Barbara Obermeier is principal of Obermeier Design and the Chair of the Visual Arts Department at California Lutheran University.

Ted Padova has written more than 70 computer applications aftermarket books primarily on Adobe Creative Cloud programs.

Introduction 1

About This Book 1

Icons Used in This Book 2

Beyond the Book 3

Where to Go from Here 3

Part 1: Getting Started with Photoshop Elements 2023 5

Chapter 1: Getting Started with Image Editing 7

Getting Familiar with the Home Screen 7

Launching the Photo Editor 9

Making Basic Edits in Quick Mode 10

Sharing a Photo 12

Retracing Your Steps 14

Using the History panel 14

Reverting to the last save 16

Getting a Helping Hand 16

Saving Files with Purpose 17

Using the Save/Save As dialog box 17

Saving files for the web 19

Chapter 2: Basic Image-Editing Concepts 21

Grappling with the Ubiquitous Pixels 22

Understanding resolution 23

Understanding image dimensions 25

The Art of Resampling 25

Choosing a Resolution for Print or Onscreen 28

Working with File Formats 29

JPEG (*.jpg, *.jpeg, *.jpe) 29

PNG (*.png) 31

TIFF (*.tif, *.tiff) 31

Getting Familiar with Color 32

Getting Color Right 33

Color the easy way 34

Calibrating your monitor 34

Choosing a color workspace 35

Understanding how profiles work 36

Chapter 3: Exploring the Photo Editor 37

Examining the Photo Editor 37

Examining the image window 41

Uncovering the contextual menus 46

Selecting the tools 46

Selecting from the Tool Options 49

Playing with panels 49

Using the Photo Bin 53

Creating different views of an image 53

Viewing filenames 54

Using Photo Bin Actions 54

Using Some Creative Features 55

Using Guided Edits 55

Searching Guided Edits 56

Controlling the Editing Environment 56

Launching and navigating Preferences 57

Checking out all the Preferences panes 58

Perusing preset libraries 60

Part 2: Managing Media 63

Chapter 4: Navigating the Organizer 65

Organizing Photos and Media on a Hard Drive 66

Adding Images to the Organizer 68

Adding files from folders and removable media 68

Downloading camera images with the Elements Downloader 70

Importing additional photos from folders 72

Navigating the Media Browser 73

Using a Scanner 74

Understanding image requirements 75

Using scanner plug-ins (Windows) 75

Scanning on the Mac 77

Scanning many photos at a time 77

Phoning in Your Images 78

Setting Organizer Preferences 80

Chapter 5: Organizing Your Pictures 83

Touring the Organizer 83

Organizing Groups of Images with Tags 87

Creating and viewing a tag 87

Adding icons to tags 90

Working with custom tags 91

Working with default tags 92

Working with sub-categories 93

Sorting photos according to tags 94

Auto Generating Tags 95

Working with Auto Creations 95

Adding new Events 96

Rating Images with Stars 96

Adding Images to an Album 98

Creating an album 98

Using albums for temporary work 100

Editing an album 100

Finding out more about sharing your albums 101

Adding People in the Media Browser 101

Placing Pictures on Maps 103

Working with Events 105

Chapter 6: Viewing and Finding Your Images 107

Cataloging Files 107

Using the Catalog Manager 108

Working with catalogs 109

Backing up your catalog 110

Backing up photos and files 111

Switching to a Different View 112

Viewing Photos in Memories (Slideshow) 113

Searching for Photos 115

Using Search 115

Searching for untagged items 117

Searching captions and notes 117

Searching by history 118

Searching metadata 118

Searching similarities 120

Grouping Files That Get in the Way 121

Marking files as hidden 121

Stackin' 'em up 122

Creating versions 123

Part 3: Selecting and Correcting Photos 125

Chapter 7: Editing Camera Raw Images 127

Launching the Camera Raw Editor 127

Understanding Camera Raw 128

Learning Raw file format attributes 129

Opening images in the Camera Raw Editor 130

Getting Familiar with the Raw Editor 131

Getting Familiar with the Panels 135

Using the Basic panel 136

Sharpening and reducing noise 139

Using the Calibration panel 142

Working with Filmstrips 142

Working with Profiles 144

Looking at the Adobe Camera Raw profiles 144

Managing profiles 146

Creating a Favorites list 147

Opening Non-Raw Images in the Camera Raw Editor 147

Changing Image Defaults 148

Working with XML Files and Preferences 148

Changing program defaults 149

Using Save Options 150

Using sidecar files 151

Chapter 8: Making and Modifying Selections 153

Defining Selections 153

Creating Rectangular and Elliptical Selections 154

Perfecting squares and circles with Shift and Alt (Option on the Mac) 156

Applying Marquee options 157

Making Freeform Selections with the Lasso Tools 159

Selecting with the Lasso tool 159

Getting straight with the Polygonal Lasso tool 160

Snapping with the Magnetic Lasso tool 162

Working Wizardry with the Magic Wand 164

Talking about Tolerance 165

Wielding the Wand to select 165

Modifying Your Selections 168

Adding to, subtracting from, and intersecting a selection 168

Avoiding key collisions 169

Painting with the Selection Brush 169

Painting with the Quick Selection Tool 171

Selecting with the Auto Selection Tool 173

Selecting Your Subject 175

Fine-Tuning with the Refine Selection Brush 176

Working with the Cookie Cutter Tool 178

Eliminating with the Eraser Tools 180

The Eraser tool 180

The Background Eraser tool 181

The Magic Eraser tool 183

Using the Select Menu 183

Selecting all or nothing 183

Reselecting a selection 184

Inversing a selection 184

Feathering a selection 184

Refining the edges of a selection 185

Using the Modify commands 186

Applying the Grow and Similar commands 187

Saving and loading selections 187

Chapter 9: Working with Layers 189

Getting to Know Layers 189

Converting a background to a layer 190

Anatomy of the Layers panel 191

Using the Layer and Select menus 194

Working with Different Layer Types 196

Image layers 196

Adjustment layers 197

Fill layers 200

Shape layers 201

Type layers 202

Tackling Layer Basics 202

Creating a new layer from scratch 202

Using Layer via Copy and Layer via Cut 204

Duplicating layers 204

Dragging and dropping layers 204

Using the Paste into Selection command 205

Moving a Layer's Content 206

Transforming Layers 207

Adding Layer Masks 208

Flattening and Merging Layers 210

Flattening layers 211

Merging layers 212

Chapter 10: Simple Image Makeovers 213

Cropping and Straightening Images 213

Cutting away with the Crop tool 214

Fixing distortion with the Perspective Crop tool 216

Cropping with a selection border 218

Straightening images 218

Recomposing Images 219

Employing One-Step Auto Fixes 222

Auto Smart Fix 222

Auto Smart Tone 222

Auto Levels 224

Auto Contrast 225

Auto Haze Removal 225

Auto Color Correction 225

Auto Shake Reduction 226

Auto Sharpen 226

Auto Red Eye Fix 227

Editing in Quick Mode 229

Fixing Small Imperfections with Tools 233

Cloning with the Clone Stamp tool 233

Retouching with the Healing Brush 235

Zeroing in with the Spot Healing Brush 237

Repositioning with the Content-Aware Move tool 239

Lightening and darkening with Dodge and Burn tools 241

Smudging away rough spots 243

Softening with the Blur tool 244

Focusing with the Sharpen tool 245

Sponging color on and off 246

Replacing one color with another 248

Chapter 11: Correcting Contrast, Color, and Clarity 251

Editing Your Photos Using a Logical Workflow 252

Adjusting Lighting 253

Fixing lighting with Shadows/Highlights 253

Using Brightness/Contrast 254

Pinpointing proper contrast with Levels 255

Adjusting Color 258

Removing color casts automatically 258

Adjusting with Hue/Saturation 260

Eliminating color with Remove Color 261

Switching colors with Replace Color 262

Correcting with Color Curves 263

Adjusting skin tones 266

Defringing layers 267

Eliminating haze 269

Adjusting color temperature with photo filters 270

Mapping your colors 271

Adjusting Clarity 272

Removing noise, artifacts, dust, and scratches 272

Blurring when you need to 273

Sharpening for better focus 276

Opening closed eyes 278

Colorizing a photo 279

Smoothing skin 281

Adjusting facial features 282

Reducing shake 284

Moving Overlays 284

Moving Photos 286

Moving Elements 287

Working Intelligently with the Smart Brush Tools 289

Part 4: Exploring Your Inner Artist 293

Chapter 12: Playing with Filters, Effects, Styles, and More 295

Having Fun with Filters 295

Applying filters 296

Corrective or destructive filters 297

One-step or multistep filters 297

Fading a filter 298

Selectively applying...