Chapter 23. Using Basic Tools in Elements

Now we're getting into the real nitty-gritty business of working with Photoshop Elements. The ability to make selections and add extra layers to your page gives you some very powerful tools. Instead of making a change to the entire picture, you can work on pieces of it, segregating them, so that the rest is preserved as it was. There are also easy solutions for making the subject of the picture bigger, changing its orientation, getting rid of the junk at the edges, and generally improving the composition. Finally, there are some text tools that allow you to place text horizontally or vertically as well as stretch and distort it. You can even fill the letters with a picture, or cut them out of a picture, using the Type Mask tool. Let's start with the Selection tools.