Preparing images for the screen with Photoshop Elements
Before you read this tutorial, you should be familiar with how Photoshop Elements works. If are you aren't, read "A short introduction to Photoshop Elements" first. You should also read "Preparing images for the screen" if you want to understand why we are doing what we are doing.
The steps again
In "Preparing images for the screen", we talked about the six steps we perform on an image:
- Rotate the image 90° counter-clockwise
- Crop the image as desired
- Perform an auto-enhance command
- Apply a slight sharpening, if your picture editor has that function
- Change the image size to something smaller
- Save your changes
To find out how to do these things in Photoshop Elements, read on:
Rotating
In Photoshop Elements you can use the file browser to rotate an image in the preview. Then, when you open it, it opens automatically rotated.
If you forget to do that, there is also a command called “90° Left ” under the “Image⇒Rotate” menu.
Cropping
In Photoshop Elements, there are two ways to crop, but for preparing images to be seen on a screen, the easiest method is to use the Crop tool
When you select the Crop tool and make a selection, your image turns dark around the edges where it will be cropped as shown here.
Once the crop selection is where you want it, apply the crop by clicking on the check mark on the Tool Options bar at the top of the image. To start over, click on the circle with the line through it. (The check and circle are on the right size of the Tool Options bar.)
The Crop tool in Photoshop has a lot of options. When preparing images for the web, you don't need to worry about any of them.
Enhancing the color and exposure
Photoshop Elements has an entire menu of correction commands called "Enhance". To start off, try the "Auto Smart Fix" command. It should do the best job.
If you don't like what "Auto Smart Fix" does, try "Auto Levels" or "Auto Color Correction" instead. Play around with the various menu items under "Enhance" until you are happy with the results. For this image, "Auto Smart Fix" works just fine.
Sharpening
Photoshop Elements has several ways to perform sharpening. Under "Filters⇒Sharpen" there are the commands "Sharpen", "Sharpen More", "Sharpen Edges" and “Unsharp Mask”. The first three just do what they do with no choices. You can try them and see if you like the results, but most people quickly abandon those commands and go for "Unsharp Mask" because it gives the best results and has the most control. (By the way, "Sharpen Edges" is just "Unsharp Mask" with settings you can't change.)
Unsharp Mask
Don't worry -- it is possible to use this command without understanding what it does. Let's try a simple example and see how comfortable you are with it.
Before you select “Unsharp Mask” (or any of the Sharpen commands) make sure you are zoomed out to 100% so you can see the image as it actually is. Scroll to where the face of the subject and part of their clothes are visible. Then select the command. A dialog will appear.
If you've never used it before, it will be set to defaults of Amount = 50%, Radius = 1.0 and Threshold = 0. These are okay for now.
To see the effects of the Sharpening, check and uncheck Preview. There is also a small Preview window in the dialog but it's not very useful and is often misleading; it's better to look at the full image as you uncheck and check Preview.
For now, just increase the Amount of Sharpening until you can see the rhinestones as real stones and there is some detail around the facial features. As you get more comfortable with this command, you can start playing with the Radius and Threshold setting, too.
You're scaring me!
If this is too confusing for you, skip using "Unsharp Mask" for now and use "Sharpen Edges" instead. Then skip ahead in the tutorial to Down-resing or Down-sizing.
I'm ready -- tell me more!
If you are okay playing around with the "Unsharp Mask" dialog, here are some hints for how to get the best sharpening effects:
Amount
“Amount” is the percentage of the sharpening. The more pixels your image has, the bigger the percentage you should use. Start with 50% and work your way up in 25% increments.
Radius
Radius is how many pixels along an edge get sharpened. The bigger the number, the stronger the effect, but the more likely you are to get “halos” on the edges. Values between 1 and 3 work well for most situations.
Threshold
This variable sets the sensitivity of the sharpening. Set it to 0 and practically every pixel along an edge is changed. Set it to 50 and you might not see any difference at all even with Amount set as high as 300% ! Values between 2 and 10 work well for most images.
Those are the basics, but really understand how Unsharp Mask works, you should read this tutorial.
Down-resing or Down-sizing
In Photoshop Elements, you can change the size of an image at any time. Simply select the “Image⇒Resize⇒Image Size” command. Type in the size that you the image to be.
Saving a copy
Once you are done playing with your image, be sure to save it. It is better to save a copy so that if you decide later you don't like how you've cropped or enhanced or down-sized the image, you can go back to the original and change it. When you save a copy, you will be asked to set some JPEG options.
Set Quality under "Image Options" to a number between 8 and 10 and leave the other options alone. As you change the Quality setting, the numbers under Size will change. You want to see a number between 50 and 250K for size. To make the size lower, decrease Quality. To make the size bigger, increase Quality.
Here is the image now that we've enhanced it and saved it as a small size, appropriate for sending in an email or posting on a web site:
| <<Prev Topic |