The Adobe Photoshop Elements 8 book for digital photographers

✍ Scribed by Kelby, Scott;Kloskowski, Matt

• Publisher: New Riders Publishing
• Year: 2009
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 497
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This book (for Windows and Mac) breaks new ground by doing something for digital photographers that's never been done before--it cuts through the bull and shows you exactly "how to do it." It's not a bunch of theory; it doesn't challenge you to come up with your own settings or figure things out on your own. Instead, it does something that virtually no other Elements book has ever done--it tells you flat-out which settings to use, when to use them, and why. If you're looking for one of those "tell-me-everything-about-the-Unsharp-Maskfilter" books, this isn't it. You can grab any other Elements book on the shelf, because they all do that. Instead, this book gives you the inside tips and tricks of the trade for organizing, correcting, editing, sharpening, retouching, and presenting your photos like a pro. You'll be absolutely amazed at how easy and effective these techniques are--once you know the secrets.

You'll learn:
The real secrets of how the pros retouch portraits How to color correct any photo without breaking a sweat (you'll be amazed at how they do it!) How to use Camera Raw for processing not only RAW photos, but JPEGs and TIFFs, too! (And you'll learn why so many pros like it best-- because it's faster and easier) The sharpening techniques the pros really use (there's an entire chapter just on this!) How to deal with common digital camera image problems, including removing noise and avoiding halos The most requested photographic special effects, and much more!The Book's Secret Weapon
Although Elements 8 offers some digital photography features that Photoshop CS4 doesn't offer, there are plenty of features that Photoshop CS4 has that Elements 8 still doesn't have (things like paths, Channel Mixer, etc.). But in this book, you'll learn some slick workarounds, cheats, and some fairly ingenious ways to replicate many of those Photoshop features from right within Elements. Plus, since this book is designed for photographers, it doesn't waste your time talking about how to frame a shot, setting your exposure, etc., and there's no talk about which camera or printer to buy. It's all Elements, step-by-step, cover-to-cover, in the only book of its kind!

✦ Table of Contents

Cover......Page 1
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS (SCOTT)......Page 5
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS (MATT)......Page 6
ABOUT THE AUTHORS......Page 8
TABLE OF CONTENTS......Page 9
THE QUICK Q & A YOU’RE GOING TO WISH YOU READ FIRST......Page 15
CHAPTER 1 Organized Chaos: Managing Photos Using the Organizer......Page 18
Importing Your Photos......Page 19
Backing Up Your Photos to a Disc or Hard Drive......Page 23
Importing Photos from Your Scanner......Page 25
Automating the Importing of Photos by Using Watched Folders......Page 26
Changing the Size of Your Photo Thumbnails......Page 27
Seeing Full-Screen Previews......Page 28
Sorting Photos by Date......Page 30
Adding Scanned Photos? Enter the Right Time and Date......Page 31
Finding Photos Fast by Their Month and Year......Page 32
Tagging Your Photos (with Keyword Tags)......Page 33
Auto Tagging with Smart Tags......Page 37
Tagging Multiple Photos......Page 39
Assigning Multiple Tags to One Photo......Page 40
Tagging Images of People......Page 41
Combining (Merging) Keyword Tags......Page 43
Sharing Your Keyword Tags with Others......Page 44
Albums: It's How You Put Photos in Order One by One......Page 45
Using Smart Albums for Automatic Organization......Page 46
Choosing Your Own Icons for Keyword Tags......Page 48
Deleting Keyword Tags or Albums......Page 49
Seeing Your Photo's Metadata (EXIF Info)......Page 50
Adding Your Own Info to Photos......Page 51
Finding Photos......Page 52
Finding Photos Using the Date View......Page 55
Seeing an Instant Slide Show......Page 57
Comparing Photos......Page 60
Comparing Photos by Zooming and Panning......Page 62
Reducing Clutter by Stacking Your Photos......Page 64
Putting Your Photos on a Map......Page 66
CHAPTER 2 Raw Deal: Processing Your Images Using Camera Raw......Page 72
Getting RAW, JPEG, and TIFF Photos into Camera Raw......Page 73
Miss the Look of JPEGs? Try Camera Profiles for That JPEG-Processed Look......Page 75
The Essential Adjustments: White Balance......Page 77
The Essential Adjustments #2: Exposure......Page 81
The Fix for Shadow Problems: Fill Light......Page 87
Making Your Colors More Vibrant......Page 89
Letting Camera Raw Auto Correct Your Photos......Page 90
Adding "Snap" to Your Images Using the Clarity Slider......Page 91
Cropping and Straightening......Page 92
Editing Multiple Photos at Once......Page 96
Saving RAW Files in Adobe's Digital Negative (DNG) Format......Page 98
Sharpening in Camera Raw......Page 99
Camera Raw's Noise Reduction......Page 104
Removing Red Eye in Camera Raw......Page 105
The Trick for Expanding the Range of Your Photos......Page 108
Black & White Conversions in Camera Raw......Page 112
CHAPTER 3 Resized: Resizing and Cropping Your Images......Page 116
Cropping Photos......Page 117
Cropping Using the "Rule of Thirds"......Page 120
Auto-Cropping to Standard Sizes......Page 123
Cropping to an Exact Custom Size......Page 125
Cropping into a Shape......Page 128
Using the Crop Tool to Add More Canvas Area......Page 131
Auto-Cropping Gang-Scanned Photos......Page 133
Straightening Photos with the Straighten Tool......Page 134
Resizing Digital Camera Photos......Page 136
Resizing and How to Reach Those Hidden Free Transform Handles......Page 139
Making Your Photos Smaller (Downsizing)......Page 140
Automated Saving and Resizing......Page 142
Resizing Just Parts of Your Image Using the Recompose Tool......Page 144
CHAPTER 4 Color Me Badd: Color Correction for Photographers......Page 152
Before You Color Correct Anything, Do This First!......Page 153
The Advantages of Adjustment Layers in Elements 8......Page 155
Photo Quick Fix......Page 159
Getting a Visual Readout (Histogram) of Your Corrections......Page 164
Color Correcting Digital Camera Images......Page 165
Dave's Amazing Trick for Finding a Neutral Gray......Page 173
Studio Photo Correction Made Simple......Page 175
Drag-and-Drop Instant Color Correction......Page 177
Adjusting Flesh Tones......Page 180
Warming Up (or Cooling Down) a Photo......Page 183
Color Correcting One Problem Area Fast!......Page 185
Getting a Better Conversion from Color to Black and White......Page 188
Correcting Color and Contrast Using Color Curves......Page 193
CHAPTER 5 99 Problems: Digital Camera Image Problems......Page 200
Using the Smart Brush Tool to Select and Fix at the Same Time......Page 201
Removing Digital Noise......Page 206
Focusing Light with Digital Dodging and Burning......Page 208
Opening Up Shadow Areas That Are Too Dark......Page 213
Fixing Areas That Are Too Bright......Page 215
When Your Subject Is Too Dark......Page 217
Fixing Under- or Overexposed Photos......Page 220
Automatic Red-Eye Removal......Page 223
Instant Red-Eye Removal......Page 225
Fixing Problems Caused by Your Camera's Lens......Page 227
The Elements Secret to Fixing Group Shots......Page 231
Blending Multiple Exposures (a.k.a. Pseudo-HDR Technique)......Page 235
CHAPTER 6 The Mask: Selection Techniques......Page 244
Selecting Square, Rectangular, or Round Areas......Page 245
Saving Your Selections......Page 250
How to Select Things That Aren't Round, Square, or Rectangular......Page 251
Softening Those Harsh Edges......Page 253
Selecting Areas by Their Color......Page 255
Making Selections Using a Brush......Page 257
Selecting Everything on a Layer at Once......Page 258
Getting Elements to Help You Make Tricky Selections......Page 259
Easier Selections with the Quick Selection Tool......Page 260
Removing People (or Objects) from Backgrounds......Page 262
CHAPTER 7 Faces: Retouching Portraits......Page 266
Quick Skin Tone Fix......Page 267
Removing Blemishes and Hot Spots......Page 269
Lessening Freckles or Facial Acne......Page 271
Removing Dark Circles Under Eyes......Page 274
Removing or Lessening Wrinkles......Page 276
Whitening the Eyes......Page 278
Making Eyes That Sparkle......Page 280
Whitening and Brightening Teeth......Page 283
Digital Nose Jobs Made Easy......Page 286
Transforming a Frown into a Smile......Page 288
Slimming and Trimming......Page 290
Advanced Skin Softening......Page 293
Fixing Reflections in Glasses......Page 302
CHAPTER 8 Take Me Away: Removing Unwanted Objects......Page 308
Cloning Away Unwanted Objects......Page 309
Removing Things in a Straight Line......Page 314
Removing Spots and Other Artifacts......Page 316
Removing Distracting Objects (Healing Brush)......Page 318
Automatically Cleaning Up Your Scenes (a.k.a. The Tourist Remover)......Page 323
CHAPTER 9 Special Delivery: Special Effects for Photographers......Page 330
Trendy High-Contrast Portrait Effect......Page 331
Converting to Black and White......Page 335
Panoramas Made Crazy Easy......Page 337
Creating Drama with a Soft Spotlight......Page 339
Burned-In Edge Effect (Vignetting)......Page 342
Using Color for Emphasis......Page 345
Soft Focus Effect......Page 347
Replacing the Sky......Page 349
Neutral Density Gradient Filter......Page 352
Taming Your Light......Page 356
Creating Photo Montages......Page 358
Scott's Three-Step Portrait Finishing Technique......Page 362
Fake Duotone......Page 367
CHAPTER 10 Sharp Dressed Man: Sharpening Techniques......Page 374
Basic Sharpening......Page 375
Creating Extraordinary Sharpening......Page 382
Luminosity Sharpening......Page 385
Edge Sharpening Technique......Page 388
Advanced Sharpening Using Adjust Sharpness......Page 391
CHAPTER 11 Best in Show: How to Show Your Work......Page 396
Watermarking and Adding Copyright Info......Page 397
Turning Your Signature into a Brush......Page 403
Getting One 5x7" and Four 2.5x3.5" Photos on One Print......Page 405
Using Picture Package Layouts with More Than One Photo......Page 411
Creating a PDF Presentation for a Client......Page 414
How to Email Photos......Page 419
Fine Art Poster Layout......Page 421
Simple Three-Photo Balanced Layout......Page 425
Multi-Photo Look from Just One Photo......Page 429
Instant Pano Layout......Page 433
Creating with Your Photos......Page 439
Making Full-Blown Slide Shows......Page 441
Creating Your Own Photo Website......Page 449
CHAPTER 12 Fit to Print: Step-by-Step Printing and Color Management......Page 456
Setting Up Your Color Management......Page 457
Calibrating Your Monitor (The Lame Freebie Method)......Page 458
The Right Way to Calibrate Your Monitor (Hardware Calibration)......Page 464
The Other Secret to Getting Pro-Quality Prints That Match Your Screen......Page 467
Making the Print......Page 471
My Elements 8 Workflow from Start to Finish......Page 476
C......Page 481
E......Page 483
I......Page 484
N......Page 485
P......Page 486
S......Page 487
V......Page 489
Z......Page 490

✦ Subjects

Art;Photography;Reference