02:47 | go out to my Desktop, there is my PDF
file that plays as a slideshow in Acrobat.
| | 02:54 | I could upload this PDF to the web, I
could attach it to an e-mail or I can view
| | 02:59 | it here on my computer.
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15. Printing and Sharing OnlinePrinting photos and contact sheets| 00:00 | Although many images are being
displayed online these days, when you've got a
| | 00:03 | really nice photo, you're
going to want to print it.
| | 00:06 | You can do that directly from
Elements by opening the image in the Create
| | 00:10 | workspace, which I accessed
by clicking this Purple Tab.
| | 00:14 | To make a print, I'll go down to the
Photo Prints project here and that opens
| | 00:18 | the Print dialog box
with a preview of the print.
| | 00:21 | There are just a few steps to printing and
they're clearly spelled out over here on the right.
| | 00:26 | The first step is to select
your printer from this menu.
| | 00:29 | If your printer doesn't appear in this
menu, I suggest you go to the printer
| | 00:33 | manufacturer's website, find the
driver for your particular operating system,
| | 00:37 | download it and install it,
and then restart Elements.
| | 00:41 | You should find your printer here in this menu.
| | 00:44 | Next, go to the Select Paper Size
menu and choose the size of the paper on
| | 00:48 | which you'll be printing.
| | 00:50 | Finally, select the size of the print
from one of these preset sizes, from the
| | 00:55 | actual size of your particular image,
or by choosing Custom and typing a Height
| | 01:01 | and Width in inches into these fields.
| | 01:03 | I am going to cancel out of there.
| | 01:06 | Then I also can choose to Crop to Fit,
if I choose a Print Size that's different
| | 01:11 | than the actual size in my photo.
| | 01:13 | Here I can choose the number of copies
of the photo to print and then I can go
| | 01:17 | down underneath the Preview and if I
need to change the orientation of the
| | 01:21 | image, I can use one of
these two Rotate buttons.
| | 01:24 | There are some other options down here
under More Options and Page Setup that
| | 01:28 | are determined by your printer's driver.
| | 01:30 | So, I am not going to show you those
because mine may be different than yours.
| | 01:34 | When you're ready to finally print,
you can just click the Print button here.
| | 01:37 | You may have to go through a few
more dialog boxes depending on your
| | 01:41 | printer driver, but in the end, you'll have a
great looking print from your Desktop printer.
| | 01:47 | I am going to cancel out of this dialog box
because I want to show you something else.
| | 01:51 | Sometimes it's nice to have a
Contact Sheet of multiple images.
| | 01:55 | Now you can't create a Contact Sheet directly
here in Elements, but you can do that in Bridge.
| | 02:00 | So, I'm going to launch Bridge by
clicking this icon and then I'm going to show
| | 02:04 | you that if you go to the Workspace
menu here and you choose instead of the
| | 02:08 | basic Essentials Workspace, the Output
Workspace and you click on PDF, you can
| | 02:14 | scroll up and go to the Template field
and here you can choose one of a couple
| | 02:22 | of different Contact Sheet templates.
| | 02:24 | I am going to refresh the preview.
| | 02:28 | Now I only have one image open here,
but if I had multiple images, they would
| | 02:32 | appear as small thumbnails
across this Contact Sheet template.
| | 02:36 | You can further tweak the layout of
the template down here in the Layout area
| | 02:40 | and then you could save this contact
sheet as a PDF and print it from any
| | 02:46 | program that will open a PDF.
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| Sending photos by mail| 00:00 | Have you ever received an e-mail
with a huge photograph attached that
| | 00:04 | takes forever to download or maybe an email
that has a photograph that won't even open?
| | 00:09 | Then you know the importance of
preparing photos correctly for sharing by email.
| | 00:14 | You can do that in Elements
from here in the Share tab.
| | 00:18 | I got here by opening an image into
the Full Edit mode and then clicking
| | 00:22 | the green Share tab.
| | 00:23 | To prepare this image to send by email,
I am going to go down to the Email
| | 00:27 | Attachments button and click there.
| | 00:30 | This particular image is quite big and
so I get this message that the image I am
| | 00:34 | sending may be too large for some
people to download and asking whether I want
| | 00:38 | Elements to convert it to a smaller size.
| | 00:41 | I am going to click Auto Convert.
| | 00:43 | If I didn't want to downsize
it, I would click Send As Is.
| | 00:48 | Elements goes ahead and resizes the
image, so that it's an acceptable size to
| | 00:53 | send by email and you can see the size
right down here, this one is only 339 KB.
| | 00:59 | It also opens my Email program with a
brand new message, all waiting to be
| | 01:04 | addressed, so I could type the recipient
here, I could type the subject here and
| | 01:09 | then I can move my mouse before this
photo and I could actually type some text
| | 01:13 | here and when I am all done, I can
scroll down to the bottom, I can click to the
| | 01:18 | right of the photograph and press
Return, and I could type my greeting.
| | 01:24 | If this account were activated, mine
doesn't happen to be at the moment.
| | 01:28 | I would click the Send button and send
the message off with the photo properly
| | 01:32 | sized and attached to the message.
| | 01:35 | So that's all there is to sizing a
photo, to send by email, and automatically
| | 01:40 | attaching it to an email
message directly from Elements.
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ConclusionGoodbye| 00:00 | Thanks for joining me for this
course, Photoshop Elements 8 for Mac
| | 00:04 | Essential Training.
| | 00:05 | It's really been a pleasure to show
you the many things that you can do with
| | 00:08 | Elements on a Mac and I hope that
you'll use many of the techniques that I've
| | 00:11 | shown you here on your own photos
and other images, as you organize, edit,
| | 00:17 | enhance, create, and share,
using Photoshop Elements 8 on a Mac.
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