Getting Started
Adobe® Photoshop® Elements 2020 delivers image-editing tools that balance power and versatility with ease of use. Whether you’re a home user or hobbyist, a professional photographer or a business user, Photoshop Elements 2020 makes it easy to produce good-looking pictures, share your stories in stylish and sophisticated creations for both print and web, and manage and safeguard your precious photos.
If you’ve used an earlier version of Photoshop Elements, you’ll find that this Classroom in a Book® will teach you advanced skills and provide an introduction to the new and improved features in this version. If you’re new to Adobe Photoshop Elements, you’ll learn the fundamental concepts and a range of techniques that will help you master the application.
About Classroom in a Book
Adobe Photoshop Elements 2020 Classroom in a Book is part of the official training series for Adobe graphics and publishing software, developed with the support of Adobe product experts. Each lesson is made up of a series of self-paced projects that will give you hands-on experience using Photoshop Elements 2020.
See “Accessing the lesson files and Web Edition” on the page 3 for instructions on downloading the sample photographs and other resources used for the lessons in Adobe Photoshop Elements 2020 Classroom in a Book.
What’s new in this edition
This edition covers many new and improved features in Adobe Photoshop Elements 2020, from improvements to the Home screen, which includes Auto Creations to make slideshows and other projects using your media, to revamped collage tools and new guided edits. Adobe has put its Sensei machine-learning technology into more tools, such as the new Smooth Skin feature, the Colorize Photo feature, and the especially useful Select Subject command that automatically creates a selection around the objects you’d otherwise spend more time selecting using other tools.
Prerequisites
Before you begin the lessons in this book, make sure that you and your computer are ready by following the tips and instructions on the next few pages.
Requirements on your computer
You’ll need about 950 MB of free space on your hard disk—around 400 MB for the lesson files and up to 550 MB for the work files that you’ll create as you work through the exercises.
Required skills
The lessons in this book assume that you have a working knowledge of your computer and its operating system. Make sure that you know how to use the mouse, standard menus and commands, context menus, windows, and scroll bars.
If you need to review these basic and generic computer skills, see the documentation included with your Microsoft® Windows® or Apple® macOS® software.
Installing Adobe Photoshop Elements 2020
Before you begin the Adobe Photoshop Elements 2020 Classroom in a Book lessons, make sure your system is set up correctly and you’ve installed the required software and hardware. You must purchase the Adobe Photoshop Elements 2020 software separately. For system requirements and instructions for downloading, installing, and setting up the software, refer to the topics listed under the heading “Download & install” as part of the “Troubleshooting & help” section at helpx.adobe.com/photoshop-elements.html.
Online content
Your purchase of this Classroom in a Book includes online materials provided by way of your Account page on adobepress.com. These include:
Note
The sample images are provided for your personal use with this book. You are not authorized to use these files commercially, or to publish or distribute them in any form without written permission from Adobe Systems, Inc. and the individual photographers or other copyright holders.
Lesson files
To work through the projects in this book, you will need to download the lesson files by following the instructions on the next page.
Web Edition
The Web Edition is an online interactive version of the book providing an enhanced learning experience. Your Web Edition can be accessed from any device with a connection to the Internet, and it contains:
The complete text of the book
Hours of instructional video keyed to the text
Interactive quizzes
Accessing the lesson files and Web Edition
You must register your purchase on adobepress.com in order to access the online content:
Sign in or create a new account.
Click Submit.
Answer the question as proof of purchase.
The lesson files can be accessed from the Registered Products tab on your Account page. Click the Access Bonus Content link below the title of your product to proceed to the download page. Click the lesson file link(s) to download them to your computer.
The Web Edition can be accessed from the Digital Purchases tab on your Account page. Click the Launch link to access the product.
Note: If you purchased a digital product directly from www.adobepress.com or www.peachpit.com, your product will already be registered. However, you still need to follow the registration steps and answer the proof of purchase question before the Access Bonus Content link will appear under the product on your Registered Products tab.
Creating a work folder
Now you need to create a folder to hold your downloaded and unzipped lesson files, as well as the work files you’ll save in the course of the lessons in this book.
Note
In this book, the forward slash character ( / ) is used to separate equivalent terms and commands for Windows / macOS, in the order shown here.
Create a new folder named PSE2020CIB inside the username/Documents (Windows) or username/Documents (macOS) folder on your computer.
If you downloaded the entire Lessons folder, drag the unzipped Lessons folder into the PSE2020CIB folder on your hard disk.
If you downloaded the work folder for an individual lesson, first create a folder named Lessons inside the PSE2020CIB folder; then, drag the unzipped individual lesson folder to your PSE2020CIB/Lessons folder.
Now, you can create a folder to store the finished files that you’ll produce as you work through the exercises.
Note
In this book, the forward arrow character (>) is used to denote submenus and commands found in the menu bar at the top of the workspace or in context and options menus; for example, Menu > Submenu > Command.
In Windows Explorer (Windows) / the Finder (macOS), open the Lessons folder inside the new PSE2020CIB folder on your hard disk.
Choose File > New > Folder (Windows) / File > New Folder (macOS). Type My CIB Work as the name for the new folder.
If you follow the instructions carefully as you work through each exercise in this book, you’ll preserve the original lesson file that you downloaded by saving your work with a new file name. If you do accidentally overwrite the original lesson files, you can download fresh copies at any time from your adobepress.com account.
Creating an Adobe ID
When you install Adobe Photoshop Elements 2020 (macOS) or launch the program for the first time (Windows), you’ll be asked to create an Adobe ID to register your product online. If you were offline and skipped this step, Photoshop Elements will prompt you at startup. You can take advantage of one of these opportunities, or register from the Photoshop Elements Editor by choosing Help > Sign In.
Creating an Adobe ID is free and only takes a minute. Your Adobe ID will streamline your customer support experience, making it easy to make new purchases or to retrieve a lost serial number.
With an Adobe ID, you’ll also be able to log in to community forums and user groups and get access to free trial downloads, hundreds of free product extensions, members-only white papers and downloads, and more.
Understanding the catalog file
The catalog file is a central concept in understanding how Photoshop Elements works. Photoshop Elements doesn’t actually “import” your images in the sense of transferring them from one place to another. For each image you import, Photoshop Elements simply creates a new entry in the catalog that is linked to the source file, wherever it is stored, but the image itself is not moved or copied.
All the work you put into organizing your photo library is recorded in the catalog file; it’s updated whenever you tag, rate, or label a photo, or group images in an album.
As well as digital photographs, a catalog can include video and audio files, scans, PDF documents, and any presentations and layouts you might create in Photoshop Elements, such as slideshows, photo collages, and CD/DVD jacket designs.
The first time you launch Photoshop Elements, it creates a default catalog file (named My Catalog) on your hard disk. Although a single catalog can efficiently handle thousands of files, you can establish separate catalogs for different purposes if that’s the way you prefer to work.
In the first lesson in this book, you’ll create and load a dedicated catalog into which you’ll import the sample images for the exercises, so that you can keep your lesson files separate from your own photo library.
Additional resources
Adobe Photoshop Elements 2020 Classroom in a Book is not intended to replace the documentation that comes with the program or to be a comprehensive reference for every feature. Only the commands and options used in the lessons are explained in this book. For comprehensive information about program features and tutorials, please refer to these resources:
Adobe Photoshop Elements 2020 Learn and Support Point your browser to helpx.adobe.com/photoshop-elements.html, where you can find hands-on tutorials, Help, answers to common questions, troubleshooting information, and more.
Adobe Photoshop Elements 2020 product home page adobe.com/products/photoshop-elements
Photoshop Elements Forums forums.adobe.com/community/photoshop_elements lets you tap into peer-to-peer discussions as well as questions and answers on Adobe products.
Resources for educators Both adobe.com/education and edex.adobe.com offer a treasure trove of information for instructors who teach classes on Adobe software. Find solutions for education at all levels, including free curricula that use an integrated approach to teaching Adobe software and can be used to prepare for the Adobe Certified Associate exams.
Free trial versions of Adobe Photoshop Elements 2020 and Adobe Premiere Elements 2020 The trial version of the software is fully functional and offers every feature of the product for you to test drive. To download your free trial version, go to www.adobe.com/downloads.html.