Photoshop Elements 3
Elements 3 Standard Edit Screen

Screen Resolution

Screen resolution is really important with Elements 3. If you have a low resolution objects like the palette bin, the photo bin, and the menu bars will appear larger and thus will be easy to read. However, because these objects take up more of the screen there will be less room for the image you are editing. Elements 3 will not work well at all at 800x600 monitor resolution. A reasonable setting would be 1024x768 which still low enough to be able to read the text that will be on the screen and large enough to give you a good image size.

To change the resolution

right click your mouse on a blank portion of the screen (you may have to minimize an application to make a portion of the screen blank.
Click on “properties”
In the Display Properties dialog box click on the “Settings” tab.
Move the “Screen resolution” slider left or right until you get the resolution you wish.
Click OK
If asked, click yes or ok to accept the new resolution.

Maximized and Normal Images

The active image in Elements 3 can be in two modes. In the maximized mode the upper right hand corner of the screen will look like the image on the left. In this mode only the current active image will be visible on the screen. This is not desirable if you are working on more than one image at a time. However, all open images will be visible in the photo bin. To change from the maximized mode to the normal mode click on the third symbol to the right of the “Type a question for help” box. (The double screen symbol.) To close an image while it is in the maximized mode simply click on the X on the second line down. (Clicking on the X on the top line will close Elements 3.

In the normal mode the open image will appear on the screen in its own window. This will allow several images to be open and at least partially visible at once. The active image will always be on top. To change the active image to the maximized mode simply maximize its window. Now, instead of being in a window, the image will be centered in the image area surrounded by a grey area.

Photo Bin

Along the bottom of the Standard Edit screen is the Photo Bin. The photo bin contains thumbnails of all open images. By clicking on one of the thumbnails you will make that image active in the main screen. To allow for more room for the active image you can change the size or even eliminate the photo bin.

To make the photo bin disappear move your mouse pointer over the top edge until the mouse pointer changes. Then click. The photo bin will disappear except for the narrow edge strip at the top. This will allow for a larger image to be displayed, especially vertically oriented photos.
To make the photo bin reappear move the mouse to the edge strip that is now on the bottom edge of the screen. Click. The photo bin will now appear full size.
To change the size of the photo bin move your mouse over the top edge strip, click and hold, then drag the edge up or down until you get the size you wish. If you make the photo bin smaller you will not be able to see the entire thumbnail image but it still will allow you to select the active image.

Windows and Palette Bin

There are a number of windows that one might like to have open to aid in the editing of images. To open one of these windows click on “Window” in the main menu. The windows you have available are

· Color Swatches

· Histogram

· How To

· Info

· Layers

· Navigator

· Styles and Effects

· Undo History

If in the “Window” dropdown menu if the window is checked then it is active (being displayed). You can toggle this action by clicking on the window. An active window can be either independent or it can be a part of the Palette Bin. The palette bin is located on the right hand side of the Standard Edit screen. The palette bin is ideal for windows that you would like to always have available.

The default (out of the box) palette bin contains the How To, Styles and Effects, and Layers windows. This writer’s preference is to have in the palette bin the Layers window and the Undo History window. To do this two windows will have to be removed from the palette bin and one will have to be added to the palette bin.

Remove the “How To” window from the palette bin.

Click on the words “How To” and drag the window away from the palette bin.
Click on “More” at the top of the “How To” window.
Uncheck “Place in Palette Bin” by clicking on that choice.
Close the “How To” window.
The “How To” window is no longer active and no longer in the palette bin.

Add the “Undo History” to the palette bin.

Make the “Undo History” window active
Click on “More” at the top of the “Undo History” window
Check “Place in Palette Bin” by clicking on that choice.
Close the “Undo History” window.
The “Undo History” window will now move to the palette bin. It is still active.

With the “Window” command you can check and uncheck “Palette Bin” making everything in the Palette Bin either active or inactive.

Changing the size of the palette bin.

Along the left edge of the palette bin is a very narrow strip. This can be used to either toggle the palette bin or the change its size.

To make the palette bin disappear move your mouse pointer over the left edge until mouse pointer changes. Then click. The palette bin will disappear except for the narrow edge strip. This will allow for a larger image to be displayed.
To make the palette bin reappear move you mouse to the edge strip that is now on the right edge of the screen. Click. The palette bin will now appear full size.
To change the size of the palette bin move your mouse over the edge strip, click and hold, then drag the edge left or right until you get the size you wish. A narrow palette bin will let you see the items in the window of the palette bin but sometimes will reduce the functionality of the windows.

The File Browser

The file browser in Elements 3 allows the user to view thumbnails of the images in a folder as well as open the images. But it can do so much more if you know how. The file browser can be opened by clicking on “File” in the main menu then clicking on “Browse Files”. The file browser is basically divided into three sections. The menu bar at the top, the information area on the left and the thumbnails on the right.

The information area

The information area contains three parts. The top is the folders area which allows you to browse for the folder that contains your photos. The next is the preview area which will allow a larger image to be viewed. And the bottom is the metadata screen which contains data about your image.

The metadata screen contains information about the image much of it generated by your camera. While this can be very helpful it is also something you do not need all of the time. A suggestion would be to move the Metadata tab up to the Folders screen. Do this by clicking and holding on the Metadata tab and dragging it up to the Folder screen.

You change the size of the File Browser by clicking on any edge and moving it to the size you wish (just like changing the size of any window. Making the file browser as large as possible will allow you to see more things in its windows.

You can change the size relationship of the information area and the thumbnail area by clicking on the vertical dividing bar and moving it either left or right as desired. The use of this will enable you to increase the size of the preview image. You can change the size relationship of the Folders/Metadata screen and the Preview screen by clicking on the horizontal dividing bar and moving it up or down.

Thumbnail area

The thumbnail area contains the thumbnails of the images in the selected folder (duh!) The default size of these thumbnails is “large”. However this can be changed by clicking on the “View” menu item in the File Browser menu. You will then have a number of choices for viewing.

Small, Medium, and Large are fairly obvious. Custom Thumbnail Size lets you select the size you want. The default is 256 pixels wide but you can change it by clicking on “Edit” in the file browser menu then on “preferences”. You may then set the custom thumbnail size to anything you wish.