Publishers of technology books, eBooks, and videos for creative people

Home > Articles > Design > Adobe Photoshop Elements

This chapter is from the book

Adjusting images in Guided Edit mode

If you’re a newcomer to digital image editing, the Guided Edit mode is a great place to start. By letting Photoshop Elements step you through the process of improving your photos you’ll not only achieve impressive results quickly, but also learn a lot about image problems and solutions as you work. Even experienced users will enjoy the ease of working in Guided Edit mode—and may just pick up some new tricks.

For this exercise, you’ll work once again with the image of the old perfume bottles, which has an obvious color cast as a result of inadequate artificial lighting.

  1. Switch to the Organizer by clicking the Organizer button (organizer_button.jpg) in the Task bar. If necessary, click the arrow to the right of the Lesson 04 tag in the Keyword Tags panel to isolate the Lesson 4 images in the Media Browser.
  2. Locate the photo of the perfume bottles, DSC_2474.jpg, making sure not to confuse the original with the edited copies. Right-click / Control-click the image and choose Edit With Photoshop Elements Editor from the context menu.
  3. In the Editor, click Guided in the mode picker at the top of the Editor workspace to switch to Guided edit mode. Choose the Before & After - Horizontal view from the View menu at the left of the bar above the Edit pane. If the Photo Bin is open below the Edit pane, click the Photo Bin button (photo_bin_button.jpg) at the far left of the Task bar to hide it.

    In the Guided edit mode, the Zoom and Hand tools are the only items in the toolbar; everything you’ll need for a long list of image editing tasks—including the long list itself—can be found in the Guided Edits panel at the right.

  4. Scroll down in the Guided Edits panel, expanding the Touchups, Photo Effects, and Photo Play categories, if necessary, to see the all of the procedures and projects for which the Guided edit mode offers step-by-step assistance.

    In the Touchups category, you’ll find a comprehensive menu of all the most common image correction tasks, some of which involve several separate operations. The Photo Effects and Photo Play categories host an array of stylish photographic treatments and eye-catching special effects that will help you to introduce a little variety and creative flair in your image library, and to add atmosphere and sophisticated high-notes to your photo albums, prints, projects, and presentations.

  5. Click a few of the editing tasks listed in each of the three categories in the Guided Edits panel to see easy to follow steps and instructions and informative tips, presented together with any tools and controls that you’ll need for the procedure. Click cancel to exit each guided task and return to the list.

In the exercises to follow, we’ll concentrate on the Guided Touchups category; you’ll have some fun with the Photo Effects and Photo Play edits in Lesson 7.

Guided color and lighting corrections

You’re already familiar with the process of correcting a color cast by adjusting the white balance, so rather than looking at the Remove A Color Cast guided edit in the Touchups list, we’ll explore some other ways to manipulate a photo’s colors.

  1. Choose Enhance Colors from the Touchups category. Click twice on the Auto Fix button to correct the color and contrast; the photo improves dramatically. For photos with less extreme problems, a single click produces satisfactory results.

  2. In the Enhance Colors pane, drag the Hue slider to the left to set a value of -33.

    All the colors in the image are shifted along the spectrum: the red bottle becomes purple, the blue-green glass is warmed to yellow-green, the orange bottle turns red, and the violet-blue reflections in the clear glass are shifted to cyan.

  3. Set the Saturation value to 40, and the Lightness to 10. Click Done at the bottom of the Guided Edits panel. The new colors become more vibrant, but the overall contrast is still inadequate.

  4. Still in the Touchups category, click Lighten And Darken. Drag the Shadows slider to 33 to retrieve detail in the dark bottle caps and bases; then set the Midtones to 100 to increase contrast by shifting the tonal spread. Click Done.

  5. Choose Save As. Name the file DSC_2474_EC-LD (for Enhance Colors, Lighten And Darken) and save it to the My CIB Work folder with all the usual settings. In the JPEG Options, set the Quality to 10; then, click OK. Choose File > Close.

More guided solutions

Let’s try a few more of the guided touchups on a different image.

  1. In the Organizer, select the image DSC_0347.jpg; then, click the Editor button.

    Fluorescent back-lighting behind the translucent surface on which the bottles are standing has caused a combination of problems in this photo. The image not only has a dull, yellow-green color cast, but like many back-lit photos, it’s also underexposed—in auto-exposure mode, the camera has reduced the exposure in order to compensate for the brightness of the background.

  2. In the Guided Edits panel, choose the Remove A Color Cast adjustment from the Touchups category. Move the eyedropper cursor over the image and click on the translucent background between the bottles to reset the white point; then, click Done.
  3. Choose the Brightness And Contrast guided touchup in the Guided Edits panel. Click the Brightness And Contrast Auto Fix button, and then click Done.

  4. Click the Sharpen edit in the Touchups list. Drag the Zoom slider to 100%, or choose View > Actual Pixels; working at 1:1 zoom level will help you to avoid the image artifacts that can result from over-sharpening. Click the Auto Fix button in the Sharpen Photo pane. Click Done; then, choose Save As. Save the new file as DSC_0347_CC-BC.jpg, with all the usual settings, and then close it.

Peachpit Promotional Mailings & Special Offers

I would like to receive exclusive offers and hear about products from Peachpit and its family of brands. I can unsubscribe at any time.

Overview


Pearson Education, Inc., 221 River Street, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, (Pearson) presents this site to provide information about Peachpit products and services that can be purchased through this site.

This privacy notice provides an overview of our commitment to privacy and describes how we collect, protect, use and share personal information collected through this site. Please note that other Pearson websites and online products and services have their own separate privacy policies.

Collection and Use of Information


To conduct business and deliver products and services, Pearson collects and uses personal information in several ways in connection with this site, including:

Questions and Inquiries

For inquiries and questions, we collect the inquiry or question, together with name, contact details (email address, phone number and mailing address) and any other additional information voluntarily submitted to us through a Contact Us form or an email. We use this information to address the inquiry and respond to the question.

Online Store

For orders and purchases placed through our online store on this site, we collect order details, name, institution name and address (if applicable), email address, phone number, shipping and billing addresses, credit/debit card information, shipping options and any instructions. We use this information to complete transactions, fulfill orders, communicate with individuals placing orders or visiting the online store, and for related purposes.

Surveys

Pearson may offer opportunities to provide feedback or participate in surveys, including surveys evaluating Pearson products, services or sites. Participation is voluntary. Pearson collects information requested in the survey questions and uses the information to evaluate, support, maintain and improve products, services or sites; develop new products and services; conduct educational research; and for other purposes specified in the survey.

Contests and Drawings

Occasionally, we may sponsor a contest or drawing. Participation is optional. Pearson collects name, contact information and other information specified on the entry form for the contest or drawing to conduct the contest or drawing. Pearson may collect additional personal information from the winners of a contest or drawing in order to award the prize and for tax reporting purposes, as required by law.

Newsletters

If you have elected to receive email newsletters or promotional mailings and special offers but want to unsubscribe, simply email ask@peachpit.com.

Service Announcements

On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send users an email. Generally, users may not opt-out of these communications, though they can deactivate their account information. However, these communications are not promotional in nature.

Customer Service

We communicate with users on a regular basis to provide requested services and in regard to issues relating to their account we reply via email or phone in accordance with the users' wishes when a user submits their information through our Contact Us form.

Other Collection and Use of Information


Application and System Logs

Pearson automatically collects log data to help ensure the delivery, availability and security of this site. Log data may include technical information about how a user or visitor connected to this site, such as browser type, type of computer/device, operating system, internet service provider and IP address. We use this information for support purposes and to monitor the health of the site, identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents and appropriately scale computing resources.

Web Analytics

Pearson may use third party web trend analytical services, including Google Analytics, to collect visitor information, such as IP addresses, browser types, referring pages, pages visited and time spent on a particular site. While these analytical services collect and report information on an anonymous basis, they may use cookies to gather web trend information. The information gathered may enable Pearson (but not the third party web trend services) to link information with application and system log data. Pearson uses this information for system administration and to identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents, appropriately scale computing resources and otherwise support and deliver this site and its services.

Cookies and Related Technologies

This site uses cookies and similar technologies to personalize content, measure traffic patterns, control security, track use and access of information on this site, and provide interest-based messages and advertising. Users can manage and block the use of cookies through their browser. Disabling or blocking certain cookies may limit the functionality of this site.

Do Not Track

This site currently does not respond to Do Not Track signals.

Security


Pearson uses appropriate physical, administrative and technical security measures to protect personal information from unauthorized access, use and disclosure.

Children


This site is not directed to children under the age of 13.

Marketing


Pearson may send or direct marketing communications to users, provided that

  • Pearson will not use personal information collected or processed as a K-12 school service provider for the purpose of directed or targeted advertising.
  • Such marketing is consistent with applicable law and Pearson's legal obligations.
  • Pearson will not knowingly direct or send marketing communications to an individual who has expressed a preference not to receive marketing.
  • Where required by applicable law, express or implied consent to marketing exists and has not been withdrawn.

Pearson may provide personal information to a third party service provider on a restricted basis to provide marketing solely on behalf of Pearson or an affiliate or customer for whom Pearson is a service provider. Marketing preferences may be changed at any time.

Correcting/Updating Personal Information


If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as your postal address or email address), we provide a way to correct or update that user's personal data provided to us. This can be done on the Account page. If a user no longer desires our service and desires to delete his or her account, please contact us at customer-service@informit.com and we will process the deletion of a user's account.

Choice/Opt-out


Users can always make an informed choice as to whether they should proceed with certain services offered by Adobe Press. If you choose to remove yourself from our mailing list(s) simply visit the following page and uncheck any communication you no longer want to receive: www.peachpit.com/u.aspx.

Sale of Personal Information


Pearson does not rent or sell personal information in exchange for any payment of money.

While Pearson does not sell personal information, as defined in Nevada law, Nevada residents may email a request for no sale of their personal information to NevadaDesignatedRequest@pearson.com.

Supplemental Privacy Statement for California Residents


California residents should read our Supplemental privacy statement for California residents in conjunction with this Privacy Notice. The Supplemental privacy statement for California residents explains Pearson's commitment to comply with California law and applies to personal information of California residents collected in connection with this site and the Services.

Sharing and Disclosure


Pearson may disclose personal information, as follows:

  • As required by law.
  • With the consent of the individual (or their parent, if the individual is a minor)
  • In response to a subpoena, court order or legal process, to the extent permitted or required by law
  • To protect the security and safety of individuals, data, assets and systems, consistent with applicable law
  • In connection the sale, joint venture or other transfer of some or all of its company or assets, subject to the provisions of this Privacy Notice
  • To investigate or address actual or suspected fraud or other illegal activities
  • To exercise its legal rights, including enforcement of the Terms of Use for this site or another contract
  • To affiliated Pearson companies and other companies and organizations who perform work for Pearson and are obligated to protect the privacy of personal information consistent with this Privacy Notice
  • To a school, organization, company or government agency, where Pearson collects or processes the personal information in a school setting or on behalf of such organization, company or government agency.

Links


This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects Personal Information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this web site.

Requests and Contact


Please contact us about this Privacy Notice or if you have any requests or questions relating to the privacy of your personal information.

Changes to this Privacy Notice


We may revise this Privacy Notice through an updated posting. We will identify the effective date of the revision in the posting. Often, updates are made to provide greater clarity or to comply with changes in regulatory requirements. If the updates involve material changes to the collection, protection, use or disclosure of Personal Information, Pearson will provide notice of the change through a conspicuous notice on this site or other appropriate way. Continued use of the site after the effective date of a posted revision evidences acceptance. Please contact us if you have questions or concerns about the Privacy Notice or any objection to any revisions.

Last Update: November 17, 2020