Adobe photoshop elements 3.0 : photographers' guide

313 Pages·2005·16.087 MB·English

by  David D Busch

Adobe® Photoshop® Elements 3.0:
Photographers’
Guide
David D. Busch
© 2005 by Thomson Course Technology PTR. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or
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For Cathy
Acknowledgments
Once again thanks to Andy Shafran, who realizes that a book about working with color images
deserves nothing less than a full-color treatment, and who knows how to publish such a book at
a price that everyone can afford. It’s refreshing to work for a publisher who has actually written
best-selling books on imaging, too. Also, thanks to senior editor Kevin Harreld, for valuable
advice as the book progressed, as well as project editor, Jenny Davidson; technical editor
Michael D. Sullivan; book/cover designer, Mike Tanamachi; interior designer, Bill Hartman;
proofreader, Sara Gullion; and indexer, Kevin Broccoli.
Also thanks to my agent, Carole McClendon, who has the amazing ability to keep both
publishers and authors happy.
About the Author
David D. Buschhas been demystifying arcane computer and imaging technology since the early
1980s. However, he had a successful career as a professional photographer for a decade before
he sat down at the keyboard of his first personal computer. Busch has worked as a newspaper
photographer, done commercial studio and portrait work, shot weddings, and roved the United
States and Europe as a photojournalist. His articles on photography and image editing have
appeared in magazines as diverse as Popular Photography and Imaging, Petersen’s Photo-
Graphic,The Rangefinder, andThe Professional Photographer, as well as computer magazines
such as MacworldandComputer Shopper. He’s currently evaluating digital cameras for CNet.
Busch has written more than 75 books since 1983, including the mega-bestsellers Digital
Photography All-In-One Desk Reference for DummiesandThe Hewlett-Packard Scanner
Handbook.Other recent books include Digital Photography Solutions, Mastering Digital SLR
Photography, andMastering Digital Scanning with Slides, Film, and Transparencies, all from
Course Technology.
He earned top category honors in the Computer Press Awards the first two years they were
given (for Sorry About The Explosion, Prentice-Hall; and Secrets of MacWrite, MacPaint and
MacDraw, Little, Brown), and later served as Master of Ceremonies for the awards.
Contents
Preface ix
Introduction x
1 Adobe Photoshop Elements and
Photography from 50,000 Feet 1
Images in the Digital Domain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Transferring Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Next Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2 Camera and Lens Effects in
Photoshop Elements 15
Lens Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Motion Blur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Selective Focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Photoshop Elements Photo Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Next Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
3 Darkroom Techniques with
Photoshop Elements 51
Manipulating Digital Negatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Film Development Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Printing Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Automatically Crop and Straighten Photos . . . . . . . 76
Next Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Contents vii
4 Secrets of Retouching 79
Retouching, the Old Way . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Retouching, the New Way . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Tackling a Retouching Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Repairing Images with the Healing Brush . . . . . . . . 96
Canceling Red Eyes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Next Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
5 Compositing in Elements 3.0 101
Your Compositing Toolkit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Selection Refresher Course . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Other Selection Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Creating a Simple Composite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Stitching Two Photos Together . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Merging Photos the Easy Way . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Creating a Fantasy Landscape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Compositing Close Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Kitten on a Desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Compositing Possibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Combining Compositing and Retouching . . . . . . . 136
Next Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
6 Correcting Your Colors 141
Wonderful World of Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Capturing Color Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Color Calibration and Gamma Curves . . . . . . . . . 152
Color Correction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Color Correction Made Easy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Calibrating Your Monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Next Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
viii Contents
7 Beyond Black and White 171
Why Black and White? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Your Best Bet for Black and White . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Converting Color to Black and White . . . . . . . . . . 176
Next Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
8 Using Photoshop Elements’ Filters 187
What Are Filters? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
What Kinds of Filters Are Available? . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Using Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Photoshop Elements’ Filter Gallery . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Reproducing Photographic Filters in
Photoshop Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Modifying Images with Photoshop Elements’
Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Next Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
9 Hardcopies Made Easy 227
Why Prints? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Color Prints as Proofs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Your Output Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Using Professional Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
Getting Set Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
A Typical Print Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
Printing Multiple Photos with Photoshop
Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
Tips for Getting the Best Digital Prints . . . . . . . . . 252
Printers and Digital Cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
Next Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
A Illustrated Glossary 255
B What’s New in Elements 3.0 279
I Index 283
Preface
If you’re serious about photography, you should be serious about Photoshop Elements 3.0, the
photo enthusiast’s best friend. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a casual snapshooter or a
dedicated photo buff, the latest version of Elements has exciting new features that you’ll want to
master. Plus, you’ll find that approaching Photoshop Elements from a photographer’s
perspective can put you on the fast track to mastering all the tools Adobe puts at your disposal.
Thinking about this image editor as an extraordinary photography tool can also work for you
even if your interest in photography is still on a more casual level. If you specialize in computer
technology, art, or graphics, you will find that learning about the imaging techniques that form
the basis for each of Elements’ capabilities can help you, too. A deeper understanding of
photography will help you use the image editor better, while improving those latent
photographic skills you didn’t know you had. Anyone who fine-tunes and manipulates photos
will find that this book makes them a more proficient, well-rounded image worker.
If you feel there isn’t enough photography in the average image-editing book, and there isn’t
enough image editing in the average photography book, the book you’re looking for is right in
your hands. Whether you’re a snap-shooting tyro or an experienced photographer moving into
the digital realm, you’ll find the knowledge you need here.