Editing Photos with Photoshop Elements 11 in 5 Easy Steps
- 1. Import and Open Images
- 2. Crop and Rotate
- 3. Adjust Lighting and Color
- 4. Apply Corrections
- 5. Save the Photo
From the book
You’re going to encounter a lot of powerful, in-depth information about how to use -Photoshop Elements in this book’s 400-plus pages. But who wants to sit and devour the whole thing while a memory card full of photos is waiting to be explored?
If you’re anxious to get started with -Elements, the steps outlined in this short chapter will improve nearly all of your digital photos. Then, when you’re ready to fiddle with settings sliders and really take advantage of what Elements has to offer, continue exploring the rest of the book.
In This Chapter
1. Import and Open Images 2
2. Crop and Rotate 4
3. Adjust Lighting and Color 6
4. Apply Corrections 8
5. Save the Photo 9
1. Import and Open Images
Photoshop Elements is really made up of two programs that work together—the Organizer and the Editor—and as a result, you can open a photo for editing in two ways. The Organizer stores your entire photo library and lets you apply metadata such as keyword tags. When you want to make adjustments to an image, you send it to the Editor. If you want to edit a photo independently of the Organizer, you can open the file directly from within the Editor.
Make sure your camera is connected to your computer, or the camera’s memory card is plugged into a card reader.
To import into the Organizer:
- Open Photoshop Elements and, in the Welcome screen, click the Organize button to open the Organizer.
- Click the Import button at the top left of the window and choose From -Camera or Card Reader (or press Ctrl+G/Command-G). The Photo Downloader application launches.
- Choose your camera or memory card from the Get Photos from drop-down menu (if it’s not already selected) A.
- Click the Get Media button to download the selected images to your computer.
- After the images have been imported, click the one you want to edit and then open it in the Editor by right-clicking and choosing Edit with Photoshop -Elements Editor; or, in the task bar, click the Editor button B.
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A Use the Photo Downloader to import pictures into the Elements Organizer.
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B Open the image in the Editor using the contextual menu (top) or the task bar (bottom).
To open a photo directly in the Editor:
- Open Photoshop Elements and, in the Welcome screen, click the Edit button to open the Editor.
- Choose File > Open.
- In the Open dialog, navigate to the image file you wish to edit and select it.
- Click the Open button to open the file.
To import into iPhoto (Mac):
- If you use iPhoto on the Mac to organize your photo library, launch iPhoto.
- Click the camera or memory card name in the sidebar, listed under Devices.
- Type a name in the Event Name field C; one way iPhoto organizes the library is by grouping images into Events based on when the photos were imported.
- Click the Import All button, or select the photos you want and click the Import Selected button.
- When the import process is finished, click the Keep Photos button in the dialog that asks if you wish to remove or keep the pictures you just imported.
- To be able to edit photos in Elements instead of using iPhoto’s editing tools, you need to do this step just once: Go to iPhoto > Preferences, click the Advanced button, and in the drop-down menu for Edit Photos, choose In application D. Locate Elements on your disk and click Open.
- Select a photo to edit and then either click the Edit button or right-click and choose Edit in External Editor E.
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C Select a device and type an Event Name in iPhoto on the Mac.
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D iPhoto can hand off editing duties to an external application like Elements.
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E Choose to edit in Elements instead of using iPhoto’s editing tools.