Top 10 Keys to Photoshop Elements, Part 1

This tutorial is Part 1 of the Top 10 Keys to Photoshop Elements.
Learn these to find your way around the PsE design screen.

When you open Photoshop Elements on your computer for the first time it seems super overwhelming.  Everywhere you look there are icons and drop down menus and tools.

You might be tempted to click the close button and say, “I’d love to get to know you, but it just seems too complicated right now.”

Go ahead.  Shut the program down.

Then, tomorrow, open it again and take a slow look around.  Don’t touch any buttons or click any tools.  Just look around and read the labels and let your eyes and brain get familiar with the layout.

Again, shut the program and let your brain digest the information.

When you learned to read, your teacher didn’t try to get you to say the whole alphabet the first time she showed it to you.  It was up there, and your eyes could roam around the top of the room and see the shapes and the pictures, but you had no idea what they were called and what part of reading they helped with.  It took several months before you read a whole sentence.

Don’t think you’re going to learn a complex computer program in a day.

Tackle it one step at a time.

Top 10 Keys to Photoshop Elements, Part 1

I’ll number 10 things you want to know about Photoshop Elements, but you don’t have to know them all right away.

So, read through the list, then decide which step you want to learn today.

Then tomorrow, pick another one, and slowly get familiar with the steps before you go on to Part 2 of this tutorial we’ll post next week.

There are SO MANY AWESOME THINGS to learn that it’s super important to learn each step well.

We also have two easy projects to try if you’re not ready to dig into the scientific learning just yet.  These projects are learning while creating. One is DIY Graphics: A Beginner’s Photoshop Tutorial and the other is Paint Brushes: A Beginner’s Photoshop Elements Tutorial.

1. How to open Photoshop Elements Photo Editor.

If your main reason for using Photoshop Elements, like mine, is to design images and do some digital painting, then you’ll want to open the Photo Editor among the many options on the Home Screen.

1. Open Photoshop Elements.
2. Tick “Photo Editor” from the 3 box choices on the right center of screen.
3. The design screen will open.

PsElements Tool Bars

Photoshop Elements has 4 tool bars:

• The top bar is typically called the “menu bar.”
• The left tool bar is the “toolbox” menu.
• Below the design screen you’ll find the menus for the tool you have opened from the toolbox.
• On the right side is the Layers menu. Across the top you find tiny icons “create new layer,” “create new group,” and so on. Beginner tutorials will mainly use the “create new layer” icon.

Let’s look at each menu bar in more detail:

2. PsElements Top Menu Bar: Lower Half

When Photoshop Elements Editor opens, choose “Expert” from the lower part of the top menu bar.

Tick the “Open” arrow on the top left, and click “New Blank File.” A dialog box will open as shown in the image above. Fill the box as follows:

1. Name your file.
2. Document type: choose “custom.”
3. Size: is not used here.
4. Width: enter “1500” pixels.
5. Height: type “1200” pixels.
6. Resolution: Choose 300 ppi or higher for a clear image.
7. Color Mode: RGB Color
8. Background Content: Choose “White.”
9. Click OK in the upper right corner, and a white box will open on the grey design screen area.

What do you do on your white box? Let’s use tools from the “toolbox” on the left menu bar.

3. Photoshop Elements Editor Left “Toolbox” Menu

Let’s get to know the “Toolbox” menu on the left. The “Toolbox” menu plays well with the lower menu. In fact, picking a tool usually opens the lower menu for that tool so you can choose what you want it to do.

The steps shown on the above image:

1. From the left “Toolbox” menu, choose “shape” tool from the “Draw” box. This opens a dialog on the lower screen. Choose “ellipse” shape to make an oval.
2. From the toolbox menu, click “set foreground color,” the top left box under “Color.” This opens the color menu box. Just to the right of the big color box is a slider. Find a blue you like.
3. Place the mouse cursor on the white box where you wish to start the blue ellipse. Keep the cursor down and drag to size. This creates a new layer on the right “Layers” menu. Double click the layer with the oval, and from the dropdown, tick “simplify layer.” Now click the name of this layer, and type in “blue oval” for future reference.
4. From the toolbox menu, in the “Select” box, pick “Move” tool. Place the cursor over the shape and you can move it anywhere you want. If you click on a bounding box on the pulsing shape wrap, you can drag it to make it bigger or smaller.

4. PsE Right “Layers” Menu

On the right side of the Photoshop Elements designing screen is the “Layers” panel. 

Upper Part of the Layers Panel:

NOTE: These choices can also be found in the top menu bar under the “Layers” drop down menu.

Lower Choices of the Layers Panel:

The lower part of the layers panel includes, from left to right, “Layers,” “Effects,” “Filters,” “Styles,” “Graphics” and a “More” toggle. I usually have “Layers” on all the time.  The others can all be accessed from the top also, so leaving it in Layers mode makes the most sense.

After simplifying the mask you again have 2 layers: blue oval and background. Only the blue is lighter now.

This barely brushes the surface of what you can do in the right panel. More to come later…

5. PsElements Top Menu: Upper Half

On the upper half of the top menu in Photoshop Elements are the following (including a brief description):

• File. Open, close and name the images you create. This is used all the time.
• Edit. Copy, paste, edit, undo and redo edits. And more. And used a lot.
• Image. Rotate the whole design, or turn certain layers. Transform shapes by toggling bounding squares.
• Enhance. Brighten, lighten, sharpen images. Change image colors. Very important options.
• Layer. Duplicate, delete, rename. Plus all the options in the right Panel. Semi useful.
• Select. Select and de-select parts of the image, change and transform.
• Filter. A whole filter gallery to pixilate, add noise, distort, render, stylize, add texture, etc. Not used much in a newbie tutorial.
• View. Zoom your image in and out. See or hide rulers, a grid or create guide lines.
• Window. This operates the Windows, how many are open, how they cascade, and so on.
• Help. When all else fails, ask Photoshop Elements!

This concludes Part 1 of “Top 10 Keys to Photoshop Elements” tutorial.

Continue here to Top 10 Keys to Photoshop Elements, Part 2.