Overview

Apart from the initial years of the invention of photography, I can't think of a more exciting time to be involved in making pictures. In fact, I believe that Fox Talbot, as one of the fathers of the medium, would have little difficulty in agreeing that over the last few years the world of imaging has changed forever. Digital photography has become the two buzz-words on everyone's lips. Increasing levels of technology coupled with comparatively affordable equipment have meant that sophisticated imaging jobs that were once the closely guarded domain of industry professionals are now being handled daily by home and business users.

This book introduces you to the techniques of the professionals, and more importantly, shows you how to use these skills to produce high quality images for yourself and your business. Centered on Adobe's Photoshop Elements package and completely revised to cover the new features in version 3.0 as well as the tools common to the previous two versions of the program, you will learn the basics of good digital production from the point of capturing the picture, through simple manipulation techniques to outputting your images for print and web. To help reinforce your understanding, you can practice with the same images that I have used in the step-by-step demonstrations by downloading them from the book's website (www.guide2elements.com). See Figure 1.1. Also, you will find real life examples throughout the text showing you how to use your new found skills to enhance your own images or create...