Michael Brown

Michael Brown

Crop, Straighten, Correct Perspective & Distortion

Slide Duration:

Table of Contents

Section 1: Introduction
Introduction to Photoshop Elements

19m 3s

Intro
0:00
Course Overview
0:10
What You Will Learn
0:11
Key to Learning Photoshop Elements
1:29
Photoshop Elements or Photoshop?
2:23
Elements Can Do Almost Anything that Photoshop can for Enhancing or Retouching Images
2:24
Photoshop Elements Has Several Features that Photoshop Does Not Have
3:54
Elements is Very User Friendly in It's Layout
4:49
Elements 11 Has Also Incorporated Some Great New Features from Photoshop CS6
5:18
Bottom Line
5:43
Three Separate Programs in One Package
6:12
Organizer
6:13
Camera RAW
6:55
Editor
7:45
Four Simple Categories for Working on an Image
8:01
Corrections
8:02
Selections
8:30
Retouching
9:23
Manipulation
9:42
Demonstration : Using Elements to Work on an Image
10:03
Editing in Camera RAW
10:04
Removing Parts of an Image
11:55
Selection Mask & Adjusting Color
14:06
Adjusting Overall Saturation
17:02
Important Axiom
18:08
The Importance of Quality

19m 6s

Intro
0:00
The Mantra of Quality
1:02
'Garbage In, Garbage Out'
1:03
Setting Up Your Camera
1:50
Camera Settings: JPEG vs. RAW
1:51
Setting Your Camera for RAW Files
5:10
Some Tips on Taking Quality Photos
8:23
Fill the Frame
8:31
Check Your Focus
11:23
Camera Shake
12:39
Exposure
14:05
Shoot Several Shots of a Scene
15:48
Shoot Multiple Angles and Different Focal Lengths
16:51
Lesson Summary
18:40
Light & Color

13m 11s

Intro
0:00
Lesson in Light & Color, Part 1
0:46
What is Light?
0:47
Brightness & Color
1:24
Example of Exposure & Color
2:47
Lesson in Light & Color, Part 2
4:30
Transmitted & Reflected Light
4:31
Why is This Important in Photoshop?
6:27
Color Spaces
7:18
Visible
7:19
Prophoto
7:36
Adobe RGB & sRGB
8:22
CMYK
9:37
To Make This Simple
10:32
Setting Color Spaces
11:28
Setting Color Spaces
11:29
Lesson Summary
12:42
White Balance & Monitor Calibration

17m 21s

Intro
0:00
White Balance
1:45
What is White Balance
1:46
Examples: Lighting Situations
3:03
How Does White Balance Apply in Photoshop Elements?
8:00
Monitor Calibration
8:42
Monitor Calibration Overview
8:43
Calibrating Your Monitor for PC & MAC
11:22
Calibrating to a Printer
14:24
Section 2: Workspace
Overview & Tour

14m 59s

Intro
0:00
Principal Objective of This Course
0:24
Practical Working Knowledge
0:25
Main Work Areas Overview
1:31
The Welcome Screen
1:32
The Organizer Workspace
2:14
The Editor Workspace
2:55
Demonstrations: The Welcome Screen
3:40
The Editor Workspace
5:21
Toolbox
5:22
Tool Options
6:09
Open Recently Edited Items
6:48
Quick, Guided, and Expert Mode
7:12
Create Button
8:37
Panels & Adjustments
8:46
Photo Bin
9:14
The Organizer Workspace
10:00
Importing Images
10:33
Folders & Albums
10:50
Bottom Tools
11:47
Tags and Information
12:18
Create & Share
13:00
Ratings
13:14
Media, People, Places, and Events
13:19
Organizer, Part1: Import & Sort

25m 43s

Intro
0:00
The Organizer Overview
0:17
Objective
0:56
What We Want to Do
1:04
Getting Organized
2:06
Primary Features
3:34
Drop Down Menus & Media Window
3:35
Star Ratings
6:07
Folders, Information Panels, and Albums
6:35
Create & Share Menu
10:20
Bringing Your Images Into Organizer
10:56
Photo Downloader
10:57
Get Images From Existing Files or Folders
18:11
Searching for Missing Items
19:40
Organizing Your Images
20:25
Folders & Albums
20:26
Organizer, Part 2: Sorting, Rating & Refining Images

22m 12s

Intro
0:00
Sorting, Rating & Refining Images
0:07
Albums & Folders Review
0:08
2 More Ways to Add Images to an Album
3:00
Deleting Images
7:56
Sorting and Refining Your Images
10:47
Adding & Changing Star Ratings
11:41
Full Screen View
14:22
Two Up View Comparison & Filtering Images
15:35
Organizer, Part 3: Keywords, People & Places

12m 43s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:06
Sorting Methods
3:53
Sorting by Keywords
3:54
Sorting by People
7:28
Sorting by Places
9:35
The Photo Editor Workspace

29m 5s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:08
Quick Edit, Guided Edit, and Expert
1:09
Photoshop Elements 10 Workspace vs. 11 Workspace
1:53
Setting Preferences
3:00
Color Picker & Step Back/Fwd
3:01
General Options
4:45
Allow Floating Documents in Expert Mode
5:49
Saving Files
8:02
Performance
9:14
Display & Cursors
10:45
Transparency, Units & Rulers, Guides & Grid
12:12
The New Interface Overview
14:02
The New Interface
14:03
The Menu Bar
15:41
The Options Bar
15:42
The Tool Bar
16:44
The Task Bar
17:28
The Photo Bin & Tool Options Bin
18:27
The Panel Bin
20:46
The Document Window
22:21
Options for Arranging Documents
24:35
The Tool Bar & Important Tool Shortcuts

15m 37s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:07
Photoshop Elements 10 vs. Photoshop Elements 11
0:54
The Tool Bar
3:13
Primary Photoshop Elements Tools - Defined
3:14
Photoshop Elements 11 Tools and One Key Shortcuts
3:32
Important Tools and Their Shortcuts
5:09
Zoom Tool
5:28
Hand Tool
7:41
Move Tool
9:33
Selection Tools
11:00
Spot Healing Brush Tool & Rubber Stamp Tool
11:55
Sponge Tool
12:38
Brush Tool & Eraser Tool
12:54
Gradient Tool
13:11
Text Tool
13:15
Crop Tool
13:24
Brushes Shortcuts
14:24
Lesson Summary
14:56
The Menu Bar & Options Bar

18m 57s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:08
The Menu Bar
1:46
File Menu
2:08
Edit Menu
3:54
Image Menu
6:27
Enhance Menu
8:00
Layer Menu
8:45
Select Menu
8:56
Filter Menu
9:08
View Menu
9:18
Window Menu
11:09
Help Menu
11:56
Summary
12:11
The Options Bar
12:44
Open
12:45
Quick, Guided, and Expert Overview
13:34
Quick Edit
14:05
Guided Edit
16:03
Expert Mode and Create Buttons
18:02
The Task Bar, Photo Bin, & Panel Bin

17m 7s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:07
The Task Bar
1:46
The Task Bar Overview
1:47
Photo Bin
2:26
Tools Option
4:14
Undo & Redo
5:50
Rotate
6:12
Layout
6:45
Panels
7:40
Layer
8:13
Effects
8:40
Graphics
11:38
Favorites
12:35
More
13:17
Customize Panels
13:48
Lesson Summary
16:42
Section 3: Camera RAW
Camera RAW, Part 1

10m

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:09
What is RAW and What is JPEG Files?
1:22
JPEG Files
2:03
RAW Files
4:10
JPEG vs. RAW
5:11
Camera RAW
6:30
What is Camera RAW?
6:31
Why Use Camera RAW?
8:13
Camera RAW, Part 2

21m

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:08
Camera RAW: Tools
1:39
Tool Bar and Tools in Camera RAW
2:14
Camera RAW: Panels
5:15
Camera Calibration Panel
5:53
Basic Panel
7:02
Detail Panel: Sharpening & Noise Reduction
12:53
Saving Image
16:13
Opening JPEG's or TIFF in Camera RAW
18:26
Opening JPEG's or TIFF in Camera RAW
18:27
Section 4: Elements Basics
Image Size, Canvas Size, & Resolution

23m 59s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:07
Image Size & Resolution
0:58
Megapixels
0:59
File Size
1:23
Resolution
1:42
Image Size
1:55
Changing Document Size Only, Maintaining Proportions
2:21
Re-Sampling
8:09
Re-Sampling to Maintain Proportions
8:10
Re-Sampling to Distort Image
13:46
Canvas Size
16:16
Canvas Size
16:17
Sizing for Print & Web
21:52
Sizing for Print & Web
21:53
File Formats

10m 57s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:06
The Primary File Formats in Photoshop Elements
0:44
PSD
0:55
JPEG
2:00
PNG
3:50
Formats for Saving
5:02
GIF
6:01
PDF
6:43
TIFF
7:43
Photo Project Format
8:42
Lesson Summary
10:12
Saving Your Images

18m 29s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:07
Save & Save As
0:38
Save & Save As
0:39
Save for Web
8:21
Preset: JPEG
10:25
Preset: GIF 32
11:44
Preset: PNG 24
12:28
Save for Web: JPEG Settings
13:04
Lesson Summary
17:30
Value of Using Shortcuts

11m 56s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:08
Basic Categories in Photoshop Elements
1:11
Basic Categories in Photoshop Elements
1:12
Important Tools and Their Shortcuts
3:32
Key Shortcuts
4:08
Single Key Shortcuts
4:09
Two Keys Shortcuts
4:34
Using Shortcuts Demonstration
6:13
Using Shortcuts Demonstration
6:14
Lesson Summary
10:58
Image Sharpening

18m 17s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:07
What is Sharpening?
0:30
What is Sharpening?
0:31
Auto Sharpen
0:46
When and How Much to Sharpen?
2:58
Noise Reduction Before Sharpening
3:27
Sharpen Your Image When You First Open It
5:03
Do Not Oversharpen
6:16
Sharpening Methods
8:31
Adjust Sharpen
8:55
Unsharp Mask
11:35
High Pass Filter
13:25
Methods Summary
17:06
Image Enhancement: Quick Edit & Guided Edit Mode

11m 27s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:06
Image Enhancement with Quick Edit Mode
0:24
Quick Edit Mode Overview
0:28
Sharpen
1:43
Exposure
2:11
Color
3:09
Demonstration 2: Flower
3:36
Image Enhancement with Guided Edit Mode
5:18
Sharpen
5:55
Levels
6:10
Enhance Colors
6:49
Recompose
7:25
8:51
Create Pop Art
9:40
Crop, Straighten, Correct Perspective & Distortion

18m 21s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:06
Correct Camera Distortion
3:13
Distortion
3:14
Vignette
4:08
Perspective Control
5:03
Edge Extension
6:00
Correct Perspective
6:25
Perspective Transform
6:26
Distort Transform
7:45
Cropping
9:21
Cropping
9:22
Straightening
12:03
Straightening
12:04
Recompose
14:45
Recompose
14:46
Brushes

23m 6s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:08
Basic Brushes
1:23
Size & Opacity
1:24
Brush Shapes
4:33
Brush Settings
5:20
Hardness
5:21
Spacing
5:57
Angle
7:39
Scatter
9:03
Fade
10:23
Creating a Custom Brush
11:46
Creating a Custom Brush Demonstration 1
11:47
Creating a Custom Brush Demonstration 2
13:17
Creating Pattern Brush
14:20
Impressionistic Brush
16:57
Impressionistic Brush
16:58
Color Replacement Brush
19:03
Color Replacement Brush
19:04
Gradients & the Paint Bucket Tools

31m 19s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:08
The Paint Bucket Tool
0:46
Color & Pattern
0:47
Opacity, Tolerance, & Blend Mode
1:09
Paint Bucket Demonstration 1: Filling a Layer
1:27
Paint Bucket Demonstration 2: Creating a Sepia Tone
2:20
Paint Bucket Demonstration 3: Changing Color Using Blend Mode, Opacity, 7 Tolerance
4:15
Paint Bucket Demonstration 4: Adding Pattern to an Image
6:44
The Gradient Tool
8:53
The Gradient Tool
8:54
The Gradient Editor
12:50
The Gradient Editor Overview
12:51
Solid Gradient vs. Noise Gradient
14:20
Color Midpoint
16:37
Creating a Gradient
21:19
Gradient Map Feature
23:57
Gradient Map Feature
23:58
Using Gradients for Layer Masks
28:21
Using Gradients for Layer Masks
28:22
Exposure & Color Corrections, Part 1

27m 54s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:08
Mantra for Exposure & Color
0:49
Mantra for Exposure & Color
1:06
Auto Exposure/Color Controls
2:19
Auto Exposure/Color Controls: Demonstration 1
2:20
Auto Exposure/Color Controls: Demonstration 2
6:48
Manual Exposure Controls
9:12
Adjust Lighting: Brightness/Contrast
9:13
Adjust Lighting: Shadows/Highlights
11:40
Adjust Lighting: Levels
14:23
Manual Color Controls
19:25
Adjust Color: Hue/Saturation
19:26
Correcting in Quick & Guided
23:58
Exposure & Color Corrections in Quick
23:59
Exposure & Color Corrections in Guided
26:54
Lesson Summary
27:30
Exposure & Color Corrections, Part 2

22m 26s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:07
Comparing Camera RAW Results with Editor's Manual Exposure and Color
1:01
Comparing Camera RAW Results with Editor's Manual Exposure and Color
1:02
Removing a Color Cast
4:45
Removing a Color Cast
4:46
Color Variations
7:24
Correcting Skin Tones
10:49
Correcting Skin Tones
10:50
Converting to Black & White
13:59
Converting to Black & White
14:00
Creating a Sepia Tone Image
18:14
Creating a Sepia Tone Image
18:15
Section 5: Selections & Layers
Introduction to Selections

24m 47s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:07
Creating Selections
1:04
Creating Selections Overview
1:05
Principal Selection Tools & Options
4:40
Marquee Tools & Feather
4:41
Lasso Tools
5:34
Quick Selection, Magic Wand, and Selection Brush
6:30
Layer Masks
8:09
Basic Selection Shortcuts
9:02
Tools Shortcut
9:03
Add & Subtract Selection
9:51
Hide Selection
10:08
Deselect & Select All
11:02
Selection Demonstration 1: Landscape
11:33
Selection Demonstration 2: Commercial Composite
18:49
Selection Demonstration 3: Portrait
21:46
Basic Selections

23m 28s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:07
Basic Selection Tools
1:05
Marquee Tool
1:06
Lasso Tool
6:20
Polygonal Lasso Tool
7:56
Magnetic Lasso Tool
9:57
More on Lasso Tools
11:01
Demonstration 1: Quick Selection & Magic Wand Tool
12:58
Quick Selection Tool
12:59
Magic Wand Tool & Tolerance
15:02
Quick Selection Tool, cont.
16:29
Demonstration 2: Quick Selection & Magic Wand Tool
17:40
Quick Selection Tool
17:41
Magic Wand Tool & Tolerance
19:08
Adding & Subtracting with the Lasso Tool
20:23
Adding & Subtracting with the Lasso Tool
20:24
Lesson Summary
21:54
Making Efficient & Flawless Selections

26m 20s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:07
Feather
1:06
What is Feather?
1:07
Feather Demonstration
1:55
Selection & Feather Demonstration
7:18
Making Selection & Applying Feather: Water
7:19
Making Selection & Applying Feather: Shoreline
15:26
Selection Brush Tool

18m 33s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:07
Selections & Masks
1:03
Selections & Masks
1:04
Selection Brush Demonstration 1: Landscape
4:36
Color Adjustment
4:37
Painting a Selection with the Selection Brush
6:24
Selection Brush Demonstration 2: Portrait
14:27
Using Selection Brush to View & Correct a Selection
14:28
Lesson Summary
17:44
Refine Edge, Part 1

16m 28s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:06
Refine Edge Demonstration 1
1:35
Part 1: Making & Saving a Selection
1:36
Part 2: Refine Edge Dialogue Box
6:51
Part 3: Refine Edge View Mode
8:42
Part 4: Edge Detection & Smart Radius
10:10
Part 4: Compositing a New Sky
14:33
Lesson Summary
15:42
Refine Edge, Part 2

20m 4s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:07
Selecting Hair & Correcting Clean Edge Problems
1:58
Selecting Hair
1:59
Smoothing, Contrast, Expand & Contract
5:39
Correcting Clean Edge Problems with Edge Detection
7:03
Shift Edge Demonstration
15:07
Making the Selection
15:08
Shift Edge
17:07
Lesson Summary
19:16
Layers & Adjustment Layers

20m 57s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:07
Layer Basics
0:40
Layer Basics, Part 1
0:41
Layer Basics, Part 2
8:51
Layer Panel
9:48
New Layer
9:49
Adjustment Layer
10:17
Add Layer Mask
10:56
Layers Lock
11:14
Blend Mode
11:40
Opacity
11:51
Adjustment Layers
12:58
Adjustment Layers Overview
12:59
Example: Using Adjustment Layers
15:20
Layer Masks

25m 26s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:06
Layer Mask Overview
1:04
What is a Layer Mask?
1:05
Why Use Layer Mask?
6:34
Create & Modify Layer Mask Example
6:49
Sharpen the Image
7:22
Assessing the Image
9:47
Selection of the Sky & Ocean
10:50
Cove: Selection & Color Adjustment
13:16
Ocean: Selection & Color Adjustment
16:46
Sky: Selection & Color Adjustment
19:23
Land: Selection & Color Adjustment
22:40
Lesson Summary
24:00
Section 6: Retouching
Basic Retouching: Tools & Techniques

27m 18s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:06
Retouching Tools & How to Use Them: Part 1
0:43
Making a selection of the Sky
0:44
Applying the Gradient Tool to the Sky
4:38
Making a Selection of the Window
3:40
Applying the Gradient Tool to the Window
8:05
Retouching Tools & How to Use Them: Part 2
10:13
Color Variations
10:14
Adjust Color for Skin Tones
10:40
Spot Healing Brush Tool
12:08
Healing Brush Tool
14:33
Clone Stamp Tool, Part 1
15:53
Clone Stamp Tool, Part 2
21:58
Retouching Tools & How to Use Them: Part 3
25:03
Pattern Stamp Tool
25:04
Retouching People, Part 1

31m 42s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:06
Basic Techniques for Retouching Skin
1:22
Image Overview
1:23
Retouching Spots on the Skin
5:48
Retouching Wrinkle Around the Eyes
9:10
Retouching the Smile Line
18:02
Retouching the Neck
20:55
Basic Techniques for Retouching Eyes
25:04
Basic Techniques for Retouching Eyes
25:05
Retouching People, Part 2

12m 49s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:07
Retouching People Using the Liquify Filter
1:27
Retouching the Cheek
1:28
Retouching the Eyes
6:47
Retouching the Body
9:31
Retouching People, Part 3

24m 47s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:06
More Techniques for Retouching Skin
1:16
Retouching Teeth & Lips
1:17
Retouching Skin Texture
7:34
Adjusting Levels for the Neck Area
16:36
Non-destructive Body Contouring
18:56
Non-destructive Body Contouring 1
18:57
Non-destructive Body Contouring 2
22:01
Lesson Summary
23:02
Section 7: Photo Composites
Creating Photo Composites

22m 42s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:05
Selecting the Composite Pieces
1:11
Selecting the Composite Pieces Overview
1:12
Size & Lighting
3:20
Perspective & Color Match
7:22
Creating the Composite
9:23
Creating a Flawless Element Edge
9:24
Moving Layer From One File to Another
17:31
Moving the Rose Behind the Petals
18:31
Changing the Color of the Rose
20:24
Lesson Summary
22:03
Section 8: Text
Creating Type

22m 42s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:06
Creating Type: Part 1
0:39
Type Tool Overview
0:52
Inserting, Deleting, & Moving Texts
4:02
Font Families
5:06
Font Styles
6:03
Font Size
7:05
Leading
7:32
Font Color
9:17
Alignment
9:23
Faux Bold, Faux Italic, Faux Underline, & Faux Strikethrough
10:53
Creating Type: Part 2
12:08
Orientation and Warping
12:09
Clipping Type to a Photo, Texture, & Pattern
14:19
Adding a Layer Style(s) to Text
18:02
Section 9: Filters & Effects
Filters & Effects

24m 20s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:07
The Filter Gallery
0:38
Filters Overview
0:39
Mosaic Tiles
1:17
Texturize
1:40
Craquelure
2:48
Bas Relief
3:34
Applying Blend Mode with Filter 1
4:16
Photocopy
5:19
Applying Blend Mode with Filter 2
5:44
Glass
7:20
Blend Modes
9:00
Blend Modes Overview
9:53
Effects
12:41
Vintage Photo
13:49
Monotone Color
14:44
Old Photo
15:28
Misc. Effects
17:48
Faded Photo
19:33
Lesson Summary
21:56
Photo Effects with Guided Edit
22:34
Section 10: Cool Features
Creating Black & White Photo and Using the Colorize Option

21m 16s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:07
Creating Black & White Photo
1:50
Grayscale Mode
1:51
Desaturate with Hue/Saturation
3:51
Converting to Black & White: Example 1
4:41
Converting to Black & White: Example 2
8:25
Colorizing an Image
14:01
Colorizing an Image
14:02
Adding a Vignette
14:59
Adding a Border
19:22
Creating a 3D Photo Frame

23m 26s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:07
Creating a 3D Photo Frame
1:14
Part 1: Creating the Matte Board
1:15
Part 2: Adding Shadow
6:31
Part 3: Adding Texture to the Frame
10:50
Part 4: Adding a Frame
14:12
Part 5: Adding a Signature
17:50
Lesson Summary
22:35
Creating a Photo Book, Part 1

12m 24s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:07
Preparing Your Photographic Images
2:00
Creating a New Album & Arranging the Images
2:01
Photobook Basic Layout Option
6:25
Photobook Basic Layout Option
6:26
The Photobook Workspace
9:12
The Photobook Workspace
9:13
Creating a Photo Book, Part 2

17m 24s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:08
Adding, Adjusting, & Modifying Images
1:06
Adding, Adjusting, & Modifying Images
1:07
Editing Types
6:55
Replacing an Image
7:55
Customizing the Photobook Appearance
8:50
Modifying Page Layouts
8:51
Adding Frames & Graphics
3:13
Saving & Printing Your Photobook
15:47
Saving & Printing Your Photobook
15:48
Lesson Summary
16:32
Creating a Photo Calendar

23m 26s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:06
Preparing Your Images for Photo Calendar
1:23
Organizing Your Images
1:24
Calendar Layout Options
4:20
The Calendar Workspace
5:23
Adjusting & Modifying Images
5:24
Customizing the Photo Calendar Appearance
14:41
Lesson Summary
19:41
The Photomerge Feature

25m 54s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:06
Shooting Images for a Panorama
2:06
Hold the Camera Steady
2:07
Overlap Your Images
3:23
Use the Same Exposure for Each Image
4:54
Apply Exact Same corrections to Every Image
5:24
Incorrect way to Shoot Images for a Panorama
6:03
Correct Way to Shoot Images for a Panorama
7:22
Photomerge: Panoramas
8:18
Panoramas Layout
8:19
Cylinder& Perspective
12:32
Spherical & Collage
14:34
Photomerge: Group Shot
16:08
Group Shot
16:07
Photomerge: Style Match
20:02
Style Match: Example 1
20:03
Style Match: Example 2
23:57
Lesson Summary
25:09
Section 11: Course Summary
Lesson Summary

9m 40s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Summary
0:06
Organizer, Camera RAW, & Editor
0:59
Corrections, Selections, Retouching, & Manipulation
2:02
Two Important Axioms
4:20
Demonstration Review
5:26
Personal Philosophy
8:31
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Crop, Straighten, Correct Perspective & Distortion

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  • Intro 0:00
  • Lesson Overview 0:06
  • Correct Camera Distortion 3:13
    • Distortion
    • Vignette
    • Perspective Control
    • Edge Extension
  • Correct Perspective 6:25
    • Perspective Transform
    • Distort Transform
  • Cropping 9:21
    • Cropping
  • Straightening 12:03
    • Straightening
  • Recompose 14:45
    • Recompose

Transcription: Crop, Straighten, Correct Perspective & Distortion

Hi, everybody--Mike Brown back with you again; welcome back to Educator.com's Adobe Photoshop Elements course!0000

We're ready now to work on our images in the Expert mode in Editor.0007

One of the first things you're going to do with your images, when you bring them in, is crop them, straighten any crooked horizons, and correct for camera distortion, bulging, or perspective distortion--both the perspective and lens distortion.0012

Also, recompose, which we took a look at over here in the Guided Edit mode, briefly; we're going to go back and, in the Expert mode, take a good, close look at that.0028

All of these are corrections that we make before we even do anything to the image--so let's get started!0040

I'm going to open up an image into Camera Raw first.0047

I want you to take a quick look at this image; I have already made white balance, exposure, color, and a little clarity; I've also taken a little bit of noise reduction--just the generalized stuff that we do, and that is how quick that was.0052

There is a Crop and Straighten tool feature in here; we'll talk about that in a moment.0069

But look, first, at the edge of the building; it's not only perspective distorted; it's bulging a little bit wider; that is the wide-angle lens barrel distortion, they called it.0074

We can't pull that out in here; we could crop the image, and that is all we have the option of doing--purely cropping--but I don't want to; I'm going to take that away--Option or Alt turns the Cancel to Reset; bring it back.0089

I don't want to remove any of the area of the image, because, as we correct perspective, it will tend to remove it anyway, by torquing it out of the image; I need as much as I can get.0103

But, if you have a landscape or a shot of somebody that everything else is fine; no distortion; all you need to do is cropping; by all means, just go ahead and take a crop tool and move the corners any way you particularly want to, to get the crop that you want, and then enter it, and it's non-destructive.0115

The Straighten tool--same thing: all you do is click and drag where the horizon will be, and it will turn it and crop it in to that point.0133

OK, so let's bring it on in into Editor.0141

The first thing we do with an image when we open it up, no matter what: duplicate the background layer in case, somewhere down the line, you need to go back to the original to pull something.0145

Right now, we have just the background layer; this is a 2-key shortcut: Command on a Mac/Control on a PC, and the letter J, or go to the Layer menu: Duplicate Layer; or, across the top of the adjustments layer, the Layers panel with the adjustments at the right-hand side with the dropdown list--there is Duplicate Layer.0155

We're going to use our shortcuts: Command on a Mac/Control on a PC, plus the letter (I hear you!) the letter J; Command on a Mac/Control on a PC, J; we have the layer duplicated.0178

Now, we work on this layer, and the background is left alone.0189

The first thing I want to do is correct perspective and camera distortion at the same time, so let's go to the Filter menu to correct camera distortion.0193

Watch what happens, automatically, when I open it up: look at that curved edge: Filter, Correct Camera Distortion, turn off the grid, and look!--the edge is already straightened out.0205

Without any control changes at all, the filter recognized, in the data that comes with this image, the camera and the lens, and it corrected it.0220

Now, if it didn't, here is the distortion "barrel distortion" right here; you can make your sliders and add or subtract.0233

In this case, it's just 0, because the filter automatically took it away.0241

Now, vignetting: we have just a little darkness in this corner, and a little up in here, so we can...this is vignetting: you see, it's dark or it's bright; we're going to put in maybe 3 points...4 points; and there we have a little bit of vignette.0248

Let's take the preview; a little bit darker, and a little bit...there we go.0274

We have already lost a little area, if you can see, down in here, as we remove the distortion automatically; that is why didn't crop it in Camera Raw.0284

We still have space left, and we have to be very careful; I should have thought about it, when I shot the building, and given a little more space on the right.0293

That line is right there, so we have to be careful about that.0300

Perspective control is next: vertical and horizontal.0303

Vertical: this way, it's going to make the top get larger; this way, it will make it smaller.0308

We go this way, and you can correct; or this way, and you can go really crazy.0313

We'll pull it back, but see what happens: as we correct the top, this line is no longer in the picture--a bad intersection; so I'm going to back it up just a little bit.0319

I don't want to lose the top side of the sky, either, so we'll just take about...maybe even a little less than...that.0330

Horizontally, let's see what happens if we go this way; that is not going to help us a lot.0340

We'll just leave it at that; I should have left more space, but we have this; and let's take the preview: we went from there to there--it's looking a little better.0350

Let's go ahead and accept that; the edge extension--what that shows you is where you have done it.0360

You can just show larger or smaller--just pull it up or pull it down, so that you can pull some of that back in; but we're going to leave it right here.0367

Click OK, and now it has applied the corrections: there is where we started, and there is where we are--everything is looking good.0375

Now, what we want to do next--again, before we apply a crop--is, we need more perspective control.0385

There is a feature called Transformations; it's under the Image menu, Transform, and it allows you to scale an image automatically--that is the Free Transform--or Skew, Distort, or Perspective.0392

Let's take a look at the Free Transform; I didn't mean to get into this one in this lesson, but you see, there is your scale.0407

We can use this for perspective, as well.0413

Once you have gotten the Transform box in, Control+click on a Mac/right-click on a PC; notice the little list that shows right next to the cursor.0417

We're going to do more perspective.0427

The way we do this here is grab a corner, and if I pull this corner, that one will correspondingly come out; look at that; and we have (let's see...if I push in just slightly here, I'll get some of it back...OK...pull it out just a hair more...that is about all that I can really take) done one round.0431

We're going to do this in stages; we have one little round; we're going to click OK on that; and we went from there to there--that is looking pretty good!0455

Now, we're going to do another one--we're going to activate the Transform, Command on a Mac/Control on a PC, the letter T, Control+click or right-click on a PC, and this time, we'll do Distort.0465

Watch what happens: I'm going to take this corner--you know that it allows you to distort things--and we're just going to pull that corner down, and that also takes away the stretch and improves the look along the top.0477

We'll give it just a slight bit of perspective, and let's go ahead and do a little bit on the right edge, as well--stretch it up and out...that is pretty good, there; you can come down just a little bit more, right here--that looks pretty nice!0492

That helped counter the distortion; notice how the doorway and windows are now a little more natural?--we'll accept that second round of transformation.0513

Let me show you, from the History panel, what we have been doing.0525

We opened it; we copied the layer; we did a camera distortion correction and perspective in the filter; then, we did a Transform, and then we did a second Transform with Distort, and look what we have--a building that looks very, very natural.0529

Now, we have all of our distortions corrected; we're going back to the title.0545

We corrected for camera distortion; we corrected for perspective; it took it in stages, but we got it, and now we're ready to crop this image.0551

Let's go to the cropping tool.0565

Here are your options for the Crop tool: Crop allows you to have the rule-of-thirds grid; let me show you what that is--you see that the little dashed lines...may be hard to see, but as we get out, there, you see the dashed lines.0567

The photographic rule of thirds for dynamics and composition or a regular grid, which gives you just a bunch of gridlines, or this thing called the Golden Ratio (which I really haven't figured out myself) or nothing; we'll leave it at the rule of thirds and have no restriction on the crop, or you can do it specifically into proportions (16x9).0581

You can also have specific width, height, and resolution if you're going to resize; we're just going to crop it as is.0607

We have the Crop tool, and I'm just going to click and drag; I don't need to do the whole thing.0614

Now, with the Crop tool, I want to show you--notice, if you get to a corner on the outside, you are allowed to rotate this thing.0621

We don't want to rotate it; I'm just going to show you what happens--you can rotate the crop box, and I'm going to get out of it and go back and put the traditional, straight crop in.0630

Drag a corner--and it's free to do this--we're going to come up, right about to there; we're going to come over to the right edge, and up just a little bit; let's get a little more sky--why not?0641

OK, that is a good crop; we'll click OK.0656

Now, I want to turn off the background layer; notice, we have cut a little out of the sky and a little out of the pavement, but that is not a problem, because this is a very easy retouch correction over here, and it's very easy to fill in the sky.0661

We now have the image (I'm going to turn the background on, and it doesn't show as much); look, we went from (let's get that History panel up) opening the image that was this, to this, by doing camera correction, camera distortion correction, a first perspective transform, a second distort transform, and a crop, and there is our final image, compared to the original image.0679

This is dynamic, but for an architectural image, this is very nice and looks very good.0711

We have perspective, camera distortion, and cropping taken care of; now, let's talk about straightening.0717

I'm going to open up another image here (let's see; I think that one is right here--there we go); this is an image I shot of a friend of mine, and I deliberately took the horizon and made it crooked.0727

It's very simple to correct that problem.0742

This is the Straighten Horizon tool (all of these are down in the Modify tool).0745

All you have to do is click and drag the line in the direction that you would want the horizon to actually be level, and release, and it will turn the picture and do that.0749

Now, there are three options: what that did, if you notice (let's make it smaller) is it rotated the image, and it kept it within the original frame of the picture.0761

Size-wise, it just made it smaller to fit.0775

Let's undo that; you can also have it, if you wish, to remove the background--in other words, fit perfectly with no extra edges.0778

There it is; but notice, in this case, it cropped a lot out of the top and the bottom, which I would rather do myself; or you can have it at 100%, and we'll straighten that one more time and show you what happens with that; it let it go ahead--basically, the same thing.0790

We'll go back to the beginning here, and we'll do it this way, which I like the best.0807

There you go--and, by the way, if you had a multiple-layer image and you checked this box, it will rotate everything to match.0815

OK, we have that, so now we need to crop it; there is the Crop tool; we'll take the Crop tool, and I'm going to go ahead, up to the top, right about there.0822

I'm going to come in a little bit here; I'm going to crop all the way up, so I don't take anything out of that corner; come in a little bit more; maybe a little bit more on this edge; I could come all the way to there, and it looks even a little bit better, and I'll accept that.0833

If you notice, by cropping it this way, all I have done is lost a little bit of the sky--that is the black, and that needs to be retouched back again, but it's pretty neutral--it's a gradient--we can very easily retouch that.0851

So, we have gone (Window, History)...we opened it, straightened the horizon, and cropped it, and we're all ready to do a little retouch and finish the image up.0867

That takes care of the Straightening tool.0879

Now, we're down to the Recompose feature.0885

We're going to use this image right here--the same one we did with the Guided Edit, but I'm going to show you more carefully how this works.0888

We're going to use the Recompose tool; here are the options: Add and Subtract, and what you are doing is painting out, or making a mask, if you will--a mask blocks it; you want to block the areas that you want to preserve.0895

The first thing we will do is get this brush up to a reasonable size, and what I'm going to do is paint over and go a little bit outside, to give a little edge on it.0910

This is the area I want to preserve; in other words, I want to preserve all of her; I don't want any distortion in her, so I have now painted over that, and I also would like to preserve most of the cave--let's do that right there--I think that ought to take care of it--that's pretty decent.0923

But, if I get too much, I can always go back and paint it out, and that will remove that area.0946

OK, so you have the option--this is the actual image size: 10x6.667; let's go ahead and take a look and make sure that is correct: 10x6.667".0955

You can, again, have perspective; various different sizes--8x10, 5x7--in this case, no restriction--we're going to do the work.0970

There is the bounding box, so I'm going to start on the right edge, over here, and pull in.0979

Notice, as I pull in, she is being protected, and so is--watch what happens with the cave.0985

Now, this is obviously only useful on images that have areas that, when they're compressed, won't really be hurt too much; this grass and rock--you can't see anything, but this way, I'll be able to go all the way to here, and accept that, and there is the new image.0997

It will recompose; it has to think about this one a while; basically, it's calculating every single pixel inside of the image and recalculating what it's going to look like.1016

That is how the Recompose tool works; it works really great on shots like this.1026

Let's do an Undo and a Redo, and you notice that (let's do the History panel; redo; Window, History; Recompose; Open), we were there, did a little levels, made the layer, and recomposed the image, and we're ready to accept it, so all we have to do now is click OK, and it should get rid of the green so that we're all ready to go.1032

We want to accept that (where is it?--there we go); we're going to accept it, and there we have our recomposed image, and it preserved them; a really easy feature.1068

Now, we have also taken a look at the Recompose tool, and there you have cropping, straightening, recomposing, correcting for camera distortion, and correcting perspective in Photoshop Elements 11.1087

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