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Learning
Adobe
Photoshop
Elements 6
By Greg Bowden
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www.gct.com.au
© Greg Bowden
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Learning Photoshop Elements 6
Module 1 Contents
Photoshop Project 1
Module 2 Contents
Photoshop Project 2
1
Introduction to Photoshop and Layers
Adobe Photoshop Elements is an advanced photo editing and graphics program that
allows you to create or edit photo quality images. In this Chapter you will be introduced
to its screen and some of its basic features, such as Layers. Layers are a vital part of using
Photoshop and you need to develop an understanding of how to use them in order to
use Photoshop effectively.
NOTE: Setting the left box to START UP WITH EDITOR means that the
program will open immediately in the EDITOR screen. The
WINDOW menu can be used to reopen the WELCOME screen
when needed.
3 Display the FILE menu, highlight NEW and select BLANK FILE. You will be asked to
enter the required settings for the document.
7 The following diagram labels the sections of the FULL EDITOR screen.
Project Bin
NOTE: i The Project Bin displays thumbnails of the files that you
have open.
ii The Screen Tabs allow you to change the screen views
between EDIT, CREATE and SHARE modes. Each of these
modes have sub-tabs associated with them.
iii The Palette Bin displays palettes of tools and options. These
palettes can be opened from the WINDOW menu.
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Introduction to Photoshop and Layers 1
4 Click and hold on some of the other tools to see what extra tools they contain.
5 The letter displayed next to a tool when you click and hold on it is the keyboard
shortcut to select the tool. Try pressing some letters and the tool corresponding to
that letter should be selected.
6 Hold down the SHIFT key and press a letter. The tools within that tool group will be
toggled.
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Introduction to Photoshop and Layers 1
NOTE: You can use the vertical slider at the centre of the SELECT
FOREGROUND COLOUR dialogue box to select different colour
shades.
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Introduction to Photoshop and Layers 1
12 Display the FILE menu and select CLOSE to close the document. There is no need to
save it.
Layers
Layers are the building blocks of a Photoshop document so it is important that you
develop an understanding of them. Think of layers as transparent or filled sheets that can
be placed on top of one another. They allow you break a drawing up into small blocks
that can be worked on individually. To illustrate the use of LAYERS, a document with a
few layers will be opened from the PSE6 SUPPORT FILES.
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Introduction to Photoshop and Layers 1
C Layer Visibility
Layers can be turned off at any time and when this happens their contents are not seen
in the document.
D Locking Layers
Layers can be locked so that you don’t accidentally make changes to them.
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1 Let’s lock the BACKGROUND layer so that it cannot be adjusted.
4 Select the MOVE TOOL from the TOOLS palette and try to move the background.
You should not be able to do so.
E Naming Layers
It is good practice to name layers so that you know what their contents are. Let’s rename
the BACKGROUND layer.
F Deleting Layers
Layers can be deleted when they are no longer needed. Let’s delete one of the text
layers.
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4 Display the EDIT menu and select UNDO DELETE LAYER to return the layer and its
contents to the document. There is also an UNDO button at the top right of the
screen that can be used.
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H The Layer Order
The order of the layers in the LAYERS palette is very important. The image is at the back
of the drawing so it is the last (or bottom layer). If the image was at the top of the LAYERS
palette you would not be able to see any of the other objects. You can easily alter the
order of layers. It is called changing the LAYER STACKING ORDER.
I Layer Opacity
The OPACITY of a layer is how transparent it is. The default layer OPACITY is 100% (no
transparency) so the contents of the other layers cannot be seen through it. When you
reduce the OPACITY of a layer you start to see the contents of other layers through it.
Let’s reduce the OPACITY of the IMAGE layer so that the other layers can be seen.
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NOTE: You will use many more layer features as you progress through
these tutorials. For example, you can duplicate layers, add
masks to layers, insert different types of layers and so on.
Screen Views
You can zoom in or out of a document when more detailed work is required.
1 Display the VIEW menu and select ZOOM IN.
3 There are keyboard shortcuts to zoom in and out. On the Windows system hold
down the CTRL key and press + to zoom in and - to zoom out. On the Macintosh
system the COMMAND key is held down.
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NOTE: FIT ON SCREEN sets the zoom to a level so that the canvas fills
the available screen area.
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The Navigator Palette
The NAVIGATOR palette can be opened and docked into the PALETTE BIN. It can be
used to navigate around a zoomed document. You can even control the zoom from this
palette.
1 The screen should be zoomed. If it isn’t, press CTRL+ or COMMAND+ a few times to
zoom the view.
6 You can also adjust the screen magnification from the NAVIGATOR palette.
8 Display the WINDOW menu and select RESET PALETTE LOCATIONS to return to the
default Photoshop Elements screen.
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Photoshop Assignment 1
Your task for this Assignment is to create a simple sketch using some of the drawing tools
from the TOOLS palette. If you cannot think of anything to draw, the following sketch of
a racing car could be attempted.
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