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Photoshop Elements

Photoshop Elements

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  1. Photoshop Elements User Guide
  2. Introduction to Photoshop Elements
    1. What's new in Photoshop Elements
    2. System requirements | Photoshop Elements
    3. Workspace basics
    4. Guided mode
    5. Making photo projects
  3. Workspace and environment
    1. Get to know the Home screen
    2. Workspace basics
    3. Preferences
    4. Tools
    5. Panels and bins
    6. Open files
    7. Rulers, grids, and guides
    8. Enhanced Quick Mode
    9. File information
    10. Presets and libraries
    11. Multitouch support
    12. Scratch disks, plug-ins, and application updates
    13. Undo, redo, and cancel actions
    14. Viewing images
  4. Fixing and enhancing photos
    1. Resize images
    2. Cropping
    3. Process camera raw image files
    4. Add blur, replace colors, and clone image areas
    5. Adjust shadows and light
    6. Retouch and correct photos
    7. Sharpen photos
    8. Transforming
    9. Auto Smart Tone
    10. Recomposing
    11. Using actions to process photos
    12. Photomerge Compose
    13. Create a panorama
    14. Moving Overlays
    15. Moving Elements
  5. Adding shapes and text
    1. Add text
    2. Edit text
    3. Create shapes
    4. Editing shapes
    5. Painting overview
    6. Painting tools
    7. Set up brushes
    8. Patterns
    9. Fills and strokes
    10. Gradients
    11. Work with Asian type
  6. Quick Actions
  7. Guided edits, effects, and filters
    1. Guided mode
    2. Filters
    3. Guided mode Photomerge edits
    4. Guided mode Basic edits
    5. Adjustment filters
    6. Effects
    7. Guided mode Fun edits
    8. Guided mode Special edits
    9. Artistic filters
    10. Guided mode Color edits
    11. Guided mode Black & White edits
    12. Blur filters
    13. Brush Stroke filters
    14. Distort filters
    15. Other filters
    16. Noise filters
    17. Render filters
    18. Sketch filters
    19. Stylize filters
    20. Texture filters
    21. Pixelate filters
  8. Working with colors
    1. Understanding color
    2. Set up color management
    3. Color and tonal correction basics
    4. Choose colors
    5. Adjust color, saturation, and hue
    6. Fix color casts
    7. Using image modes and color tables
    8. Color and camera raw
  9. Working with selections
    1. Make selections in Photoshop Elements
    2. Saving selections
    3. Modifying selections
    4. Move and copy selections
    5. Edit and refine selections
    6. Smooth selection edges with anti-aliasing and feathering
  10. Working with layers
    1. Create layers
    2. Edit layers
    3. Copy and arrange layers
    4. Adjustment and fill layers
    5. Clipping masks
    6. Layer masks
    7. Layer styles
    8. Opacity and blending modes
  11. Creating photo projects
    1. Project basics
    2. Making photo projects
    3. Editing photo projects
    4. Creating Photo Reels
  12. Saving, printing, and sharing photos
    1. Save images
    2. Printing photos
    3. Share photos online
    4. Optimizing images
    5. Optimizing images for the JPEG format
    6. Dithering in web images
    7. Guided Edits - Share panel
    8. Previewing web images
    9. Use transparency and mattes
    10. Optimizing images for the GIF or PNG-8 format
    11. Optimizing images for the PNG-24 format
  13. Keyboard shortcuts
    1. Keys for selecting tools
    2. Keys for selecting and moving objects
    3. Keys for the Layers panel
    4. Keys for showing or hiding panels (expert mode)
    5. Keys for painting and brushes
    6. Keys for using text
    7. Keys for the Liquify filter
    8. Keys for transforming selections
    9. Keys for the Color Swatches panel
    10. Keys for the Camera Raw dialog box
    11. Keys for the Filter Gallery
    12. Keys for using blending modes
    13. Keys for viewing images (expertmode)

Adjust facial features

The Adjust Facial Features workflow uses face-aware technology to identify and adjust facial characteristics of people in a photograph. You can take a portrait picture and adjust facial features like the jaw, nose, lips, and eyes by using simple sliders to increase or decrease an effect.

  1. Open a photo in Photoshop Elements.

    Note:

    For Adjust Facial Features to work well, ensure that there are one or more faces in the photograph that you are using.

  2. Click Enhance > Adjust Facial Features.

  3. In the Adjust Facial Features dialog, you will notice that the face of the person is marked with a circular highlighter to indicate that the face-aware feature has found a face in the picture.

    Note:

    More than one face in the picture? If there are more than one faces in the picture, there will be multiple circular highlighters indicating where Photoshop Elements was able to detect faces. Click a ring or a face to adjust the features of that face.  

    Adjust facial features
    Select a face and adjust the facial characteristics of a person

  4. For a selected face, you can adjust the following features using the available sliders:

    Feature

    Characteristics  

    Lips

    Smile, Height, Width, Upper lip, Lower lip

    Eyes

    Height, Width, Size, Tilt, Distance

    Nose

    Height, Width

    Face Shape

    Width, Forehead height, Jawbone shape, Chin height

    Face Tilt

    Angle, Left-Right, Up-Down
    Note:
    • Face Tilt is introduced in Photoshop Elements 2021.
    • Click the Before/After toggle button to review the changes caused by moving the sliders left or right.
    Adjust facial features
    Move the sliders to make effect changes on the face.

  5. (Optional) To reset edits to a particular characteristic, double-click the slider. Modifications for that characteristic are canceled.  

  6. Do one of the following:

    • To cancel the set of modifications you have made to facial features, click Reset.
    • To apply the modifications made to the facial features, click OK.

Precisely remove red eye

Red eye is a common issue that occurs when your photo subject's retina is illuminated by your camera's flash. You’ll see it more often when taking pictures in a darkened room because the subject’s iris is wide open. To avoid red eye, use the camera’s red-eye reduction feature, if available.

Note:

To automatically fix red eye when you import photos into the Elements Organizer, select Automatically Fix Red Eyes in the Get Photos dialog box. You can also remove red eye from selected photos in the Photo Browser.

Correct red eye by selecting an eye (top) or clicking an eye (center).

  1. To manually fix red eye, select the Eye tool  in Quick or Expert mode. 

  2. In the Tool Options bar, set the Pupil Radius and Darken Amount.

  3. In the image, do one of the following:

    • Click a red area of an eye.
    • Draw a selection over the eye area.

    When you release the mouse button, the red is removed from the eyes.

    Note:

    You can also automatically fix red eye by clicking Auto Correct in the Eye tool options bar.

Remove the Pet Eye effect

The Eye tool enables you to remove the reddish glow in the eyes, due to reflection of light (resulting from low ambient light or the use of a flash). For animals, the eyes glow white, green, red, or yellow, and the often-used red-eye removal tools may not fix the effect correctly.

Golden retriever with the pet eye effect (left), and after applying the Pet Eye tool (right)

To fix the Pet Eye effect:

  1. In the Quick or Expert mode, select the Eye Tool.

  2. In the Tool Options bar, select the Pet Eye check box.

  3. Do one of the following:

    • Draw a rectangle around the eye region.
    • Click on the eye in the picture.
    Note:

    When you select the Pet Eye check box, the Auto Correct button is disabled.

Open closed eyes

Enhanced in Photoshop Elements 2019

The Open Closed Eyes feature lets you open closed eyes in your photos. You can open a person's eyes by using the eyes from another photo from your computer or the Elements Organizer catalog.

  1. Open a photo in Photoshop Elements.

  2. Do one of the following in the Quick or Expert mode:

    • Select the Eye  tool and then click the Open Closed Eyes button in the Tool Options bar. 
    • Select Enhance > Open Closed Eyes.

    In the Open Closed Eyes dialog, you can see that the face of the person is marked with a circular highlighter to indicate that the face is detected in the picture.

  3. (Optional) You are shown a few samples in the Try Sample Eyes list. You can choose a face that closely matches the main photo. Photoshop Elements uses the selected face to replace the closed eyes in the main photo.  

  4. Do one of the following:

    • Click Computer to select a source photo from your computer.
    • Click Organizer to select a source photo from the Elements Organizer.
    • Click Photo Bin to select a source photo from the currently opened files.  
    Note:

    You can select multiple source photos if you want. Photoshop Elements uses faces from these source photos to replace the closed eyes in the main photo. You can experiment with different eye replacements to find the best results.

  5. Select a face in the main photo whose eyes need to be opened, and then click on any of the faces from the source photos. Try different faces to find the best results.

    Note:

    In case the source photo has a different skin tone, Photoshop Elements matches the skin tone around the eyes with the main photo.  

  6. (Optional) Click Before/After to compare the results with the original photo.

  7. (Optional) Click Reset if you don't like the results. You can use a different source photo to try and get better results.

  8. Click OK.

  9. Save the photo with the changes.

Move and reposition objects  

The Content-Aware Move tool allows you to select an object in your photograph and move the selection to a different location, or extend it.

The original photograph (left); the kite has been positioned closer to the ground (middle); the kite has been moved higher into the sky (right).

  1. Select the Content-Aware Move tool .

  2. Choose a mode to specify whether you want to move an object or create a copy of the object.

    Move

    Enables you to move objects to a different location in the image.  

    Extend

    Enables you to replicate the object multiple times.

  3. Choose the type of selection you want to make:

    New

    Drag your mouse around the object you want to move, or extend to create a new selection.

    Add

    Any selection you make adds to the previous selection.

    Subtract

    When you make a new selection over an existing selection, the overlapping portion is removed from the resulting selection.

    Intersect

    When you make a new selection over an existing selection, only the common area overlapping the new and old selection continues to be selected.

  4. Drag the mouse pointer ( ) over the image, select the object you want to move or extend.

    Drag the mouse around the object you want to select

  5. When you have made a selection, move the object to a new location. To do this, click and drag the object to a new location.

    The area where the selection is moved from is automatically filled, based on the image content surrounding the area.

  6. Transform your selection at the new location. Click one of the following options:

    • Rotate  Enables you to rotate your selection to a different angle in the image.
    • Scale  Enables you to adjust the size of your selection.
    • Skew  Enables you to change the perspective of your selection in the image.

  7. If the automatically-filled area does not appear correct, select the Sample All Layers check box and adjust the Healing slider.

Remove spots and unwanted objects

Photoshop Elements has several tools you can use to remove small flaws, such as spots or unwanted objects, from your images.

Remove spots and small imperfections

The Spot Healing Brush quickly removes blemishes and other imperfections from your photos. You can either click once on a blemish, or drag to smooth away imperfections in an area.

Easily remove spots or imperfections using the Spot Healing Brush tool.

  1. Select the Spot Healing Brush tool .

  2. Choose a brush size. A brush that is slightly larger than the area you want to fix works best so that you can cover the entire area with one click.

  3. Choose one of the following Type options in the Tool Options bar.

    Proximity Match

    Uses the pixels around the edge of the selection to find an image area to use as a patch for the selected area. If this option doesn’t provide a satisfactory fix, choose Edit > Undo, and try the Create Texture option.

    Create Texture

    Uses all the pixels in a selection to create a texture for fixing the area. If the texture doesn’t work, try dragging through the area a second time.

    Note:

    Click Sample All Layers to apply your change to all layers of the image.

  4. Click the area you want to fix in the image, or click and drag over a larger area.

Remove unwanted objects with content-aware healing

You can remove unwanted objects or figures from your photos without destroying the photos. Using the Content-Aware option with the Spot Healing Brush tool, you can remove selected objects from a photo. Photoshop Elements compares nearby image content to seamlessly fill the selection, realistically maintaining key details such as shadows and object edges.

Image before and after an unwanted object (the brush) is removed with content-aware fill.

To remove an unwanted object:

  1. Select the Spot Healing Brush tool .

  2. Select Content-Aware in the Tool Options bar.

  3. Paint over the object that you want to remove from the image.

Spot healing works best on small objects. If the image you're working on is large and has a large unwanted object, make sure that you work with high-end computer configuration. You can see the Photoshop Elements system requirements for the recommended computer configuration.

If you experience problems with large images, try the following approaches:

  • Draw smaller brush strokes at a time.
  • Downsample the image.
  • Increase the RAM allocated and relaunch the application.

Fix large imperfections

The Healing Brush fixes large areas of imperfection when you drag over them. You can remove objects from a uniform background, such as an object in a field of grass.

Before and after using Healing Brush.

  1. Select the Healing Brush tool .

  2. Choose a brush size from the Tool Options bar and set healing brush options:

    Mode

    Determines how the source or pattern blends with existing pixels. Normal mode lays new pixels over the original pixels. Replace mode preserves film grain and texture at the edges of the brush stroke.  

    Source

    Sets the source to use for repairing pixels. Sampled uses pixels from the current image. Pattern uses pixels from the pattern you specify in the Pattern panel.

    Aligned

    Samples pixels continuously without losing the current sampling point, even if you release the mouse button. Deselect Aligned to continue using the sampled pixels from the initial sampling point each time you stop and resume painting.

    Sample All Layers

    Choose Sample All Layers to sample data from the current layer, the current layer and below, or all visible layers.

  3. Position the pointer in any open image and press Alt (Option in Mac OS) click to sample data.
    Note:

    If you are sampling from one image and applying to another, both images must be in the same color mode unless one of the images is in Grayscale mode.

  4. Drag the image over the flaw to meld existing data with sampled data. The sampled pixels meld with the existing pixels each time you release the mouse button.
    Note:

    If there is a strong contrast at the edges of the area you want to heal, make a selection before you use the Healing Brush tool. Make the selection bigger than the area you want to heal but precisely follow the boundary of contrasting pixels. When you paint with the Healing Brush tool, the selection prevents colors from bleeding from the outside.

Correct camera distortion

The Correct Camera Distortion dialog box enables you to fix common lens distortion problems, like darkened edges due to lens faults or improper lens shading. For example, in a picture of the sky taken in low light, the corners of the image are darker than the center. Changing the vignette amount and midtone settings fixes the distortion.

Adjust distortions due to vertical or horizontal camera tilt by using the perspective controls. Rotate an image or fix image perspective to adjust distortions. The filter image grid for Correct Camera Distortion helps you make easy and accurate adjustments.

Correct camera distortion

  1. Choose Filter > Correct Camera Distortion.

  2. Select Preview check box.

  3. Set any of the following options to correct your image, and then click OK:

    Remove Distortion

    Corrects lens barrel or pincushion distortion. Type a number in the box, or move the slider to straighten horizontal and vertical lines that bend either away from or toward the center of the image.

    Vignette Amount

    Sets the amount of lightening or darkening along the edges of an image. Type a number in the box, or move the slider to gradually shade the image.

    Vignette Midpoint

    Specifies the width of area affected by the Amount slider. Move the slider, or type a lower number to affect more of the image. Type a higher number to restrict the effect to the edges of the image.

    Vertical Perspective

    Corrects image perspective caused by tilting the camera up or down. Type a number in the box or use the slider to make vertical lines in an image parallel.

    Horizontal Perspective

    Type a number in the box or use the slider to correct perspective by making horizontal lines in an image parallel.

    Angle

    Rotates the image to correct for camera tilt or to make adjustments after correcting perspective. Type a number in the box or drag the angle dial to rotate the image to the left (counterclockwise) or right (clockwise).

    Scale

    Adjusts the image scale up or down. The image pixel dimensions aren’t changed. Type a number in the box or use the slider to remove blank areas of the image caused by pincushion, rotation, or perspective corrections. Scaling up effectively results in cropping the image and interpolating up to the original pixel dimensions.

    Show Grid

    Shows the grid when selected. Hides the grid when deselected.

    Zoom

    Shows a closer view when you zoom in, and shows a more distant view when you zoom out.

    Color

    Specifies the grid color.

Automatically remove haze

Remove haze, fog, or smog from a photo

You can now remove the dampening effect that environmental or atmospheric conditions have on your pictures, particularly photos of landscapes. Using the Auto Haze Removal feature, you can reduce the masking effect that haze, fog, or smog creates.

To use the Auto Haze Removal feature:

  1. Open an picture in Photoshop Elements, in the Quick or Expert modes.
  2. With the image open, choose Enhance > Auto Haze Removal.

The image is processed and the effects of haze or fog are reduced. Repeat Step 2, to further process the photograph.

Note:

Auto Haze Removal works better on uncompressed/raw images.  

Manually remove haze

An alternative to automatic haze removal

A photograph taken under foggy conditions

Photograph treated with Haze Removal and additional exposure and contrast modifications

  1. Open an image in Photoshop Elements, in the Quick or Enhanced room.

  2. Choose Enhance > Haze Removal.

  3. Use the Haze Reduction and Sensitivity sliders to achieve the desired level of haze reduction. 

    Low levels of haze removal applied

    Haze removal applied until the picture is clearer

    Note:

    Remember that using too much of either of the sliders may result in an image with high levels of contrast or minor imperfections in the photograph getting magnified. Play with both sliders till you get the right result.

  4. Use the Before / After toggle button to see the effectiveness of the Haze Reduction feature on the photo.

  5. When done, click OK. To cancel Haze Removal edits to the image, click Cancel.

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