Adobe 29180155 - Photoshop Elements 4.0, Tutorial

Page: 186 / 407

To the top
Auto Smart Fix
Auto Levels
Auto Contrast
Auto Color Correction
Auto Sharpen
Auto Red Eye Fix
To the top
Automatically correct lighting and color
Photoshop Elements provides several automatic lighting and color-correction commands in both Quick mode and Expert mode. The command you
choose depends on the needs of your image.
You can experiment with each of the auto commands. If you don’t like the result of one, undo the command by choosing Edit > Undo, and try
another command. You will rarely need to use more than one auto command to fix an image.
1. To adjust a specific image area, select it with one of the selection tools. If no selection is made, the adjustment applies to the
entire image.
2. Choose one of the following commands from the Enhance menu:
Corrects overall color balance and improves shadow and highlight detail, if necessary.
Adjusts the overall contrast of an image and may affect its color. If your image needs more contrast, and it has a
color cast, try this command. Auto Levels works by individually mapping the lightest and darkest pixels in each color channel
to black and white.
Adjusts the overall contrast of an image without affecting its color. Use when your image needs more contrast,
but the colors look right. Auto Contrast maps the lightest and darkest pixels in the image to white and black, which makes
highlights appear lighter and shadows appear darker.
Adjusts the contrast and color by identifying shadows, midtones, and highlights in the image, rather
than in individual color channels. It neutralizes the midtones and sets the white and black points using a default set of values.
Adjusts the sharpness of the image by clarifying the edges and adding detail that tonal adjustments may
reduce.
Automatically detects and repairs red eye in an image.
About histograms
You can use the histogram to analyze the image’s tonal distribution to see if you need to correct it. A histogram shows the distribution of an
image’s pixel values in a bar chart. The left side of the chart shows the values of the image shadow (starting at level 0), and the right side shows
the highlight (level 255). The vertical axis of the chart represents the total number of pixels within a given level.
You can view an image’s histogram in the Histogram panel (F9). Histograms are also available in the Levels dialog box and the Camera Raw
dialog box. You can update the histogram as you work so that you can see how your adjustments are affecting the tonal range. When the Cached
Data Warning icon
appears, click it to refresh the histogram’s data.
Histogram panel
A. Channel menu B. Panel menu C. Uncached Refresh button D. Cache Data Warning icon E. Statistics
If many pixels are bunched up at either the shadow or highlight ends of the chart, it may indicate that image detail in the shadows or highlights
may be clipped—blocked up as pure black or pure white. There is little you can do to recover this type of image. If you are working with a scanned
image, you can try rescanning to produce a better tonal range. If your digital camera can display an image histogram, check it to see whether your
exposure is correct and make exposure adjustments if necessary. See your camera’s documentation for more information.
The histogram may show that an image is not using the full tonal range available if some pixels aren’t available in the shadows and highlights. You
can fix an image with limited tonal range by stretching the tonal range using either the Levels command or one of the Enhance > Auto commands.