The library catalog file

Behind the scenes, Photoshop Elements stores information about your images in a library catalog file, which enables you to conveniently manage all the media files on your computer without ever leaving the Organizer. When you import photos from a camera or memory card, the files are copied to your hard disk, but from there, Photoshop Elements simply registers their locations in the catalog. Or, if you add a photo that already exists on disk, wherever it is stored, the Organizer creates a new catalog entry—a link to the original file, or source file; the image itself is not moved or copied. All the work you put into organizing your growing photo library is recorded in the catalog file; whenever you assign a tag or a rating to a photo, or group images in a stack or an album, the catalog is updated.

As well as digital photographs, a catalog can include video and audio files, scans, PDF documents, and any presentations and layouts you might create in Photoshop Elements, such as slideshows, photo collages, and CD jacket designs.

Creating a catalog for working with this book

The first time you launch Photoshop Elements, a default catalog file (named My Catalog) is automatically created on your hard disk. Although a single catalog can efficiently handle thousands of files, you can also establish separate catalogs for different purposes—if that’s the way you prefer to work. In this exercise you’ll create and load a dedicated catalog to handle the sample files used for the lessons in this book, making it easy to keep them separate from your own photos.

1. When the Organizer has opened, choose File > Manage Catalogs. In the Catalog Manager dialog box, click New. Don’t change the location setting, which specifies who can access the catalog file and where it is stored.

   

   Note

   On macOS, you may see a slightly different set of location options from those shown in this illustration.

2. Type CIB Catalog in the Enter A Name For The New Catalog dialog box. Disable the Import Free Music Into This Catalog option, if necessary, and then click OK.

   

3. If you see an animated walkthrough screen with tips on getting started, click Skip in the lower-right corner to dismiss it for now. You can acess the walkthrough tips at any time by choosing Help > Show Walkthrough Screens.

Your new catalog is loaded in the Organizer. If you are ever unsure which catalog is currently loaded, you can always check the catalog name displayed in the lower-right corner of the Organizer workspace.

Now that you have a catalog created specifically to manage the sample files that you’ll use for the lessons in this book, you’re ready to put some photos into it.

Getting photos from files and folders

If your image files are already on your computer hard disk—as is the case for the Classroom in a Book sample photos—you can either drag them directly into the Elements Organizer workspace from Windows Explorer or the macOS Finder, or import them from within Photoshop Elements using a menu command.

The import options that are listed in the Import button menu can also be accessed from the File menu.

1. Choose File > Get Photos And Videos > From Files And Folders.

   

2. Navigate to and open the Lessons folder inside your PSE2019CIB folder. Open the Lesson 1 folder; then, click once to select the subfolder Import 1.

3. Make sure that the options Automatically Fix Red Eyes and Automatically Suggest Photo Stacks are disabled (see the illustration on the next page); then, click Get Media.

   

The Getting Media dialog box displays a progress bar as the photos are imported (though, if you have a fast computer, you may barely notice it).

4. The Import Attached Keyword Tags dialog box appears, indicating that the photos you’re importing have already been tagged with keywords. Select the box beside the Lesson 01 tag in the Keyword Tags list to confirm it for import, and then click OK.

   Note

   You’ll learn more about keyword tags in Lesson 3.

   

5. Thumbnails of the six imported photos appear in the Organizer’s Media Browser pane. Choose View > Details. Note that each image’s capture time is now displayed below its thumbnail, together with a blue tag badge indicating that the photo has attached keywords. (If you don’t see the blue tag, increase the Zoom slider to make the tag appear.)

6. Repeat steps 1 through 4 for the folder Lessons / Lesson 1 / Import 2, but this time, choose From Files And Folders from the Import button menu.

Viewing photos in Full Screen mode

You can use the Full Screen view to inspect and assess your photos in detail, or to effortlessly present a selection of images as an instant slideshow.

1. Click to select a single thumbnail image in the Media Browser, and then choose View > Full Screen. Avoid moving the pointer for a few moments until the control bar and the Quick Edit and Quick Organize panels disappear.

2. Move the pointer over the full-screen image to see the control bar again. Move the pointer over the gray tabs at the left of the screen to open the Quick Edit and Quick Organize panels. Move the pointer into the center of the screen; the control bar and panels disappear again after a few moments’ inactivity.

   Tip

   If you don’t see the Film Strip, press Ctrl+F / Command+F on your keyboard, or click the Film Strip button in the Full Screen view’s control bar.

   

3. Use the arrow keys on your keyboard, and then the Previous Media and Next Media buttons (flanking the triangular Play button at the left of the control bar), to move backwards and forwards through the images in the Film Strip.

   Note

   The Slideshow button () in the standard Media view taskbar launches a slideshow with playback options as set in the Create mode’s Slideshow Editor (see Lesson 9).

4. To view your images in a Full Screen view slideshow, press the spacebar, or show the control bar by moving the pointer over the image, and then click the Play button. To stop the slideshow, press the spacebar again, or click the Pause button in the control bar.

5. In the control bar, click the Theme and Settings buttons in turn to set a variety of options for the slideshow and the Full Screen view. Choose a style for transitions between slides, select an audio file to replace the default sound track, and set the slideshow to repeat. Play the slideshow to see the effects of your settings.

   

   Tip

   If you choose either Pan and Zoom or 3D Pixelate transitions in the Theme dialog box, you’ll need to press the Esc key on your keyboard to stop the slideshow, rather than the spacebar or the Pause button in the control bar.

6. Stop the slideshow. Toggle the Film Strip, Fix, and Organize buttons to show and hide the Film Strip and the Quick Edit and Quick Organize panels.

Comparing photos side by side

The Side By Side viewing mode lets you keep one image fixed on one side of a split screen while you cycle through a selection of photos on the other—great for comparing composition and detail or for choosing the best of a series of similar shots.

1. Show the Film Strip, if necessary, and then click to select the first photo in the series. Click the View button in the control bar to see the alternative view options; then, choose the Side By Side view.

   

The photo you selected is displayed at the left of the screen, and the next photo in the series is shown on the right. By default, the image on the left—image #1—is active, as indicated by the blue border around the photo in the split-screen view. Any organizing or editing operation you perform will affect only the active image.

2. With the photo on the left—image #1—still active, click the first photo of the lighthouse in the Film Strip. The new selection becomes the new #1 image.

3. Press the Tab key to make image #2 (the photo on the right) the active image. Click the forward navigation (Next Media) button () in the control bar, or press the right arrow key on your keyboard, to cycle the #2 preview to the second lighthouse photo, while the image on the left remains fixed.

4. Click either image repeatedly to toggle between fit-to-view and 100% magnification. To compare detail at higher magnification, zoom in and out in the active image using the scroll-wheel on your mouse—or by pressing the Ctrl / Command key together with the plus (+) or minus (–) key. Drag the zoomed photo with the hand cursor to see a different portion of the image.

   

5. To synchronize panning and zooming between the two photos, click the lock icon to the right of the View button in the full screen view control bar.

   

6. Click the View button and select the second split-screen layout from the fly-out menu—the horizontally divided Above And Below view.

   

7. Click the Exit button () at the right of the control bar, or press the Esc key on your keyboard to close the split-screen view and return to the Organizer.

Reconnecting missing files to a catalog

When you bring a photo into Photoshop Elements, the name and location of the file is recorded in the catalog. If you wish to move, rename, or delete a photo that is already in your catalog, it’s best to do so from within the Elements Organizer.

If you move, rename, or delete a file in the Windows Explorer / macOS Finder after it has been added to the catalog, Photoshop Elements searches your computer for the missing file automatically, and will usually do a great job finding it—even when the file has been renamed; however, you need to know what to do if the automatic search fails. If a file cannot be located, the missing file icon () appears in the upper-left corner of its thumbnail in the Media Browser to alert you that the link between the file and your catalog has been broken.

1. Switch to the Windows Explorer / macOS Finder by doing one of the following:

   • On Windows, minimize the Elements Organizer by clicking the Minimize button () at the right of the menu bar, or simply click the Elements Organizer application button on the Windows taskbar.

   • On macOS, click the Finder icon in the Dock, or hold down the Command key and then press and release the Tab key, repeatedly if necessary, to select the Finder icon in the Application Switcher.

2. Open an Explorer / Finder window, if there’s not one already available. Navigate to and open your Lessons folder. Drag the Lesson 1 folder out of the Lessons folder to the Recycle Bin / Trash. Do not empty the Recycle Bin / Trash.

3. Switch back to the Organizer, and then choose File > Reconnect > All Missing Files. Photoshop displays a message to let you know it’s busy searching for the missing files. We don’t expect the files to be found in the Recycle Bin / Trash, so you can stop the automatic search by clicking the Browse button.

   

The Reconnect Missing Files dialog box opens—as it would have done, had the search run its course without Photoshop Elements locating the missing files.

4. For this exercise, you won’t follow the re-linking process through to completion, but you should take this opportunity to inspect the dialog box thoroughly (see the illustration on the next page).

At the upper left of the Reconnect Missing Files dialog box is a list of all missing files. Below the list, a preview displays a thumbnail of the currently selected missing file. To the right, you can browse the contents of your computer.

When you select a candidate, you’ll see a preview thumbnail below the Locate The Missing Files pane, opposite the missing file preview, enabling you to visually verify the photo as a match, even if its name has been changed.

5. Once you’ve verified a file or series of files to be reconnected, you can click the Reconnect button. For now, click Close to cancel the operation. Note that all of the thumbnails in the Media Browser now display the missing file icon ().

6. Switch back to the Explorer / Finder; then, drag the Lesson 1 folder out of the Recycle Bin / Trash and return it to your Lessons folder.

   Note

   The missing file icons may persist until you next change the view or execute another command.

7. Switch back to the Organizer and choose File > Reconnect > All Missing Files. Photoshop briefly displays a message to let you know that there are no missing files to reconnect.

Switching between the Organizer and the Editor

Although the Instant Fix panel in the Organizer and the Quick Edit panel in the Full Screen view offer one-step tools for some of the most common editing tasks, you’ll switch to the Editor for more sophisticated editing.

1. Select any two photos in the Media Browser.

   Tip

   Alternatively, right-click either of the selected images, and choose Edit With Photoshop Elements Editor from the context menu.

2. To open the selected images in the Editor, either choose Edit > Edit With Photoshop Elements Editor, or click the Editor button () in the taskbar.

You can switch back to the Organizer from the Editor just as easily, by clicking the Organizer button () in the taskbar at the bottom of the Editor workspace.

Working with panels and the Panel Bin

To the right of the Edit pane is the Panel Bin. In its default Basic mode, the Panel Bin displays one panel at a time.

1. Use the buttons in the taskbar below the Panel Bin to switch the Panel Bin between the Layers, Effects, Filters, Styles, and Graphics panels. The illustration at the right shows the Artistic category in the Filters panel.

2. Click the More button (not the triangle beside it) at the far right of the taskbar. The rest of the Editor panels appear in a tabbed group floating “above” the workspace. Click the More button again to hide the floating panels; then, click the small triangle beside the More button and choose the Histogram from the menu. The floating panels group appears once more: this time, with the Histogram panel foremost.

You can also show and hide the floating panels by choosing any panel other than the Layers, Effects, Graphics, and Favorites panels from the Window menu.

3. Drag the Histogram panel out of the tabbed panel group by its name tab, and then drag the Navigator panel onto the tab bar of the Histogram panel, releasing the mouse button when the Histogram’s tab bar is highlighted in blue.

   

4. To close the Color Swatches panel, drag it free of the original group and click the close button (x) in its header bar (at the right on Windows, at the left for macOS), or click the small menu icon to the right of the name tab and choose Close from the Options menu. Collapse the grouped Info, Favorites, History, and Actions panels by double-clicking the name tab of any panel in the group.

5. To dock the two floating panel groups, drag the collapsed group onto the lower edge of the Histogram / Navigator group and release the mouse button when you see a blue line highlighting the connection between the two groups. To expand the lower group, click the name tab of any of the collapsed panels.

   Tip

   Single floating panels can also be grouped by docking them one above the other in this manner.

   

   Note

   Photoshop Elements remembers which panels you have dismissed, and the way you’ve grouped those that you use most often; your arrangement will persist until you use the Reset Panels command or switch between Basic and Custom modes.

6. To separate the two tabbed panel groups again, drag the lower group away by its tab bar (not by any of the three name tabs).

Customizing the Panel Bin

If you’re a dedicated user of the Expert editing mode, you may prefer to switch the workspace from Basic to Custom mode. The most important difference between the two working modes is that in Custom mode the Panel Bin can store and display more than one panel at a time—so you can dock your favorite floating panels in the Panel Bin, keeping them clear of the work area and ready at your fingertips without the need to use menu commands. You can group and arrange the panels you use most often in the Custom mode Panel Bin just as you did with floating panels in Basic mode. Panels left floating behave in the same way they do in Basic mode.

1. Click the small arrow beside the More button at the far right of the taskbar and choose Custom Workspace from the pop-up menu.

   

In Custom mode, the Layers, Effects, Filters, Styles, and Graphics buttons disappear from the taskbar below the Panel Bin. The panels accessed by those buttons in the Basic mode—the Layers, Effects, Filters, Styles, and Graphics panels—are now docked in the Panel Bin by default, accessible by clicking their name tabs at the top of the Panel Bin. Other panels can be opened from the Window menu or from the menu on the More button at the far right of the taskbar.

2. Click the More button at the far right of the taskbar. Drag the floating panel group to the bottom edge of whichever panel is currently foremost in the Panel Bin and release the mouse button when you see a blue line indicating the new position.

   

3. Drag the Info and Color Swatches panels out of the lower panel group by their name tabs, and then close each of them by clicking the close button (x) in the header bar.

4. Choose File > Close All to close both of the open images. Bring the Editor window back to the front; then, close it by clicking the Close button (in the top right corner of the workspace on Windows, at the upper left on macOS).

Exploring the Home screen

In addition to being a launch pad for the Organizer and the Editor, the Home screen gives you access to useful and inspirational content and resources and lets you connect with the community of Photoshop Elements users.

You can switch to the Home screen at any time as you work by clicking the link in the taskbar at the bottom of the Organizer and Editor workspaces.

In the top row, click the button at the right side of the screen to browse available content; click any item to view tips and tutorials about features and what’s new in Photoshop Elements.

The Search box draws content from Photoshop Elements Help, user community forums, online articles, and more; the Home screen makes it easy with a natural language search engine, so that you’ll find the help you need, even when you’re unsure of the correct terminology.

Try typing the word trim in the Search box; it offers several topics, including “Trim to a selection boundary,” “Trim an image,” and “Trim image Guided Edit.” Choosing any of these search topics returns a choice of articles and tutorials dealing with the Crop tool and various procedures for cropping photos.

Auto Creations

Need inspiration to get started? Photoshop Elements looks at your photo library and automatically creates collages, slideshows, and Candid Moments based on when your images and videos were captured. A group of shots taken around the same time, for instance, is likely to be an event, so Photoshop Elements assembles creations that include them.

When creations appear at the lower-left corner of the Home screen, click Open to edit one in the Organizer or the Editor. From there you can save it as a new creation or share it with others, as described in Lesson 10. Click the View All button to browse all available creations. If one doesn’t interest you, click the trash icon (). You may not see Auto Creations right away; as you add more media to the Organizer, it will have more material to work with while your computer is idle.

Additional resources

Adobe Photoshop Elements 2019 Classroom in a Book is not meant to replace the documentation that comes with the program, nor to be a comprehensive reference for every feature. Additional resources are listed in detail at the end of the “Getting Started” lesson in this book; please refer to these resources for comprehensive information and tutorials about program features.

You’ve reached the end of the first lesson. Now that you know how to import images, understand the concept of the catalog, and are familiar with the essentials of the Photoshop Elements interface, you’re ready to start organizing and editing your photos in the next lessons.

Before you move on, take a few moments to read through the review questions and answers on the next page.