Adobe Photoshop Elements 10: The Editor 5 Filters, Shapes and Type Tools
Options Bar: This area contains various settings for the active tool
Image Window
Tools Panel
Edit Tab of Panel Bin
Move Tool
Zoom Tool
Hand Tool
Eyedropper Tool
Marquee Tool
Lasso Tool
Magic Wand Tool
Quick Selection/ Selection
Brush Tool
Horizontal Type Tool
Crop Tool
Cookie Cutter Tool
Effects panel
Straighten Tool
Layers panel
Red Eye Removal Tool
Spot Healing Brush Tool
Clone Stamp/Pattern Stamp Tool
Eraser Tool
Brush Tool
Smart Brush Tool
Paint Bucket Tool
Gradient Tool
Custom Shape Tool
Undo History panel
Blur/Sharpen/Smudge Tool
Sponge/Dodge/Burn Tool
Color Picker
Project Bin
A Couple of Random Tools: Paint Bucket (
)
Select an area, then click inside it to fill it with the
foreground color. If you click directly on an image,
Elements selects pixels the same color as the one you
clicked and paints them with the foreground color.
Shape Tools
Right-click the Shape Tool button to see the categories of shapes
available; select a shape then draw it by dragging the mouse at an
angle across the image.
Shapes drawn with these tools always appear on a separate layer, so
you can easily add layer effects to them. Shapes are vector images
(calculated images) which can be smoothly scaled up or down; not all
actions work on vector images, so Photoshop may offer to simplify
the shape. This turns it into a regular layer.
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Adobe Photoshop Elements 10: The Editor 5 Filters, Shapes and Type Tools
The Effects Panel – FILTERS (and the Filters menu)
Chosen category: Filters
Subcategories of filters
available
Sample Thumbnails showing
effects in chosen
subcategory
Filters in the Effects Panel
The Filters Menu
Filter Basics
Filters are a set of tools that add effects to images or selected areas of images. The can be accessed
from the Effects panel, and also from the Filter menu and the Filter Gallery (see below), which offers
useful previews. Some filters are only available from the Filter menu.

Filters apply only to the active part of an image. Filters affect only the active, visible layer or a
selected area of the layer.

Filters don’t work on all types of images. You can’t use some filters on images in Grayscale mode, or
any filters on images in Bitmap or Index Color mode. Many filters don’t work on 16-bit images.

You can use the same filter more than once. The last filter you applied appears at the top of the
Filter menu. You can reapply it with the same settings you last used to intensify the effect on the
image.
Filter Categories
Adjustment filters: Change the brightness values, color,
grayscale range, and tonal levels of pixels in an image. Convert
color pixels to black and white.
Artistic filters: Simulate the appearance of various drawing
and painting techniques.
Original Image
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Adobe Photoshop Elements 10: The Editor 5 Filters, Shapes and Type Tools
Blur filters: Soften a selection or an image. Useful for
retouching. Blurring the background can make the viewer’s
eye focus on the part of the image you leave in focus.
Brush Stroke filters: Give photos a painterly or fine-arts look
using different brush and ink stroke effects.
Distort filters: Warp an image, creating three-dimensional or
other reshaping effects.
Noise filters: Blend a selection into the surrounding pixels, and
remove problem areas, such as dust and scratches.
Artistic Filters: Cutout + Film Grain + Poster Edges
Pixelate filters: Sharply define an image or selection by clumping pixels of similar color values.
Render filters: Create 3D shapes, cloud patterns, refraction
patterns, and simulated light reflections.
Sketch filters: Add texture to add depth or for a hand-drawn
look.
Stylize filters: Produce a painted or impressionistic effect by
displacing pixels and heightening contrast.
Texture filters: Give the appearance of depth or substance, or
add an organic look.
Video filters: Restrict color range to those acceptable for
television reproduction; smooth moving images captured from video.
Brush Strokes Filters:
Sprayed Strokes; Crosshatch; Spatter
Other filters: Create your own filter effects, modify masks, offset a selection within an image, make
quick color adjustments.
Texture Filters:
Patchwork; Stylize: Glowing Edges; Solarize + Wind
Distort Filters: Liquefy
Clockwise Twirl (bee) and Turbulence (flower)
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Adobe Photoshop Elements 10: The Editor 5 Filters, Shapes and Type Tools
The Filter Gallery
Click arrow to open or
close a set of filters
Preview of image with
all filters applied
Adjust settings for
the current
(selected) effect
Click a thumbnail to
apply the effect to a
temporary layer
Add a temporary
layer to hold a new
filter, or delete a
filter layer
Change magnification
of preview
Text Tools
Photoshop Elements offers a variety of tools for creating text,
with a wide selection of text shaping options and other effects.
Three new tools were added with the release of Photoshop
Elements 10: the Text on Selection, Text on Shape, and Text on
Custom Path tools. All three tools are used to create text that
follows a more interesting path than you can get with just the
Warp button.
Basic Text Tools
The Horizontal Type Tool and the Vertical Type
Tool: Choose one of these tools and click on your
image to set a starting point. When you begin
typing, your text begins there and grows along a
straight (horizontal or vertical) line.
Horizontal Type Tool
Vertical Type Tool
Position of
initial click
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Baseline and cursor visible only while
editing.
Adobe Photoshop Elements 10: The Editor 5 Filters, Shapes and Type Tools
The controls on the Options bar let you choose properties for your text, much like in a word processor:
Faux Styles
Font Size
Font
Font Style
Clicking the Warp Text button (
, or even
Anti-Aliasing
Leading
Alignment
Font Color
Accept or Reject
Warp Text
Changes
Orientation
) lets you shape the text into shapes like
,
. Since they’re layers, you can also apply
to them. When you are satisfied with your text, click the Accept button (the green
check mark) on the Options bar.
In the Layers palette, a text layer’s thumbnail is marked
with a T; it will automatically be named with whatever
is typed in it. The easiest way to re-select existing text is
to double-click the thumbnail. If you try to click directly
into previously-typed text, it’s easy to miss and
inadvertently create a new text layer.
Text layer thumbnail
Text layer name
Text that follows a path
The three new tools all produce text that follows a preset path. The main difference is how the path is created: it can follow the outline of a selection, or one
of a list of available shapes, or a path you draw yourself.
Text on Selection Tool:
1. Pull up an image and use any selection tool to select the part that you want to wrap text around.
2. Right-click the Text tool in the tool box and choose Text on Selection (
3. Click one time inside your selection, then click the Commit button (
).
) that has appeared on your
image. The selection is now surrounded by a thin black
Text path
outline – this is your text path.
4. Move the mouse pointer close to the selection outline.
When it is in the right position it will look like a text pointer
crossed with a curved line: Click the outline to place the
cursor, and begin typing. Text will appear along the path – if
you type long enough it will follow the closed curve
back to the starting point. Stop before it overlaps!
5.
Click the Commit button on the Options bar to accept the text. The selection outline
vanishes as soon as you select another layer in the Layers panel.
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Adobe Photoshop Elements 10: The Editor 5 Filters, Shapes and Type Tools
Text on Shape Tool:
1. Right-click the Text tool in the tool box and choose Text on Shape (
).
2. On the Options bar, choose your shape from the menu. (There aren’t all
that many options available using this tool.)
3. Draw the shape on the image, then click the cursor at the point on the
outline where you want to start typing.
4. As you type, the text wraps around the shape. Be careful not to enter so much text that the end
overlaps the beginning.
5. Click the Commit button
on the Options bar to
accept the text. The shape
outline vanishes as soon
as you select another layer
in the Layers panel.
Before, during and after the typing process.
Text on Custom Path Tool:
1. Right-click the Text tool in the tool box and choose Text on Custom Path (
).
2. Use the mouse to draw any path on the image.
3. Click the path and a number of anchor points appear. Drag these anchor points to adjust the path.
4. When you are happy with the path, click the cursor at the point where you want to start typing. As
you type, the text follows your chosen path.
5. Click the Commit button on the Options bar to accept the text. The path outline vanishes as soon as
you select another layer in the Layers panel.
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Adobe Photoshop Elements 10: The Editor 5 Filters, Shapes and Type Tools
Type Mask Tools
These tools don’t actually create text; they create a text-shaped selection so you can copy and paste
lettering out of any image. It works best with small amounts of text in big, heavy fonts.
Open an image, choose the Horizontal (
) or Vertical Type Mask Tool (
), and click on your image.
The image will be covered with a red mask, and the blinking cursor marks where you will begin typing.
As you type, the letters appear in the image colors against the red background.
Before typing, image is fully masked
Letters are "unmasked" and show the real colors
Click the red background or the Commit button on the Options bar. The mask disappears and the letters
are outlined in marching ants; now the lettering behaves like any selection. In this case, I wanted to
make full use of the artwork so I clicked SelectTransform Selection and stretched the letters.
After clicking, mask vanishes and letters are selected
Lettering selection stretched to size of artwork
When you are happy with the selection, you can copy and paste to superimpose the selected letters on
the original artwork, then apply a layer style to make it stand out:
Letters copied and pasted in a new layer (other layers hidden)
The Inner Ridge bevel now defines the edges of the letters
Variation: Put a plain black layer under the lettering
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Adobe Photoshop Elements 10: The Editor 5 Filters, Shapes and Type Tools
Create a Photomerge Panorama
1. Take a set of appropriate photos, for example, a series of pictures of a skyline. Photoshop
recommends 15-40% overlap between photos.
2. Open the photos in the Editor
3. Click FileNewPhotomerge Panorama
from the menu bar. Photoshop opens the
Photomerge dialog box. Click the Add Open
Files button on the right, and you will see a
list of your files appear in the center box.
4. Select a layout option from the list at the left
side of the box. Click OK to let Photoshop
blend the images.
5. Photoshop now displays the “first draft” of
your merge, which probably has transparent
areas around the edges. There are several
options to deal with this:
a. Photoshop offers to automatically fill in
the edges. If the edges are mostly sky or
grass without nearby objects, you can
click Yes to let it.
b. You can crop the panorama to remove the ragged edges.
c. You can fill in the transparent areas using the Clone Stamp.
Panorama produced from the five photos above
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Edges repaired with a combination of Photoshop's
automatic fixing, the Clone Stamp, and the Spot Healing
Brush.