Color Insert


Working with Color

Most images imported from a digital camera or scanner will open in RGB mode. RGB is shorthand for red, green, and blue, the only three colors that your computer monitor actually displays. RGB combines the three colors in different proportions and intensities to create the thousands or milions of colors you see onscreen. RGB is Photoshop Elements' default color mode, and is the best mode to work in when making color and tonal corrections.

Color cast refers to a shift of color to one extreme or another, and is sometimes introduced into digital photos or scanned images. The image at the top left has an unfortunate pinkish cast, which I removed by applying the Auto Color Correction command (below right).

Use the Replace Color command to select a specific color, even if it appears in different areas of the same image, and then replace that color universally. Here, I changed the girls' coats from pink to a sunny yellow.

When you convert an image to grayscale, the three RGB color channels are reduced to just one one grayscale channel. Although the color is removed, a grayscale image still retains all the subtle gradients and tonal value in the original color version.

Blending Modes

A complete gallery of the blending modes you can apply from the Layers palette

Layer 1 and Background

Normal

Dissolve

Darken

Multiply

Color Burn

Linear Burn

Lighten

Screen

Color Dodge

Linear Dodge

Overlay

Soft Light

Hard Light

Vivid Light

Linear Light

Pin Light

Hard Mix

Difference

Exclusion

Hue

Saturation

Color

Luminosity

Layer Styles Sampler

A sample gallery of the styles you can apply from the Layer Styles palette

Layer 1 and Background

Normal

Simple Inner Bevel style

Hard Edge Drop Shadow style

Soft Edge Drop Shadow style

Small Border Inner Glow style

Low Inner Shadow style

Noisy Stripes Inner Shadow style

Color Target Complex style

White Grid on Orange Complex style

Rose Impressions Complex style

Orange Glass Glass Button style

Tile Mosaic Image Effects style

Satin Sheets Patterns style

Waves Patterns style

Bumpy Patterns style

Shiny Edge Wow Chrome style

Textured Wow Chrome style

Yellow On Wow Neon style

Aqua Blue Plastic Wow Plastic style

Filters

Add artistic effects to your photos by applying these filters from the Filters menu or palette

Artistic > Cutout

No. of Levels: 8

Edge Simplicity: 2

Edge Fidelity: 2

Stylize > Wind

Method: Blast

Direction: From the Right

Distort > Zig Zag

Amount: 35%

Ridges: 11

Style: Pond Ripple

Brush Strokes > Spatter

Spray Radius: 12

Smoothness: 5

Artistic > Dry Brush

Brush Size: 4

Brush Detail: 10

Texture: 2

Filters

Add artistic effects to your photos by applying these filters from the Filters menu or palette

Pixelate > Crystallize

Cell Size: 12

Stylize > Emboss

Angle: 135°

Height: 8 pixels

Amount: 110%

Artistic > Cutout (layer 1)

No. of Levels: 3

Edge Simplicity & Fidelity: 4

Sketch > Stamp (layer 2)

Light/Dark Balance: 25

Smoothness: 5

Combine both layers using the Soft Light blending mode.

Render > Lens Flare

Brightness: 135

Lens Type: 105mm Prime

Creative Techniques

Create a panorama with Photomerge

Step 1.

Collect all the photos together that you want to assemble into your panorama.

Step 2.

Photomerge does its best to assemble your photos together, but you can always adjust their arrangement or position by hand.

Step 3.

Once all the images have been merged, you can apply special lighting and perspective effects, and can change the location of the panorama's vanishing point, if you like. When you're finished making your adjustments, Photoshop Elements saves your panorama as a separate file, where you can then crop it and make any final color and tonal adjustments.

Web Photo Gallery

You can create an interactive gallery of your photos with the Web Photo Gallery feature. Using the Web Photo Gallery dialog box, you can organize your images and choose from a variety of Web page backgrounds and interfaces. When you're ready, Photoshop Elements automatically formats and copies your selected images to a single folder, and even generates the required HTML code for you.

Creating Animated GIFs

Step 1.

Open all the images that you want to use as frames within your animation, then decide on the order that you want them to appear. If you download frames from a video camera, Photoshop Elements gives you several options for naming them in sequence, which can make this task a lot easier.

Step 2.

Open a new file, sizing it to the dimensions you want your final animation to be, then drag the individual frames, in order, into the new file. A new layer is created with each image you add to the file. The first frame of your animation will become Layer 1, the second frame will become Layer 2, and so on.

Step 3.

With your new layered file still open, choose File > Save for Web to open the Save For Web dialog box. The dialog box opens, with a preview of a sample frame of your animation, and displays according to the optimization settings you choose in the dialog box. Select a GIF setting, then click to select the Animate check box. Photoshop Elements automatically optimizes all the frames of your animation. You can then click the controls at the bottom of the window to preview and set timing and looping options before you click OK to complete your animation.

You can also create animation from a still image by duplicating the image and placing the copies onto a series of layers. By slightly shifting the position of each layer either horizontally or vertically, the saved animation will create the illusion of a camera panning through your photograph.

Compositing Images

When you combine multiple images together to create a totally new image, that's called compositing. With the help of Photoshop Elements' flexible selection tools and powerful Layers palette, you can combine almost any number of images together to create fun effects.

Step 1.

Open all the images that you want to include in your new composite image.

Step 2.

Use the selection and eraser tools to clean up and remove portions of your images that you don't need.

Step 3.

Begin your composite by copying and pasting the first file into the background file.

Step 4.

Continue to add other image elements until you're satisfied with your composition. Add Layer styles to enhance the image, if appropriate. In this example, I applied the Low Drop Shadow to the boy so that his hands and arm cast a subtle shadow on the planet he's holding.



Photoshop Elements 4 for Windows. Visual QuickStart Guide
Photoshop Elements 4 for Windows (Visual Quickstart Guide)
ISBN: 0321423356
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 178

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