Contents
Chapter 1 The Organizer
managing photos using the organizer
Backing Up Your Photos to a Disc or Hard Drive
Importing Photos from Your Scanner
Changing the Size of Your Photo Thumbnails
Sorting Photos by Date and Viewing Filenames
Change the Time & Date of Your Photos (Great, If You Travel)
Finding Photos Fast by Their Month & Year
Smart Tags and Enhanced Searching
Tagging Your Photos (with Keyword Tags)
Assigning Multiple Tags to One Photo
Albums: It’s How You Put Photos in Order One by One
Choosing Your Own Icons for Keyword Tags
Deleting Keyword Tags or Albums
Seeing Your Photo’s Metadata (EXIF Info)
Adding Your Own Info to Photos
Reducing Clutter by Stacking Your Photos
Places: Viewing Your Photos on a Map
Chapter 2 Raw and Un-Kutt
the essentials of camera raw
Opening Your Photos into Camera Raw
Miss the JPEG Look? Try Applying a Camera Profile
The Essential Adjustments: White Balance
Seeing a Before/After in Camera Raw
Letting Camera Raw Auto-Correct Your Photos
My Editing Your Images Cheat Sheet
Setting Your White Point and Black Point
Adjusting the Overall Brightness
Dealing with Highlight Problems (Clipping)
Opening Up the Shadows (Like “Fill Light” on a Slider)
Putting It All Together (A Quick Start-to-Finish Tweak)
Chapter 3 Beyond the Reach
camera raw—beyond the basics
Editing Multiple Photos at Once
Bring Out Detail and Texture Using Clarity
Making Your Colors More Vibrant
Reducing Noise in Noisy Photos
Removing Red Eye in Camera Raw
The Trick for Expanding the Range of Your Photos
Black & White Conversions in Camera Raw
The Advantages of Adobe’s DNG Format for RAW Photos
Chapter 4 Scream of the Crop
how to resize and crop photos
Auto-Cropping to Standard Sizes
Cropping to an Exact Custom Size
Fixing Problems with Perspective Crop
Using the Crop Tool to Add More Canvas Area
Auto-Cropping Gang-Scanned Photos
Straightening Photos with the Straighten Tool
Resizing and How to Reach Those Hidden Free Transform Handles
Making Your Photos Smaller (Downsizing)
Resizing Just Parts of Your Image Using the Recompose Tool
Chapter 5 Radio Edit
which mode do I use: quick, guided, or expert?
Using Instant Fix to Quickly Edit Your Photos
Special Effects in Guided Mode (the Only Time to Use It)
A Quick Look at Expert Mode (It’s Not Just for Experts!)
Chapter 6 Layers of Light
working with layers
Layer Blend Modes for Photographers
Chapter 7 Problem Child
fixing common problems
Using the Smart Brush Tool to Select and Enhance Skies at the Same Time
Adding Contrast and Drama to Cloudy Skies
Focusing Light with Dodging and Burning
Removing Haze from Your Photos
Opening Up Shadow Areas That Are Too Dark
Fixing Areas That Are Too Bright
Fixing Problems Caused by Your Camera’s Lens
Saving Blurry Photos Using the Shake Reduction Filter
The Elements Secret to Fixing Group Shots
Chapter 8 Natural Selection
selection techniques
Selecting Square, Rectangular, or Round Areas
Easier Selections with the Quick Selection Tool
Making Really Tricky Selections, Like Hair (and Some Cool Compositing Tricks, Too!)
Chapter 9 Remove
removing unwanted objects
Removing Spots and Other Artifacts
The Amazing (and Easiest) Way to Remove Distracting Stuff from Your Photos
Moving Things Without Leaving a Hole Using Content-Aware Move
Automatically Cleaning Up Your Scenes (a.k.a. The Tourist Remover)
Chapter 10 Special Edition
special effects for photographers
Effects and Presets Galore in Quick Edit Mode
Creating a Picture Stack Effect
Enhancing Depth of Field (or Faking That 85mm f/1.4 Look)
Burned-In Edge Effect (Vignetting)
Creating the Selective Color Effect
Neutral Density Gradient Filter
Chapter 11 Sharp Tale
sharpening techniques
Creating Extraordinary Sharpening
The Most Advanced Sharpening in Elements
Advanced Sharpening Using Adjust Sharpness
Chapter 12 Print
printing, color management, and my Elements 15 workflow
Setting Up Your Color Management
You Have to Calibrate Your Monitor Before You Go Any Further
Getting Pro-Quality Prints That Match Your Screen
What to Do If the Print Still Doesn’t Match Your Screen