How to Use the Adobe Photoshop Elements Quick Fix Mode

Adobe Photoshop Elements is a photo-editing software program offering multiple tools to fix flaws in digital or scanned photos. These tips apply to Photoshop Elements 3.0. There are two workspaces for editing your photos: "Standard Edit" and "Quick Fix." Quick Fix offers many of the basic photo fixing tools in Photoshop Elements and lets you make lighting and color adjustments with just one click.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Select the photo that you want to retouch in the "Photo Browser." Click on the camera icon and choose the photo's location from the drop-down menu. Click the "Edit" button and choose "Go To Quick Fix." With your photo open in "The Editor," click the "Quick Fix" button.

2. Use the Quick Fix tools to zoom, move or crop your photo or to fix red eyes. These tools work the same way in Quick Fix and Standard Edit. The Zoom tool sets the magnification of the preview image. The Hand tool moves the image around in the preview window if the entire image isn't visible.

3. Use the Crop tool to remove unwanted parts of an image. Drag with the tool across the image to select the part you want to keep, and then press "Enter" to delete the unwanted sections. The Red Eye tool removes the red eye reflection in flash photos of people and the green or white eye in pets. Drag the tool around an eye you want to fix.

4. Use "Smart Fix" to adjust lighting and color. Smart Fix corrects overall color balance and improves shadow and highlight detail. The slider allows you to vary the amount of adjustment. To apply this command, click the "Auto" button.

5. Make adjustments in "Levels" by adjusting the overall contrast of an image; in "Contrast" you can adjust the overall contrast of an image without affecting its color; in "Color," adjust the contrast, color and neutralizing midtones. Click the "Auto" button to apply these commands.

6. Try "Lighten Shadows." Drag the slider to lighten the darkest areas of your photo without affecting the highlights. Use "Darken Highlights" by dragging the slider to darken the lightest areas of your photo without affecting the shadows, and use "Midtone Contrast" to adjust the contrast in the middle tonal values.

7. Experiment with other Quick Fix options such as "Saturation," which makes colors more vivid or muted; "Hue," which shifts all colors in an image; "Temperature," which makes colors warmer by adding red or cooler by adding blue; "Tint," which adds more green or magenta; and "Auto Sharpen," which sharpens your photo. Sharpening is the last "fix" you should use on your photo.

Tips & Warnings

• Try another way to open a photo for retouching while preserving a copy of the original: go to the photo on your hard drive, right click on the photo, click "Copy," go to the white space next to the photo, then click on "Paste." Right click on the photo's copy, click on "Open With" and select Adobe Photoshop Elements.

[Horsejudge]

on 12/4/2008 Does Anyone know how to Delete a photo from Adobe Photoshop Album Starter Edition 3.0