INTRODUCTION TO PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS
GETTING STARTED
Class Overview
What You Will Learn
PAGE 02
THE BASICS
What Is Photoshop Elements?
Key Terms for Digital Photos
PAGE 03
PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS ORGANIZER
Bringing Photos into Photoshop Elements
Basic Edits
PAGE 05
THE PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS TOOLBOX
PAGE 08
PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS MODES
Full Edit Mode
Quick Fix Mode
Guided Mode
PAGE 14
LAYERS
What Is a Layer?
Style Settings
PAGE 17
RETOUCHING PHOTOS
Red Eye Removal
Removing Blemishes
Removing Unwanted Elements from a Photo
PAGE 19
FINAL STEPS
Saving Your Projects
Finding More Help
PAGE 21
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Class Overview
This is a class for new users of Photoshop Elements. You will need to be comfortable with the
basics of using a computer, including using the mouse and keyboard, opening a program, and
turning the computer on and off. You do not need to have a digital camera or have any prior
experience using photo software.
Tonight, we will have hands-on practice with a variety of the tools available in Photoshop
Elements. Because there are so many powerful tools and great projects in Photoshop Elements,
we will only be able to cover some of the most basic ones tonight. If you have a specific question
about how to do something in Photoshop Elements, please ask the instructor and we will try to
cover your topic in tonight’s class.
Please let the instructor know if you have questions or concerns before the class, or as we go
along.
You Will Learn How To:
Open and close Photoshop
Elements and the Organizer
Understand key terms about
digital photos
Import photos into
Photoshop Elements
Use the different modes of
Photoshop Elements
Save your work and close
the program
Perform basic edits in the
Organizer
Build different layers into
your photo project
Find more help with
Photoshop Elements!
Tell the difference between
Photoshop and Photoshop
Elements
Identify the different tools
in the toolbox
Remove red eye, blemishes,
and dust
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THE BASICS
Most of you are probably most familiar with Adobe Photoshop; you might have heard of
magazines “Photoshopping” models to be thinner, of friends editing out pimples and exhusbands from family photos, or of people creating beautiful and complicated fliers for events.
Photoshop is a powerful image-editing program that can be used in both personal and
professional environments to turn regular photos into professional-grade images.
What Is Photoshop Elements?
Photoshop Elements is a slightly simpler version of Photoshop; for the average user, it will give
you all the tools you need to make your photographs look beautiful. And Photoshop Elements
costs less than 1/6 of the full version—a great deal!
In Photoshop Elements, you can create, edit, and share images and photos. It is available for both
Windows PCs and Macs. There are also relatively robust, free programs on the web that you can
use, like Picnik or Splashup. These programs will look slightly different from Photoshop, but
many of the skills you learn tonight will transfer over to those programs.
Just a few of the different things you can do in Photoshop Elements are: Crop photos, combine
photos, sharpen images, remove red eye, whiten teeth, straighten photos, remove unwanted
people or objects from a photo, adjust colors, add in objects to a photo, and apply artistic effects.
And that’s just the beginning!
Key Terms for Digital Photos
There are a few specialized words that you might hear tonight or in the future when you are
dealing with image-editing software and digital photographs. Here’s a quick vocabulary list to
get you oriented:
Bytes: The unit of size for any computer file. Because photos tend to be large files, they will
usually be measured in kilobytes (1,000 bytes) or megabytes (one million bytes). An average
computer today will have between 400,000 and 1,200,000 megabytes of space, so you can save
to your heart’s content!
Crop: This is the term used to refer to cutting pictures down to smaller sizes or cutting parts of
pictures out so that you are left only with the desired part of the photo. We’ll discuss how to do
this in Photoshop Elements later on in this class.
GIF: A type of file format that can be used to save images. It will only save up to 256 colors, so
this is often not the best choice for photos. Stands for “Graphics Interchange Format.” It is not a
“lossy” format.
JPEG: A common type of file format for digital photos. Stands for “Joint Photographic Experts
Group,” the committee that developed the format. It is a “lossy” type of format.
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Lossy: This refers to any type of file format that requires compression and discards some data in
order to reduce the file size. In general, the loss of data will not be enough to be visible to the
user, but it’s something to keep in mind when choosing how to save.
Memory Card: Think of this as the film for your digital camera. All of your photos will be
saved to your memory card, which you can then transfer to your computer to edit, print out, or
send to other people. The most common type of memory card is the SD (Secure Digital) memory
card.
Noise: This is the digital version of graininess on film. It usually looks like blotches on the
picture, which can sometimes be removed using Photoshop Elements. Some people, however,
like the aging effect that noise gives a photo, so you can add that in Photoshop Elements too.
Pixels: Digital images are made of hundreds, thousands, or even millions of tiny colored squares
called “pixels,” short for “picture elements.” In general, it is the smallest component of a digital
image. A picture with more and smaller pixels will be sharper and more closely imitate the actual
images that you see with your eye.
Pixelation: When you lose enough image quality, you will notice that your
pixels will become large enough to see. This can be handy if you zoom in
very far into a picture and are doing tiny edits, but unless you are pixelating
for an artistic effect, you never want to see that in your final product. To the
right is a very zoomed-in image of a flower: Can you see all the little
squares making up the image?
Raster image: A picture made of pixels (tiny dots of color) that is meant to be viewed on a
computer or other type of screen.
Raw: This term refers to photos that come directly off of a digital camera, without any extra
processing. When you put your photos on the computer, they will usually be automatically
converted into a form that you can edit. That conversion may lose a marginal amount of image
quality loss, which is why professional photographers prefer to use the raw format.
Resolution: Resolution refers to the number of pixels in an image. More pixels generally equal a
higher resolution and a clearer image.
TIFF: The most common type of “lossless” file format. Stands for “Tagged Image File Format.”
Generally speaking, these files are quite large, as no information is thrown away in the saving
process, but if you need very high-quality images that perfectly represent the image as you took
it on the camera, then this is the format for you.
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PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS ORGANIZER
When you go to your desktop to open Photoshop Elements, you should see an icon
like the one to the left. Double-click to open the program.
When you open up the
program, you will see the
welcome screen to the
right. The two options of
interest are on the left side
of the screen: Organize
and Edit. Organize will
open up the Photoshop
Elements Organizer, while
Edit will open Photoshop
Elements itself. We’ll first
take a quick look at the
Organizer, which is a great
place to do quick fixes to
photos and acts like a
photo album.
The basic Organizer screen looks like this:
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Bringing Photos into Photoshop Elements
One of the best ways to bring in your collection of digital photographs to Photoshop Elements is
through the Organizer—all your photos can be listed in the Organizer, and you can easily
perform minor edits or import them to Photoshop Elements to do more work.
To import your photos, click on the File menu in the top right corner. From there, click on “Get
Photos and Videos” to select to import your photos from a file on your computer, your digital
camera, or a scanner (if you have one). This will open a new window where you can select the
photos you would like to import. You can select more than one at once by holding down the
CTRL key and clicking. Then click “Open” when you’ve selected all the photos that you want.
All of the photos will then show up in the Organizer. Once they
have been imported, you can create folders and organize your
photos into them, perform quick fixes right in the Organizer
window, or export the photo to Photoshop Elements to do more
significant edits.
On the right side of the Organizer screen, there is a panel with
four different tabs: Organize, Fix, Create, and Share.
The Organize screen (to the right) will allow you to create
folders using the green plus sign. Once a folder has been created,
you can directly drag photos from the Organizer screen into the
folder. You can also add keywords to a specific photo using the
“Keywords Tab” and the green plus sign there—This will allow
you to find photos later by the terms that you used to tag it (like
people’s names, places, events, or other information about the
photo).
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In the “Create” panel, you can directly order photo prints, photo
calendars, photo stamps, and other photo-related products from
Shutterfly, Kodak Easy Gallery, and the U.S. Postal Service (Did
you know that you can buy stamps with your own photos on
them?).
You can also share your photos directly from the Photoshop
Elements Organizer. Open the tab farthest to the right called
“Share.” From this panel, you can e-mail your photos to friends,
post images to Facebook or Flickr, send photos to smartphones
and portable media players, and more. The Organizer portion of
Photoshop Elements is the simplest way to keep your photos
organized and to share them with your friends, either digitally or
in print.
Basic Edits
Most photos don’t actually require that much
touching up, so the automatic fixes that come
with the Photoshop Elements Organizer are a
good choice for basic photo problems. The “Auto
Smart Fix” button is a good place to start: It will
analyze your photo for common problems caused
by exposure, color, and contrast and correct for
those problems. In many cases, this is the only
thing you’ll need to do to improve your photo.
Sometimes, eyes in photographs will look red
because the light from the flash or in the room
will cause a reflection off of the pupil. It looks
creepy! The “Auto Red Eye Fix” button will
identify instances in your photo where this
happen and restore those pupils back to their
normal black. It’s not a perfect system and you
might have to go in and make additional
adjustments, but it will get rid of most of those
vampire eyes!
The other “Auto” fixes work with specific aspects
of the photo, such as the color or contrast. The
best way to get a sense of how these work is to play around with them; keep in mind that they
won’t make quite as good judgment as your eye, so more tweaking might necessary.
To move photos over into the Photoshop Elements for more advanced edits, click on the “Edit
Photos” button from this panel:
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THE PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS TOOLBOX
Once you’ve got your photo into Photoshop Elements, you’ll be presented with many more
option for making tweaks and changes to your image. On the left-hand side of your screen is
something called the “Toolbox”—it’s exactly what it sounds like, containing all the tools you’ll
need to make your photos look professional.
Move Tool
Hand Tool
Zoom Tool
Eyedropper Tool
Marquee Tool
Lasso Tool
Magic Wand
Quick Selection
Type Tool
Cookie Cutter
Red Eye Removal
Stamp Tool
Brush Tool
Paint Bucket
Shape Tool
Crop Tool
Straighten Tool
Magic Healing Tool
Eraser Tool
Smart Brush Tool
Gradient Tool
Blur Tool
Sponge Tool
Foreground/Background
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Each tool has a different function, and some tools have multiple functions hidden beneath them
in the menu. Here’s a brief overview of what each tool does (shortcuts for each tool are in
parentheses, if you want to be a Photoshop Elements pro!):
Move Tool. Exactly what it sounds like: Used to move things around! (V)
Zoom Tool. Used to zoom in and out on your images. (Z)
Hand Tool. Drag your project around with this tool. (T)
Eyedropper Tool. Sample colors from your image to get an exact match. (I)
Rectangular Marquee Tool. Select parts of your image in a rectangular shape. (M)
If you hold down the left mouse button on the Marquee Tool, you will also have the option of
selecting an elliptical marquee:
Lasso Tool. Select parts of your image in any shape you like! (L)
If you hold down the left mouse button on the Lasso Tool, you will also have the option of using
the Magnetic Lasso Tool (follows the borders of objects) or the Polygonal Lasso Tool (to create
selections of irregularly shaped polygons):
Magic Wand Tool. Select everything of a certain color. (W)
Quick Selection Tool. “Magically” detects the edges of objects and allows you to select
just by clicking over an area. (A)
If you hold down the left mouse button on the Quick Selection Tool, you will have the option of
selecting the Selection Brush Tool (select an area by painting over it):
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Type Tool. Adds text to your Photoshop Elements Project. (T)
If you hold down the left mouse button on the Type Tool, you will have some additional tool
options. The program will default to typing horizontally (just like this sentence), but you can also
choose to type vertically or to create textured text (the Mask Tool):
Crop Tool. Trims your images. (C)
If you hold down the left mouse button on the Crop Tool, you will also have the option of the
Recompose Tool. This will allow you to resize objects within your image without distorting the
image as a whole:
Cookie Cutter Tool. Allows you to crop your image into a particular shape.
Straighten Tool. Realign your image horizontally or vertically—great to use if your photo
is crooked!
Red Eye Removal Tool. Draw a box around a red eye with this tool, and it will
automatically correct the red eye effect.
Spot Healing Brush Tool. Remove blemishes or other small flaws from an image: This
tool will take information from the surrounding parts of the image to make its best guess about
how the photo should look. Click on a blemish to see it disappear! (J)
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If you hold down the left mouse button on the Spot Healing Brush Tool, you will also have the
option of using the Healing Brush Tool—it works the same way as the Spot Healing Brush,
except that you can paint and heal over a large area:
Stamp Tool. Copies image information from one part of your image and allows you to
“stamp” it on top of other parts of your image. Useful for painting out unwanted people. (S)
If you hold down the left mouse button on the Stamp Tool, you will also have the option of using
the Pattern Stamp Tool (allows you to stamp from a completely different image):
Eraser Tool. Erases part of your image—keep in mind that it won’t replace that erased data
with anything else, so if you want to blend in a blemish or mistake, this isn’t the tool to use. €
If you hold down the left mouse button on the Eraser Tool, you will have the option of selecting
the Background Eraser Tool (only erases things that are not in the foreground of your photo) and
the Magic Eraser Tool (erases all similar pixels):
Brush Tool. Allows you to paint on your image in the color of your choice. (B)
If you hold down the left mouse button on the Brush Tool, you will have several additional
options: the Impressionist Brush (makes your photos look more like Fine Art), the Color
Replacement Tool (trades out one specific color for another), and the Pencil Tool (draws lines on
your image):
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Smart Brush Tool. Adjust elements in a certain range of colors that you select, so that you
don’t accidentally change or adjust something of a different color. It will create another “layer”
with your adjustments on it. (F)
If you hold down the left mouse button on the Smart Brush Tool, you can also choose the Detail
Smart Brush Tool, which will create your adjustments directly on the layer you’re working on:
Paint Bucket Tool. Paints over similarly colored pixels with another color—sort of like
spilling a bucket of paint!
Gradient Tool. Blend one photo, color, or image into one another.
Shape Tool. Creates a variety of shapes to insert into your image. (U)
If you hold down the left mouse button on the Shape Tool, you will have option to draw many
different kinds of shapes:
Blur Tool. Blurs the edges or other parts of your image. (R)
If you hold down the left mouse button on the Blur Tool, you can apply smudging or sharpening
effects to your image as well:
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Sponge Tool. Changes the vividness of a part of your image. (O)
If you hold down the left mouse button on the Sponge Tool, you will also have the options of the
Dodge Tool (lightens part of the image) and Burn Tool (darkens part of the image):
Foreground/Background Tool. Also known as the Color Palette. This lets you
know what color you have currently selected for use with all the other tools.
Amazingly, there are even more tools available in Photoshop! But these are all the basic tools
you will need to create professional-looking Photoshop Elements projects.
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PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS MODES
Depending on how much control you want over your Photoshop Elements project, the amount of
detailed work that you need to accomplish, and your level of Photoshop Elements expertise,
there are three different modes for you to work in: Full Edit, Quick Fix, and Guided Mode. These
are all located on the right side of your screen. Also, don’t feel like you have to stick with one
mode—you may be able to accomplish most of what you want in Quick Fix Mode, but then need
to switch over to Full Edit Mode to perform the final tweaks.
Full Edit Mode
Full Edit Mode is the most sensitive—and complex—mode available in Photoshop Elements.
From Full Edit Mode, you can add artistic effects,
tweak color, sharpen or blur, apply filters, finely
adjust levels of your image, and more. These tools
can be very powerful, but they can also be very
frustrating for beginning users. You will have a
great deal of control over how your final image will
look, but will have to do more work to get there.
In the picture to the left, the Effects tab and the
Content tab are currently available. If you would
like to add more panels to the Full Edit Mode
window (e.g., histogram, adjustments, or a full
history of your undos), then click on the Window
dropdown menu at the top of the page.
If you decide that these tabs would be more useful
in a different order or somewhere else on the screen,
you can click and drag them by their title anywhere
within the program. If you want to put them back,
just click and drag them back to the Full Edit Mode panel and they’ll snap into place.
This Mode comes closest to the full-blown Photoshop package. If you need to make minute
adjustments or add specific effects, you will want to use this mode.
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Quick Fix Mode
Quick Fix Mode allows you to make many of the
more complicated Photoshop adjustments with just
one click or by using a slider. It’s a simple way to
make very complex adjustments, or to allow the
program to automatically adjust your image to what
it considers optimal levels.
For a one-click fix, you can try the Smart Fix
feature at the top of this mode. Smart Fix will
correct for the color balance and lighting values,
automatically. If you click the “Auto” button on the
right side, the program will automatically select the
values for you, which you can then accept or
decline (use the Undo option or Ctrl+Z). For a finer
adjustment, use the Fix slider.
The Lighting controls allow you to adjust shadows,
midtones, and highlights in your image. Levels
(overall contrast and color) and Contrast (overall
contrast) can be automatically adjusted.
The Color controls can either be automatically set,
or adjusted by Saturation (makes colors more vivid
or muted) and Hue (shifts all colors in the image
toward a specific color).
The Balance controls set Temperature (makes
colors cooler by adding blue or warmer by adding
red) and Tint (adds more green or magenta).
Finally, you can Auto Sharpen your image, which
makes the image look crisper and the edges of
objects in the image more distinct. Save this
adjustment for last.
If you finish all of your edits and are horrified by the results, you can easily return to your
original image by pressing the Reset button at the bottom of the Quick Fix panel. This will reset
ALL of your adjustments. If you just want to undo one or two of your most recent adjustments,
go to the EditUndo from the dropdown menus at the top of the screen, or press Ctrl+Z.
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Guided Mode
If you are looking for help in accomplishing a
specific type of edit in Photoshop Elements, then
Guided Mode is the place for you. In this mode, you
can select what you would like to do to your image
(e.g., enhance colors, touch up scratches and
blemishes, remove red eye) and Photoshop
Elements will take you through the process step-bystep.
Beyond the basic edits and adjustments, which you
can see in the panel to the left, you can create
interesting effects in Guided Mode. For example, if
I want my image to look like a super-saturated oldschool slide, I can select that option. Photoshop
Elements will then show me a before-and-after
version of my photo, as well as explain the process
that it is doing to create that effect. You can apply
the effect multiple times by clicking on the Apply
button multiple times.
There are many other types of edits that you try in the Guided Mode, so feel free to play around.
Remember that, as long as you don’t close out of Photoshop Elements, you can always undo
your work (Edit Undo or Ctrl+Z), up to 50 clicks.
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LAYERS
What Is a Layer?
Images in Photoshop are made up of things called layers; for a simple photo that you scan into
your computer, there might just be one layer, but for a complex Photoshop Elements Project with
elements from multiple photos and texts, there may be many layers. Think of each layer like a
transparency—you can see through the layer except for the places where there is an image or text
printed. There is no limit to the number of layers that you can have in Photoshop Elements.
When you first import a photo in Photoshop
Elements, it will automatically be titled
“Background” and show a lock next to it. This
means that the layer (image) cannot be edited at
this point. In order to make the layer editable,
double-click on the layer name. The program will
then ask you to give the layer a new name: It’s
good practice to give the layer a name that
describes what’s in it, so if it’s a picture of a
monkey, you might call that layer “Monkey.”
Once you’ve retitled your background layer, it
should now be editable—you can tell this because
the lock will disappear. If at any point later you
want to relock the layer, click on the lock button at
the bottom of the panel.
You can add layers to your project using the new
layer button at the bottom of the panel:
In the picture to the left, there are three different
layers. The layer called “Blank” is currently
selected—that means that any adjustments I do will
apply to this layer and this layer only. If I wanted to
change the colors on the “Library” layer, I would
need to click on that layer and then use my
adjustment tools.
The eye icon lets you know if a layer is
currently visible. To turn off a layer so that
you can focus on other layers, click on the eye. You
can always turn it back on later.
To delete a layer, click on it, then click on the garbage pail icon at the bottom of the panel:
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Style Settings
You can apply different styles to entire layers in Photoshop Elements, from adding shadows to a
layer to turning everything neon. Unlike changes that you make directly to the image, layer
styles don’t change the actual content of the pixels.
Here are some examples of the different styles that you can add to a layer:
Drop Shadow
Satin Finish
Inner Shadow
To add these effects, go to the Window dropdown
menu at the top of the Photoshop Elements window,
then choose “Effects.” From there, you’ll choose
the “Layer Styles” option.
Alternatively, you can go directly to Effects from
the Full Edit menu (as seen to the left). This will
also allow you to preview the different effects
before applying them to your layer.
You will then get a lengthy list of effects that you
can apply to that single layer only. It can be fun to
play around with these, and you can very simply
remove them by right-clicking on the layer and
selecting “Clear Layer Style.”
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RETOUCHING PHOTOS
Photoshop Elements is a powerful program that allows you to fix up your photos just like a
professional—there are so many different tools and tricks, it is impossible to cover them all in
one class. But here a few of the most commonly used touch-ups that can enhance your photos.
Red Eye Removal
One of the most common problems that people encounter when taking snapshots is red eye—the
reflection of the flash off of the pupil, causing an unnatural red glare. With Photoshop Elements,
this is an easy problem to fix and you can make your photo useable again in basically one step.
To remove red eye, select the Red Eye Removal Tool from the tool bar (
). Place your mouse
over the red pupil (you may have to zoom in to get a good fix on the exact location), hold down
the left mouse button, and draw a box around the pupil. When you release the mouse button, the
pupil should be restored to it’s normal color! A little bit of Photoshop Elements magic 
Removing Blemishes
Unfortunately, not every day is a perfect skin day, so you may want to remove pimples,
blemishes, or other unsightly elements.
Again, this is a very simple, one-click fix that can make the difference between a picture you’d
throw away and one you’d frame. Choose the Spot Healing Brush Tool from the tool bar (
).
Place your mouse over the blemishes, adjusting the size of the brush using the [ and ] keys ( [
makes the brush smaller; ] makes the brush bigger). Click on the blemish, and voila!
Photoshop Elements will fill in the blemish spot correctly.
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Removing Unwanted Elements from a Photo
Photographs capture everything they see, whether or not we want those elements in our image.
Sometimes, you might want to remove a car from a scenic vista, take out an ex-husband from a
vacation photo, or paint out an unsightly insect from an otherwise beautiful picture.
The steps for removing an unwanted element from a photo are very similar to removing a
blemish, just on a larger scale. Choose the Spot Healing Brush Tool from the tool bar (
).
Zoom in on what you’d like to remove from your image, then paint over it a little bit at a time
with your Spot Healing Brush Tool. Instead of erasing and leaving a giant blank space in your
image, the Spot Healing Brush will anticipate what should be in the photo space where your
unwanted element once was. This is, again, kind of magical, and doesn’t always work perfectly,
so you may have to play with it and paint over the same area a few times.
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FINAL STEPS
Saving Your Projects
After all your hard work in Photoshop Elements, you want to make sure to save your work. In
fact, it is important to save your work multiple times throughout your editing process, just in case
something happens—this way, you won’t lose your work.
To save your work, open up the File dropdown menu in
the top left corner of the Photoshop Elements window. The
first time you save the file, you will need to select “Save
As,” choosing where you want to save your file and what
file type you would like to save.
If you are planning on editing your photo again later, save
your file as a .PSD, or Photoshop, file. This will keep all of
your different layers separated out, and will not compress
them into a single image. When you save as a JPEG, GIF,
TIFF, or other file type, you will lose those distinct layers.
Don’t save as those file types unless you are sure that you
are done editing (or save a copy as a PSD file as well).
You will also have a choice of what resolution you want to
save your photo as. If you will be printing your photo, save
it at 300 dpi, which is the resolution that a good photo
printer can render. If you will posting your photo online or
using it on a computer, save it as 72 dpi—this is the
highest resolution a screen can accurately display, and will
make your file size smaller.
Finding More Help
Hopefully, this class won’t be the end of your Photoshop Elements adventures. We’ve only
covered a very small portion of the powerful things you can accomplish with this program.
Conducting an Internet search using a search engine like Google or Bing can often answer basic
Photoshop Elements questions (e.g., if you search for “red eye Photoshop Elements,” you will
get both written and video results showing you how to perform the red eye reduction). There are
thousands of useful, free videos available on YouTube. If you need more comprehensive help,
local arts centers and community colleges often offer classes on Photoshop.
We do have a few books in the library that can also help with basic projects. Stop by the
Information Services desk if you need help finding them!
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