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Step One: Opening Photoshop Elements |
The first thing you see when you open "Photoshop Elements" is the "Welcome Screen" interface.
The Welcome Screen is comprised of 4 different sections that lead to different image editing, creating and organizing tools. If this sounds complicated or difficult, don't worry because you're only going to be using ONE area of Elements. That area is the EDITOR.
To access the Editor from the welcome screen just click the button on your screen that matches what you see below:
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Step Two: Accessing the Editor |
Since we'll be using the Editor exclusively, what you need to do is to specify that you want the software to open the editor automatically. To get that set up just follow these steps:
When the welcome screen is open, go to the bottom left hand side and you'll see a drop down menu. From it choose EDITOR.
Next time you open Elements, you'll go straight to the editing area
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Step Three: Explore the Menu Bar |
This is one of the areas you'll use the most when working in Elements and one of the easiest parts of the software because all the similar "functions" are grouped together.
You can find the MENU bar at the TOP of the Elements program.
The menu bar consists of these options:
File = Create A New File, Open A File, Save A File, Etc
Edit = Cut, Copy, Paste, Add Patterns, Etc.
Image = Rotate, Transform, Crop, Resize Your Image, Etc
Enhance = Adjust Lighting, Color, Etc (Wont Use This Much!)
Layer = Create Layer, Duplicate Layer, Merge, Add Style, Etc
Select = Select Whole Image, Invert Selection, Deselect
Filter = Gives You Access To A Range Of Filters (Effects)
View = Zoom In/Out, View Actual Pixels, Fit On Screen
Window = Minimize/Maximize, Tile Images, Access Palettes
Help = Gives You Access To The Adobe Help File
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Step Four: Explore the Toolbar |
This is the MOST commonly used part of Elements. It's called the TOOLBAR and from it, you can access pretty much every single tool there is to use.
To select a tool
To start using a particular tool just click the one you want from the toolbar/toolbox on the left.
After making your selection just click on the background where you see the dark grey and the tool selector will go away, leaving you with the tool to use.
MULTIPLE TOOL OPTIONS
Some tools have MULTIPLE options built in one. For example, above you see that you can click the ERASER tool, then on the right a menu pops up that shows THREE types of erasers.
That is referred to as "multiple tool options".
To know if a tool has multiple options just look for a small triangle at a tool’s lower right corner then click on it and hold down the mouse button to view the hidden tools nested with the tool.
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Step Five: Editor workspace |
Here are the seven different areas of the Editor Workspace and explanations of what each section is and does:
Menu bar Contains menus for performing tasks. The menus are organized by topic. For example, the Enhance menu contains commands for applying adjustments to an image.
Shortcuts bar Displays buttons for implementing common commands, for making creations , and for moving to the Photo Browser or Date View workspace.
Workspace buttons move you between the Quick Fix and Standard Edit workspaces.
Toolbox Holds tools for editing images.
Options bar Provides options for the tool you select.
Photo Bin Displays thumbnails of opened images and lets you easily manage them.
Palettes Help you monitor and modify images.
Palette Bin Helps you organize the palettes in your work area.
