- Getting started
- Editing photos in the Organizer
- Recognizing what your photo needs
- Making easy color and lighting adjustments
- Correcting photos in Quick Edit mode
- Working with Auto Smart Tone
- Adjusting images in Guided Edit mode
- Selective editing with the Smart Brush
- Working with camera raw images
- Review questions
- Review answers
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Correcting photos in Quick Edit mode
In Quick Edit mode, Photoshop Elements conveniently groups easy-to-use controls for the most common basic image correction operations in the Adjustments panel.
Earlier in this lesson, you tried some one-click fixes in the Organizer’s Instant Fix panel. Later, you applied a combination of the same automatic fixes while batch-processing files. The Adjustments panel presents similar automatic adjustment options, but also gives you the opportunity to preview and fine-tune the settings.
You should still be in the Organizer from the last exercise. If you don’t see the right panel group, click the Tags/Info button at the far right of the Task bar. If you don’t see the list of keywords, click the Tags tab at the top of the right panel. Expand the Imported Keyword Tags category; then, move the pointer over the Lesson 04 tag and click the arrow at the right.
- Select the original photo of the colored perfume bottles, DSC_2474.jpg, making sure not to confuse the un-edited file with the AutoFix copy; then, click the Editor button (
)—not the arrow beside it—in the Task bar. - Use the mode picker to switch the Editor to Quick mode. If you don’t see the Adjustments panel at the right, click the Adjustments button in the Task bar.
Applying quick fixes
All of the Quick Edit adjustments have manual controls. Automatic fixes are available for Smart Fix, Levels, Color, and Sharpen, but not for Exposure or Balance.
Choose Before & After - Horizontal from the View menu above the Edit pane. In the Adjustments panel, expand the Smart Fix pane and click the Auto button. Notice the immediate effect on the image in the After view.
- Expand the Levels pane, and then click both Auto Levels and Auto Contrast, noting the effects of the adjustments in the After view.
Expand the Color pane and click the Auto button.
Choose File > Save As. In the Save As dialog box, type DSC_2474_QuickFix as the name of the new file, to be saved to your My CIB Work folder in JPEG format and included in the Organizer but not as part of a Version Set. Click Save. In the JPEG Options dialog box, accept the default quality and click OK.
Expand the Color pane once again and click the Saturation tab. A grid of preview thumbnails shows the range of variation possible with the Saturation slider. A blue frame highlights the central thumbnail, which represents the image in its current state. Move the pointer slowly over each thumbnail in the grid to preview your image with that level of saturation in the work area.
Repeat the process for the Color pane’s Hue and Vibrance controls.
- Return to the Levels panel and explore the Shadows, Midtones and Highlights panes in the same way. To reset a control, click the thumbnail with the Reset icon (not always the central preview).
To discard any changes you’ve made and revert the image to its last saved state, click the Reset Image button in the header of the Adjustments pane.
- Choose File > Close.
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Adding quick effects, textures and frames
New in Quick edit mode from Photoshop Elements 12, the Effects, Textures, and Frames panels present a range of one-click choices that make it easy to add a creative touch to your photos. You can access these three new panels by choosing from the buttons at the right of the Task bar.
The Effects (fx) panel offers ten instant photo effects, from Summer Day, Toy Camera, and Light Leak, which simulate nostalgic camera and film effects, to photo processing styles and the Pencil Sketch and Lithograph treatments, which can turn even a snapshot into a work of art. The previews in the Effects panel are “live,” so you can see how the effect will look on your photo before you apply it.
Choose from the Textures panel to give the surface of your photo the look of a peeling paint, soft canvas, or pitted chrome. Other textures are applied with a colored pattern overlay. Add a frame to make your image really stand out. The Frames panel presents choices from simple graphic photo-print borders to the 3D, photographic look of the Aged, Scrapbook, and Flowers And Buttons frames.
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You can scale, rotate, or move a photo inside its frame without leaving Quick edit mode. If you prefer to have more control over the way the effects and textures are applied to your image, you can take it into Expert mode, where each effect and texture has its own layer and layer mask. You can modify the opacity and blending mode for each layer, or edit its layer mask to create areas in the photo where the effect or texture is reduced or removed entirely.