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This is the “Move Tool” and it does just that.
Always click on this tool when you want to move something
around or resize it. When this tool is selected, a box will
appear around your layer. The options for this are “Auto
Select Layer,” which if this is on, whatever you click on will
be automatically selected and “Show Bounding Box,” which if
this is turned off, you won’t see the resizing box when you
have the move tool selected. |
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This is the “Zoom Tool.” When it is selected, you can
click and drag a box around any part of your layout and it
will zoom in. Main options include zooming and zooming out and
what percentage you’d like to zoom in or out. |
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The “Hand Tool” allows you to simply move your layers
around. |
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The “Eyedropper” tool is my favorite. This is what you
would use if you want to match elements or backgrounds to your
photos. You can use this tool to pick up any color that you
want to use. The sample size tells the dropper how large you
want your sample to be. If you are pulling color from a large
area, you can use a larger sample size, but if the color you
want is only a small area, use the Point Sample option. |
| Selecting Tools: |
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The “Marquee” tool is used to make selections. You can use
it to draw a shape and then fill it with color or if you want
to move around just a part of your layer. When selecting
something with the marquee tool, if you leave the tool
selected, you will only move around the shape you just drew.
If you chose the Move Tool after you make your selection, that
part of the selected layer will move with you. Options include
rectangle or oval and feathering amount (this will blur the
edges of your selection the amount of pixels you choose). To
add another selection, hold down the shift key while
selecting, to subtract, hold down the Alt key. |
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The “Lasso” tool is another way to make selections, but
allows you to be more precise. There are different options to
use, depending on how detailed you want your selection to be.
The first one, “Lasso” allows you to make a selection
freehand. The “Magnetic” lasso is very handy when extraction
things from photos. As you hold your mouse down and “draw”
around an object, it will cling to the object. This only works
well if the object is a different color from the background.
The lasso clings to similar colors, so it can get a bit
frustrating. The last option, “Polygonal” will create straight
lines, so you can use this to make shapes with straight sides.
You can also choose the feathering amount with the Lasso
tool. |
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The “Magic Wand” is used to select certain parts of a
photo or item that are similar in color. For instance, if you
have a subject wearing a yellow shirt and you want to change
the color of the shirt, you can use the Magic Wand to select
the shirt and all the yellow area around it will become
selected. This tool isn’t always very precise because it picks
up all colors that are similar. You can change the tolerance
to make it a bit more selective. |
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The “Selection Brush” will make selections using whatever
brush you choose. For example, you can choose a brush shaped
like a star and stamp it in a few places then hit Delete. All
areas that were selected by this brush will be deleted.
Options include brush shape and size. |
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This is the “Type” or “Text” tool. When selected, click
where you want your text to be and start typing. Common
options allow you to choose vertical or horizontal text, font
style, size, format (left aligned, centered or right aligned),
color and if you want a style such as a drop shadow applied.
Other options include “Type Masks” which will make selections
in the shape of the font you choose and set the leading allows
you to choose the spacing between lines of text. |
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This is the “Crop” tool which allows you to crop a photo
in a square or rectangular shape. Options allow you to set the
size before cropping. |
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The “Cookie Cutter” tool allows you to crop a photo into a
shape. There are lots of Custom Shapes that come with
Photoshop Elements. You can also set the feathering on these.
This is great for cutting out heart shaped photos or any other
shape you like. |
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This is the “Red Eye” correction tool and it
quickly and easily corrects red eye in photos. Simply drag the
rectangle around the eyes and red eye is gone! |
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The “Healing” tool is great for touching up
photos. The “Spot Healing” tool will fix tiny spots like
blemishes on faces. The regular “Healing” tool can fix larger
areas but you’ll have to choose an area for it to copy first.
Hold down Alt and click a similar area. The tool will use this
area as a color guide when fixing problems. You can choose
brush sizes and whether you want a pattern in the spots that
you heal. |
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The “Stamp” tool has two different options. The
“Clone Stamp” can also be used for fixing photos. It will copy
an area that you select to any other area that you click on.
For example, if you have a photo of the sky and there’s a
telephone pole in it, you hold ALT and click on an area of the
sky, then click on the telephone pole and a portion of the sky
will cover up the pole. The “Pattern Stamp” allows you to draw
using a pattern of your choosing. |
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Drawing and Painting: |
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The “Pencil” is just a drawing tool and works the same as
the “Brush”. Options include size and opacity. You can also
use different Brushes to get different shapes. |
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The “Eraser” is just that, an eraser. It will
erase the selected layer that you are working on and also uses
Brushes so you can erase in different shapes and patterns. The
“Magic Eraser” will erase whole portions of the same or
similar color area with one click. |
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The “Brush” tool is used for drawing or
painting. You can uses brushes of any shape and size and can
download all kinds off of the Internet to get shabby or grungy
effects. The “Impressionist” brush blurs things to give them a
painted look. The “Color Replacement” brush will color over
areas of a photo, but leave the details showing. This is
really cool for changing the colors of clothes or hair. You
can paint right over the original hair and still see the hair
underneath! |
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The “Paint Bucket” is used to fill large areas
with color. You can choose foreground color (on top) or
pattern. You can also set the opacity and tolerance. Tolerance
will tell the tool just how similar in color areas should be. |
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The “Gradient” tool works just like the Paint
Bucket, but it will fill an area with a gradient. Options
include type of gradient, shape of gradient and
opacity. |
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This is the “Custom Shape” tool and it may look
different depending on what its set on. It may be a rectangle
or a circular shape. Custom Shapes can also be downloaded from
the Internet and work much like the Cookie Cutter, except it
won’t crop. A shape will be drawn in the color selected. Once
you draw your shape, click “Simplify” to get rid of the border
around it. Custom Shape options include all kinds of different
shapes including fun things like hearts, arrows and frames.
Experiment with all the different options. |
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This is the “Blur,” “Sharpen,” or “Smudge,” tool
depending on the setting. Each of them does exactly what they
say to photos or other areas clicked on. You can also use
Brushes with these tools. |
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This is the “Sponge,” “Dodge,” or “Burn” tool.
The Sponge tool will either desaturate or saturate and area
with color. This means the color will be dulled or
intensified. The Dodge tool lightens areas to create a
highlighted area. This is good for giving dimension to
elements because it looks like an area of reflected light. The
Burn tool is the opposite of Dodge, it will darken areas,
creating shadows. You can also use brushes with these and
there are lots of options to experiment
with. |
