Photoshop Elements - Enhancing Photos    Written by Design Team Member - Sharon Jeffs

If you’ve spent your time trying to take the perfect photo only to be disappointed with the resulting image then you certainly aren’t alone!!  Many of my shots are far from perfect in the beginning but with some clever manipulations with Photoshop Elements I usually end up with a wonderful photo.

There are man different ways to improve a photo; I’m going to show you how to do the following enhancements –

• Straightening a crooked photo
• Fixing blemishes or dirt marks
• Adding a photo matt to the photo
• Creative cropping

Each of these enhancements are designed highlight your main focus, if you have an image that requires colours to be fixed or shadows to be removed then you may prefer to start with my article “Fixing photos with Photoshop Elements”.

Straightening a crooked photo

Begin by opening your photo in Photoshop Elements. Check that your image is the right way up.  If not then locate “Image” from the top toolbar, then “Rotate”.  You will be given a selection of choices to choose from.  You will need to work out which preference suits your photo best; I used “Canvas 90°right” to fix mine.

 Before we go any further I’d like to take a closer look at this picture with you.  Although I love taking photos at odd angles, this one looks all wrong.  That’s because the angle of the path and the angle of the horizon are conflicting.  As a rule in photography, the horizon line should always be straight from left to right and not at an angle.  Once we fix this the photo should look much more appealing.

To start with you may find it easier if there is plenty of room around the photo to play in.  To do this, wave your mouse over one of the sides until a double arrow appears, when it does hold down the mouse button and drag the side out – I like to add an extra 3cm on either side.

Locate the “Crop” tool on the tool palette at the left of the screen.  Place this tool onto one of the corners of your photo and, while holding down your mouse, drag the tool across your photo to create a box.  The shaded section of the photo is what will be cropped away. 

Move your mouse to one of the corners of the photo, keep moving your mouse around the corner until the mouse turns into a curved double arrow. Now hold down your mouse button and gently move your mouse.  The box will move with you, align the top line with your horizon.  When you are happy release the mouse and check that all the corners are within the photo.  If they aren’t you may like to fill the corners or you can adjust the box so that all corners are within the photo. 

If you are happy with the straightening, double click on the centre of the image to confirm the crop.  If you need to fill corners, select the “Stamp” tool from the tools palette.  To use this tool you need to find an area close in colour/pattern to what you want in the corner, hold down the “ALT” button on your keyboard and click your mouse button.  This selects this area to clone or copy.  Finally click on the corner with the tool and watch that corner blend in!!

Fixing Blemishes

Blemishes and marks can be removed easily by using the “Stamp” tool as described above in step 6. 

Adding a Photo Mat

One of the biggest things to make a photo pop out from the background is to use mats with your photo.  Whether you are doing digital layouts or traditional paper layouts, it’s always good to know how to create a mat.  Think of how much time you can save in paper layouts by having one of your mats pre-done for you!

There are a few ways to create a mat but the simplest way for the beginners is to use the effects palette.  To begin locate the “Effects” tab at the top right of the page and click on it.  You will have a list of different effects that you can choose from.  They are all very fun to use on photos and do very unique effects to your image.

Before you begin you will need to think carefully about what colour you would like your frame to be.  Once you are sure of the colour you prefer double click on the colour choice selector at the bottom of the tools palette.  You will need to select the top square as this will be the primary choice.  Once the “Colour Picker” appears choose the colour you prefer.

NB. If you would prefer a more specific colour to reflect a colour in the photo then you may prefer to use the “Eyedropper tool”.  To use this tool simply locate the eyedropper in the tools palette and select it.  Bring the eyedropper over the section of the photo whose colour you wish to replicate and click on it with your mouse.  The colour will appear in the primary colour choice box at the bottom of the tools palette.

To create a matt you will need to find and click on the blue frame titled “Foreground colour frame”.  Photoshop Elements will then do all the hard work for you.  If you would like a double matt, simply choose your second colour then   re-select the “Foreground colour frame”.

Creative Cropping

Sometimes you may have an image you would like to be framed within a shape, especially when creating digital pages.  This is a really simple effect to create and takes only minutes to complete.

To begin with, locate the “Custom shape tool” on the tools palette and right click on it to see what choices you have available.  Along the top of the tool panel a tool bar will appear with different shape choices.

Choose the shape you would like to use from the top toolbar.  The heart one actually drops down to reveal different shapes.  Once you have chosen your shape you will need to drag a square onto your photo where you want the shape to be – to do this simply press and hold down your mouse button as you drag the tool across the photo and a shaped outline will appear to help you centre your image.  Release the mouse to select.  Before you go any further check that your opacity setting is at zero.  I’ve marked where you will find the sliding scale on the image, simply click on this scale and slide it across to zero.

To complete your shape, select the “Effects tab” and in the pull down menu select “Frames”.  (I’ve marked where on the image to make it easier for you).  Once you have done this, scroll through until you find “Vignette” and click on this.

Photoshop Elements will warn you it is flattening the layers, this is ok, and will complete the task.  Once finished you will be asked if you wish to keep this effect.  Personally I like to move the box by clicking the top banner of it and moving it to the side so I can get a good look at the effect. If happy click yes and no if not so the effect can be reversed.  If you select yes then change your mind you will have to start all over again with another copy of the photo.

And that’s it!  Each of these enhancements are really easy to do after the first time and can be very effective in getting that perfect scrapbook photo!