- 1. Import and Open Images
- 2. Crop and Rotate
- 3. Adjust Lighting and Color
- 4. Apply Corrections
- 5. Save the Photo
From the book
3. Adjust Lighting and Color
Almost every photo needs a little lighting and color adjustment, whether it’s lightening shadows or punching up the saturation slightly to make colors pop. Elements is awash in color and lighting adjustment choices, but this is where I start.
Quick Fixes
One of the appeals of Photoshop Elements is its Quick Fix adjustments. You don’t need to be a digital imaging expert—you may just want to correct a few shots with the least amount of fuss. See Chapter 5 for more information.
To apply quick fixes:
- Open a photo in the Editor.
- Click the Quick heading A to reveal the Quick Edit options (if it’s not already selected).
- Click an attribute (such as Smart Fix) and drag the slider to make the adjustment. Or, click a preset from the grid; positioning your mouse pointer over a thumbnail previews the change, and clicking it applies the adjustment B.
- If you don’t like the effect, click the thumbnail that contains the reset icon to return to the original state.
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A The Quick Fix edits handle many common corrections.
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B Reveal a grid of settings presets and see how they affect the image.
You can also drag within a preset in the grid to make incremental adjustments.
Manual Adjustments
If you’d rather handle the details yourself, turn to manual corrections. I prefer to use adjustment layers in the Expert environment, which let you apply corrections without changing any of the original pixels in your image. Other controls, such as those found in the Enhance menu, are less flexible.
To apply an adjustment layer:
- Click the Expert button to switch to that editor.
- Click the Layers button in the task bar to reveal the Layers panel.
- In the Layers panel, click the Create New Fill or Adjustment Layer button C and choose one of the options. A new adjustment layer is created, and a panel containing options appears.
- Manipulate the controls in the panel to alter the look of the image D.
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C Add an adjustment layer to make edits that don’t interfere with the image’s original pixels.
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D The Adjustments panel includes settings specific to the adjustment layer you’re on.
For example, to increase the saturation of a flat image, add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer and, in the Hue/Saturation panel, increase the value of the Saturation slider.