PhotoShop Elements 4

Adobe Photoshop Elements 4

By Jim Purcell, Tampa PC Users Group
Edward_J_P@MSN.com

This is an update to the article on Adobe Photoshop Elements 3 that appeared in the August Bits of Blue Newsletter. That article focused on the new features that were available in Photoshop Elements 3, with some background information on the overall capabilities of the product. The focus of this article is to cover the new features in Elements 4 and the enhancements to the features in Elements 3.

What’s New in Elements 4:

1) Magic Selection Brush: Using this tool, you select an item by using the Magic Selection brush to draw a few lines or place a few dots on the item. It’s not necessary to trace the outline of the item; just try to cover the range of colors. Elements then calculates the outline of the item and selects it. The tools required to “fine tune” the selection, when necessary, are exceptionally easy to use. You simply paint in the area to be added with the plus brush or in the area to be deleted with the minus brush.

2) Magic Extractor: This tool is used in a way similar to the Magic Selection Brush in that the areas that you want selected are marked in the same way. After selecting the photo from which you want to extract an image, you select the tool and your photo appears in the preview area of the Magic Extractor. The Magic Extractor provides an array of tools to help you make a perfect selection.

a. Foreground Brush. This brush is used to mark the area that you want to extract.

b. Background Brush. You use this brush to mark the area that you want to exclude from your selection.

c. Point Eraser Tool. This tool is used to remove areas marked by mistake by either the Foreground or the Background brush.

d. Add to Selection Tool. Use this to add to your selection.

e. Remove from Selection Tool. Paint over areas that you want removed from the selection.

f. Smoothing Tool. Use this tool after previewing to smooth ragged edges that aren’t connected by the touch up commands that are also provided (Feather, Defringe and Fill Holes).

3) Adjust Color of Skin Tone. Call up this command and click on an area of skin in the photo. The skin tone and all colors in the photo will be adjusted. Tan and blush sliders are provided to fine tune your photo.

4) Red Eye Removal. A new completely automatic Red Eye Removal Tool is one of the neatest additions to Photoshop Elements. You can even select to have red eyes corrected automatically as you bring your photos into the program from your camera, scanner or file folders.
You’ll probably be happier with the results, however, if you wait until the photos are imported and then select the photos with a red eye problem. Once you’ve selected the photos to be corrected, you merely need to execute the tool from the organizer or the editor and the job is done. If you are not satisfied with the results on any of the photos, you can undo the action and use the regular Red Eye Removal tool in the Quick Fix or Standard Editor, which is more accurate and provides more flexibility (and is also a quick and easy tool to use). The strength of this program is that you also have tools like the clone stamp to use in particularly difficult situations where the “automatic” tools don’t work as expected.

5) Defringe Command: When a selection is moved or copied a portion of the former background is often transported with it. This command will remove that fringe to better allow it to blend into the new background.

6) Straighten Tool: If you have a picture that is crooked, you merely need to select the photo, activate the Straighten Tool, and choose from three options: 1. Grow Canvas to Fit. 2. Crop to Remove Background. 3. Crop to Original Size. Then use your cursor to draw a line that identifies the part that should be level (such as the horizon) or perpendicular (such as a flag pole), and Elements straightens the photo.

7) WYSIWYG: The font menu identifies what each font actually looks like.

8) One Click Printing: Prints or Professional Hardbound Books from Photoshop Elements can be ordered by dragging the items to the “Order Prints” palette.

9) Slide Shows on TV: If you have Windows XP Media Center 2005 installed on your computer, you can view Photoshop Element slide shows on your TV and navigate using your TV remote.

10) Face Tagging: Elements will search a group of selected photos and isolate and display the faces on the photos with a thumbnail so that you can easily tag the photos in your organizer. The photos can be tagged by simply dragging the tag and dropping it on a face or by dragging a face and dropping it on a tag (you can tag multiple selected photos at once).

11) Search by Metadata: In addition to the previous methods available to search for your photos you can now search by such items as file type, shutter speed, f stop, iso speed, camera name and camera model. This new feature also allows you to search using multiple criteria.

12) PDF Support: You can open a PDF document in Elements, which produces an Import PDF dialog box. With the Import PDF dialog box, you can preview the pages and images in a multi-page PDF file, then decide if you want to open them in the Editor. You can choose to import individual full pages (including text and graphics), or you can import just the images from a PDF file. If you import only the images, the resolution, size and color mode of the images remains unchanged. If you import pages, you can change the resolution and color mode.

What Has Changed in Elements 4

In addition to the new features, there are numerous enhancements to the previous features. Some of the significant changes in four functional areas are:

Editing and Selecting

The Crop Tool has been enhanced. The “accept” and “reject” buttons have been moved to a more convenient location at the bottom corner of the item being cropped. New preset sizes have been added and a quick change control for the aspect ratio (switch from portrait to landscape, or landscape to portrait).
Text handling has been improved. Paragraphs can be formatted and contained by the use of a text box.
The Quick Fix automatic correction functions have been enhanced. New options and embedded profile support provide easier color management. These changes promise to make it easier to get the color you expect when printing.
Raw data files from your camera can now be saved in the new Digital Negative format. The Digital Negative (DNG) format is Adobe’s proposed standard format for camera raw files. DNG files are useful for archiving camera raw images because they contain the raw camera sensor data and data specifying how the image should look. Camera Raw image settings can be stored in DNG files instead of in sidecar XMP files or the Camera Raw database.
The Noise filter, used to remove noise resulting from shooting in low light and with the ISO camera settings, has been improved by adding the Remove JPEG Artifact function.

Sharing and Printing

The slide show editor has been completely redesigned. Many new features have been added, including the ability to pan and zoom and to add clip art to your show. You can make final adjustments or complete enhancements to any photo, even in the middle of the slide show creation process. There are over 50 transitions included in the program. You have the ability to add text, graphics, narration and music (add multiple songs with precise start and end points). Edit and enhance photos from any point in the slide show creation process. Your work can be saved as a slide show, and you can go back and edit it at anytime.

Create cards, calendars and photo albums, and send them to your printer. There are formats to personalize your email for various occasions and add your photos. You can also create your own wallpaper.

Viewing Tagging and Organizing

The enhanced Photo Downloader is faster and can be used even when Photoshop Elements isn't running. You can view your photos in full screen without the clutter of menus, or you can view two photos in the same mode either side by side or above and below.

The Organizer allows you to view photos in four different ways. Date (Newest First) shows the most recently taken or imported photos first. (Within a given day, the photos are shown in the order they were taken, oldest-first, unless otherwise specified in the General Preferences dialog box). Newest-first order is convenient when you need to attach tags to the photos you imported most recently. Date (Oldest First) shows all the photos in chronological order. Import Batch displays photos in the batches in which they were imported and shows how the photos were imported. Folder Location view in the Organizer splits the Photo Browser into three sections: a folder hierarchy panel on the left, an image thumbnail panel in the center, and the Palette Bin on the right. From this view you can manage your folders, add files to your catalog, automatically tag files using their folder names as the tags, and add or remove folders from Watched Folder status.

Adding a caption is one more way of identifying your photo. The captions can be added in several ways, depending on the view you are using. Like almost everything else in this program, Adobe has made it as convenient as possible for the user. Captions can be used in Creations, printed in contact sheets, and viewed in a web photo gallery. If you have a microphone, you can even add an audio caption to your photo.

Summary: I’ve tried to cover the significant changes that have been included in Photoshop Elements 4. In addition to the extensive help and tutorial system available in Elements 4 to help you utilize its many capabilities, the changes to the Organizer provide you with an all-embracing search capability for your photos. There are also many publications that provide even more insight into the use of all of the available tools. I purchased the O’Reilly book, Photoshop Elements 4: The Missing Manual by Barbara Brundage, as I did her book for Elements 3. It is an excellent and well-organized manual for Photoshop Elements 4. It’s available on Amazon.com. (If you purchase any books from Amazon.com, don’t forget to go through the TPCUG web site.) u