Lessons
Class Introduction
02:57 2Understand How Elements Works
05:53 3Importing Images
11:31 4Workspace Basics: Organizer
14:47 5Workspace Basics: Editor
16:12 6Tonal Adjustments in Quick Fix
09:59 7Color Adjustments in Quick Fix
07:58 8Apply Black & White Filters
04:01Sharpen an Image
03:33 10Fix Red Eye & Pet Eye
03:05 11Straighten an Image in Quick Fix
03:01 12Explanation of Photoshop Elements
08:23 13Basic Cropping in Quick Fix
14:13 14Guided Edit Overview
02:46 15Guided Edit: Tilt Shift
04:07 16Ways to Save Files
14:37 17Layers & Simple Selections
20:47 18Combine Images with Layers
15:34 19How to Use Layer Styles
15:11 20Make Selections with Layers
11:05 21Make Selection with Lasso
10:43 22Compositing with Multiple Images
17:11 23Refine Edge Selection on Image
19:52 24Use Refine Edge on Images
12:40 25Create Gradient in Image
02:35 26Gradient Map Differences
42:38 27Options for Saving
11:40 28Brushes Overview
15:12 29Creatively Use Brushes
07:19 30How to Change Brush Settings
07:17 31Use Shape Tool with Brushes
08:22 32Work with Multiple Shape Layers
08:53 33Finish Image with Custom Shape Tool
03:21 34How to Load Brushes into Elements
04:59 35Add Layer Style to Image
04:46 36Clip Image to Shape & Use as Template
05:49 37Retouching Overview
04:11 38How to Use Content-Aware Fill
05:47 39How to Use Content-Aware Move Tool
09:38 40Spot Healing Brush on Blemishes
08:53 41Remove Frown Lines with Retouching
05:51 42How to Remove Tattoos
20:32 43Remove a Gap in Teeth
03:52 44How to Whiten Teeth
07:17 45Adjust Facial Features
03:29 46Working with Type Overview
23:17 47Match Type for Image
12:11 48How to Manipulate Type Layers
08:02 49Create Postcard with Type
16:08 50Add Type on a Path
16:59 51Organizing Images in Elements
16:03 52Add Keywords to Images
19:49 53Smart Tags Overview
07:51 54Using Albums in Elements
24:52 55Places Workspace Overview
06:20 56Use Event Tags on Images
04:56 57Timeline for Image Organization
02:45 58Recommended Workflow
07:26Lesson Info
How to Manipulate Type Layers
So we're gonna use the type tool again and this time I'm gonna click, we're gonna make a total of two type layers and I'm not gonna put them in boxes because we're just gonna write one word across the front of this image. And I'm separating the word because we're gonna write, refocus, and we're gonna use the lens that's here as the letter O in the word, refocus. So rather than hitting the space bar a bunch to create a gap for the O, we're just gonna split the word into two parts. So on the left, I'm just gonna click and I'm gonna write re. And I think we'll put this in all caps. So I'm gonna turn on my caps lock and write the word re, or the prefix I guess. We'll go ahead and commit that. And I happen to know what font I want to use so I'm gonna actually change that right now. We're gonna use again that phosphate, phosphate solid. Oh, the size is even already good so I think I'll just keep the size. So I've got that and now rather than create a new type layer, I'm just gonna grab my mo...
ve tool and I'm gonna hold down alt or option on my keyboard. So I'm holding alt or option with the move tool and as I just drag over, I'm dragging a copy. And if we look in the layers panel, we see that that's exactly what happened. So we just took this and duplicated it on the fly to get over here. Oh and you know what? Here is a real world example. The F should be on this side, obviously. So to get back in there, I'm gonna put my cursor in here, I press T to get the type tool and I put my cursor right where I need it and I'm gonna add the F. There we go. Now the second part over here, we need to change this type. So I need to enter my cursor into this type layer two so I'll press T to switch back to my type tool. I'll click to get inside the box or not the box, but just the layer. And now we'll spell out the rest of this. C-U-S, and I'll click the check mark to commit it and move it into place. This is a little bit too big now so I'm gonna resize both of these at the same time by shift clicking the other layer, the other type layer in the layers panel. So now that they're both selected, I can transform them together. So to do that, I'll press again, command or control T. Are you seeing how useful command or control T is? It's so handy. Use it just, I don't even know how many times a day. So I think something, I think something like that looks pretty good. When I'm happy with it, I'll press the check mark and I'm digging that. I think the size works and I think the spacing is working pretty nicely. I can nudge it as much as I want, just continue to fiddle with it using those arrow keys until I like it. All right, so now we've got these two type layers and I want to create another effect, but the effect is again, only going to run on pixels. So again, like the gaussium blur, it's only gonna work on pixels, not on type layers. So what we're gonna do is duplicate both of these layers. So I'll just select it and press command or control J and come down here. Command or control J. And then I'm gonna rearrange the layers in the layer panel so that the copies are side by side. It's not gonna change anything here. I'm just changing the stacking order. So nothing in the image will change because what I'm doing by just rearranging the layers panel, it's like the equivalent of if you make a sandwich and you put the bread on the bottom and then you put the bologna and the cheese, it's like just restacking it so you put the cheese and then the bologna. Okay, so it's not gonna affect the taste of your sandwich, for example. The same way that that's not gonna affect the image right here. So I've got the two copies side by side and I'm gonna select both of them and we're gonna rastrize them. So with them selected I can right click and say simplify. So they're both simplified and so that I don't have to blur them separately, I can blur them together, I'm gonna now merge those two layers. And again, because they're side by side, I can just right click and say merge layers and it will basically just melt those two separate layers into one. And in this case that's going to be a very handy thing. Sometimes you wanna separate layers, sometimes you wanna merge them together. So that's how you merge. Now that they're merged we can create the blur that I'm looking for. So that is gonna be under the filter menu. And we're gonna come down to again, blur, but this time we're going to add a radial blur is what we want. And we're going to change this. In the radial blur settings you have two choices for how you apply this blur. You can use a spin method or you can use a zoom method. And if I drag the amount slider to the right, you can see sort of an illustration of what's going to be happening. We're not gonna do it this extreme, but we could. The zoom method then, if I click on that, you get as the name implies, more of a zoom look. So we'll go ahead and do that. I'm gonna leave the amount set pretty low. And then you can adjust the quality down here, but honestly, I think we're fine to just leave it in the defaults. I'll go ahead and click okay. And it's gonna render that blur. And I think maybe that was, I don't know. We have to assess this and think, is that enough, not enough, too much? I don't know, let's hide the actual type layer to see. So you can see a little bit better what's happening. So because we used that zoom effect the inside of the type here, like the left side of the letter side is not as affected as the outside letters are gonna be. And that's just the nature of how this works. So you know, it's a little bit of trial and error. If you decide, if you run the filter once and you decide, I don't think I used quite enough, you can just press command or control Z to undo it and go back up to the filter blur, radial blur and then try it again with maybe a higher setting. Let's see how that's gonna affect it. In this case, I want it to be subtle, like I like that. I like how that looks. It's important though, that I'm keep this type layer turned on because if I hide the original type layer, that might be harder to read. Maybe in that case I'd say, I think we blurred it too much. So it's a lot of experimentation. Maybe I want the blur to be on top. Does it look any different when we drag it back? Not in this case, but in other cases it might. So you always wanna be aware of your layers panel and the stacking order because that can affect, affect your design as well. So there's another example of playing off the image with your text and adding a special effect.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase
Ratings and Reviews
Patricia
Just watching this class live. It's my first class with Khara; she is a wonderful teacher, moving at a steady speed but always being careful to let us know what she's doing in the moment. I would classify myself as intermediate in terms of PSE but I've learned lots of little things that will make further use even easier and more fun. I really appreciated her descriptions of the difference between PS and PSE and her encouragement in using Photoshop Elements and all that it can do.
Lilygram
I have only been able to watch portions of this class but every single part that I have watched has been technically clear and inspiring to me. Based on this experience and the thorough, 58 item list of lessons, I will surely be buying this class soon! Thank you Khara and Creativelive for making a class on this topic and making it be super!!
Ven S
Great course. You can tell she knows the programme inside out.