Chapter 14. Sharing Your Images

If you’re shooting photos and making compositions within Photoshop Elements, it’s a safe bet that you want to share them with others. In the past, you’d make prints and either carry them everywhere or send them through the mail. Now, you can make your own slideshow (without the cumbersome projector), build an online gallery for friends and family to view, upload photos to social media sites like Flickr and Facebook, and e-mail photos directly.

Making Your Own Slide Show

With Photoshop Elements, you can create a self-contained, portable slide show—a useful and elegant way to share your photos and images with friends and family.

Although Elements can output a slide show as a movie (.wmv) or even burn it to a DVD, in this exercise I’ll focus on creating a slide show as an Adobe Acrobat PDF (Portable Document Format) file. The operative word here is portable. You can view a PDF file on nearly any Windows or Macintosh computer, as long as Adobe’s Acrobat Reader is installed.

When you open the PDF file in Acrobat Reader, the slide show automatically opens in full-screen mode. Slides can change with a transition you select when creating the PDF . In an automatic slide show, the slides change at preset intervals you set when you generate the file. Alternatively, if you prefer to advance each slide manually, you can create a slide show that changes slides with keyboard commands.

When you create a slide show, you can specify how your slide show transitions from one image to the next. This slide show displays the Wipe Down transition, where a new image rolls down over the previous image’s slide.

To create a PDF slide show:

1. In the Organizer, select one or more photos that will appear in the slide show.
2. In the Task Pane, click the Create tab. A list of items you can create appears.
3. Click Slide Show . The Slide Show Preferences dialog opens, where you select the different options for your slide show. Here you can apply transition effects, change the background color, crop photos to fit a landscape or portrait format, and set quality options .

   

   The Create tab leads to a variety of creations.

   

   Set options before you create your slide show in the Slide Show Preferences dialog.

4. Select the options you would like to apply to your slide show, then click OK to close the dialog. The Slide Show Editor window opens .

   

   The Slide Show Editor.

5. To preview your slide show, first click the Rewind and then the Play button below the Slide Show preview .

   

   The Slide Show Editor features a set of controls to help you play and navigate through your slide show during its creation.

To add photos to the slide show:

1. Click the Add Media button above the preview window, and then choose a source for your photos from the menu .

   

   Add photos, video, and even audio to a slide show from the Organizer or from a folder.

   Note that you can also add video and audio files to a slide show.

2. Click to select the photos you want to include in your slide show, and then click Done (or click Open, if your source was a folder). The Slide Show Bin at the bottom of the Slide Show Editor is populated with all of the photos and video you selected, complete with the transitions you chose from the Slide Show Preferences dialog.

To reorder slides:

1. In the Slide Show Bin, click to select the slide you want to move .

   

   Select a slides in the Slide Show Bin.

2. Hold down the mouse button and drag the slide to a different location in the Slide Show Bin.

   When you release the mouse button, the slide and its transition snap into place in the new location .

   

   Click and drag a slide in the Slide Show Bin to move it to a different spot in your slide show (top). When you release the mouse button, the slide and its transition snap into place.

   Alternately, you can click the Quick Reorder button above the Slide Show Bin so that you can see all of the slides in your slide show at once. Click and drag to move slides in the Quick Reorder window just as you do in the Slide Show Bin.

To edit slide transitions:

1. In the Slide Show Bin, click the transition between the two slides you would like to change .

   

   Click any transition to edit its properties.

2. From the Transition drop-down menu, select a new transition .

   

   The Slide Show Editor offers a myriad of transitions.

   If you’d like, you can also change the duration of the transition—the amount of time it takes to transition from one slide to the next.

3. From the Duration drop-down menu, select a time, in seconds.

To add text to a slide:

1. In the Slide Show Bin, click to select the slide onto which you want to apply text.

   The slide appears in the Slide Preview.

2. Click the Text button in the Extras pane to open the default text collection ; then scroll to find the text style you would like to use.

   

   The Slide Show Editor offers a collection of type styles to choose from.

3. Drag the selected text directly onto the slide in the Slide Preview .

   

   Drag to add a text placeholder to a slide.

4. Double-click the default text in the Slide Preview to open the Edit Text box.
5. Type the text you would like to appear on your slide and then click OK .

   

   As you type, the text appears immediately in the Preview.

6. Use the controls in the Properties area of the Slide Show Editor to change the font, size, color, and orientation of the text .

   

   You can use the Slide Show Editor’s default type styles, or use the type controls to customize your type manually.

7. You can reposition the type by clicking anywhere within its bounding box and dragging it to a new location.

To save a slide show:

1. Click the Save Project button (you can also choose Save Slide Show Project from the File menu, or press Ctrl+S).
2. In the Save dialog, type a name for your slide show and click Save .

   

   The Slide Show Editor has its own unique Save dialog.

   Your slide show is saved to the Organizer’s Photo Browser.

3. To close the Slide Show Editor, do one of the following:

   • From the File menu, choose Exit Slide Editor, or press Ctrl+Q.

   • Click the close button in the Slide Show Editor window.

   • If you want to output a slide show right away, leave the Slide Show Editor open and proceed to the next task.

To output a slide show:

1. Click the Output button near the top of the Slide Show Editor .

   

   The Output button is the first step to creating a PDF.

   The Slide Show Output window opens.

2. To output the slide show, first check that Save As a File is selected in the options column on the left side of the window .

   

   The Slide Show Output window offers several different ways to export your slide show.

3. Choose the Movie File (.wmv) radio button to create a movie slideshow; this option retains transitions, videos, and any Pan & Zoom settings.

   Or, click the PDF File radio button in the center of the window.

4. Choose the image size and other settings you would like to apply to your slide show .

   

   You can export a slide show as either a PDF or a movie file.

5. Click OK. Then, in the Save As dialog, navigate to the location where you would like to save your slide show, rename it if you would like, and click Save.
6. After creating the output file, you’re asked if you would like to import the file into your catalog; click Yes or No.

   If you selected View Slide Show after Saving in the Slide Show Output dialog, Acrobat Reader launches automatically and plays your slide show.

To view a movie slide show:

To view a movie slideshow, double-click it in the Organizer (if you opted to import it there; otherwise, open the file in Windows Explorer). The file opens, where you can play it and apply keyword tags .

Play a movie slideshow from the Organizer.

To view a PDF slide show:

1. Make sure Adobe Acrobat Reader is installed on your computer. If it’s not, install it from the Photoshop Elements installation disc, or download it free from www.adobe.com.
2. In Acrobat Reader, open the PDF slide show you created.

   The slide show appears, taking up the full screen. If the slide show is set to run automatically, each image will be displayed for the time you set in the Slide Show dialog.

3. To navigate through your slide show, use the following keyboard commands:

   • Move forward one slide by pressing Enter or the right arrow key.

   • Move back one slide by pressing Shift+Enter or the left arrow key.

   • Exit Full Screen view and access Acrobat Reader’s interface by pressing Ctrl+L.

Creating an Online Album

Preparing a gallery of photos for use on the Web can be repetitive, tedious work. You have to resize and format each image, one at a time—a lengthy process. Photoshop Elements eliminates this drudgework with its Online Album feature. When you create an Online Album, Elements guides you through the steps to building a Flash-based slideshow that can be published to Photoshop.com, to a CD or DVD, or uploaded directly to a Web server via FTP (File Transfer Protocol).

To create an Online Album:

1. In the Organizer, select one or more photos that will appear in the album.
2. In the Task Pane, click the Share tab.
3. Click the Online Album option .

   

   Choose Online Album from the Share tab.

4. If you want to share an album you’ve already set up, click the Share Existing Album option and then jump to step 9. Or, click Create New Album to build one from scratch.
5. Choose where you’d like to share the album (Photoshop.com or Export to Hard Disk) by clicking one of the radio buttons under the Share To heading. Click Next to continue.
6. Give the album a title in the Album Name field, and optionally specify an album category . Thumbnails of your selected photos appear in the Task Pane.

   

   Create a new Online Album.

7. To add more photos, select them in the Catalog pane and click the Add (+) button in the Task pane. To remove photos from the album, select them in the Task Pane and click the Remove (–) button.
8. Click the Sharing tab to continue. Photoshop Elements builds a preview of the album .

   

   Elements displays an animated preview of the Online Album.

9. If you’d like to change the album style, click one of the template icons above the preview; double-click a thumbnail to preview the appearance.

   More templates are available from the Select a Template drop-down menu.

   The rest of the steps on this page apply to publishing to Photoshop.com.

10. Click the Share to Photoshop.com checkbox . If you’re sharing to the hard disk, click the Done button to build the album.

    

    Choose how to share the album.

    The files Photoshop Elements creates can be uploaded to your Web server; or, click the index.html file to view the album.

11. To make the album viewable to anyone, enable the Display in My Gallery option.

    An album can also be shared only with a few people; choose their names in the Send E-mail To field. (Click the icon above the field to set up your contact book if no names appear; see “Sending Images by E-mail,” later in this chapter.)

    The Allow Viewers to options apply to both public and private shared albums.

12. Click the Done button to publish the album. Elements builds the album and uploads it to Photoshop.com.

To edit a shared album:

1. Select the shared album in the Albums pane.
2. Add or remove photos by doing one of the following:

   • Click the Edit Album button at the top of the pane to display the Album Details pane, then add or remove photos using the Add (+) or Remove (–) buttons.

   • Add photos to the album by dragging them from the Catalog pane.

3. Click the Done button. Elements uploads new images if needed and modifies the slide show.

   Or, click the Sharing tab to change the album name, template, or privacy options.

To stop sharing an album:

Locate the shared album in the Albums pane and click the Stop Sharing button .

Click the Stop Sharing button to remove the album’s online slide show.

Although the album will no longer be available as a published slide show, the photos will remain at Photoshop.com.

Uploading to a Photo Sharing Service

Photoshop.com is deeply tied into Photoshop Elements, but it wasn’t the first photo sharing service on the scene. If you already have an account with another service, such as Flickr or Facebook, you can upload photos directly from within Elements. I’ll use Flickr in my example below.

To upload to a photo sharing service:

1. In the Organizer, select one or more photos you wish to upload.
2. Click the Share tab of the Task Pane.
3. Click the Share to Flickr button .

   

   Popular photo-sharing options are available.

   The first time you do so, you’ll need to authorize Elements as a legitimate sharing service within Flickr. Click the Authorize button in the Share to Flickr dialog, which takes you to Flickr’s site on the Web. Return to the Share to Flickr dialog and click the Complete Authorization button. The Upload to Flickr interface appears .

   

   Upload directly to Flickr from the Organizer.

4. The photos you selected appear in the Items field; click the Add (+) or Remove (–) buttons if you want to change which images are uploaded.
5. If you wish to include the photos in a set, click the Upload as a set checkbox and specify a photoset you’ve previously set up at Flickr or create a new one by typing its title in the Set Name field.
6. Specify the photos’ privacy settings under the heading Who can see these photos?
7. Type keyword tags in the Tags field.
8. Click the Upload button to publish the photos.

Sending Images by E-mail

With the E-mail feature, Elements streamlines the process of sending digital photos to family and friends. If your photo is too large or is in the wrong file format, Elements can automatically resize your image, if you prefer.

To attach a simple photo to e-mail:

1. In the Organizer, select the photo or image you want to send.
2. Click the Share tab in the Task Pane and click the E-mail Attachments button .

   

   From the Share tab, choose E-mail Attachments.

3. From the Maximum Photo Size drop-down menu, you can choose to change the size of your attachment or leave it unchanged.

   If you choose an option other than Use Original Size, use the Quality slider to control the size and download speed of your attachment .

   

   The Quality slider allows you to make size and quality adjustments to your image, just as you can in the Save for Web dialog.

   If the source image is not a JPEG file, you also have the option of converting the outgoing file. Click Next.

4. Type a personal note in the Message field.
5. Choose a name (or names) from the Select Recipients list.

   If you’re using the E-mail function for the first time, your Select Recipients window will probably be empty, and you’ll want to create a recipient list. See the steps on the next page.

6. Click Next. Elements converts the images and attaches them to an outgoing message in your default e-mail program.

To add or edit recipients:

1. To create a new contact/recipient, or to edit a recipient’s contact information, click the Edit Contacts button at the recipients screen. You can also choose Edit > Contact Book.
2. In the Contact Book dialog, click New Contact ; or, select an existing contact, and then click the Edit button.

   

   It’s easy to add new contacts to your list.

3. In the New Contact or Edit Contact window, add detailed telephone and mailing address information.
4. When you’ve finished adding or editing your contact information, click OK to close the window. Then click OK again to close the Contact Book dialog.