Philip Andrews - Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 a visual introduction to digital photography

Focal Press is an imprint of Elsevier

Linacre House, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX2 8DP, UK

30 Corporate Drive, Suite 400, Burlington, MA 01803, USA

First edition 2009

Copyright 2009, Philip Andrews. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

The right of Philip Andrews to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publisher

, and selecting Obtaining permission to use Elsevier material

Notice

No responsibility is assumed by the publisher for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions or ideas contained in the material herein.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress

ISBN: 978-0-240-52157-2

For information on all Focal Press publications visit our website at www.focalpress.com

Printed and bound in Canada

Layout and design by Karen and Philip Andrews in Adobe InDesign CS3

Picture credits

With thanks to the great guys at www.ablestock.com for their generous support in supplying the cover picture and the tutorial images for this text. Copyright 2008 Hamera and its licensors. All rights reserved. All other images and illustrations by Karen and Philip Andrews 2008. All rights reserved.

08 09 10 11 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

In the mid-1980s a group of professional photographers, including myself, were invited to attend an early demonstration of the Quantel Graphics Paintbox system in action at a digital retouching house in Covent Garden, London. We all sat spellbound as we saw our scanned images instantly transformed by the magic of this new computer system. This was my first glimpse of the future of photography in a digital age. From that day forward I always wanted to have my own computer retouching system and take control of the magic pen myself. However, I was soon brought back down to earth when I was told how much one of these systems would cost. Back in those days digital retouching services were the preserve of an elite number of businesses such as advertising agency clients, as these were the only people who could afford to pay the equivalent of a good week's salary for an hour of electronic retouching time.

A few years later, Photoshop made its first appearance an image-editing program that was designed to run on a desktop computer. From these humble beginnings Adobe Photoshop has grown to become the leading image-editing computer program used by graphic designers, artists, web designers and photographers from all around the world. Millions of people are now able to scan, capture and retouch their own photographs on desktop computers both at home and at work in fact, I have heard all sorts of people from the bank manager to my hairdresser describe the amazing things they have been able to do to their pictures using a computer.

Whenever I present seminars on Photoshop techniques, I am always pleased to note the mixed age range and makeup of the audiences who attend these events. Digital image editing has been truly democratized now that everyone can afford to play. I use the word play deliberately, because even after all the years I have been using Photoshop, I still get a buzz whenever I am sitting at the computer transforming my pictures.

Photoshop Elements is essentially a cut-down version of Photoshop, yet it contains nearly all the image manipulation power of the parent program, but in an easy-to-use interface. Although Adobe have limited the range of some of the more advanced Photoshop features and functions, they have included a host of cool features such as the File Browser in the Organizer workspace and the Photomerge feature. Adobe Photoshop Elements is therefore an exciting program in its own right, and is fun to use as well, but it is also a powerful tool, capable of handling a number of professional tasks.

Philip Andrews is a skilled and enthusiastic teacher and here he has produced a very well-written book that will help you, the reader, to quickly get to grips with all aspects of the program. The book is clearly illustrated throughout and you will find that Philip has thoughtfully included a number of practical tips on how to capture better photographs. On top of this, he shows you more than how to operate the program he also demonstrates how to use Photoshop Elements with examples of practical assignments. In my experience I have found that readers always find it much easier to understand a program when they are provided with project examples that have a logical purpose to them. Philip's book is in every respect refreshingly direct and easy to understand.

Whatever your interest, I am sure that you are going to get a lot of interesting use out of Photoshop Elements. Whether you are into manipulating photographs, wishing to build better websites or producing better looking prints, this book will help you to master all the necessary tools contained in the program.

The learning curve has just got shallower!

www.martinevening.com, www.photoshopforphotographers.com

Here at Adobe, we believe that we make great software but, just as a car manufacturer would never consider publishing a street index, we rely on gifted authors to provide our users with directions and guidelines on how to make the most of our products.

This task is not a simple one. It requires a good understanding of the product, the digital imaging environment and, most of all, the user. Philip Andrews is unique in that he is an author who possesses all these qualities. He has an ongoing professional photographic practice, lectures at universities and colleges, holds a position as an Adobe Ambassador in Australia and has authored over 400 articles and 34 books worldwide.

With these credentials you would imagine that his texts are informative but a little stuffy and academic not true! In this, the seventh edition of his best selling Photoshop Elements book, he again uses a very comfortable and easy-to-understand style that leads the reader carefully through the basics and then onto the more advanced techniques needed to edit and enhance their digital images. He not only provides must have information about Photoshop Elements and how to use it, but also introduces the reader to important general digital concepts that puts the package firmly in the context of current imaging technology.

The book is dotted with great illustrations and pictures and, via the video tutorial and resources download section of the associated website, readers have the opportunity to follow the step-by-step techniques using many of these same images that are featured in the text. In addition, the chapter dealing with putting Theory into Practice shows how you can use Photoshop Elements to enhance your digital photography projects in the context of a real life application.