Teach_Yourself_Photoshop_Elements_2

AN INTRODUCTION TO PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS

W

hen you launch Photoshop

Elements by clicking its icon

you’re presented with a welcome

screen. One half of the screen

gives you the option to jump to the

Organizer, where you can import and

organise your shots. The other half launches

the Photo Editor. Don’t worry too much

about which option you choose, because you

can switch between the Photo Editor and the

Organizer by clicking the appropriate icon.

As its name suggests, the Photo Editor is

designed to help you fix common picture

problems. Its tone-tweaking tools enable you

to restore more detail to under- or over-

exposed shots. Its colour-correction tools

allow you to counteract colour casts caused

by incorrect camera White Balance settings.

You can also tackle lens-related problems

such as vignetted or curved edges.

The Photo Editor also enables you to be

creative. The menu contains a wide range of

filters you can apply to create artistic effects.

You can also access these filters from the

Effects panel by clicking a filter preview icon.

You can use selection tools to isolate people

or objects from one shot and place them in

another, or swap a dull sky for something

more interesting. We’ll show you how to

perform creative edits later in this book.

The Photo Editor is split into three editing

modes: Quick, Guided and Expert. We’ll

explore these modes in more detail as we

work through the book, but check out our

annotated grab on the right to familiarise

yourself with the layout of the Photo Editor’s

default Expert mode. In the next chapter,

we’ll show you how to customise the Expert

mode to suit your own needs.

Introducing the Elements editing modes

Learn about the three modes for editing photos in Photoshop Elements