Chapter 1: Creating, Undoing, and Saving Images

In This Chapter

Opening existing image files in the Editor

Creating a new image from scratch

Creating a new image from data copied to the Clipboard

Unraveling errors with Elements’ undo features

Saving an image

Closing an image versus quitting a workspace

To edit an image, your first step is to open an existing image or create a new one. It sounds simple, and it is. The same goes for saving images: Many times, you can just choose your favorite way of invoking the Save command that you find in almost any program. So why did we write a whole chapter about creating and saving images? Here are two reasons:

First of all, Elements is packed with specialized tools. You’ll find it helpful to know what commands and tools are at your disposal for opening, creating, and saving images. The primary focus of this chapter is introducing you to these commands and tools and explaining the basics of how they work.

Secondly, you need to know when to pay attention to the options in the New and Save dialog boxes. When you create or save an image file, many of the options that you see exist for different outputs — namely, for prints or for displaying images online. As you walk through the basic steps for using the tools in this chapter, we point out when you need to understand an important image-editing concept (and where to find an explanation) so that your final image looks its best in your desired output.

As you start learning how to create and edit your images — or even after you become pros like us — you’re bound to make mistakes. As you begin your journey into image editing, this chapter bestows you with the magical gift of Undo. Elements’ sophisticated Undo tools enable you to wipe away your errors in myriad ways. Whenever your image-editing experiments go awry, remember that you can undo. Then flip to this chapter for help.

Opening an Image in the Photo Editor

You may have a single photo that you want to edit without adding it to the Organizer. Perhaps you just want to apply some edits to an image you have on a media source or on your hard drive and then send it off via e-mail or share the photo using one of several supported sharing services.

In this case, you can bypass the Organizer and start in the Photo Editor. To open an image in the Photo Editor, do the following:

1. Launch Photoshop Elements.

If you open the Welcome screen, click the Photo Editor button to open the Photo Editor. If you’re in the Organizer, click Editor at the bottom of the Organizer window.

2. Choose File⇒Open. Alternatively, you can click Open at the top of the Tools panel.

3. (Optional) If you want to search for photos saved within a given format, open the All Formats drop-down list (Format pop-up menu on the Mac) and choose the format for a file you want to open.

Selecting a format narrows the files displayed to only those files saved in the selected format. For example, if you have Camera Raw, JPEG, and TIFF images in a folder and you want to open only a JPEG file, you can select JPEG (*.JPG, *.JPEG, *.JPE) from the All Formats drop-down list (or JPEG from the Format pop-up menu [Mac]). Doing so displays only files saved in the format you choose.

If you’re not sure what format the file you want to open is, leave the default choice from the menu at All Formats.

Macintosh users have an advantage here when searching for files. When you arrive at the Open dialog box (File⇒Open or +O), you can use the Mac OS search feature, Spotlight, in the upper-right corner of the Open dialog box. Of course, if you haven't renamed your image from the default camera name (such as img_3012.jpg), you'll likely have a hard time remembering what filename to use in your search terms.

4. From the list of photo files displayed, click the photo you want to open.

5. Click the Open button in the Open dialog box.

The file opens in the Photo Editor.

Using Open As

You may have a photo that was saved as a JPEG, TIFF, or some other format without a file extension or an incorrect file extension for the file type. You may not see the file listed in the Open dialog box, but you know it’s there and what format the file is. In this case, you can try to use the Open As command.

Choose File⇒Open As, and the Open As dialog box opens, providing you with the same options as the Open dialog box. Choose a format from the Open As drop-down list (the Format pop-up menu on the Mac) and click the file you want to open. Click Open and see whether it works. In some cases, Elements may not recognize the file if it’s damaged. In other cases, you may be able to resurrect a damaged file.

One advantage to using the Open As command is opening images in Camera Raw. You can open any photo (JPEG, TIFF, and so on) in the Camera Raw converter even if your camera didn’t originally capture the photo in Camera Raw. We cover all you want to know about Camera Raw, and why this would be an advantage when editing photos, in Book III, Chapter 4.

Opening recently edited files

A quick way to open recently edited files is to choose File⇒Open Recently Edited File. The submenu lists these files. The number of files appearing in the submenu is determined in Preferences, as we explain in Book I, Chapter 4.

If the file you want to open appears on the submenu, click the filename in the list, and the file opens in the Photo Editor.

The Recently Edited Files list also appears in the Organizer. If you want to open a recently edited image while in the Organizer workspace, choose File⇒Open Recently Edited File and select the file you want to open. The file opens in the Photo Editor.

Opening an image within another image

In Elements, opening one image file inside another image is called placing an image file. You may have a piece of artwork you want to add to a photo. The artwork can be of any file type you find for the supported formats that you can open in Elements. Quite often, you may find a vector art drawing or a PDF file that contains the artwork you want to import into your current image file; however, you can use any of the supported formats for placing content on a photo.

For more information on placing PDF files, see our Web Extra on creating custom calendars at www.dummies.com/extras/photoshopelements12.

Before you place an image inside another image, you’ll find it helpful to know whether you’re working with vector versus raster art and how that impacts your ability to resize the placed image. Flip to Book III, Chapter 2, for an introduction to vector and raster images and image sizing.

Note that when you place an image, no matter what file format, it’s inserted into your open file as a Smart Object. Smart Objects are essentially composed of two files, one inside the other, enabling the image’s source data, whether pixel- or vector-based, to be embedded. Adobe uses the analogy of a new file, the child, which is embedded into the original file, the parent. What does this all mean to you? It means that you can repeatedly transform (size, skew, rotate) your image without losing any additional image quality because Elements uses your original source data to render the transformation and the Smart Object updates dynamically as you make edits. One caveat: With vector images, you can size up and down repeatedly and never worry about losing quality. With raster images, however, you can safely resize repeatedly, but you don’t want to size larger than your original dimensions or else you risk resampling or degradation.

To place content in Elements, use the Place command as follows:

1. Open an image file in the Photo Editor.

You must start with a file open in the Photo Editor to use the Place command.

2. Choose File⇒Place.

The Place dialog box opens. This dialog box has the same options you find in the Open dialog box.

3. Select a file to place.

Your file can be an image format, EPS, Adobe Illustrator (AI) or other type of vector format, PDF, or any other file type you see listed in the Files of Type drop-down list (Windows) or Format pop-up menu (Mac).

4. Click Place.

When you place an image, you see handles around the image that can be used for sizing the image, as shown in Figure 1-1. Smart Objects always import into your file with an X over the image, which distinguishes them from regular images.

Figure 1-1: A placed image.

5. Size and position the image.

If you import a vector art image or PDF file containing vector art, you can drag the corner handles out to size up the image without losing image quality. Press the Shift key when sizing the image to constrain proportions and press the Enter (Return) key to accept your resizing edits. Click the image and move it to the desired position.

6. Press Return and commit your layer.

The small black-and-white Smart Objects icon is in the lower-right corner of your layer thumbnail in the Layers panel.

Before you start creating new images from various sources and tools in Elements, we also suggest that you check out how layers work (see Book V) and see how the Photomerge tools help you combine images (see Book VIII, Chapter 3).

If you open a Camera Raw 16-bit image, you cannot place artwork on the photo. You must first convert the 16-bit image to an 8-bit image by choosing Image⇒Mode⇒8 Bits/Channel. For more on 8-bit and 16-bit images, see Book III, Chapter 5.

Creating a New Image

In Elements, you can create a new image from a totally blank canvas or from data you copied to the Clipboard. When you start with a fresh, new canvas, you can copy and paste content from other pictures, place objects, add shapes, and/or add text to create your own scene. To begin the process, you create a new image.

In either the Photo Editor or the Organizer, choose File⇒New⇒Blank File. Additionally you can open the Open drop-down menu in the Photo Editor and choose New Blank File. If you start in the Organizer, Elements switches workspaces from the Organizer to the Photo Editor, and the New dialog box opens, as shown in Figure 1-2.

The options you have here are covered thoroughly in Book III, Chapter 2. Look over that chapter for details on the options you have for creating new, blank files.

In Elements, you can also create a new image from data you copy to the Clipboard. If you copy data from somewhere else — such as text in Office applications or objects in Office applications, illustration programs, and other types of applications — Elements can convert the data on the Clipboard to a new image.

Figure 1-2: Choose File⇒New⇒Blank File to open the New dialog box from either the Organizer or the Photo Editor.

For example, you might want to copy a photo and save it as a new image when a family member posts a picture on Facebook or in another online album-sharing tool. You can create a new image from the photo you’ve copied and save it to your computer’s hard drive.

Follow these steps to copy a photo from a web page, such as Facebook, and create a new file that you can add to your Organizer catalog:

1. Log on to your Facebook, Flickr, Adobe Revel, or iCloud account, or another website where you can freely use an image.

Remember to observe copyright laws when copying online images. You should have permission to use the images you copy.

2. Right-click a photo to open a context menu. (Ctrl-click on a Mac with a one-button mouse.)

3. Choose Copy (Internet Explorer) or Copy Image (in Firefox or Safari), as shown in Figure 1-3.

Figure 1-3: Open a context menu to copy an image to the Clipboard.

4. Open the Elements Organizer or the Photo Editor.

You can select the same menu command in either the Organizer or an editor mode.

5. Choose File⇒New⇒Image from Clipboard.

The Clipboard contents appear in a new image window, as shown in Figure 1-4.

Figure 1-4: Clipboard contents appear in a new image window.

Using the steps outlined here, you can grab a bunch of images from a family member’s online account without having to load images from a removable device or a media card.

Undoing in Elements

Back in 1984, Apple Computer brought windowing interfaces to the masses with the introduction of the Macintosh computer. Also tucked into that interface was the Undo command. Both innovations revolutionized the way people use personal computers. Together with the Cut, Copy, and Paste commands, these features became a standard in all programs that followed. Being able to undo your most recent edit in a program like Elements gives you the freedom to experiment, as well as the chance to correct mistakes immediately. Adobe broadened that initial Undo feature in Photoshop Elements so that you can retrace an entire series of editing steps with multiple undo actions, see a visual list of edits in the History panel, and work with different editing states.

In the following sections, you explore the many ways you can branch out, experiment a little, and retrace your editing steps (or overcome a series of editing mistakes) without having to save multiple versions of your photos.

Undoing what’s done with the Undo command

As you might expect, the Undo command is found on the Edit menu. To undo an editing step, you simply choose Edit⇒Undo or press Ctrl+Z or +Z. This simple command helps you correct a mistake or toss away an experimental edit that doesn’t work for you.

When you open the Edit menu, you find the Undo command at the top of the menu. In addition, you find the name of the edit you last applied to the image. Figure 1-5 shows that we just applied a fill within a selection. On the Edit menu, the menu command appears as Undo Fill.

You also have a command for Redo on the Edit menu. If you choose Undo from the Edit menu or press Ctrl+Z (+Z) and then change your mind, you can always just redo that last undo: Choose Redo or press Ctrl+Y (+Y), and the last undo returns to the state before you chose to undo the edit.

Figure 1-5: The Undo command appears listed on the Edit menu with the name of the last edit applied to the document.

The number of redos you have is the same as the number of undos. By default, you can undo and thus redo up to 50 edits at a time. See Book I, Chapter 4, for details about changing the default in the Elements Performance Preferences pane.

Reverting to what’s saved

At times, rather than undo a bunch of edits, you just want to toss all the edits away and return to the last saved version of your file. The Revert command on the Edit menu returns you to the last saved version of your photo.

If you make several edits and you like what you see, you can choose File⇒Save or press Ctrl+S (+S) to save your edits. If you then make several more edits and you don’t like the results, choose Edit⇒Revert to revert to the last save.

In many Adobe programs, you find a Revert command listed on the File menu. In Photoshop Elements, however, the Revert command is listed on the Edit menu. Keep this in mind when you perform edits in the Editor’s Expert mode.

Working with the almighty History panel

Using menu commands and keyboard shortcuts enables you to travel back and forward in time to undo and redo edits using single menu choices or keyboard shortcuts for each undo/redo.

The History panel, on the other hand, gives you a capability that menu commands don’t: You can target an undo (or redo) to go back (or forward) to a specific edit. For example, if you create a selection, apply an enhancement edit (such as changing image brightness), and then apply a filter, you can return to the selection with one mouse click. Instead of choosing Undo to undo the filter and Undo again to undo the image brightness, you simply click the selection edit in the History panel.

The following steps walk you through the process of undoing and redoing history states with the History panel:

1. To open the History panel, choose Window⇒History.

The History panel opens, as shown in Figure 1-6. As you make edits on an image, each edit is shown as a history state in the list in the panel.

Figure 1-6: The History panel.

2. To return to an earlier edit in the History panel, find the history state you want to return to in the list and click it.

For example, say that you applied a number of edits with the Clone Stamp tool and then decided that the overall effect looked too splotchy. If you want to return to the original edit with the Clone Stamp and start over, click its corresponding history state in the History panel, as shown in Figure 1-7, and your image returns to that state in the image window.

Figure 1-7: Click the item in the list that you want to return to so that you can undo a series of edits.

3. If you decide that you went back too far in the list of history states, you can redo any grayed-out history states by clicking the most recent state you want to redo.

In our example, if we decide we want to redo the next two history states below the currently selected one in Figure 1-7, we’d simply click the third instance of the Clone Stamp in the list. That would restore the second and third use of the Clone Stamp in the list.

As long as your history states remain in the list in the History panel, you can click backward or forward to undo and redo edits.

You may need to manage the number of history states that appear in the History panel. By default, the panel provides 50 history states. When you come to the 51st edit, the first edit in the sequence is deleted from the panel, and you can’t return to that state. As you make more new edits, you continually delete edits from the top of the panel. If you’re making a lot of complicated edits to an image, you might be surprised by how quickly you use up all 50 states.

To manage the available history states in the History panel, you have the following options:

Increase the number of available history states. To do so, open the Performance preferences and change the value in the History States text box, as we explain in Book I, Chapter 4.

As you increase history states in the Performance preferences, the amount of memory required by Elements is increased. You may find the program getting sluggish if you significantly increase the number of history states.

Delete certain history states that you’re certain you no longer need. You may have applied a series of edits to a document and then want to return to an earlier history state. Suppose that you no longer need all the history states made after the one to which you return. (This might happen if you’re experimenting with different edits and viewing the results.) If you know that the history states following a particular state are no longer needed, you can delete those history states from the list.

• To delete the last history state in the History panel, click the history state in the list and then right-click to open a context menu. From the menu choices, choose Delete. The selected history state is deleted from the list.

• If you have a series of history states that you want to delete from the list, click the first history state within a given list of edits to open a context menu. Then, when you choose Delete, you delete all the history states in the list that follow as well as the selected history state.

Keep in mind that all history states following a history state you target for deletion are deleted when you open a context menu and choose Delete.

If you want to delete a series of edits that are followed by edits you want to retain, you have to delete the unwanted edits individually.

Clear the entire history. If you don’t need any of the history states in the History panel, open a context menu and choose Clear History. The list is cleared until you start editing your image again.

You also clear a file’s history each time you save and close the image file. If you apply a number of edits and just choose File⇒Save, the history states remain in the list of edits applied to the document before you last saved it. Therefore you can undo edits after saving a file, as long as the file remains open. However, if you close the file and reopen it, the History panel is cleared.

Saving Files

In almost any program, the Save (or Save As) dialog box is a familiar place where you make choices about the file to be saved. In Elements (as in most other programs), choose Save when you want to save changes you’ve made to the current image, overwriting the original. Choose Save As when you want to save a copy of your image to edit and retain the original file.

To use the Save/Save As dialog box, follow these steps:

1. Open an image and choose File⇒Save for files to be saved the first time or choose File⇒Save As for any file.

Either command opens a dialog box for you.

One exception: If you need to save a smaller version of a file for the web, you use a different dialog box than you do when you’re saving files for other output. Choose File⇒Save for Web; the Save for Web dialog box opens. Flip to Book III, Chapter 3, for details about how to use the Save for Web dialog box.

2. In the Filename (Windows) or Save As (Mac) box, type a name for your file in the text box if you haven’t saved the file yet or would like to save it under a different name.

This item is common to all Save dialog boxes.

3. (Optional) From the Format drop-down list or pop-up menu, select a file format.

If you do nothing to an image in terms of converting its color mode or changing bit depth (topics I explain in Book III, Chapters 3 and 5, respectively), you can save your edits to a file in the same format in which the file was opened.

However, in many circumstances, you open an image and prepare it for some form of output (web or print), which requires more thought about the kind of file format you use in saving the file.

For example, some format types require you to convert a color mode before you can use the format. Therefore a relationship exists between file formats and saving files. Additionally, bit depths in images also relate to the kinds of file formats you can use in saving files. Last but not least, not all file formats support all the Elements features. For example, if you add layers as you edit a file and want to preserve the layers for future editing, you need to save your file in a format that supports layers.

Before you go too far in Elements, we recommend familiarizing yourself with the file formats you use and the conversions you need to make to save in one format or another (as we explain in Book III, Chapter 3).

If you save in JPEG format, be aware that JPEG uses a lossy compression scheme, meaning that image data is tossed away with each save. Repeated saves from the same JPEG image degrade the image. After you open a JPEG file that was shot with your camera, save the file as PSD (Photoshop format). You can edit and save the file without losing data. When you need a final image in JPEG, use the Save As command and save in JPEG format. You can always return to the PSD file to edit more and then save again in JPEG format for output. To find out more about converting JPEG to other formats, see the section about exporting files in Book III, Chapter 3.

4. (Optional) Set your options in the Save Options area.

You see the following choices:

• Include in the Organizer: If you want the file added to the Organizer, select this check box.

• Save in Version Set with Original: You can edit images and save a version of your image, but only in the Photo Editor’s Quick mode. When you save the file from Quick mode, this check box is active. Select the box, and a version of the original is saved and appears in the Organizer.

• Color: Select the check box for the ICC (International Color Consortium) Profile. Depending on which profile you use, the option appears for sRGB or Adobe RGB (1998). When the check box is selected, the profile is embedded in the image. See Book III, Chapter 5, for an introduction to color profiles; Book IX, Chapter 2, explains how to use color profiles when you print.

• Thumbnail (Windows): If you save a file with a thumbnail, you can see a miniature representation of your image when viewing it in folders or on the desktop. If you select Ask When Saving in the Saving Files preferences, the check box can be selected or deselected. If you’re choosing an option for Never Save or Always Save in the Preferences dialog box, this check box is selected or deselected for you and is grayed out. You need to return to the Preferences dialog box if you want to change the option. See Book I, Chapter 4, for help with preferences.

• Use Lower Case Extension (Windows): File extensions give you a clue to which file format was used when a file was saved. Elements automatically adds the extension to the filename for you. Your choices are to use uppercase or lowercase letters for the extension name. Select the Use Lower Case Extension check box for lowercase or deselect the check box if you want to use uppercase characters in the filename. Lowercase extensions are preferable when you work with images that are hosted on websites.

5. When you’re done selecting your options, click Save.

Closing and Quitting

You should understand a few important details when closing files and quitting Elements:

When you’re in the Photo Editor and have an image open in the image window, you can close the image without quitting the Photo Editor workspace. Click the X button in the upper-right corner of the Image window or the red button in the upper-left corner (Mac), and the open file is closed. If the images appear as tabs in the image Window, click the X to the right of the filename (Windows) or left of the filename (Mac).

If you click the X (red button) in the upper-right corner of the Photo Editor workspace (Windows) or choose Photoshop Elements⇒Quit on the Mac, you quit the Photo Editor. Alternatively, you can press Alt+F4 (Windows) or Ctrl+Q (+Q on a Mac).

If you happen to have the Organizer and the Photo Editor open and you quit one workspace, the other workspace remains open. For example, if the Organizer and the Photo Editor are both open when you quit the Organizer, the Photo Editor remains open and vice versa.

If you make an edit on a photo in the Photo Editor and decide to quit the Photo Editor, Elements prompts you to save the file before quitting.

If you have the Welcome screen open as well as the Organizer and the Photo Editor, quitting both the Organizer and the Photo Editor doesn’t get you out of Elements. The Welcome screen remains open even though you’ve quit the workspaces.

To completely shut down Elements, take a look at the status bar (Windows) or the Dock (Mac). If you see one workspace open, click the respective item in the status bar (or Dock) and then choose File⇒Quit, click the Close button (Windows), or press Ctrl+Q (+Q on the Mac).