Photoshop Elements 4: The Missing Manual

Filter

Filters let you change the appearance of your image in all sorts of ways. There are some filters that are mostly for correcting and improving your photos and others that create artistic effects. There are a lot of filters in Elements, and in this menu, they're grouped into categories to make it easier to find one that does exactly what you want. You can also apply filters from the Styles and Effects palette. There's more about using filters in Chapter 12. Every image responds to filters differently, so the descriptions here are a very rough guide.

Last Filter

The top item in this menu always features the last filter you've applied. Choose the filter here to use it again with the exact same settings you previously used. You can also press Ctrt+F to reapply the last filter. If you want to change the settings, you need to choose the filter from its regular place in the list of filters or press Ctrl+Alt+F.

Filter Gallery

The Filter Gallery lets you try the effects of different filters, rearrange them, and preview what they'll look like in your photo. There's more about the Filter Gallery on Section 12.1.1.3.

Adjustments

The filters in this category are primarily, but not exclusively, for correcting and enhancing photos. These filters are discussed on Section 9.8, unless otherwise noted.

• Equalize

• Gradient Map (see Section 12.4)

• Invert (or Ctrl+I) (see Section 6.4.2)

• Posterize

• Threshold

• Photo Filter (see Section 8.2)

Artistic

These filters let you apply a wide variety of artistic ...