Barbara Obermeier Ted Padova 9 IN 1 BOOKS BOOKS • Introducing Elements • Elements Fundamentals • Image Essentials • Selections • Painting, Drawing, and Typing • Working with Layers and Masks • Filters, Effects, Styles, and Distortions • Retouching and Enhancing • Creating and Sharing with Elements IN FULL COLOR! Photoshop ® Elements 8 A L L - I N - O N E Making Everything Easier!™ Open the book and find: • Help in setting up the Elements work environment • Steps for acquiring, saving, and exporting images • How to correct contrast, color, and clarity • Tips for making and transforming selections • Advice on creating layers and working with masks • Cool things to do with type • Creative applications for filters, effects, styles, and distortions • Instructions for retouching and enhancing images Barbara Obermeier is the principal of Obermeier Design, a graphic design studio in California specializing in print and Web design. She is currently a Graphic Design faculty member at Brooks Institute. Ted Padova is an internationally recognized authority on Adobe® Acrobat®, PDF, and digital imaging. Computer Graphics/Design $39.99 US / $47.99 CN / £27.99 UK ISBN 978-0-470-54302-3 Go to Dummies.com® for videos, step-by-step examples, how-to articles, or to shop! Whether you’re new to Photoshop Elements, want to take your skills up a notch, or want to quickly take advantage of the new features and enhancements in Photoshop Elements 8, you’ve come to the right place. Nine easy-to-follow minibooks cover everything you need to know about organizing, editing, sharing, and creating projects with your photos. • The groundwork — Books I and II cover setting up your work environment, using tools and shortcuts, and managing your files • Make them pretty — learn to work with resolution, manage color, use appropriate file formats, and handle selections in Books III and IV • Take it up a notch — in Books V, VI, and VII, learn to use the Brush and Pencil tools, work with layers, and create artistic effects • Fix the flaws — Book VIII helps you erase imperfections, fine-tune color, and more • Be creative — with slide shows, calendars, greeting cards, flip books, and other projects in Book IX Here’s how to do it all with Elements — more versatile than you ever imagined In Color Photoshop ® Elements 8 Photoshop ® Elements 8 A L L - I N - O N E Obermeier Padova spine=1.25” Start with FREE Cheat Sheets Cheat Sheets include • Checklists • Charts • Common Instructions • And Other Good Stuff! Get More and Do More at Dummies.com® To access the Cheat Sheet created specifically for this book, go to www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/photoshopelements8aio Get Smart at Dummies.com Dummies.com makes your life easier with 1,000s of answers on everything from removing wallpaper to using the latest version of Windows. Check out our • Videos • Illustrated Articles • Step-by-Step Instructions Plus, each month you can win valuable prizes by entering our Dummies.com sweepstakes. * Want a weekly dose of Dummies? 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Library of Congress Control Number: 2009938252 ISBN: 978-0-470-54302-3 Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 About the Authors Barbara Obermeier is the principal of Obermeier Design, a graphic design studio in Ventura, California. She is the author of Photoshop CS4 All-in-One For Dummies (Wiley) and has contributed as author or coauthor to over two dozen books on Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Illustrator, PowerPoint, and digital photography. She is currently a senior faculty member in the Graphic Design Department at Brooks Institute. Ted Padova is the former chief executive officer and managing partner of The Image Source Digital Imaging and Photo Finishing Centers of Ventura and Thousand Oaks, California. He has been involved in digital imaging since founding a service bureau in 1990. He retired from his company in 2005 and now spends his time writing and speaking on digital imaging, Acrobat, PDF forms, and LiveCycle Designer forms. For more than 17 years, Ted taught university and higher education classes in graphic design applications and digital prepress at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the University of California at Los Angeles. He has been, and continues to be, a conference speaker nationally and interna- tionally at PDF conferences. Currently he lives in the Philippines where he serves as President/CEO of his company ApoVisions, Inc. — a company working with third-world nations on developing electronic document workflows and forms routing. Ted has written more than 30 computer books and is the world’s lead- ing author on Adobe Acrobat. He has written books on Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Photoshop Elements, Adobe Reader, Microsoft PowerPoint, and Adobe Illustrator. Recent books published by Wiley include Adobe Acrobat PDF Bible (versions 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9), Acrobat and LiveCycle Designer Forms Bible, Adobe Creative Suite Bible (versions CS, CS2, CS3, and CS4), Color Correction for Digital Photographers Only, Color Correction for Digital Photographers For Dummies, Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 Just the Steps For Dummies, Creating Adobe Acrobat PDF Forms, Teach Yourself Visually Acrobat 5, and Adobe Acrobat 6.0 Complete Course. He also coauthored Adobe Illustrator Master Class — Illustrator Illuminated and wrote Adobe Reader Revealed for Peachpit/Adobe Press. Dedication Barbara Obermeier: For 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 awesome project editor, Kim Darosett, who kept us and this book on track; Bob Woerner, our most excellent Executive Editor; Andy Cummings, Dummies Royalty; Dennis Cohen, our technical editing czar; Jennifer Riggs, our copy editor who made everything we wrote sound better; and all the dedicated production staff at Wiley. Barbara Obermeier: A special thanks to Ted Padova, my coauthor and friend, who both celebrates and commiserates with me on the ups and downs of being an author. Ted Padova: Many thanks to my dear friend and colleague Barbara Obermeier for asking me to join her on this project . . . and a little hand-holding along the way to help me get through it. Publisher’s Acknowledgments We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments at http://dummies.custhelp.com. For other comments, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002. Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following: Acquisitions and Editorial Project Editor: Kim Darosett Executive Editor: Bob Woerner Copy Editor: Jennifer Riggs Technical Editor: Dennis Cohen Editorial Manager: Leah Cameron Editorial Assistant: Amanda Graham Sr. Editorial Assistant: Cherie Case Cartoons: Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com) Composition Services Project Coordinator: Katherine Crocker Layout and Graphics: Joyce Haughey, Ronald Terry, Christine Williams Proofreaders: Laura Albert, Melissa D. Buddendeck Indexer: BIM Indexing & Proofreading Services 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 Composition Services Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services Contents at a Glance Introduction ................................................................ 1 Book I: Introducing Elements........................................ 7 Chapter 1: Examining the Elements Environment.........................................................9 Chapter 2: Getting to Know the Tools...........................................................................37 Chapter 3: Viewing and Navigating Images ..................................................................53 Chapter 4: Setting Your Preferences.............................................................................67 Book II: Elements Fundamentals ................................. 85 Chapter 1: Acquiring, Saving, and Exporting Images ..................................................87 Chapter 2: Working in the Organizer...........................................................................111 Chapter 3: Working in Adobe Bridge...........................................................................151 Book III: Image Essentials........................................ 171 Chapter 1: Specifying Resolution and Changing Image Sizing .................................173 Chapter 2: Choosing Color Modes and File Formats.................................................185 Chapter 3: Working with Camera Raw ........................................................................207 Chapter 4: Using and Managing Color.........................................................................219 Chapter 5: Time Travel — Undoing in Elements........................................................233 Book IV: Selections .................................................. 239 Chapter 1: Making Selections.......................................................................................241 Chapter 2: Modifying and Transforming Selections..................................................263 Book V: Painting, Drawing, and Typing ..................... 281 Chapter 1: Painting and Drawing with Elements .......................................................283 Chapter 2: Filling and Stroking.....................................................................................303 Chapter 3: Working with Type .....................................................................................321 Book VI: Working with Layers and Masks.................. 341 Chapter 1: Creating Layers...........................................................................................343 Chapter 2: Managing Layers.........................................................................................369 Chapter 3: Playing with Opacity and Blend Modes...................................................385 Chapter 4: Cutting, Extracting, and Masking..............................................................397 Book VII: Filters, Effects, Styles, and Distortions........ 411 Chapter 1: Making Corrections and Having Fun with Filters ...................................413 Chapter 2: Distorting with the Liquify Command......................................................433 Chapter 3: Adding Pizzazz with Styles and Effects....................................................441 Book VIII: Retouching and Enhancing ....................... 451 Chapter 1: Quick Image Makeovers.............................................................................453 Chapter 2: Correcting Lighting, Color, and Clarity....................................................491 Chapter 3: Compositing with Photomerge .................................................................523 Chapter 4: Getting Help in Guided Mode....................................................................537 Book IX: Creating and Sharing with Elements ............ 551 Chapter 1: Creating Elements Projects .......................................................................553 Chapter 2: Getting It Printed ........................................................................................569 Chapter 3: Getting It on the Web .................................................................................591 Chapter 4: Sharing Projects with Others ....................................................................603 Index ...................................................................... 611