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get up to speed quickly so you can edit, print, and share your photos
 

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Mastering Elements of Elements 4

Photoshop Elements 4: The Missing Manual

"Photoshop Elements 4 is an all-in-one program that can help you improve your photos, keep them organized, and make top-notch prints and truly nifty creative projects," says Barbara Brundage, who has been teaching people how to use Elements since it first came out in 2001. "Elements is such a cool program and so much fun to use, but figuring out how to make it do what you want is another matter." For everyone who has been hesitant to use Elements because they've heard how tricky it is, Brundage's new "Photoshop Elements 4: The Missing Manual" (Brundage, O'Reilly, US $39.95) gets readers up to speed quickly so they can edit, print, and share their photos over the Internet.

Now fully revised for Photoshop Elements 4, this update to the bestselling "Photoshop Elements 3 Missing Manual" carefully explains each and every Elements 4 feature and improvement. It includes great new tools such as the Magic Selection brush for selecting complicated objects and the Magic Extractor for removing them for use in other images. Readers learn how to use the handy new Straighten tool to level out the contents of a photo, the new Adjust Color for Skin Tone feature, and automatic Red Eye correction. They learn to take advantage of the redesigned custom slideshow that allows them to pan and zoom and add clip art, as well as text tool improvements and lots of new choices for online ordering and sharing of photos.

Author Barbara Brundage tells readers which features work well, which don't, and why--all with wit and good humor. She avoids unnecessary technical jargon and delivers straightforward guidance and instruction. "Up to Speed" sidebars explain concepts and help newcomers accomplish what they want; "Power Users' Clinics" cover advanced topics that won't be of much interest to casual photographers. There are useful tutorials throughout the book with more than a dozen downloadable files for practicing.

In full color, this entertaining and informative guide brims with beginning-to-advanced tools, tips, and techniques. A perfect text for courses on Photoshop Elements 4, it includes:

Introduction to Elements--Gets readers oriented; helps them set Elements up to best suit their working style; offers handy keyboard shortcuts; and explains how to bring photos into Elements, organize them, and back them up.

Elemental Elements--Explains how to use the Quick Fix window to dramatically improve photos and covers two key concepts: making selections and layers.

Retouching--Teaches readers how to make basic corrections such as exposure, color adjustments, sharpening, and removing dust and scratches. It also teaches more sophisticated fixes like changing the light, using the clone stamp to make repairs, making your photos more lively with hue/saturation, changing the colors in an image, RAW conversion, and more.

Artistic Elements--Readers learn to paint on their photos and draw shapes, use filters and effects to create a more artistic look, and add type to their images.

Sharing Images--Readers will learn how to get the most out of their printer, how to create images for the Web and email, and how to make slideshows, web galleries, share their photos over the Internet, and more.

Additional Elements--Readers even learn to customize and increase the abilities of Elements with plug-ins and additional tools and accessories.
      "Photoshop Elements 4: The Missing Manual" will make an Elements master of anyone.

Photoshop Elements 4: The Missing Manual
Barbara Brundage
504 pages, $39.95 US, $55.95 CAN
Download: Chapter 4: The Quick Fix (PDF Format)

O'Reilly Media is the premier information source for leading-edge computer technologies. The company's books, conferences, and web sites bring to light the knowledge of technology innovators. O'Reilly books, known for the animals on their covers, occupy a treasured place on the shelves of the developers building the next generation of software. O'Reilly conferences and summits bring alpha geeks and forward-thinking business leaders together to shape the revolutionary ideas that spark new industries. From the Internet to XML, open source, .NET, Java, and web services, O'Reilly puts technologies on the map.

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