Photoshop Creative Issue

Elements

IS THERE AN EASY

WAY TO RETOUCH MY

PORTRAITS?

HOW CAN I TURN MY

IMAGES INTO PENCIL

SKETCHES?

There are loads of great ways to retouch your

portraits but one of the easiest is using the

Guided Edit section of Elements, and going to

the Perfect Portrait option.

From here, you’ll see a list of edits that

you can make down the right-hand side of

the window, from smoothing skin and using

the Spot-Healing Brush to Red Eye Removal.

Use each of these options one by one, and

remember that subtlety is key. It’s also

possible to use the tools in creative ways;

you may wish to use the Darken Eyebrows

feature to contour the cheeks or use the Spot

Healing Brush to smooth the lips.

Once finished, you can go into the Expert

workspace to make further edits.

Mastering how to create pencil sketches
on paper might be extremely difficult, but
creating them in Elements is less so. You
can use the Brush Tool to trace an image in
Expert mode, or create a quick sketch of any
picture by using the Quick mode.
Simply open the picture you want to
transform into a pencil sketch and go to
Quick. Under Pencil Sketch, you’ll find four
potential options, all slightly different and
varying in style. From there, if you pick
one, you can turn your image into a sketch
immediately, but the real editing comes in
once you click back on Expert.
Use Brightness/Contrast and Levels
to adjust the look of your sketch, and
remember that you can still use brushes to
edit the image.

Using

Outer Glow

Quick tip

The Outer Glow layer

style is one of the most

useful tricks in your editing

arsenal for making your

layers stand out. Simply

by applying an outer glow

to a picture, you can give

your layer added warmth

or prominence over the

background. It’s great for

light effects, too. Use it in

conjunction with the Drop

Shadow to make a layer

stand out even more, but

remember to use it subtly,

as it can look over-the-top

in some cases.

WHAT IS THE

GRAPHICS TAB

USED FOR?

In Elements, we usually work with

the Layers palette firmly on the

right-hand side of the window at all

times. But if you check along the

bottom-right of the program, you’ll

see that there are other options,

including Graphics.

This provides exactly what you’d

expect. Click on there, view them,

and double-click to apply a graphic

as the background to your image.

They’re great for placing subjects

onto or can form the basis of a new

project. There is also a range of

styles for you to explore.

VIEW LAYERS

Once you select Expert

mode, you’ll be able to see

all the edits you’ve made as

individual layers.

Before

Before

Before