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USING PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS 8
Cropping, resizing, retouching, and transforming photos
Last updated 7/26/2011
The Unsharp Mask filter adds contrast to reduce fuzziness.
1 Select an image, layer, or area.
2 Choose Enhance > Unsharp Mask.
3 Select the Preview option.
4 Set any of these options and click OK:
Amount Determines how much to increase the contrast of pixels. For high-resolution printed images, an amount
between 150% and 200% is usually best.
Radius Specifies the number of pixels to sharpen around edges. For high-resolution images, a radius between 1 and 2
is usually recommended. A lower value sharpens only the edge pixels, whereas a higher value sharpens a wider band
of pixels. This effect is much less noticeable in print than on-screen, because a 2-pixel radius represents a smaller area
in a high-resolution printed image.
Threshold Determines how far different pixels must be from the surrounding area before they are considered edge
pixels and sharpened. To avoid introducing noise (in images with flesh tones, for example), experiment with
Threshold values between 2 and 20. The default Threshold value (0) sharpens all pixels in the image.
Transforming
Rotate or flip an item
You can rotate or flip a selection, a layer, or an entire image. Make sure to choose the correction command depending
on the item you want to rotate or flip.
1 Select the photo, layer, selection, or shape you want to rotate or flip.
2 Choose Image > Rotate, and choose one of the following commands from the submenu:
90° Left, Layer 90° Left, and Selection 90° Left Rotates the photo, layer, or selection a quarter-turn counterclockwise.
(Rotate Selection is only available when you have an active selection in an image.)
90° Right, Layer 90° Right, and Selection 90° Right Rotates the photo, layer, or selection a quarter-turn clockwise.
180°, Layer 180°, and Selection 180° Rotates the photo, layer, or selection a half-turn.
Custom Rotates the item by the amount you specify. If you select this option, enter the number of degrees you want
to rotate the item by, and the direction in which you want to rotate the item.
Note: A positive number rotates the object clockwise, and a negative number rotates the object counterclockwise.
When you are finished, click OK.
Flip Horizontal, Flip Layer Horizontal, and Flip Selection Horizontal Flips the photo, layer, or selection horizontally.
Flip Vertical, Flip Layer Vertical, and Flip Selection Vertical Flips the photo, layer, or selection vertically.
