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| Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0 |
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Applications July 2003 • Vol.7 Issue 3 Page(s) 184-185 in print issue |
Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0 | ||
 Get Acquainted 1. Try it free. If you have a high-speed Internet connection, consider downloading a free, 30-day trial version of Elements. (The file is more than 111MB.) From the Tryout section of the Adobe Web site (http://www.adobe.com), select Photoshop Elements. First, you must register as an Adobe user and log in. Then fill out the sign-up form, click Register, and download the software. Software Setup 2. Update automatically. At regular intervals, Elements reminds users to check for and download software updates at the Adobe Web site. If you are connected to the Internet, simply click Yes when prompted. Adobe does not scan your PC for software, copy your system profile, or install cookies on your PC. It simply alerts you to software upgrades that you may choose to download. Set the frequency of reminders or disable reminders by selecting Edit, Preferences, Adobe Online, and making a selection from the Check For Updates drop-down menu. 3. Configure palettes. In the upper-right corner of the Elements window is a row of tabs called the Palette Well. To use a palette, click its tab. To reorder tabs, click one and drag it to a new position. For quicker access to your favorite palettes, drag them to the Elements workspace. To group palettes in a separate well, first drag one palette to the workspace and then drag the tab of another palette on top of it. To connect or "dock" two palettes, first drag one to the workspace and then drag the tab of another to the bottom of the first. To return a palette or group of palettes to the well, click the X in the upper-right corner of the palette window. To return to Elements' default palette settings, select Reset Palette Location from the Window menu. Image Views 4. Zoom and unzoom. For a quick magnification of an image to 100%, double-click the magnifying glass in the toolbar. To quickly unzoom, press CTRL- -. To fit an image to the screen, double-click the Hand tool. 5. Manage files. To organize files with the File Browser, choose Browse from the File menu and select a folder. Select a file and its specifications, including kilobyte size and physical dimension, display in the bottom-left corner of the window. To sort thumbnails, look to the bottom of the file browser window and click the Sort By button. The default sort is alphabetical by file name, but you can also sort by size, creation date, and other criteria. To move a file, select its thumbnail and drag it to the target folder in the left-hand column. Right-click a thumbnail image to rename, delete, or rotate it. 6. Create a slideshow. Assemble your pictures in one folder and select File, Create Web Photo Gallery. In the Web Photo Gallery dialog box, first choose a style. Next, select the source image folder and specify where you'd like the Gallery folder to be created. Choose Banner options. Enter your name and email address and click OK. To view the slideshow on your PC, use a Web browser to open the Index.htm file in the destination folder. To view the slideshow on the Web, copy the destination folder to a Web site. Correct Photo Flaws 7. Clean up age spots. Remove specks, spots, and lines from old photos with the Dust & Scratches filter. Open the photo and use the Rectangular Marquee tool to select the offending mark. Make as small a selection as possible. Then choose Filter, Noise, Dust & Scratches. Looking at the preview window, adjust the Radius and Threshold sliders. Increasing the radius increases blurriness; increasing the threshold compensates for the blur. Click OK when you are satisfied. Save your image.
9. Replace red eye and glare. Remove red eyes and glare on glasses or teeth with the red-eye brush. Open the photo, then select the Magnifying Glass tool and drag around the eye to enlarge it. Select the Red-Eye Brush tool. In the Options bar, resize the brush slightly larger than the pupil and click Default Colors. Finally, drag or click the brush tool over the red spot. This action doesn't immediately color the spot but blends it with the surrounding colors for a more subtle effect. 10. Correct colors. Use Elements' Color Cast Correction to correct color problems. Open a photo and select Adjust Color, Color Cast from the Enhance menu. Make sure the Preview option is checked and then click the mouse around areas of the photo that should be white, gray, or black. Click reset to undo your work and try again. 11. Darken or lighten. For fixing images too dark or light, we have several alternatives. If the entire image is too dark or too light, select Adjust Brightness, Contrast, and Brightness/Contrast from the Enhance menu. Be sure the Preview option is checked. Use the Brightness slider to lighten or darken the image. Use the Contrast slider to boost or subdue colors. If only the background of the image is too dark, choose Adjust Lighting, Fill Flash from the Enhance menu. Use the slider to lighten the shadows. If the background is too light, select Adjust Lighting, Adjust Backlighting from the Enhance menu. Use the slider to darken the highlights. Modify Images 12. Select and deselect. To select a section of an image, use the Rectangular Marquee tool in the tool bar. (The icon is a square composed of dotted lines.) Drag the tool over the area you wish to copy, cut, or edit. For a rounded selection, click and hold down the mouse on the Rectangular Marquee icon and select the Elliptical Marquee. To deselect, click elsewhere on the image. 13. Label a picture. Use the Text tool to add a text label to a photo. Open an image file and select the Text tool. In the Options bar, select the Horizontal Text icon. Choose a font, a font size, and a font color. Click the image and type a short message, such as the subject's name and the date. Use the Move tool to reposition the text. Save your work. 14. Crop a photo. To cut unwanted portions of a photo, select the Crop tool from the toolbar. Drag the mouse pointer over the area you wish to keep. The surrounding area turns dark. To crop this, double-click inside the area you wish to keep. To resize the cropped area, drag the selection's handles to fine tune. To start again, right-click and select Cancel. For The Web 15. Efficient images for the Web. Reduce the physical dimensions and kilobyte (KB) size of images for quicker display on Web pages. Open your image and choose File, Save For Web. The image on the left is your original; the one on the right is your potential Web image. Kilobyte size is listed under each. Under Settings, select JPEG, Medium. To reduce the image size further, set Quality to a lower setting. To reduce the physical size of the picture, under New Size, reduce the pixel width. 100 pixels is a good thumbnail size; 300 pixels is a good size for a Web photo. Click OK when you are finished. Give the image a new file name and click Save. 16. Make a Web button. Start a new file by choosing New from the File menu. Specify a width and height of 75 pixels, set the Mode to RGB, and set Contents to Transparent. Click OK. Click and hold the Rectangle icon in the toolbar and select the Custom Shape tool. Select a shape from the Shape field and choose a color. From the Style option, select Simple Emboss. Place the cross-hair pointer inside the checkered file window and click and drag. Your new Web button should appear in the window. Select File, Save For Web. Under Settings, specify the GIF file format, Web colors, and No Dither. Click OK. Name the file and click Save. Printing Images 17. Position a print. Open a photo and select Print Preview from the File menu. Elements will automatically center the image. If you don't want the image centered, deselect the Center Image option and use your mouse to reposition the picture on the page. To print the image smaller than 100%, reduce the percentage using the Scale option. To print the image lengthwise, click Page Setup and select Landscape Orientation. 18 Print a contact sheet. A contact sheet is a page of thumbnail images useful for viewing a batch of photos at once, typically in hard copy. To create one, from the File menu, select Print Layouts, Contact Sheet. Browse to select the folder that contains the images. Specify the size of the printed document and the resolution of the images (72 dpi [dots per inch] is good). Specify the number of columns and rows you would like on the sheet. Keep the Use Filename As Caption option selected. Click OK to create the contact sheet and print it out. Online Help 19. Find a recipe. A recipe is a short tutorial. Find them in the How To palette. If the How To palette is not on your Desktop, locate it in the Palette Well. To select a recipe, click the drop-down menu, choose a category (such as Design Web Graphics), and select a tutorial. Download new recipes to the How To palette from Adobe's Web site by selecting Download New Adobe Recipes. (You must be connected to the Internet.) From the resulting Online Services Wizard menu, select a recipe, click Download, and then Finish. 20. Search for help. To look for online instructions and recipes, type a keyword into the search box, located in Elements' main menu. Then press the ENTER key. The Search Results palette displays links to results. The Question Mark icon indicates a page from the online manual; the icon with a check mark indicates a recipe tutorial.  |
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