Adobe Photoshop Elements 7: Refining a saved selection

As you progress through this book, you’re gathering lots of experience with saving selections. In this procedure, you’ll amend a saved selection and replace it with your improved version.

1. In the work area, make sure that your Backdrop selection is still active in the image window. If it’s not still active, choose Selection > Load Selection, choose the saved selection, and then click OK.
2. Make sure the Selection Brush tool is still selected in the toolbox.
3. In the tool options bar, select Mask from the brush Mode menu. You can see the mask as a semi-transparent colored overlay on the unselected—or protected—areas of the image. In this mode, the Selection Brush tool paints a mask rather than a selection.
4. Examine the image, looking for unmasked areas with details that should be protected (places where the Selection Brush strokes overlapped onto the children) and parts of the backdrop that are masked and should not be.Use the Navigator palette slider or the Zoom tool to adjust your view of the image, as necessary.
5. Reduce the brush size for the Selection Brush to about 30 pixels, and then paint in any areas you want to mask. Press the Alt key while painting to remove an area from the mask.
6. Switch back and forth between Selection and Mask modes, making corrections until you are satisfied with the selection (or the mask, if you like). Your goal is to make sure that fine details you want to preserve are masked.
7. Choose Select > Save Selection. In the Save Selection dialog box, choose Backdrop from the Selection menu. Under Operation, activate the Replace Selection option and click OK.
8. While the Selection Brush tool is still active, make sure that the Selection mode—not the Mask mode—is selected in the Mode menu in the tool options bar. Keep the selection active for the next procedure.

Adobe Photoshop Elements 7: Using the Selection Brush tool

The next step in restoring this photo is to use the Dust & Scratches filter to remove the stray spots and frayed edges from the scanned image. This filter smooths out the pixels by blurring the image just slightly. This is fine for the background, but the subjects—the children—should be kept as detailed and sharp as possible. To do that, you’ll need to create a selection that includes only the areas you want to blur.

1. In the toolbox, select the Selection Brush tool, which is grouped with the Quick Selection tool. Be careful to not select a painting brush tool by mistake.
2. In the tool options bar, select a round brush shape and set the brush size to about 60 pixels. Leave the other options at the default values: Mode should be set to Selection and Hardness should be set to 100%.
3. Drag the brush around the edges of the photograph and move inwards. Increase or decrease the brush size as needed as you paint the selection to include everything but the children. There’s no need to be too precise around the outlines of the babies. It’s no problem if some of your strokes overlap on the children; you’ll be refining the selection in the next exercise.
4. Choose Select > Save Selection.
5. Name the new selection Backdrop and click OK to close the Save Selection dialog box.Painting a selection with the Selection Brush tool is an intuitive way to create a complex selection. In images like this one, where there are no distinct color blocks, few sharp boundaries between pictured items, and few crisp geometric shapes, the Selection Brush tool is especially useful.

   Another advantage of the Selection Brush tool is that it is very forgiving. You can hold down the Alt key while dragging to remove an area from a selection. Alternatively, you can use the Selection Brush in Mask mode, which is another intuitive way of refining the selection, which you’ll be doing in the next exercise.

Adobe Photoshop Elements 7: Using the Clone Stamp tool to fill in missing areas

The first thing you’ll do is to eliminate the creases using the Clone Stamp tool. The Clone Stamp tool paints with information sampled from an image, which is perfect for both covering unwanted objects and replacing detail that is missing, as is the case for the worn areas along the creases.

1. With the help of the Navigator palette or the Zoom tool, zoom in on the crease in the lower right corner.
2. In the toolbox, select the Clone Stamp tool, which is grouped with the Pattern Stamp tool.
3. On the left end of the tool options bar, click the triangle and choose Reset Tool from the menu.The Reset Tool command reinstates the default values for the Clone Stamp tool: Size: 21 px, Mode: Normal, Opacity: 100%, and the Aligned option is activated.
4. In the tool options bar, open the Brush Picker. Choose Basic Brushes from the Brushes menu, and then select a hard mechanical brush with the size of 48 pixels. Set the Mode to Normal, the Opacity to 100%, and select Aligned.
5. Move the Clone Stamp tool to the left of the crease at the bottom of the picture. Hold down the Alt key and click to set the source position—the area to be sampled. Centering the source on a horizontal line makes it easier to align the brush for cloning. The tool duplicates the pixels at this point in your image as you paint.
6. Position the brush over the damaged area so that it is aligned horizontally with the source reference point. Click and drag to the right over the crease to copy the source image onto the damaged area. As you drag, cross-hairs appear, indicating the source—that is, the area that the Clone Stamp tool is sampling.

   NOTE: If necessary, you can reset the source by at any time by Alt-clicking in a different location.

7. To repair the upper part of the crease, set the source position in the area above the crease and drag downwards. This will help you blend the repair with the vertical edges of the photograph’s mount.
8. Continue to drag the brush over the creased, damaged area, resetting the source position as necessary, until the repair is complete.The cross-hairs follow the movement of the brush. With the Aligned option activated in the tool options bar, the cross-hairs maintain the same position relative to the brush that was set when you made the first brush stroke. When the Aligned option is disabled, the cross-hairs return to their original position at the beginning of each new stroke, regardless of where it is made.
9. Now, smooth out the crease across the upper right corner. For this operation the Healing Brush tool is the best choice, because the crease is quite severe and has caused significant variations in the background color. The Healing brush set to a small brush size is also the right tool to restore large white speck on the ear of the baby on the right.
10. Choose File > Save to save your changes.

Adobe Photoshop Elements 7: Restoring a damaged photograph

All sorts of nasty things can happen to precious old photographs—or precious new photographs, for that matter—and it is often impossible to locate the negative. For this exercise you’ll work with an uncropped version of one of the photos you adjusted in the previous chapter.

The scanned image of an antique photograph that you’ll use in this project is a challenging restoration job, because of large creases in the original print, among other flaws.

Unfortunately, there’s no way to fix such significant damage in just one or two keystrokes but to rescue an important heirloom photograph like this one, a little effort is worthwhile and the results can be dramatic.

Photoshop Elements provides the tools you’ll need to restore this picture to a convincing simulation of its original condition. You’ll repair creases and replace parts of the image that are actually missing, fix frayed edges, and remove dust and scratches. You may be surprised to discover how easy it is to achieve impressive results.

Preparing a working copy of the image file

The first thing you need to do is to set up a work file with a duplicate layer.

1. In the Organizer, find and select the file, a scanned antique photo of twin babies, tagged with the Lesson 8 keyword tag. Click the Editor button in the upper right of the Organizer window and choose Full Edit from the menu.
2. In the Editor, choose File > Save As. In the Save As dialog box, name the file youfilename_Work and choose Photoshop (PSD) from the Format menu. If the option Save In Version Set With Original is active, be sure to disable it before you save the file to your My CIB Work folder.
3. Choose Layer > Duplicate Layer and in the Duplicate Layer dialog box, click OK to accept the default name: Background copy.

Repairing and Retouching Images in Adobe Photoshop Elements 7

What tools can you use to fix the red eye effect sometimes caused by a flash?

You can choose to have red eye effects corrected automatically during the import process—simply activate the Automatically Fix Red Eye option in the Import dialog box. To fix red eye after the photos have been imported, choose Edit > Auto Red Eye Fix in the Organizer. In either the Full Edit or Quick Fix mode of the Editor, choose Enhance > Auto Red Eye Fix. Alternatively, you can fine-tune the Red Eye Removal tool from the toolbox if you need more control.

How can you quickly undo a whole series of edit steps at once?

Use the Undo History palette to quickly undo a series of steps at once. Every action performed on the file is recorded in chronological order in the Undo History palette. To restore the file to an earlier state, simply select an earlier action—higher in the list—in the Undo History palette. If you change your mind before making any further changes to the file, you can still restore the image to a later state by selecting a step lower in the list.

What are the similarities and differences between the Healing Brush tool and the Spot Healing Brush tool for retouching photos?

Both the Healing Brush tool and the Spot Healing Brush tool blend pixels from one part of an image into another. The Spot Healing Brush tool, especially with the Proximity Match option selected, enables you to remove blemishes more quickly than does the Healing Brush, because it only involves clicking and/or dragging on an imperfection to smooth it. The Healing Brush can be customized, and requires that you Alt-click to establish a source reference area.

Why was it necessary to make a selection before applying the Dust & Scratches filter to restore our damaged photograph?

The Dust & Scratches filter smooths out pixels in an image by blurring them slightly, effectively putting detail slightly out of focus. It was necessary to create a selection so that only the background was blurred, preserving sharpness and detail in the subjects.

What is the difference between a selection and a mask?

A mask is simply the opposite of a selection. A selection is an active area to which adjustments can be applied; everything outside the selection is unaffected by any changes that are made. A mask protects an area from changes. Another difference between a mask and a selection is the way Photoshop Elements presents them visually. A selection marquee is indicated by a flashing border of black and white dashes, whereas a mask appears as a colored, semi-transparent overlay on the image. You can change the color and opacity of the mask overlay using the Overlay Color options that appear in the tool options bar when the Selection Brush tool is set to operate in Mask mode.

Adobe Photoshop Elements 7: Working with star ratings and keyword tags

Most of us find it challenging to organize our files and folders efficiently. Forgetting which pictures were stored in what folder is easy, and it can be tedious to have to open and examine the contents of numerous folders looking for the files you want.

Photoshop Elements provides powerful and versatile organizing, tagging, and search tools to make that kind of frustration a thing of the past. You learned earlier how you can use the Search feature in the Organizer to find and retrieve files from multiple locations on your computer. The next set of exercises will show you how a little time invested in applying star ratings and keyword tags can streamline the process of sorting through your pictures, regardless of where the image files are stored.

Adobe Photoshop Elements 7: Using the Date View

The Date View can be a great way to organize and access your images, particularly if you are working with a collection of photos that span a number of years.

1. Click the Display button near the upper right corner of the Organizer window, and then choose Date View from the menu.
2. Select the Year option under the calendar display. Use the right and left arrows on either side of the year heading at the top of the calendar to go to 2008, if it is not already selected.
3. Select May 4, 2008 on the calendar. A thumbnail preview of the first photograph taken on May 4, 2008 appears at the right of the Organizer window.
4. Use the Next Item On Selected Day button under the thumbnail image on the right side of the Organizer window to see the other photographs taken on the same day.

You can view all the photos taken on the same day as a slide show by clicking the Start Automatic Sequencing button under the preview.

1. Under the preview thumbnail, click the Find this photo in the Photo Browser button to switch to the Photo Browser with the current photo highlighted.
2. In the Photo Browser, click the Back To Previous View button near the upper left corner of the Organizer window to return to the Date View.
3. Select the Month option below the calendar view.
4. Click the word May at the top of the calendar, and then choose March from the months menu. If you wished to move one month at a time, you could simply click the Previous Month button twice.
5. The March page opens with the 26th already selected, as that is the first date for which there are photos in your Lesson2 catalog. Click in the Daily Note box at the bottom right of the Organizer window and type A grand day out to add a note to the selected date. An icon appears on the thumbnail for March 26th indicating that there is a note attached.

Now you know how to access photos via the calendar you’ll be able to return and use the Date view whenever you wish, but for the remainder of this lesson you’ll work with the Photo Browser view. Choose Photo Browser from the Display menu.

Adobe Photoshop Elements 7: Viewing photo thumbnails in the Organizer

In the Organizer, there are several ways to view the images in your catalog. You can switch between the various viewing modes to suit different stages in your workflow or to make it easier and more efficient to perform specific organizing tasks.

Using the Photo Browser views

Up to this point, you’ve been working in the default Photo Browser view, the Thumbnail View, where your images are arranged by capture date and time. You can reverse the display order by choosing either Date (Oldest First) or Date (Newest First) from the menu to the right of the Thumbnail Size slider just above the Photo Browser pane.

Let’s look at some of the other display options in the Organizer.

1. Use the Thumbnail Size slider to reduce the size of the thumbnails so that you can see all the images in your Lesson2 catalog.
2. Click the Display button near the upper right corner of the Organizer window, and then choose Import Batch from the menu to see the thumbnails organized by their separate import sessions.

Notice the bar and film canister icons separating each row of thumbnails.

1. Try the following:
   • Click the separator bar above any of the import batches (reading “Imported from hard disk on …”) to select all the images imported in that session.
   • Increase the thumbnail size by dragging the slider above the Photo Browser until only a few of the images in the catalog are visible in the Photo Browser.
   • Choose Window > Timeline if the timeline is not currently visible above the Photo Browser. The timeline shows three frames representing the three import sessions that account for all the images in this catalog. Click each of the three frames in turn to jump to the first image imported in the corresponding session.
   The view switches to the corresponding batch, the first image in the batch is temporarily surrounded by a green border and the capture date of that image flashes off and on.

2. Using the Display menu that you used in Step 1, select Folder Location to see the thumbnails organized according to the folders in which they are stored on your computer. Reduce the size of the thumbnails again so that you can see all the images. The divider bars between the groups now display a folder icon rather than the film canister.

   NOTE: To display the file names of the images in the Browser View, activate the menu option View > Details (or activate the Details checkbox in the bar above the Photo Browser), and then choose View > Show File Names.

3. Repeat the same steps you performed in Step 3. This time, the three frames in the timeline represent the three source folders.
4. As you click the different frames in the timeline the corresponding source folder is highlighted in the folder hierarchy displayed to the left of the Photo Browser.

Adobe Photoshop Elements 7: Using watched folders

You can specify any folder on your hard disk as a watched folder so that Photoshop Elements will automatically be alerted if a new photo is placed in (or saved to) that folder.

By default, the My Pictures folder is watched, but you can add additional folders to the Folders to Watch list.

You can choose to have new photos that are detected in a watched folder added to your catalog automatically or to have Photoshop Elements ask you before importing the new images. If you choose the latter option, the message “New files have been found in Watched Folders” will appear when new photos are detected. Click Yes to add the photos to your catalog or click No to skip them.

Now you’ll add a folder to the watched folders list.

1. Choose File > Watch Folders.
2. Under Folders To Watch in the Watch Folders dialog box, click Add, and then browse to the Lesson02 folder.
3. Select the Lesson02 folder, and then click OK.

The folder name appears in the Folders to Watch list. To delete a folder name from that list, select it and then click Remove.

1. Leave the Notify Me option activated and click OK to close the Watch Folders dialog box.

Adobe Photoshop Elements 7: Importing from a digital camera

This exercise is optional and requires that you have a digital camera or memory card at hand with pictures on it.

1. Connect your digital camera or card reader to your computer, following the manufacturer’s instructions.
2. If the Windows Auto Play dialog box appears, click Cancel.
3. Do the following:
   • If the Photo Downloader dialog box appears automatically, continue with step 4.
   • If the Photo Downloader dialog box does not appear automatically, choose File > Get Photos And Videos > From Camera Or Card Reader.

   TIP: You can also launch the Adobe Photo Downloader by double-clicking its icon in the system tray in the lower right corner of your screen.

4. Under Source in the Photo Downloader dialog box, choose the name of the connected camera or card reader from the Get Photos from menu.
5. Under Import Settings, accept the folder location listed next to Location, or click Browse to choose a new location for the files.
6. From the Create Subfolder(s) menu, choose Today’s Date (yyyy mm dd) as folder name format. Your selection is reflected in the Location pathname.
7. Choose Do Not Rename Files from the Rename Files menu, and from the Delete Options menu choose After Copying, Do Not Delete Originals. If selected, deselect the Automatic Download check box.
8. Click the Advanced Dialog button.

The Advanced Photo Downloader Dialog displays thumbnail images of the photos on your camera’s memory card.

1. (Optional) Click the check box below a thumbnail—removing the green check mark—to remove that photo from the selection to be imported.

   NOTE: If you choose one of the Advanced Options that deletes the original images from your camera after copying, only images actually imported will be deleted from the camera—any images you removed from the selection to be imported will not be deleted.

2. (Optional) Select one or more photos to rotate. Click the appropriate Rotate button in the lower left corner of the dialog box.
3. Under Advanced Options, if the options Automatically Fix Red Eyes, Automatically Suggest Photo Stacks, and Make ‘Group Custom Name’ A Tag are activated, disable them by clicking their checkboxes, an then click Get Photos.

The selected photos are copied from the camera to the specified folder on your hard disk.

1. If the Files Successfully Copied dialog box appears, click OK.The Getting Photos dialog box appears while the photos are being imported into Photoshop Elements.
2. Click OK to close any other alert dialog box.

The imported photos appear in the Photo Browser, already rotated where specified.