Photoshop Elements 5 for Dummies (ISBN - 0470098104)

402 Pages·2021·20.94 MB·English

by Barbara Obermeier and Ted Padova

Photoshop

®

Elements 5

FOR

DUMmIES

‰

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by Barbara Obermeier and Ted Padova

Photoshop

®

Elements 5

FOR

DUMmIES

‰

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Photoshop® Elements 5 For Dummies®

Published by
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
111 River Street
Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774
www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2007 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

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dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United
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About the Authors

Barbara Obermeier: Barbara Obermeier is principal of Obermeier Design, a
graphics design studio in Ventura, California. She’s the author of Photoshop
CS2 All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies and has contributed as author
or coauthor on numerous books on Photoshop, Illustrator, and PowerPoint.
Barb is also a faculty member in the Visual Communication Department
at Brooks Institute of Photography.

Ted Padova: In addition to writing several books on Adobe Photoshop and
Adobe Illustrator, Ted is the world’s leading author of books on Adobe Acrobat.
He is also a coauthor of Adobe Creative Suite Bible and Adobe Creative Suite 2
Bible (Wiley), Color Correction For Digital Photographers Only (Wiley), and Color
Management for Digital Photographers For Dummies (Wiley). Ted spends most
of his time writing and speaking at conferences and expos nationally and
internationally.

Dedication

Barbara Obermeier: I would like to dedicate this book to Gary, Kylie, and
Lucky, who constantly remind me of what’s really important in life.

Ted Padova: For Arnie

Authors’ Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank our excellent project editor, Kim Darosett,
who kept us and this book on track; Bob Woerner, our great Sr. Acquisitions
Editor; Andy Cummings, Dummies Royalty; Dennis Cohen, technical editing
wizard, who made what we wrote sound better; and all the dedicated pro-
duction staff at Wiley. Additionally, we would like to thank Don Mason of
Don Mason Photography (Bakersfield, California) for helping us out with
some tone corrections and for his expert advice on digital color correction.

Barbara Obermeier: A special thanks to Ted Padova, my coauthor, and
friend, who always reminds me there is still a 1-in-53-million chance that
we can win the lottery.

Ted Padova: My first choice always in coauthoring a book is to do the job
with Barbara Obermeier. There’s no one I’d rather work with, and I thank
Barbara for initially putting together this project and asking me to join her.

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Publisher’s Acknowledgments

We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our online registration form
located at www.dummies.com/register/.

Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:

Acquisitions, Editorial, and
Media Development

Project Editor: Kim Darosett

Senior Acquisitions Editor: Bob Woerner

Copy Editor: Rebecca Whitney

Technical Editors: Dennis Cohen,
Alfred DeBat

Editorial Manager: Leah Cameron

Media Development Manager: Laura VanWinkle

Editorial Assistant: Amanda Foxworth

Sr. Editorial Assistant: Cherie Case

Cartoons: Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com)

Composition Services

Project Coordinator: Adrienne Martinez

Layout and Graphics: Jonelle Burns,
Denny Hager, Barry Offringa,
Melanee Prendergast, Heather Ryan,
Alicia B. South, Erin Zeltner

Proofreader: Betty Kish

Indexer: Slivoskey Indexing Services

Anniversary Logo Design: Richard Pacifico

Publishing and Editorial for Technology Dummies

Richard Swadley, Vice President and Executive Group Publisher

Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher

Mary Bednarek, Executive Acquisitions Director

Mary C. Corder, Editorial Director

Publishing for Consumer Dummies

Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher

Joyce Pepple, Acquisitions Director

Composition Services

Gerry Fahey, Vice President of Production Services

Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services

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Contents at a Glance

Introduction .................................................................1
Part I: Getting Started ..................................................7

Chapter 1: Getting to Know the Work Area.....................................................................9
Chapter 2: Getting Ready to Edit....................................................................................29
Chapter 3: Working with Resolutions, Color Modes, and File Formats.....................43
Part II: Getting Organized...........................................67

Chapter 4: Getting Your Images......................................................................................69
Chapter 5: Viewing and Finding Your Images ...............................................................93
Chapter 6: Organizing and Managing Your Photos ....................................................111
Part III: Selecting and Correcting Photos....................131

Chapter 7: Making and Modifying Selections..............................................................133
Chapter 8: Working with Layers ...................................................................................161
Chapter 9: Simple Image Makeovers............................................................................181
Chapter 10: Correcting Contrast, Color, and Clarity..................................................207
Part IV: Exploring Your Inner Artist............................235

Chapter 11: Playing with Filters, Effects, Styles, and More.......................................237
Chapter 12: Drawing and Painting................................................................................261
Chapter 13: Working with Type ....................................................................................285
Part V: Printing, Creating, and Sharing......................301

Chapter 14: Getting It on Paper ....................................................................................303
Chapter 15: Showing It On-Screen................................................................................327
Chapter 16: Making Creations and Sharing.................................................................341
Part VI: The Part of Tens ...........................................351

Chapter 17: Ten Tips for Composing Better Photos ..................................................353
Chapter 18: Ten More Project Ideas.............................................................................363
Index .......................................................................369

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Table of Contents

Introduction..................................................................1

About This Book...............................................................................................2
Conventions Used in This Book .....................................................................2
How This Book Is Organized...........................................................................3
Part I: Getting Started ............................................................................3
Part II: Getting Organized ......................................................................4
Part III: Selecting and Correcting Photos ............................................4
Part IV: Exploring Your Inner Artist .....................................................4
Part V: Printing, Creating, and Sharing................................................4
Part VI: The Part of Tens .......................................................................5
Icons Used in This Book..................................................................................5
Where to Go from Here....................................................................................6

Part I: Getting Started...................................................7

Chapter 1: Getting to Know the Work Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

Getting Around in Full Edit Mode.................................................................10
Jumping to Full Edit mode...................................................................10
Examining the Image window .............................................................10
Moving through the menu bar............................................................14
Uncovering the context menus...........................................................15
Using the Tools palette........................................................................16
Playing with palettes............................................................................17
Selecting tool options from the Options bar ....................................17
Juggling all your interface options.....................................................17
Looking at the Shortcuts bar ..............................................................18
Changing Workspaces....................................................................................19
Using Quick Fix mode ..........................................................................19
Using Creation Wizards .......................................................................21
Using the Photo Bin .......................................................................................22
Creating different views of an image..................................................22
Hiding the Photo Bin............................................................................23
Retracing Your Steps .....................................................................................23
Using the Undo History palette ..........................................................23
Reverting to the last save....................................................................24
Getting a Helping Hand..................................................................................25
Using Help .............................................................................................25
Using PDFs from the installation CD..................................................26
Using ToolTips......................................................................................26
Using the How To palette ....................................................................26
Taking Charge with Shortcuts ......................................................................27

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Photoshop Elements 5 For Dummies

Chapter 2: Getting Ready to Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29

Controlling the Editing Environment...........................................................29
Launching and navigating Preferences..............................................30
Checking out all the Preferences panes ............................................31
Controlling the Organizing Environment (Windows only)........................32
Understanding the Photoshop Elements Organizer ........................33
Navigating Organize & Share preferences.........................................33
Setting preferences in all the panes...................................................34
Customizing Presets ......................................................................................35
Getting Familiar with Color...........................................................................36
Introducing color channels.................................................................36
Understanding bit depth .....................................................................37
Getting Color Right ........................................................................................39
Calibrating your monitor.....................................................................39
Choosing a color workspace...............................................................40
Understanding how profiles work......................................................41

Chapter 3: Working with Resolutions,
Color Modes, and File Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43

The Ubiquitous Pixels....................................................................................44
Understanding resolution ...................................................................44
Understanding image dimensions......................................................46
The Art of Resampling...................................................................................46
Changing image size and resolution ..................................................46
Understanding the results of resampling..........................................49
Choosing a Resolution for Print or On-Screen ...........................................50
Go Ahead — Make My Mode!........................................................................50
Converting to bitmap mode................................................................51
Converting to grayscale mode............................................................53
Converting to indexed color mode ....................................................56
Saving Files with Purpose .............................................................................57
Using the Save/Save As dialog box.....................................................57
Saving files for the Web .......................................................................58
Understanding file formats..................................................................58
File formats at a glance........................................................................64
Audio and video formats supported in Elements ............................66

Part II: Getting Organized............................................67

Chapter 4: Getting Your Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69

Digital Cameras versus Scanners and Film Cameras.................................70
Grabbing Images from Your Camera............................................................71
Choosing a file format..........................................................................71
Using the Microsoft Scanner and Camera Wizard (Windows)........72
Using Adobe Photo Download Manager............................................73
Resizing images from digital cameras ...............................................76

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