Chapter 2. Getting to Know the Tools

In This Chapter

  • Looking at the Tools panel

  • Understanding the tool groups

  • Using automation tools

You edit photos by using menu commands and tools. Elements knows that, so it provides you with a toolshed chock-full of different tools to perform all sorts of different editing tasks.

These tasks include selecting image content area, refining and sharpening photos, drawing and painting applications, adding text, and more.

In addition to using tools for manually changing the characteristics of a photo, you can use a number of different tools to magically automate tasks. In this chapter, you take a look at the Tools panel and all the different tools at your disposal for modifying photos in many different ways.

Examining the Tools Panel

The Tools panel opens by default when you enter Full Edit mode. As you may recall from Book I, Chapter 1, you can open Full Edit mode directly from the Welcome screen by clicking the Edit button or by choosing Editor

Examining the Tools Panel
Examining the Tools Panel

The tools you see in Figure 2-1 are listed showing their keyboard shortcuts. If you press the key adjacent to the tools shown in Figure 2-1, you select the respective tool. See Chapter 1 for more on keyboard shortcuts.

Figure 2.1. The Tools panel.

The tools in the Tools panel include the following, listed (basically) from ...

Get Photoshop® Elements 7 All-in-One For Dummies® now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.