Photoshop Elements 14 – Tutorial for Beginners [COMPLETE]*
bhadra 0 Comments Photoshop
Let’s see how to use Adobe Photoshop Elements 14 in a short time! Leave us comments to improve our future guides. Photoshop Elements is a very powerful software used to correct and adjust your favorite photos and pictures. When you open the software, you can choose between three options below: Photo Editor, which is Photoshop Elements; Organizer, which is used to collect and manage your photos; and Video Editor, which is Premiere Elements.
Check out our guide if you want to know something more about Premiere Elements 14!! Photoshop Elements comes with four main different workspaces. eLive is an online portal used to get in touch with Adobe’s latest news and videos. The other three, from Quick to Expert, are used to correct and retouch your photos. Quick is the more basic and guided one, while Expert is more like Photoshop CC, able to manipulate photos. In this beginner tutorial we will see the first two. If you want to learn how to use the Expert workspace, check out the next video in this guide.
Let’s see the Quick workspace. First of all, import the photo you want to adjust. You can use Open in the top left corner, or you can simply drag your picture on the workspace. All photos imported will be collected at the bottom, in the Photo Bin panel. You can show and hide it clicking on Photo Bin at the bottom. In Photoshop Elements you can edit just one photo per time. Select the photo interested from the Photo Bin panel to open it in your workspace. At the bottom, you have other important tools. Undo and Redo are used to undo and redo actions done, in case you mistake. Use Rotate to rotate the picture by 90 degrees per time. If you click on Organizer, you will open Adobe Organizer.
To learn more about Adobe Organizer, check out our video in our channel. To check your photo, zoom in and out holding ALT down and using your mouse wheel. When the picture is big, and you want to check it all, just hold Space down and click and drag to pan. Let’s adjust the photo. You have two main ways to do so. You can use the Tools on the left and the Adjustments on the right. The Tools are used to apply quick and basic corrections on the photo. For example, you can use the Red Eye Removal Tool to remove red eyes, or Whiten Teeth to make teeth whiter. If you click on Tool Options at the bottom, you can adjust the settings of the current tool used.
Some of the tools listed can show a black corner when you hover them. In this case, you will find other similar related tools you can select from the Tool Options. In order to adjust the photo, you can start with the Tools. Use Straighten to rotate and allign the photo correctly. Then, you can use the Crop Tool to cut parts away from the picture. Just click and drag it to move and scale the cropping area through its black nodes. You can also rotate it by dragging from outside. Then just apply. In case you mistake, you can use the Undo button at the bottom. Spot Healing Brush is used to remove spots from the image. Just set the correct radius in Size, and click on the picture. The second tool included inside is the Healing Brush Tool. This is used to correct larger imperfections on the picture.
This tool simply pastes pixels of the image on other parts of the same image. Hold ALT down and pick a point on the picture. When you brush, you will simply paste the pixels of the image that are under the cross. If you want to add text, use the Type Tool. There are lots of text tools in Tool Options, in order to type horizontally, vertically, or even along a path. Just click and drag on your picture to define a text area. This will contain your text in full. Type inside and, if you need, adjust text settings from the Tool Options. This text will follow its box completely: if you move and rotate the text box its text inside follows.
Mind to make the text box enough big, or the text may spread badly. Plus, if you hold CTRL down while scaling the box, you will also scale its text content inside. When you finish, just apply. Besides the tools, you have the Adjustments on the right. These are used to correct and adjust the aspect and the colors of the picture, through ready templates you can select from the list. First of all, you should adjust lightness and contrast. You can use Smart Fix or, if you need more, you can use Exposure. Lighting is more advanced: here you can adjust the brightness of each part of the picture. Shadows are the darkest sides; Midtones are the colors in a mid light range and Highlights represents the most bright parts of the picture. Then, you may need to adjust the colors of the picture. Go to Color to adjust the color intensity under Saturation, the color itself through Hue, and fine all with Vibrance. You can also use Temperature and Tint inside Balance. Then, if your picture is a little blurry, you can use Sharpen to correct it. It is very useful to check how the picture is going on.
In the top left corner, you can change the View. Before is the latest saved picture, seen as the ”original” picture. Whereas After is the picture not yet saved, with all your modifications applied. You can show them at the same time to make good comparisons. If you need to apply adjustments just on parts of the picture, you can use the Selection Tools. The first tool collects the Selection Tools. With these, you can select parts of the picture, indicated with dashed contours. Then, if you apply Adjustments or Tools, those will be applied just on the selected part. To undo any selection, just use Escape key. You can also make selections with a text shape. Just use the Type Mask Tools inside the Text Tool.
In the bottom right corner, you have other nice options available. In Effects, you can apply ready photo effects on your picture. Just select one to apply it. Just use Undo below to return to your original picture if you need. You can also apply Textures for nice effects on your picture. To apply nice contours instead, go to Frames. This is all you can do with the Quick workspace. If you go to Guided on top, you can adjust your picture in a different way, through fully-guided steps for a more professional overall correction.
You have different sections on top, from Basics to Photomerge. And, below, choose the correction you need. Hover on them to check carefully the differences between the picture Before and After the correction. So, if you want to correct lighting, select Brightness and Contrast. If you want to crop, select Crop Photo. Once you select a correction, just follow each step explained on the right. At the bottom, use Next to apply or use Cancel to undo all. To adjust your picture, start with Basic to adjust rotation, allignment and to crop it. Use Brightness and Contrast, Lighten and Darken and Levels to adjust lightness. To adjust color, use Skin Tone and the corrections under Color. To adjust blurriness, use Sharpen under Basics. The other options lets you add many effects. Check them out! When you finish editing and correcting your picture, save and export it. To save it in your computer, just go to File and then to Save As…
Save it as .psd or .jpg. This will save your current picture opened only. If you go to Create in the top right corner, you can make Calendars, Collages, or Photo Books. If you go to Share, you can share the photo with any of your social sites.
Posted in Photoshop
