Adobe Photoshop Elements in One Hour - ISTE Standards · ADOBE PHOTOSHO P ELEMETS I O NE H OUR 23 BASIC PHOTO EITIG CAPTR 2 copyright 2011 istE international society or technology

Copyright 2011, ISTE ® (International Society for Technology in Education), Adobe Photoshop Elements in One Hour, Vicki F. Sharp. 1.800.336.5191 or 1.541.302.3777 (Int’l), [email protected], www.iste.org. All rights reserved. Distribution and copying of this excerpt is allowed for educational purposes and use with full attribution to ISTE.

Excerpted from

Adobe Photoshop Elements in One Hour

Vicki F. Sharp

With Adobe Photoshop Elements you can manipulate, organize, and share your photos. It’s an incredibly valuable tool in and out of the classroom. Knowing how to fix red-eye, resize photos, combine images, convert to black and white, and create a photo book can be useful for digital stories, the school yearbook, art projects, or even just showing off your vacation photos. With Adobe Photoshop Elements in One Hour you can learn how to do all of this and more with short, step-by-step tutorials and hands-on activities.

Chapter two dives into tutorials on red-eye, cropping, sharpening photos, zoom tool, and more.

Adobe PhotoshoP elements in one hour 21


How to Remove Red-EyeRed-eye is a common problem in flash photos when the camera’s flash lights up the inside of the subject’s eyes, turning the pupils red. Unless you have a removable flash unit or you are very lucky, sooner or later you will get the dreaded red-eye effect. The Red-Eye Removal Tool makes correcting this problem a snap.

Open the lesson photo

1. Open the Photoshop Elements Editor and make sure that you are in Full Edit mode (see Chapter 1).

2. From the File menu, choose Open (Ctrl+O) (for Macintosh, Cmd+O). Select the Red-eye photo from the book’s CD. Use the following menu path: CD > Lesson Files > Chapter 2 > Red-eye. Choose Open.

3. The Red-eye photograph will open in the Editor screen.

ObjectivesIn this chapter you will learn how to: ■ remove red-eye from a photo ■ crop, straighten, and sharpen a photo ■ create a duplicate layer, use the Zoom Tool

Basic Photo Editing

chaPtEr 2

Adobe PhotoshoP elements in one hour22

Chapter 2 Basic Photo Editing



Create a duplicate layer

Before you edit a photo, it is a good idea to make duplicate layers so you can do image editing on one layer and not lose your original image. If you save your image in Photoshop (.psd) format, you can still edit individual items within the image. Be careful: If you save your image in a general file format such as JPEG (.jpg), your layers are merged into a single layer and you can no longer edit individual items within the image.

1. From the Layer menu, choose Duplicate Layer.

2. From the Duplicate Layer dialog box, leave the name as “Background Copy” and click OK.

3. The Background Copy should be selected.

4. Leave this Red-eye photograph open for the next exercise.

Lesson photo: Red-eye.jpg


Basic Photo Editing Chapter 2


If you are dissatisfied with the changes to the layer, in the Layer panel, right-click on the layer (Control-click for Macintosh) and choose delete Layer. At the Photoshop Elements dialog box, click Yes. You can also click and drag the layer to the Layer panel’s trash can, and when you release the layer, it is deleted.

Use the Zoom Tool

When you are editing a small area, such as when you are removing red-eye, you might want to zoom in on the area you are working on.

1. Press the Z key, or from the Toolbox, select the Zoom Tool.

2. Drag around the right eye to magnify it.

3. The size of the magnification appears on the Options bar. You can quickly adjust this magnification by typing a number on the Options bar and pressing Enter (for Macintosh, Return).

On the options bar, you can also click on the Plus button and then click the photo to increase the size of the photo. You can click on the Minus button and then click the photo to decrease the magnification.

Use the Red-Eye Removal Tool

1. Press the Y key, or from the Toolbox, choose the Red-Eye Removal Tool.

2. On the Options bar, click on the Darken Amount upside-down triangle and drag the slider to the right if you want the pupil to be darker. Adjust the pupil size if you want it larger or smaller.





3. On the Layers panel, make sure the Background Copy is selected. On the right eye, click on the red area of the pupil.

4. The red-eye disappears. Repeat this procedure for the left eye.

5. On the Layers panel, click on the eye (the on/off switch) to see if you are satisfied with your work. (You must use the Background Copy.)

6. In the Toolbox, double-click on the Zoom Tool to see the image at 100%.

If you make a mistake, from the Edit menu, choose Undo red Eye removal tool (Ctrl+Z) (for Macintosh, Cmd+Z).

Save the photo in Photoshop format

Your digital camera usually saves in a JPEG (.jpg) format. However, if you make any changes to your photo, it is better to save it as a Photoshop (.psd) file. This will preserve the image quality. When you are ready to print or save the file for web use, you can change the file type (e.g., to TIFF, JPEG, PDF, etc.).




1. Under the File menu, choose Save As (Shift+Ctrl+S) (for Macintosh, Shift+Cmd+S)

2. When the Save As dialog box appears, for the file name leave the text “Red-eye” alone.

3. For the Format, choose Photoshop (*.PSD; *.PDD) and click Save.

For Macintosh computers there is a Save button on the top left side of the Options bar.

4. Close the Red-eye photo. From the File menu, choose Close (Ctrl+W) (for Macintosh, Cmd+W).

How to Crop a PhotoThere are many instances when you could improve a photograph by getting rid of part of the image. The Crop Tool lets you define the area you want to keep.


1. Make sure that you are in Full Edit mode.

2. From the File menu, choose Open (Ctrl+O) (for Macintosh, Cmd+O). Select the Crop photo from the book’s CD. Use the following menu path: CD > Lesson Files > Chapter 2 > Crop. Choose Open.

Lesson photo: Crop.jpg





Use the Crop Tool

1. Press the C key, or from the Toolbox, click on the Crop Tool.

2. Hold down the mouse button and drag in a diagonal direction to create a box. The area inside the box will be kept and the area outside the box will be cropped out.

The Options bar at the top of the screen lets you use presets for cropping a photograph. For example, if you want to print an image at 4 x 6, you can click on the Aspect Ratio’s pull-down menu and choose this preset size.

3. When you are finished, release your mouse and you will see that the area you are removing appears grayed out.




4. If you want to move the area to be cropped, click and drag your mouse inside the crop area.

5. If you want to resize the crop area, drag the size handles that appear on each side and corner of the selection.

6. When you are satisfied, double-click inside the photo. The grayed out area is now removed from the photo.

You can also click on the check mark in the bottom right-hand corner to accept

your changes, or click on the circle with a line through it to reject them.

Save the photo in JPEG format

When you want to use the photo on the web, save it in JPEG format. This format has a smaller file size and allows faster uploading and downloading. However, because repeated editing and saving in JPEG format reduces the image quality, save photos in this format only after all editing is finished.

1. From the File menu, choose Save As (Shift+Ctrl+S) (for Macintosh, Shift+Cmd+S).

2. At the Save As dialog box, leave the Format as JPEG and click Save.

3. When the JPEG Options dialog appears, in the Quality box type 12, then click OK.

4. From the File menu, choose Close (Ctrl+W) (for Macintosh, Cmd+W).





How to Straighten a PhotoPhotos are often slightly misaligned because the camera was not held perfectly straight. The Straighten Tool was created to correct this problem.



2. From the File menu, choose Open (Ctrl+O) (for Macintosh, Cmd+O). Select the Crooked photo from the book’s CD. Use the following menu path: CD > Lesson Files > Chapter 2 > Crooked. Choose Open.

Use the Straighten Tool

1. From the Toolbox, select the Straighten Tool.

2. From the Options bar, click on the Canvas Options upside-down triangle and choose Crop to Remove Background.

3. Choose an object in the photo that normally has straight horizontal lines— for example, a picture frame.

Lesson photo: Crooked.jpg




4. Using the Straighten Tool, click and drag in a straight line over the top of the picture frame.

5. Wait a few seconds, and the image is straightened and the white background is removed.

You can automatically straighten and crop. From the image menu, select rotate and then choose straighten and crop. It does not work as well.





Save and close the photo

1. From the File menu, choose Save As (Shift+Ctrl+S) (for Macintosh, Shift+Cmd+S). Save this image as a Photoshop file.

2. From the File menu, choose Close (Ctrl+W) (for Macintosh, Cmd+W). This gets rid of your present photo.

If you want, you can practice more with the Crooked-Vertical photo (menu path: CD > Lesson Files > Chapter 2 > Crooked-Vertical).

How to Sharpen a PhotoWhen a picture is a little blurry, you may be able to make it clearer. The best way to sharpen a photograph in Photoshop Elements is to use the Unsharp Mask.

Open the lesson photo and create a duplicate layer


2. From the File menu, choose Open (Ctrl+O) (for Macintosh, Cmd+O). Select the Sharpen photo from the book’s CD. Use the following menu path: CD > Lesson Files > Chapter 2 > Sharpen. Choose Open.

3. From the Layer menu, choose Duplicate Layer.

4. From the Duplicate Layer dialog box, click OK.

Lesson photo: Sharpen.jpg




Use the Unsharp Mask

1. From the Enhance menu, choose Unsharp Mask.

2. In the Unsharp Mask dialog box, click the Preview check box so you can see your changes.

3. Click and drag the different sliders to sharpen the photo. For this photo you might use the following numbers: Amount 100, Radius 4, and Threshold 1. Be sure to experiment.

4. When you have finished, click OK.





5. You should now see something similar to the After picture below.

The amount slider determines the amount of sharpening that will be applied (set from 50% to 150%). The radius slider determines the affected pixels from the edge of the image (usually a default of 1.0, with a range of .7–4). The threshold slider determines how different a pixel must be from the edge pixel (set between 0–20; the lower the number, the more intense the effect).

Save the photo in TIFF format

Save your photo as a TIFF file when you want to be able to easily import the image into other programs. This format is compatible with most word processing, publication, and presentation programs. You can make edits to this format without any loss of image quality.

1. From the File menu, choose Save As (Shift+Ctrl+S) (for Macintosh, Shift+Cmd+S).

2. When the dialog box appears, for File name delete the text and replace it with another name.

3. For Format, choose TIFF, and then click Save. (Layers should be checked)

Before After




4. At the TIFF Options dialog box, leave the preset options and click OK. You can find a detailed explanation of the TIFF options through Photoshop Elements Help.

5. When a dialog box appears telling you that including layers will increase the file size, click OK.

6. From the File menu, choose Exit (Ctrl+Q ). For Macintosh, from the Photoshop Elements menu, choose Quit Photoshop Elements (Cmd+Q ).


Vicki F. Sharp is a professor emeritus at California State University, Northridge, and a computer consultant and trainer for software publishers and school districts. She has written numerous articles on education technology and children’s software. She has also authored more than 50 books on topics related to the use of computers in the classroom, including Computer Education for Teachers, Sixth Edition, and the Make It with Office series.

June 2011 238 pp. CD 8½ x 11 Product code: PEHOUR 978-1-56484-276-3

Order now by phone, fax, or online. Single copy price is $34.95. ISTE member price is $24.47. Special bulk pricing is available. Call 1.800.336.5191 (U.S. and Canada), 1.541.302.3777 (International), fax 1.541.302.3778, or go to www.iste.org/pehour.

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Adobe Photoshop Elements in One Hour - ISTE Standards · ADOBE PHOTOSHO P ELEMETS I O NE H OUR 23 BASIC PHOTO EITIG CAPTR 2 copyright 2011 istE international society or technology