Using Quick Edit in Photoshop Elements 11

Article written using Photoshop Elements 11 with Windows 8

We are among friends here at Scrap Girls, therefore I feel safe making a confession. I know that you will not judge me, and that many of you, deep down, harbor the same secret I do. I hope this doesn’t change your opinion of me, but I have to tell you: I play favorites. There, it has been said, and I can’t take it back now. I have tried not to; I have tried to treat them equally and give them each their own place to stand out. After all, I’m the one who created them, so they should be treated with an equal amount of love and attention, right?

I am talking, of course, about having a favorite photo. (Why, what did you think I was talking about?) Every once in a while, out of the hundreds of photos I take, there is that one that just stands out as more special than the others, and it just calls to me to scrap it and edit it and play with it in many different ways. Unfortunately, because I am me and not Annie Leibovitz, these photos are seldom perfect and almost always need some editing. I scrap and edit in Photoshop Elements 11 (PSE 11). Usually I edit in Expert Edit mode as it brings up all the tools I am familiar with and gives me the most control over using those tools.

One day, however, I stumbled across the Quick Edit mode in my program, and what a great day that was! One of my biggest editing issues in my photos is the overly hot orange tones you get with the lighting in many places. I could never quite figure out how to edit photos until Quick Edit mode. Join me as I walk you through my editing process…

This is a photo of my daughter on her second birthday. I love the sweet smile on her face and the dreamy look in her eyes. What I don’t love is the hot orange overtones. To fix this, I went to Quick Edit mode in PSE 11. Then under Balance, I chose the Temperature option and used the slider to “cool” the picture down and take away those warm undertones. I finally used the Red Eye Removal Tool to fix her red eyes.

Here is the photo after those few edits:

Much better, don’t you agree? Now, although the photo looks better, I couldn’t resist playing around with some styles and actions to really make it special — it’s one of my favorites, after all. I decided on Brandy Murry’s ScrapSimple Tools – Actions: Magical Photos PSE because I love the extra pizazz it gave my photo. At this point, you may be wondering why I bothered to edit my photo if I was just going to use an action or style on it. Well, let me show you…

As you can see, the unedited photo still maintains those red eyes and warm tones, even with the action applied. It is well worth your time to take a few minutes and do a couple of quick edits on your photos, even if you plan on using an action or style. Quick Edit mode has many more fun features for you to explore. Check them out and come share your tips and digital scrapbook layouts of your favorite photos with us in the Scrap Girls Gallery.

Digital scrapbooking products used: