Photoshop Elements 8 For Dummies [Paperback]

Barbara Obermeier (Author), Ted Padova (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0470529679 | ISBN-13: 978-0470529676 | Publication Date: October 12, 2009 | Edition: 1

The perennial bestseller is updated and revised throughout for the latest release of Photoshop Elements 8

Richly illustrated in full color, this friendly, easy-to-understand guide provides all the essentials on the latest version of the affordable and popular image-editing program, Photoshop Elements. Get the scoop on using the latest digital imaging tools and techniques to correct color, brightness, and contrast; create postcards, slideshows, and movie files; apply artistic effects to your photos; fix flaws and even remove unwanted elements from your images; and so much more.

• Use the Organizer on a Windows PC or Adobe Bridge on a Mac to sort, find, tag, and catalog your photos
• Straighten crooked lines, crop for effect, or fix color, sharpness, red-eye, and contrast
• Move people or objects in and out of your pictures, change the background, combine multiple images, or replace one color with another
• Add effects with filters, get creative with type, or play with the drawing and painting tools
• Tag your photos using People Recognition or by geographical location
• Turn your photos into postcards, calendars, greeting cards, and photo books with a few simple clicks
• Import images into Elements from a variety of sources
• Upload and save images to Photoshop.com

Photoshop Elements 8 For Dummies  shows you how to make the most of Elements awesome image editing, organization, and photo sharing tools. Whether you’re concerned about color correction and clarity or just want a cool calendar of your kids for the wall, you’ll learn how to do it with this book!

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Repair, enhance, organize, and share your photos — it's never been easier!

Whether you're a brand-new digital photographer or you get paid to take pictures, Photoshop Elements has something for you — and so does this book. Learn the tools, commands, and workspaces; correct color, brightness, and contrast; create postcards, slide shows, and even movie files; give your photos the look of a fine-art painting, and so much more.

• Get organized — use the Organizer on a Windows PC or Adobe Bridge on a Mac to sort, find, tag, and catalog your photos

• Master simple makeovers — crop photos for better composition, straighten crooked images, remove red-eye, or adjust color

• Become a digital magician — move people or objects in and out of your pictures, change the background, combine multiple images, or replace one color with another

• Bring out your inner artist — discover how to add effects with filters, get creative with type, or play with the drawing and painting tools

• Share your work — turn your photos into postcards, calendars, greeting cards, and photo books with a few mouse clicks

Open the book and find:

• How to get images into Elements from a variety of sources

• Instructions for both Windows and Mac users

• Simple makeover tips to improve your images

• How to correct color, contrast, and clarity

• Steps for tagging your photos by geographic location

• Secrets for making and modifying selections

• Creative applications for layers, filters, effects, and styles

• How to upload and save images to Photoshop.com

About the Author

Barbara Obermeier is the principal of Obermeier Design, a graphic design studio in California specializing in print and Web design. She is currently a Graphic Design faculty member at Brooks Institute.

Ted Padova is an internationally recognized authority on Adobe Acrobat, PDF, and digital imaging.

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies; 1 edition (October 12, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470529679
• ISBN-13: 978-0470529676
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #73,110 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #36 in Books > Computers & Technology > Programming > Algorithms > Digital Image Processing
  • #84 in Books > Computers & Technology > Digital Photography & Video > Adobe Photoshop

More About the Author

Barbara Obermeier is the principal of Obermeier Design, a graphic design studio in California specializing in print and web design. She is currently a faculty member in the School of Design at Brooks Institute. She is the author of Photoshop CS5 All-in-One For Dummies and co-author of Photoshop Elements 9 for Dummies (Wiley). Barb has contributed as author or coauthor to over two dozen books on Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Illustrator, PowerPoint, and digital photography.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

66 of 71 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Look for for Something Else, February 12, 2010

By 

oldergeek (Georgia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Photoshop Elements 8 For Dummies (Paperback)

What's wrong here? Maybe it's me but the author does not appear to know Photoshop software. Or, maybe she knows about some other version of Photoshop and is just not good at describing the processes. I suspect a combination of all these. For my part, I admit to being a 'dummy' but I would have thought that the publisher's editing would have caught most of the obvious errors, omissions, and gramatical issues.

As the reader works through the book, he should be able to duplicate the process in the software that is being described in the text. How fustrating to find that some of the author's descriptions do not work. When I got to page 217, I decided to share some of the book's problems here. That particular section (2 pages) covers replacing one color with another. In Step 4, the author writes "Choose your Sampling method" from the icons. Whats wrong is that there are no icons in Photoshop 8 for this operation and, in general, the process really does not work as described.

OK, so that's one example. Here are just a few more: Page 102 shows an open context menu that does not exist in Photoshop 8. On pages 101 and 103, the author discusses opening the wrong menu. Page 99 discusses selecting several items that do not exist and introduces a screen location name (also on page 21) not previously introduced (what is it - where is it?). Page 73 includes a discussion of a tool that does not exist. The author covers the complex issue of bit-depth on page 41 and some special effect processes on page 57 - yet, she waits until page 74 to begin one of the most basic issues - getting your photos from a camera into the software. I suspect most readers stopped reading this book by page 42.

This book is really not ready to be published. It is arranged poorly, tries to cover both Windows and Macintosh (very different software), is unnecessarily complex in several areas, does not correctly describe several processes, and fails to deliver a clear guide to Photoshop Elements 8.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Really helped me get me up and running, February 4, 2010

By 

Gabriel Ross (Montreal, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Photoshop Elements 8 For Dummies (Paperback)

I really enjoyed this book. It doesn't deserve the 1-star reviews. Photoshop is a really complex piece of software and it does have a learning curve: you have to wrap your mind around certain concepts, give it time. I use it for making graphics on web design projects. I was using GRSites for that for a long time, lots of people seem to be, but you still have to learn Photoshop like the "pros", and this book really helped get me started. Give this book a try, you'll be glad you did!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Necessary addition to Adobe Premiere Elements 8, March 29, 2010

By 

Honest Abe "mad scientist" (CT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Photoshop Elements 8 For Dummies (Paperback)

This book is very useful, there are others that may be better, advertised on the Adobe support forum for the product, but I haven't read them. Most important is that forum!!!!

This is complicated, non-intuitive software (see my review) but with this book and the forum you can get results. If you are new to PCs, not a power user or have no patience, take a Yoga class first. Adobe Premiere Elements 8 is powerful, but painful. You can get excellent results if you are persistent, read the book and ask for help in the forum.

Competing products are not as powerful.