Adobe Photoshop Elements
The camera I use is a Nikon D70, which in my opinion is a very good, nearly idiot-proof digital camera. Nearly.
I consider myself a very amateur photographer in that I barely know anything about the actual workings of the camera. 99.9% of the time I just take aim and push the button, and to hell with depth of field and exposure and “white balance” and all that. Especially when dealing with a constantly-moving child; I call it a good shot if the majority of his body is in frame.
So if like me you end up with a lot of photos that are pretty good (because the camera did everything for you) but not great (because you didn’t know what the hell you were doing) I recommend spending the best eighty bucks you can invest in your photography activities, and get yourself a copy of Photoshop Elements.
You can get the full-blown version of Photoshop, of course, but Elements is much less expensive – I think the full version is $650 (ACTUAL DOLLARS!) or so – and unless you’re a pro it’s got all the good basic stuff you need.
I use Elements primarily for cropping images and adjusting them. I like to fiddle with the exposure levels (making them lighter or darker), bump up the contrast (because I like saturated-looking pictures), and sharpen up details (eyes, especially).
Here’s one of my favorite, easy tricks I’ll share with you for fixing dull, washed-out images. This is the initial image, a photo taken outside that just didn’t end up with the right exposure:
Blah.
Okay, so in Elements I open the image, go to the Layers palette (make sure Windows > Layers is checked) and make a duplicate of the background layer (right click, Duplicate Layer…or go to the Layer menu and choose Duplicate).
Then, I set the layer blend mode to Soft Light.
Voila:
The sky highlights are still blown out because software can only do so much to rectify human error (until the ROBOTS TAKE OVER), but it’s much better, is it not? I find this tends to make the image a little too dark, so my next step is usually to reduce the shadows (Enhance > Adjust Lighting > Shadows/Highlights).
Here’s the final image, with shadows lightened and some sharpening applied:
The Soft Light blend is sort of similar to the Dooce Effect in that it adds depth and an overall lickability, but it has the advantage of not looking exactly like, you know, the Dooce Effect. I like it when a photo looks extra good, without having that “I’ve been Photoshopped!” smell to it, you know?
In summary: Elements is awesome and I love it very very much. I even own a copy of the full version of Photoshop, which I bought from a coworker’s friend who works at Adobe (for such a deal, holy shit) and…I’ve never installed it. I just keep using Elements, because if it ain’t broke etc etc.
(If you’re on the fence or just interested, email me a photo of yours that needs some Photoshop love. I’ll try and fix it up, and tell you how easy it was to do, maybe in a follow-up post on this website.)
Link: Photoshop Elements
Ballpark price: $80
Posted: September 29th, 2006 under How-to, Photography, Personally recommended by Linda.
Comments: 14
Comments
Comment from Jen
Time: September 30, 2006, 7:00 am
Is is good for storing and e-mailing the photos too??
Comment from sundry
Time: September 30, 2006, 10:06 am
Comment from April
Time: September 30, 2006, 6:04 pm
Oh, I am so glad you posted this. I love all the photos on your site and have been lusting after the Nikon D70. I think I have talked the fiance into buying me the D50 (the only thing better than an SLR is a FREE SLR. am i right?), which is very like the D70, and I was worried I wouldn’t be able to learn how to use it! It makes me feel better to know that other people who use the Nikons aren’t total pros that have taken a million classes. Thanks for the inside tip on how you make your pics better…. do you enhance all the pics on your site this way, or only a small percentage?
Comment from clearlydistracted
Time: September 30, 2006, 6:28 pm
I use Elements in (it sounds like from this post anyway) exactly the same way that you do, but had never tried the soft light blend mode.
You rock.
Comment from sundry
Time: September 30, 2006, 7:53 pm
Comment from Katie
Time: September 30, 2006, 9:19 pm
I’m so glad you’re willing to share your secrets….some people can be all secretive about it and act like they are just god’s gift to photography….
Anyway–I have always been a big fan of your photos. I have Elements, and it is just AMAZING what you can do! I love to make the eyes extra sparkly. But, how do you find the TIME to mess with EVERY picture? I would be on the computer nonstop.
Wait. I already am. Never mind! 
Comment from Audrey
Time: October 2, 2006, 10:23 am
We have Elements too. A professional photographer friend recommended it over full-blown photoshop because we are both inartistic and tech-impaired. (What are we good for, you might ask? Not much.) I barely use 5% of the features, so your tips are really helpful. I will incorporate these into my Elements repertoire!
Comment from Audrey
Time: October 2, 2006, 3:52 pm
Speaking of tech-impaired, if I caused that emoticon to appear on my comment, it was completely unintentional! Not that I don’t want you to “have a nice day’ or anything.
Comment from thejunebug
Time: October 6, 2006, 1:49 am
Here’s a recommendation: Classroom in a Book: Adobe Photoshop CS2. My workplace just bought me the complete Suite (about which I’m kind of bummed, since I can’t take it home and put it on the Laptop of Love, and now I have to buy it because I’m addicted) and yet I don’t know jack crap about using it. Enter Classroom in a Book! Best damn tutorial book I’ve ever read. Color illustrations and everything. It’s awesome.
Comment from thejunebug
Time: October 6, 2006, 1:53 am
Oh and I should mention they offer Classroom in a Book for ALL the adobe programs, including Elements (5.0 is coming out in Dec 2006).
Comment from Erin
Time: October 10, 2006, 1:32 pm
Google’s Picasa (free!) works for all of my cropping/storing/making look significantly better color/contrast-wise needs. In case people reading this are too poor to afford even a cheap Adobe product.
Comment from Tracy
Time: November 1, 2006, 8:01 am
I’m a little late to this SundryBuzz thing, hope you see this. Every year we do a Christmas photo of us (me, husband and dog) with a statue of someone (live in a statue-rich area). The piece de resistance is that we always put a Santa hat on the head of the statue. Well, we’ve run out of statues that we can reach the heads of. We keep saying that this year, we will “photoshop” a Santa hat onto the picture, but we have no idea what this entails. And we don’t have Photoshop. Will Elements allow you to add a Santa hat to an existing photo? Thanks, can’t break tradition.
Comment from Linda
Time: November 2, 2006, 8:48 pm
Comment from wdozyluyje
Time: July 3, 2007, 12:38 pm
Hello! Good Site! Thanks you! qdxixaesovo
Write a comment