The May/June issue of PET has started mailing to print subscribers, but all subscribers can download the PDF of the magazine — and the sample files for articles from Larry, Pete and Diana — from the May/June issue.

Regarding delivery times, US subscribers should receive their copies by May 11. Canadian subscribers should receive their issues by May 18; delivery worldwide should be complete by May 26.

If you’re missing your issue after the dates listed above, send us a note via our contact form on the website. (If you subscribed after April 7, 2013, our second mailing will go out from the printer in late May for an early June delivery. After that, you’ll be on the schedule for the initial mailing.)

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Links:

• Lightroom 5 beta
• Matt’s eBook PDF about Layers in Elements
• Sample files to follow along with Matt’s eBook (.zip file)
• Ask Liz, the email address

Don’t waste the color you have!

Color is one of the most important components to modern day photography, something that we all interact with yet almost always don’t understand. I get questions constantly about color space – “What is it?”, “How do I match my monitor’s color to my printer’s color?”, “What is color calibration?”, or “Why are my images different on all of my digital devices?”. Thanks to an Ask-Liz email from David Erickson all about color calibration, I thought I’d help y’all out and hopefully demystify what our computers are doing under the hood!

Digital photography works with color by translating them into numbers. Think of it as an extremely intricate and very extensive ‘paint-by-numbers’ – every time we take a picture and the colors are recorded, they’re being changed into corresponding numbers. There are two popular color models that we work with, RGB (red, green, blue) and CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black), which just translate the world around us a little bit differently. Just like how you would mix paints together, both of these two models mix in unique ways, but with a similar result.

We work mostly with RGB, which many of you have heard of. It’s an enormous color model, containing so much information that even we can’t see all of the colors it can produce. Inside the color model are multiple color spaces, which translate into smaller subsets of color information. If our human eye can’t perceive all those mixes of colors, we obviously don’t need them all in our digital photos, they’re just taking up extra space that won’t be used. A color space trims off the fat of a larger color model.

Whew! Y’all confused yet?

Now we delve just a bit deeper – color profiles. Each digital device you own requires something called a color profile. This tells all of those devices how to interpret the colors they’re being given in an image. These are extremely important in digital photography, because every gadget you have perceives color in a disparate manner. So when you go from your camera, to your computer, to your printer, have you ever wondered why the colors on your print don’t look like the ones from your original image? Typically, it’s because the color information hasn’t been managed correctly and too much data has been trimmed off.

There are two important color profiles to know: Adobe RGB and sRGB. I’ll talk about those in just a bit!

Managing all of this sounds exhausting, but it’s not, I promise. Once you have the general concept down, it’s pretty easy to figure out how to control all of these colors. So quickly, let’s go back to that ‘paint-by-numbers’ analogy:

Let’s say the real world has 100 colors, all numbered 1 through 100. Our camera can record at least 80 of those colors, inside a RGB color model. Since our digital devices and our human eyes can’t perceive all 80 colors, it wouldn’t make sense to keep them around. So, when we place them on our computer, these 80 colors are translated to a smaller subset of 50-60, a color space.  Now down to around 50, each computer monitor, printer and tablet we own can only translate those colors accurately by using a specific color profile, which can lessen the amount down even more. Some devices can handle more information, like a nice photo printer, and others can barely handle any, like your typical computer screen.

See now, that wasn’t so bad!

So what does all this nerdy mumbo-jumbo mean? Color is an integral part of your imagery and how it’s being translated plays a huge part in how your photos look. Optimizing those colors is something Elements and I can help you with and we’ve made it extremely easy.

There are two tools to work with inside Elements to make this color management easier. For the first, if you go to the Edit menu and select Color Settings, you’ll get this dialog box:

There are four options to work with:

• No Color Management: Every time you open a new image into Elements, straight from your camera, no specific color profile will be applied until you tell it otherwise. This lets you rely on a well-calibrated monitor and wait until you know what you’ll be using your image for.
• Always Optimize Colors for Computer Screens: Our computers can only truly ‘see’ a tiny subset of colors, so there’s a special smaller color profile called sRGB just for computer and web-based viewing. This option automatically sets all images you open to sRGB, which prepares all images for the web or to be seen on iPads, iPhones, etc.
• Always Optimize for Printing: Printers can access a larger amount of colors, so there is a larger color profile called Adobe RGB that is typically used. This option automatically sets all images you open to Adobe RGB, which prepares your images for print. I typically use this choice as I always like to have the option to print.
• Allow Me to Choose: Every time you open a new image, Elements will ask you what color profile you’d like to use. This can be very helpful if you want to specifically choose your color profile for every photo.

The second tool can be accessed through the Image menu, then through Convert Color Profile:

Most images have a color profile attached to it, but what happens if you want to change it? You can always go through this menu and select which profile to use. Let’s say I have a photo open that is using Adobe RGB, but I want to place it on my website, which requires the sRGB color profile. All I would do is go to the Convert Color Profile menu, then select Convert to sRGB Profile.

It’s extremely important to note that these are the ONLY two options inside Elements for color profiles. You can’t upload your own color profile and use them (which is a long conversation in itself!).

When you go to the File menu and select Save For Web, this will automatically save your image with the sRGB profile. Elements knows that the profile has to change for your newly saved image. That’s why I love using this Save option – I don’t have to worry about remembering to swap it over to sRGB, Elements does the work for me! If you’ve ever seen one of your images look ‘wrong’ on your website or on Facebook, it’s due to using the wrong color space:

The top image, which looks great, was placed on my website with the sRGB profile. The bottom image, which looks flat and bland, is the Adobe RGB profile. The website couldn’t translate the color, so it doesn’t look at all like what I wanted. I would definitely go with my top image and make sure I remember to use the sRGB color profile next time!

Hopefully I haven’t completely confused you all, but this information is GREAT to have on hand. The next time you print an image and it looks flat, you’ll know to first check which color profile is attached to your image and the same goes for your website.

Thanks for tuning in and feel free to let me know if you have any questions about color and color management in the Comments below!

Happy editing!

-Liz

• “I really like this picture of me and my brother and sister but the lighting was not taken into consideration when it was taken. How can I fix this using Photoshop Elements?” -Jan W

This is a great photo to use, thank you so much for sending it in Jan! When you have a lighting situation like this, there are unfortunately no ‘quick fixes,’ no automatic tools to get the job done. However it is doable and there are two key points: soften the harsh lighting to be less noticeable and disguise it with a nice filter effect.

Your first approach is using the Clone Stamp brush. First you create a New, Blank Layer and select your Clone Stamp Brush tool. In the tool options bar, check Sample All Layers and lower your brush’s opacity quite a bit (from 15%-50%, you’ll play around with this). Option/Alt-click on darker areas of skin, then start ‘painting’ over the lighter areas. This isn’t something that will happen in a snap – it took me about 15 minutes to go through all three faces in this photo. You’ll want to sample and resample a lot, as well as play around with the Opacity of your brush. Take your time and always remember to zoom out to make sure you aren’t going overboard! Here’s my first go-through with the Clone Stamp Brush:

Next, take your Burn and Dodge tools to finish things off. This can help darken a few spots that are still too bright or may have gotten too dark.

Now that I’ve got the hardest part done, now for the fun part – disguising the last little bits under a fun filter! This is the BEST way to distract people form silly things like weird lighting situations and busy backgrounds. I went into onOne Software’s Perfect Effects 4 and added a few different filters and this is my final result:

Now I’m not paying any attention to those silly little strips of light, I’m paying attention to the nice group photo! I hope this helps out Jan!

• “When working with the Bounding Box in Elements 11, I sometimes want to reduce the size of an image. If I click and drag a corner square inward to reduce the size of the image, if I get too small, the squares get in the way of the image. Is there any way to reduce the size of the squares?” –Pete

This is such a strange subject, but thanks for bringing it up Pete! When you have an object or photo that needs resizing, you get a bounding box around it, like so:

When you resize something, that bounding box can get extremely small and as Pete points out, those corner squares are just huge:

You can’t unfortunately change the size of the squares, but you can zoom in to take a closer look at the object you’re resizing (Control/Command and the + key). When you do that, like I’ve done below, you get a better look and those squares don’t appear too large anymore:

• “Thanks for your article on pinhole bokeh. I got some pretty good results for Valentine’s Day using a heart shape. But I was unlucky for St.Patrick’s Day. The shamrock shape was distorted except for a few right in the center of the lens. Maybe the shape is too complex for the technique?” – Denny

The shamrock is such a hard shape to keep intact because it is so complicated. The best way to get shamrock bokeh is to photograph shamrock chain lights out of focus or at a small aperture (which you can buy online at party supply stores). You can also create your own digital bokeh, like I’ve done below:

For a tutorial on how to create your own bokeh, take a look at Corey Barker’s awesome video here!

• What happens when you have a photo with a question mark on it inside the Organizer? How do you start over if there are images you don’t want in there anymore? –Jan H.

When you have an image that seems to have been misplaced, Elements 10 and 11 both have a great automatic feature where they search for the file on your entire computer if you’ve moved it to another folder. If you want to reconnect a files, when you select it, you’ll get this dialog: 

If it can’t find your photo, click on Browse:

Once you find your image (mine had been renamed and place in another folder), you’ll have replaced the file’s original destination. If your file is on an external hard drive, if will appear as a question mark unless you have that drive plugged in. If there are any files you don’t want, select the images in the Organizer, go to the Edit menu and choose Delete Selected Items from Catalog. You’ll get this dialog, which allows you to delete it just from the catalog, or also from your Hard Disk as well:

• “I would like to like to create a header image for my new website. The way I would like to do it is to use one of my photos, add text for the name/email address and make the whole header clickable. How could I do this?” -Sybille

This is a fun project Sybille, and there are dozens of ways to do this. It depends a lot on what type of header you’d like to create, so I’ll start with something very basic! Create a New Blank File in Elements with the size your header needs to be:

Once you have your blank document, go to the File menu and select Place. The reason why you do this is because you want to able to resize your image without loss of detail, so always use Place! Resize and fit your photo into place using the automatic bounding box around it. Now you can place your text wherever you’d like! I created two different headers that were both extremely easy:

With the first, I used a premade set of frames from the Graphics panel in the Editor, then just placed type over each little piece. With the second, I create a basic white rectangle using the Rectangular Shape tool, added type over it and then applied a Gradient layer mask. Now I can use either and place them on my website, ready for clicking. The best part about creating a header is that the possibilities are endless – play around with the graphics already in the Editor, ones you may create on your own, the style of font and the placement of all these elements.

There are still many more Ask-Liz questions to be answered, so keep your eyes open for the Round 2! Happy Editing, y’all!

-Liz

ask-liz@photoshopelementsuser.com

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We are excited to inform you that the Subscriber Showcase and Photo Challenge will resume in the next issue of PET.

Want to see your photo in print? Show us how you’ve put our tutorials to work in your images. Your image might be selected for the PET Subscriber Showcase.

The topic for this Photo Challenge is Bridges. Winners will be announced online and all entries must be submitted by April 30th. To submit your recent work to the Subscriber Showcase or the Photo Challenge, go to our Contests page and follow the instructions.

Good luck!

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(For more on the March/April Photo Challenge, check out this blog post.)

In the coming days, we’ll also be posting Diana’s extra online article for her cool “Chalk It Up” tutorial in the issue, so keep an eye out for it. (If you sign up for email alerts via the “Get PET Site Updates” box on the lower right side of the website, you’ll get an email as soon as we post any new video, blog post or magazine extra.)

Regarding delivery times, US subscribers should receive their copies by March 11. Canadian subscribers should receive their issues by March 18; delivery worldwide should be complete by March 26.

If you’re missing your issue after the dates listed above, send us a note via our contact form on the website. (If you subscribed after February 7, 2012, our second mailing will go out from the printer in late March for an early April delivery. After that, you’ll be on the schedule for the initial mailing.)

[Update, March 6: The low-resolution version of the issue has been replaced with a better copy. Sorry for the inconvenience.]

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Well now’s the chance to get all your questions answered by me, Liz LePage, for our reboot of ASK LIZ!

Where did all these emails come from!? Photo by Liz LePage

When I first started working for the Photoshop Elements Techniques website, we came up with a great idea: why not have subscribers write in to a special email account where I can answer questions all about Elements? The messages came flooding in, so quickly in fact, that I barely had enough to answer half of them in a day (let alone get any other work done!). With a heavy heart, we shut off the account, I turned my efforts to other endeavors and most of your questions were shipped off to Customer Service.

I can honestly tell you, I miss Ask Liz. I absolutely adored answering Elements questions for you all, especially when I knew they would be concerns that other subscribers had, but weren’t able to find the time to ask. In so many cases, I’d receive similar emails wanting to know almost identical ideas and it turned into a fantastic sounding board for what YOU, our subscribers, really wanted to know about Elements.

I am so happy to announce the return of Ask Liz here at Photoshop Elements Techniques, a program I can’t wait to be a part of again. Send your questions, concerns, thoughts and ideas to ask-liz@photoshopelementsuser.com and let me know what you need help with or want to know more about!

Unfortunately, I won’t be able to answer every email with so many pouring through my account every morning as I’d be stuck at my computer for days! However, I’ll be weeding through them all, finding the most pressing issues or popular matters and posting a new blog post every few weeks with my answers. Plus, in the next few months, your question could be featured in an issue of our magazine as well!

So shoot me a line, send me a query or let me know what you want to know about Elements. I can’t wait to hear from you!

-Liz

ask-liz@photoshopelementsuser.com