How to Perfect Your Pictures in Photoshop Elements

Make the most of your digital images before sending them off to be printed or before publishing them online. A few quick tweaks can make an amazing difference in overall quality. Make a good picture a great one with Photoshop Elements 4.0.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Photoshop Elements editing software installed on your computer
• An image to practice on

Perfecting color

1. Open an image of your choice in Photoshop.
2. The first step to editing a picture is checking color. Photoshop Elements 4.0 has a command called "Auto Color Correction" under the "Enhance" menu. Try this, and see if the colors don't pop a little brighter.
3. After you've let the program automatically adjust color, try to improve it further by manually editing the hue and saturation. This option is found under the "Enhance" menu by clicking "Adjust Color" and selecting "Adjust Hue/Saturation." Slide the bar along the saturation line and watch as skin colors appear more rich. A good rule of thumb is to keep the saturation between 0 and 30 so it isn't overdone.

Minimizing blemishes

4. One of this program's coolest features is the Blur Filter. Try the smart blur if you want to minimize wrinkles, pimples or even out skin tones.
5. If there are stubborn blemishes that a blur filter won't correct, try the Spot Healing Brush located on the left toolbar. Simply click on the area in the picture that you want to correct, and it takes on the color and texture of the immediate surrounding area.
6. Another way to play down blemishes is to adjust the image's brightness or contrast. This is done under the "Enhance" menu. Click on "Adjust lighting" and then Brightness/Contrast.

Removing Unwanted Backgrounds

7. One option to removing an unwanted background or background element is to simply crop your picture. This can be done in Elements by selecting the crop tool on the left toolbar, clicking on the picture and dragging the box to select the portion of your image that you want to keep. When you release the mouse button, an arrow will appear for you to click. This crops the image down to only what you've selected.
8. Just as you can use the spot healer brush to correct blemishes, you can also use it to blend background imperfections. With enough practice, you can remove entire elements and leave a seamless transition.
9. Another way to remove unwanted background elements is to black out the entire background. This can be done by using the brush tool to manually color the background black (or whatever color you choose). Or, you can use the magic wand tool, also on the left toolbar, to select the foreground you want to keep, then reverse your selection and use the color adjustment options to remove the background color. Color adjustment options are found under the "Enhance" menu.