As both a manual and comprehensive text, this does a reasonably good job. Questions are answered in detail with clear explanations. If the "missing CD" were more complete with regards to illustrating the text points, the volume would be much more effective. There are ie. too few on line images to demonstrate some of the techniques.
Lastly, I was pleased that Amazon replaced the first book because of the pages falling out of the binding.
Author(s): Barbara Brundage
Edition: 1
Publisher: O'Reilly Media
Year: 2009
Language: English
Pages: 586
Oreilly - Photoshop Elements 8 for Mac OS Missing Manual (11-2009) (ATTiCA)......Page 6
About the Creative Team......Page 14
The Missing Manual Series......Page 15
Why Photoshop Elements?......Page 18
What You Can Do with Elements 8......Page 19
What’s New in Elements 8......Page 20
Elements vs. Photoshop......Page 22
About This Book......Page 23
About the Outline......Page 24
For Newcomers to Elements......Page 25
The Very Basics......Page 26
About MissingManuals.com......Page 27
Safari® Books Online......Page 28
The Welcome Screen......Page 32
Adobe Bridge—Decisions, Decisions......Page 35
The Photo Downloader......Page 36
Editing Your Photos......Page 37
Panels, Bins, and Tabs......Page 38
The Panel bin......Page 40
The Project bin......Page 42
Elements’ Tools......Page 43
Getting Help......Page 46
Guided Edit......Page 47
Undo History panel......Page 49
The one rule of Elements......Page 50
Getting Started in a Hurry......Page 51
Importing from Cameras......Page 54
Bridge Basics......Page 56
The Bridge window......Page 57
Setting file associations......Page 60
Customizing your Bridge workspace......Page 61
Opening Stored Images......Page 62
Sending Images from Other Programs......Page 63
Scanning Photos......Page 64
Capturing Video Frames......Page 66
Choosing a Resolution......Page 67
Choosing Background Contents......Page 68
The Many Uses for Bridge......Page 69
Moving and Organizing Your Photos......Page 70
Rating and Labeling Photos......Page 71
Keywords......Page 73
Searching and Filtering......Page 74
File Formats Elements Understands......Page 76
About JPEGs......Page 79
Burning CDs and DVDs......Page 80
Straightening Two or More Photos at a Time......Page 84
Straightening Individual Photos......Page 86
Rotating and Flipping Options......Page 87
Straighten Tool......Page 88
Free Rotate Layer......Page 90
Cropping Pictures......Page 92
Using the Crop Tool......Page 94
Cropping an image to an exact size......Page 95
Cropping with the Marquee Tool......Page 97
Zooming and Repositioning Your View......Page 99
Image Views......Page 100
The Zoom Tool......Page 103
The Hand Tool......Page 105
Resizing Images for Email and the Web......Page 107
Resizing for Printing......Page 110
Resampling......Page 113
Adding Canvas......Page 114
The Quick Fix......Page 116
The Quick Fix Toolbox......Page 117
Using presets......Page 119
Editing Your Photos......Page 120
Fixing Red Eye......Page 121
Smart Fix......Page 123
Adjusting Lighting and Contrast......Page 124
Contrast......Page 125
Shadows and Highlights......Page 126
The Color sliders......Page 127
Balancing color......Page 128
Sharpening......Page 129
Touch Ups......Page 130
Quick Fix Suggested Workflow......Page 133
Adjusting Skin Tones......Page 134
Making Selections......Page 140
Selecting Everything......Page 141
Selecting Rectangular and Elliptical Areas......Page 142
Selecting Irregularly Sized Areas......Page 144
Controlling the Selection Tools......Page 145
Selecting with a Brush......Page 146
Refine Edge......Page 148
The Selection Brush......Page 149
The Magic Wand......Page 152
The Lasso Tools......Page 153
The basic Lasso tool......Page 155
The Magnetic Lasso......Page 156
The Polygonal Lasso......Page 157
Removing Objects from an Image’s Background......Page 158
Inverting a Selection......Page 163
Making a Selection Larger or Smaller......Page 164
The Move tool......Page 167
Saving Selections......Page 169
Making changes to a saved selection......Page 170
Understanding Layers......Page 172
The Layers Panel......Page 175
The Background......Page 177
Adding a Layer......Page 178
Deleting Layers......Page 179
Duplicating a Layer......Page 180
Copying and Cutting from Layers......Page 181
Adjusting Opacity......Page 183
Locking Layers......Page 184
Blend Modes......Page 185
Rearranging Layers......Page 187
Arranging layers with the Move tool......Page 188
Aligning and Distributing Layers......Page 189
Linking layers......Page 190
Clipping masks—grouping layers......Page 192
Merging layers......Page 194
Flattening an image......Page 196
Adding Fill and Adjustment Layers......Page 197
Adjustment layers......Page 198
Layer Masks......Page 200
Moving Objects Between Images......Page 201
Basic Image Retouching......Page 208
Deciding Which Exposure Fix to Use......Page 209
Fixing Major Exposure Problems......Page 210
The Shadows/Highlights Command......Page 211
Correcting color with a brush......Page 213
Controlling the Colors You See......Page 217
Getting started with calibrating......Page 219
Choosing a Color Space......Page 221
Using Levels......Page 223
Understanding the Histogram......Page 224
Adjusting Levels: The Eyedropper Method......Page 227
Adjusting Levels: The Slider Method......Page 228
Removing Unwanted Color......Page 230
The Remove Color Cast Command......Page 231
Using Color Variations......Page 232
Choosing Colors......Page 233
The Color Picker......Page 234
The Eyedropper Tool......Page 236
The Color Swatches Panel......Page 237
Sharpening Images......Page 239
Unsharp Mask......Page 240
Adjust Sharpness......Page 242
The High-Pass Filter......Page 244
The Sharpen Tool......Page 246
Elements for Digital Photographers......Page 248
The Raw Converter......Page 249
Using the Raw Converter......Page 250
Adjusting the view......Page 252
Adjusting White Balance......Page 255
Adjusting Tone......Page 257
Saving your settings......Page 259
Adjusting Vibrance and Saturation......Page 261
Adjusting Sharpness and Reducing Noise......Page 262
Choosing bit depth: 8 or 16 bits?......Page 264
Finishing Up......Page 265
Converting to DNG......Page 266
Blending Exposures......Page 268
Automatic Merges......Page 269
Manual Merges......Page 270
Photo Filter......Page 273
Choosing Your Files......Page 275
Renaming Your Files......Page 277
Changing Image Size and File Type......Page 278
Watermarks......Page 279
Adding captions......Page 281
Fixing Blemishes......Page 282
The Spot Healing Brush: Fixing Small Areas......Page 284
The Healing Brush: Fixing Larger Areas......Page 286
The Clone Stamp......Page 289
The Healing Brush......Page 293
Recomposing Photos......Page 295
Color Curves: Enhancing Tone and Contrast......Page 299
Making Colors More Vibrant......Page 302
The Hue/Saturation Dialog Box......Page 304
Adjusting Saturation with the Sponge Tool......Page 305
Changing an Object’s Color......Page 307
Replacing Specific Colors......Page 308
The Color Replacement Tool......Page 311
Special Effects......Page 312
Method One: Making Color Photos Black and White......Page 316
Method Two: Removing Color from a Photo......Page 319
Creating Spot Color......Page 321
Brushing Away Color......Page 322
Erasing Colors from a Duplicate Layer......Page 323
Removing Color from Selections......Page 324
Editing a layer mask......Page 325
Colorizing Black-and-White Photos......Page 327
Tinting a Whole Photo......Page 330
Using a Layer style......Page 331
The Content panel’s tint effects......Page 332
Using Colorize......Page 333
Photomerge: Creating Panoramas, Group Shots, and More......Page 336
Creating Panoramas......Page 337
Manual Positioning with Interactive Layout......Page 339
Merging Different Faces......Page 343
Tidying Up with Scene Cleaner......Page 346
Correcting Lens Distortion......Page 349
Transforming Images......Page 354
Skew, Distort, and Perspective......Page 355
Free Transform......Page 358
Drawing with Brushes, Shapes, and Other Tools......Page 362
Picking and Using a Basic Brush......Page 364
Modifying Your Brush......Page 367
Saving Modified Brush Settings......Page 369
The Specialty Brushes......Page 370
Making a Custom Brush......Page 371
The Impressionist Brush......Page 372
The Pencil Tool......Page 373
The Paint Bucket......Page 374
Dodging and Burning......Page 375
Burning......Page 376
Blend Modes......Page 378
The Smudge Tool......Page 379
Using the Eraser......Page 382
The Magic Eraser......Page 383
The Background Eraser......Page 384
Drawing with Shapes......Page 387
Polygon......Page 389
Line Tool......Page 391
The Custom Shape Tool......Page 392
The Cookie Cutter Tool......Page 393
Filters, Effects, Layer Styles, and Gradients......Page 398
Filter menu......Page 400
Effects panel......Page 401
Filter Gallery......Page 402
Filter Categories......Page 404
Removing noise: Getting rid of graininess......Page 406
Adding noise: Smoothing out repair jobs......Page 407
Gaussian Blur: Drawing attention to an object......Page 409
Color correcting with the Average Blur filter......Page 411
Improving skin texture with the Surface Blur filter......Page 412
Adding Effects......Page 414
Using Actions......Page 415
Adding Layer Styles......Page 418
Applying Gradients......Page 421
The Gradient Tool......Page 422
Gradient Fill Layers......Page 425
Editing Gradients......Page 426
Transparency in gradients......Page 429
Creating noise gradients......Page 430
Saving Gradients......Page 431
Gradient Maps......Page 432
Adding Text to an Image......Page 436
Text Options......Page 437
Creating Text......Page 441
Editing Text......Page 442
Warping Text......Page 444
Adding Special Effects......Page 446
Text Gradients......Page 447
Applying the Liquify Filter to Text......Page 448
Type Masks: Setting an Image in Text......Page 451
Using the Type Mask Tools......Page 452
Using the Type Mask tool......Page 454
Photo Collages......Page 458
Creating Multipage Documents......Page 464
Working with the Content and Favorites Panels......Page 466
The Content Panel......Page 467
Photo Books......Page 469
CD/DVD Jackets......Page 471
PDF Projects......Page 472
Getting Ready to Print......Page 476
Printing at Home......Page 477
Printing One Photo Per Page......Page 478
Print window settings......Page 480
Additional Print Options......Page 482
Color management......Page 483
The OS X Print Dialog Box......Page 485
Contact Sheets......Page 486
Picture Packages......Page 488
Customizing your picture package......Page 490
Image Formats and the Web......Page 492
Saving Images for the Web or Email......Page 493
Using Save For Web......Page 495
Save For Web format options......Page 496
Previewing Images and Adjusting Color......Page 498
Creating Animated GIFs......Page 499
Emailing Photos......Page 501
Creating a Web Photo Gallery......Page 503
Graphics Tablets......Page 508
Free Stuff from the Internet......Page 510
When You Really Need Photoshop......Page 512
Beyond This Book......Page 513
About Photoshop Elements......Page 518
Hide Others......Page 519
Duplicate......Page 520
Place......Page 521
Edit Menu......Page 522
Delete......Page 523
Color Settings......Page 524
Rotate......Page 525
Resize......Page 526
Auto Contrast......Page 527
Adjust Color......Page 528
Duplicate Layer......Page 529
New Adjustment Layer......Page 530
Create/Release Clipping Mask......Page 531
Reselect......Page 532
Grow......Page 533
Correct Camera Distortion......Page 534
Artistic......Page 535
Brush Strokes......Page 536
Noise......Page 537
Sketch......Page 538
Stylize......Page 539
Digimarc......Page 540
Rulers......Page 541
New Guide......Page 542
Adjustments......Page 543
Undo History......Page 544
Search Box......Page 545
Updates......Page 546
Installing Elements......Page 548
Activation......Page 550
Troubleshooting......Page 551
Adobe Bridge CS4 Menu......Page 554
Preferences......Page 555
Hide Adobe Bridge CS4......Page 556
Open Recent......Page 557
Get Photos from Camera......Page 558
Edit Menu......Page 559
Find......Page 560
Slideshow Options......Page 561
Show Reject Files......Page 562
Ungroup from Stack......Page 563
Ratings......Page 564
Replace Metadata......Page 565
New Synchronized Window......Page 566
Folders Panel......Page 567
Path Bar......Page 568
Updates......Page 569
Index......Page 570