Elements 12 is designed to be all things to all people, offering simple image fixes for beginners, Guided edits for those who want to try something more ambitious and learn about the Elements editing tools at the same time, and Expert mode, where you have full manual control and can achieve many of the effects you can get in Photoshop. The Quick … [Read more...]
A quick guide to Elements RAW conversions
Photoshop Elements can open just as many different RAW file formats as Photoshop itself, since it too comes with the Adobe Camera Raw converter. The version you get with Elements doesn't have all tools you get in the Photoshop version, but Elements RAW conversions do let you optimise your images very effectively before you open them in … [Read more...]
Create a two-shot Elements Photomerge panorama!
When you hear the word 'panorama', you usually think of sweeping, letterbox-shaped vistas which are about ten times wider than they are high. Panoramas this wide, however, are very difficult to print and display effectively, and often lack the visual impact you meant them to have. In fact, traditional 'panoramic' cameras didn't always go this … [Read more...]
How to boost contrast in Photoshop Elements with overlay mode
Photoshop Elements does not have the curves feature found in Photoshop itself and many other image-editing programs, and many people cite this as one of its limitations. I don't really agree. There's always more than one way to do anything, including modifying the contrast, and I find this 'overlay' method so quick and useful I often use it in … [Read more...]
Try this five-second fix with a gradient and color burn blend mode in Elements
You can't always choose the lighting you shoot in, and sometimes it's just so flat that your pictures don't have any depth or intensity. It doesn't help that most digital cameras lean slightly towards overexposure in these conditions too. That's why I wanted to have a go at 'relighting' some shots I took in Paris a few years ago on a basic Nikon … [Read more...]
Did you know you can save and combine selections in Elements?
Photoshop Elements is usually seen as the poor relation to Photoshop itself, but it offers many of the same high-end features if you know where to look! Photoshop has alpha channels, but Elements has 'saved selections'... You can get by perfectly well most of the time just working with one selection at a time, but there are situations where you … [Read more...]