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USING PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS 8
Color and tonal correction
Last updated 7/26/2011
“Remove spots and small imperfections” on page 141
“Sharpening overview” on page 153
Automatically correct lighting and color
Photoshop Elements provides several automatic lighting and color-correction commands in both Full Edit and Quick
Fix. 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:
Auto Smart Fix Corrects overall color balance and improves shadow and highlight detail, if necessary.
Auto Levels 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.
Auto Contrast 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.
Auto Color Correction 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.
Auto Sharpen Adjusts the sharpness of the image by clarifying the edges and adding detail that tonal adjustments may
reduce.
Auto Red Eye Fix Automatically detects and repairs red eyes in an image.
More Help topics
“Precisely remove red eye” on page 140
“Replace colors in an image” on page 144
“Sharpen an image” on page 153
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. 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.
