Jay Arraich’s
Photoshop Elements Tips

Photoshop Elements is the new program Adobe® has created to replace Photoshop Limited Edition (Photoshop LE). It retails for $99.00, and usually can be found for much less at Amazon.

Elements version 2 is now out (August, 2002). It has many good new features and quite a few improvements to the old ones.

Update: The Advanced Elements CD-ROM can now be purchased and shipped to the following countries: England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Austria, Finland, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Australia, and New Zealand.

For Elements book recommendations see the top section of the Photoshop Books page.

Elements Basics

Get a broad overview of the tools, palettes and menus, and an introduction to the location of important features.
Go to ‘Elements Basics’

How Do I …?

This is a text-only page of answers to commonly asked questions about simple editing techniques.
Go to‘How Do I …?’

Gotcha

Pre-Beginner

(Elements 2) For those of you who are true beginners not only to Elements, but to all things computer, here is an attempt at a kinder, gentler introduction to Elements 2.
Go to ‘Pre-Beginner’

Pre-Beginner II

Reference: Elements 2  Tools

Find information on every tool in the Photoshop Elements 2 toolbox. Extensive screen shots, with descriptions of features, dialog boxes, options, and shortcuts. Explanations of how each tool works, or why it won’t work.
Go to ‘Elements 2 Tools’

If you are still using Elements 1, the main toolbar page is still up so you can see a familiar layout.
Go to Elements 1 Tools

Keyboard Shortcuts

Reference: Elements 2 Palettes

Detailed information on all the features of all of the Photoshop Elements 2 palettes. Screen shots of each of the palettes, buttons, dialog boxes, and menus along with explanations of how to use them
Go to ‘Reference: Elements 2 Palettes’

If you’re still using Elements 1, the main Palettes index is still up.
Go to Elements 1 Palettes

Why Layers?

Learn the value of using multiple layers while editing your images. The fundamental rule of digital image manipulation is never touch the original; always work on a new, separate layer. Also included is a lot of basic information on using tools and palettes.
Go to ‘Why Layers?’

Holes

If you want to have one picture showing through an opening in another picture, or you want to fill your type or any other shape with an image, here’s how.
Go to ‘Holes’

Fade In

Playing With Styles

Learn how to use layer style combinations to create fast and easy frames for you images. The techniques shown will also work on buttons and other Web interface ingredients. Also learn how to save styles.
Go to ‘Playing With Styles.’

Learning Effects

By looking closely at all the steps that go into creating the effects found in the Effects Browser you can learn a great deal about how to use Elements creatively. This is an easy and fun way to learn a lot, fast.
Go to ‘Learning Effects.’

Redeye Removal

This is one of the most commonly asked “How do I…?” questions. The redeye brush in Elements should have been the answer, but it doesn’t work very well. Here are two good techniques for removing redeye.
Go to ‘Redeye Removal.’

Artistic Filtering

If you use this simple technique to isolate and accentuate important details in your photographs, you can get much better results when applying filters to pictures of people.
Go to ‘Artistic Filtering.’

Symmetrical Flowers

This is a ridiculously simple technique that is tons of fun and which gives very interesting results. It’s how the “Photoshop Flowers” in my Free Photos section were made.
Go to ‘Symmetrical Flowers.’

Simulated Alpha Channels

If you don’t know what an alpha channel is, don’t worry. This tutorial will teach you is how to select very complicated objects without using the annoying lasso or magic wand tools. It will also show you how to save your selection outlines so you can use them over and over again.
Go to ‘Simulated Alpha Channels.’

Layer Masks

This is a continuation of the tutorial, above. Be sure and read through that one, first. This lesson will show you how to insert objects from one image into another image using (real, not simulated) layer masks.
Go to ‘Layer Masks.’

Multilayer Masks

If you would like to apply one layer mask to multiple layers, here’s how. This is a very simple technique.
Go to ‘Multilayer Masks.’

Displacing Textures

If you’d like to cause a texture to wrap around the edges of a shape, here’s how. This effect is useful for imitating wood engraving, stone etching, or water reflections.
Go to ‘Displacing Textures.’

Advanced Elements

For those of you who are ready for more challenging techniques, and who wish to make quality digital art, I have made an electronic book accompanied by Quicktime screen capture movies. Now for sale using a PayPal button.
Find out more about ‘Advanced Elements.’

Translation

Photoshop Tutorials

Abstract Background
Multicolor Fill
Dodge and Burn
Make a Frame
Selections
How Much?
3D Wireframe Text
Combining Images
Rubberstamping (clone tool use)
Sharpening (unsharp mask)
Filters (examples of 75 filters)
Homemade Letterhead
Tutorial Links (other sites on the Web)
Doodling (for fun)

Zipped PDF Files

Many of the tutorials on this site are available as zipped pdf files. Links for downloading these files can be found at the bottom of the last page of the given tutorial. Note that most, but not all, tutorials have a pdf version.

If you wish to download any of the zipped pdf files found on this site, you will need to have an “unzipping” program installed on your computer. If your operating system is Windows XP, you have a built in unzipping feature. Simply download the file and navigate to where you saved it using Windows Explorer, then double-click it. A new window will open showing what the zip file contains. On the top left side of the screen, you should see a box called Folder Tasks. In that you'll see an option, Extract all files. Click on that to unzip the file. Or you can use File > Extract All.
     If you are using an earlier operating system and don’t have an unzipping application, go to either Winzip and download the free evaluation version of WinZip, or to Aladdin and get their StuffIt Expander, which is free.

Once you have WinZip installed, you simply double click on the file which you have downloaded from my site (the zipped pdf file), and you will be asked where you want the file to be unzipped to (it will put the pdf where you say, or will create a folder for you). That’s all there is to it. The pdf file will appear in the designated folder in about one nanosecond. Double-click the pdf file to have your Acrobat Reader open automatically.

To use Stuffit Expander, drag the zipped file onto the Expander and it automatically unzip the file. You'll find instructions on the Aladdin site when you download.

Please note, if you are using Windows XP, installing the zip apps, PowerZip or WinAce (not the same as WinZip or StuffIt) may cause you to lose the use of your Help files.

If you don’t have Acrobat Reader installed on your computer, you can find the Acrobat installer on your Elements or Photoshop installation disc.