This book breaks new ground by doing something for digital photographers that’s never been done before—it cuts through the bull and shows you exactly “how to do it.” It’s not a bunch of theory; it doesn’t challenge you to come up with your own settings or figure things out on your own. Instead, it does something that virtually no other Elements book has ever done—it tells you flat-out which settings to use, when to use them, and why. If you’re looking for one of those “tell-me-everything-about-the-Unsharp-Maskfilter” books, this isn’t it. You can grab any other Elements book on the shelf, because they all do that. Instead, this book gives you the inside tips and tricks of the trade for organizing, correcting, editing, sharpening, retouching, and presenting your photos like a pro. You’ll be absolutely amazed at how easy and effective these techniques are—once you know the secrets. Each year we train thousands of digital photographers and, almost without exception, they have the same questions and face the same problem—that’s exactly what we cover in this book. You’ll learn: • The real secrets of how the pros retouch portraits • How to color correct any photo without breaking a sweat (you’ll be amazed at how they do it!) • How to use Camera Raw for processing not only RAW photos, but JPEGs and TIFFs, too! (And you’ll learn why so many pros like it best—because it’s faster and easier) • The sharpening techniques the pros really use (there’s an entire chapter just on this!) • How to deal with common digital camera image problems, including removing noise and avoiding halos • The most requested photographic special effects, and much more! THE BOOK’S SECRET WEAPON Although Elements 7 offers some digital photography features that Photoshop CS4 doesn’t offer, there are plenty of features that Photoshop CS4 has that Elements 7 still doesn’t have (things like layer masking, Channel Mixer, etc.). But in this book, you’ll learn some slick workarounds, cheats, and some fairly ingenious ways to replicate many of those Photoshop features from right within Elements. Plus, since this book is designed for photographers, it doesn’t waste your time talking about how to frame a shot, setting your exposure, etc., and there’s no talk about which camera or printer to buy. It’s all Elements, step-by-step, cover-to-cover, in the only book of its kind, and you’re gonna love it!
Author(s): Scott Kelby
Series: Voices that matter
Edition: 1st ed
Publisher: New Riders
Year: 2009
Language: English
Commentary: 179787
Pages: 513
City: [Indianapolis, Ind.]
TABLE OF CONTENTS......Page 9
CHAPTER 1 Organized Chaos: Managing Photos Using the Organizer......Page 18
Importing Your Photos......Page 19
Backing Up Your Photos on Disc......Page 23
Importing Photos from Your Scanner......Page 25
Automating the Importing of Photos by Using Watched Folders......Page 26
Changing the Size of Your Photo Thumbnails......Page 27
Seeing Full-Screen Previews......Page 28
Sorting Photos by Date......Page 29
Adding Scanned Photos? Enter the Right Time and Date......Page 30
Finding Photos Fast by Their Month and Year......Page 31
Tagging Your Photos (with Keyword Tags)......Page 32
Tagging Multiple Photos......Page 35
Assigning Multiple Tags to One Photo......Page 36
Tagging Images of People (Face Tagging)......Page 37
Combining (Merging) Keyword Tags......Page 39
Sharing Your Keyword Tags with Others......Page 40
Albums: It’s How You Put Photos in Order One by One......Page 41
Choosing Your Own Icons for Keyword Tags......Page 42
Deleting Keyword Tags (or Albums)......Page 43
Seeing Your Photo’s Metadata (EXIF Info)......Page 44
Adding Your Own Info to Photos......Page 45
Finding Photos......Page 46
Finding Photos Using the Date View......Page 49
Seeing an Instant Slide Show......Page 51
Comparing Photos......Page 53
Comparing Photos by Zooming and Panning......Page 55
Reducing Clutter by Stacking Your Photos......Page 57
Putting Your Photos on the Map!......Page 59
CHAPTER 2 Raw Deal: Processing Your Images Using Camera Raw......Page 66
Getting RAW, JPEG, and TIFF Photos into Camera Raw......Page 67
The Essential Adjustments: White Balance......Page 69
The Essential Adjustments #2: Exposure......Page 73
The Fix for Shadow Problems: Fill Light......Page 79
Making Your Colors More Vibrant......Page 81
Letting Camera Raw Auto Correct Your Photos......Page 82
Adding “Snap” to Your Images Using the Clarity Slider......Page 83
Cropping and Straightening......Page 84
Editing Multiple Photos at Once......Page 88
Saving RAW Files in Adobe’s Digital Negative (DNG) Format......Page 90
Sharpening in Camera Raw......Page 91
Camera Raw’s Noise Reduction......Page 96
Removing Red Eye in Camera Raw......Page 97
The Trick for Expanding the Range of Your Photos......Page 100
Black & White Conversions in Camera Raw......Page 104
Miss the Look of JPEGs? Try Camera Profiles for That JPEG-Processed Look......Page 107
CHAPTER 3 Resized: Resizing and Cropping Your Images......Page 110
Cropping Photos......Page 111
Cropping Using the “Rule of Thirds”......Page 114
Auto-Cropping to Standard Sizes......Page 117
Cropping to an Exact Custom Size......Page 119
Cropping into a Shape......Page 122
Using the Crop Tool to Add More Canvas Area......Page 125
Auto-Cropping Gang-Scanned Photos......Page 127
Straightening Photos with the Straighten Tool......Page 128
Resizing Digital Camera Photos......Page 131
Resizing and How to Reach Those Hidden Free Transform Handles......Page 134
Making Your Photos Smaller (Downsizing)......Page 135
Automated Saving and Resizing......Page 137
CHAPTER 4 Color Me Badd: Color Correction for Photographers......Page 140
Before You Color Correct Anything, Do This First!......Page 141
Photo Quick Fix......Page 143
Getting a Visual Readout (Histogram) of Your Corrections......Page 148
Color Correcting Digital Camera Images......Page 149
Dave’s Amazing Trick for Finding a Neutral Gray......Page 157
Studio Photo Correction Made Simple......Page 159
Drag-and-Drop Instant Color Correction......Page 161
Adjusting Flesh Tones......Page 164
Warming Up (or Cooling Down) a Photo......Page 167
Color Correcting One Problem Area Fast!......Page 169
Getting a Better Conversion from Color to Black and White......Page 172
Correcting Color and Contrast Using Color Curves......Page 177
CHAPTER 5 99 Problems: Digital Camera Image Problems......Page 184
Using the Smart Brush Tool to Select and Fix at the Same Time......Page 185
Removing Digital Noise......Page 190
Focusing Light with Digital Dodging and Burning......Page 192
Opening Up Shadow Areas That Are Too Dark......Page 197
Fixing Areas That Are Too Bright......Page 199
When Your Subject Is Too Dark......Page 201
Fixing Under- or Overexposed Photos......Page 204
Automatic Red-Eye Removal......Page 207
Instant Red-Eye Removal......Page 209
Fixing Problems Caused by Your Camera’s Lens......Page 211
Fixing Color in Indoor Shots......Page 215
Fixing Reflections in Glasses......Page 218
The Elements 7 Secret to Fixing Group Shots......Page 223
CHAPTER 6 The Mask: Selection Techniques......Page 228
Selecting Square, Rectangular, or Round Areas......Page 229
Saving Your Selections......Page 234
How to Select Things That Aren’t Round, Square, or Rectangular......Page 235
Softening Those Harsh Edges......Page 237
Selecting Areas by Their Color......Page 239
Making Selections Using a Brush......Page 241
Selecting Everything on a Layer at Once!......Page 242
Getting Elements to Help You Make Tricky Selections......Page 243
Easier Selections with the Quick Selection Tool......Page 245
Removing People (or Objects) from Backgrounds......Page 247
CHAPTER 7 Faces: Retouching Portraits......Page 252
Quick Skin Tone Fix......Page 253
Removing Blemishes and Hot Spots......Page 255
Lessening Freckles or Facial Acne......Page 257
Removing Dark Circles Under Eyes......Page 260
Removing or Lessening Wrinkles......Page 262
Whitening the Eyes......Page 265
Making Eyes That Sparkle......Page 268
Whitening and Brightening Teeth......Page 271
Digital Nose Jobs Made Easy......Page 274
Transforming a Frown into a Smile......Page 276
Slimming and Trimming......Page 278
Advanced Skin Softening......Page 281
CHAPTER 8 Take Me Away: Removing Unwanted Objects......Page 292
Cloning Away Unwanted Objects......Page 293
Removing Things in a Straight Line......Page 298
Covering Unwanted Elements......Page 300
Removing Spots and Other Artifacts......Page 303
Removing Distracting Objects (Healing Brush)......Page 305
CHAPTER 9 Special Delivery: Special Effects for Photographers......Page 312
Trendy High-Contrast Portrait Effect......Page 313
Converting to Black and White......Page 317
Panoramas Made Crazy Easy......Page 319
Creating Drama with a Soft Spotlight......Page 321
Burned-In Edge Effect (Vignetting)......Page 324
Using Color for Emphasis......Page 327
Soft Focus Effect......Page 329
Replacing the Sky......Page 331
Neutral Density Gradient Filter......Page 334
Taming Your Light......Page 338
Creating Photo Montages......Page 340
Scott’s Three-Step Portrait Finishing Technique......Page 344
Fake Duotone......Page 349
Easier Retouching (and Collaging) Using the Clone Overlay......Page 351
The Surreal Edgy Grungy Effect......Page 359
CHAPTER 10 Sharp Dressed Man: Sharpening Techniques......Page 362
Basic Sharpening......Page 363
Creating Extraordinary Sharpening......Page 370
Luminosity Sharpening......Page 373
Edge Sharpening Technique......Page 376
Advanced Sharpening Using Adjust Sharpness......Page 379
CHAPTER 11 Best in Show: How to Show Your Work......Page 384
Watermarking and Adding Copyright Info......Page 385
Turning Your Signature into a Brush......Page 391
Getting One 5x7", Two 2.5x3.5", and Four Wallet-Size Photos on One Print......Page 393
Using Picture Package Layouts with More Than One Photo......Page 398
Creating a PDF Presentation for a Client......Page 400
How to Email Photos......Page 405
Fine Art Poster Layout......Page 407
Simple Three-Photo Balanced Layout......Page 411
Multi-Photo Look from Just One Photo......Page 415
Instant Pano Layout......Page 419
CHAPTER 12 Create (or Die): How to Make Presentations with Your Photos......Page 426
Creating with Your Photos......Page 427
Making Full-Blown Slide Shows......Page 429
Creating Postcards or Greeting Cards......Page 437
Creating Photo Book Pages......Page 441
Customizing Your Layouts with Just One Click......Page 446
Creating Calendars......Page 448
Creating a CD or DVD Jacket, or a CD/DVD Label......Page 451
Creating a Video CD......Page 453
Creating Your Own Photo Website......Page 455
Ordering Prints Through Shutterfly.com in Just One Click......Page 461
Ordering Prints Through Kodak’s EasyShare Gallery......Page 465
Creating a Digital Scrapbook Through Shutterfly.com......Page 467
Creating Real, Usable Postage Stamps......Page 475
Creating Your Own Custom Flipbook......Page 476
CHAPTER 13 Fit to Print: Step-by-Step Printing and Color Management......Page 480
Setting Up Your Color Management......Page 481
Calibrating Your Monitor (The Lame Built-In Freebie Method)......Page 482
The Right Way to Calibrate Your Monitor (Hardware Calibration)......Page 485
The Other Secret to Getting Pro-Quality Prints That Match Your Screen......Page 488
Making the Print......Page 492
My Elements 7 Workflow from Start to Finish......Page 497
C......Page 501
E......Page 503
G......Page 504
L......Page 505
O......Page 506
Q......Page 507
S......Page 508
Z......Page 510
