Getting started: Viewing photos

You can use this tutorial with Adobe® Photoshop® Elements versions 7 and 8.

Check out the features in the Adobe® Photoshop® Elements Organizer designed to make viewing your photos easy.

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Requirements

To complete this tutorial, install the following software:

Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 or later

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Hiding the task pane

By default, Photoshop Elements displays photo thumbnails in the Photo Browser pane on the left side of the Organizer workspace. If you have changed to a different view, you can easily change back to Thumbnail view using the Display menu.

1. Start Photoshop Elements and open the Organizer workspace.
2. Click Display and choose Thumbnail View.

   Photoshop Elements displays a low-resolution thumbnail of the original photos. To devote the entire screen to the thumbnails, you can collapse the Task pane on the right.

3. Position the pointer on the border between the Task pane and the Photo Browser and double-click.

   The Task pane is hidden and the entire workspace is used to display the Photo Browser.

4. Choose Window > Show Task Pane to show the Task pane.

Using the Zoom features

The Zoom features, shown in Figure 1, make it easy to zoom in and out on your thumbnails.

Figure 1: A. Small Thumbnails, B. Zoom Slider, C. Single Photo View

1. Drag the Zoom slider to the right to make each thumbnail bigger.
2. Select a thumbnail image.
3. Click the Single Photo View icon to fill the entire Photo Browser with a single image.

   When viewing a single image, a scroll bar appears to the right of the image. You can use this scroll bar to move between images.

4. Click the Small Thumbnails icon to return to the default Thumbnail view.

   Notice that the Thumbnails include information, such as the date, below each thumbnail.

Viewing thumbnail information

By default the Thumbnail view shows the date below each thumbnail. You can choose to show or hide this information, along with other information about each file.

1. Click the Details check box above the Photo Browser, to deselect it. The date below each thumbnail is hidden.
2. Click the Details check box to select it. You can also add the filename to the information that appears below each thumbnail.
3. Drag the Zoom slider to the right so there is more room to display the filename below each thumbnail.
4. Choose View > Show File Names. Filenames are added below each thumbnail, as shown in Figure 2.

   

   Figure 2: Filenames showing in the Organizer

5. Open the View menu and point to Media Types.

   The Media Types submenu includes options for viewing several media types, including small videos, audio clips, projects that you have made in Photoshop Elements, and PDF files.

Showing and hiding grid lines

Some people prefer to display grid lines between each photo thumbnail. When an image has a dark background, the grid lines make it easy to see where one thumbnail ends and the next one begins.

1. Choose View > Show Grid Lines. White lines divide each thumbnail in the Photo Browser, as shown in Figure 3.

   

   (View full size +)

   Figure 3: Grid lines in the Photo Browser

2. Choose View > Show Grid Lines again to hide the grid lines.

Where to go from here

If you enjoyed this tutorial, check out these other resources to help get you started using Photoshop Elements.

• Photoshop Elements Essentials for Windows tutorials on lynda.com
• Photoshop Elements shows on Adobe TV
• Photoshop Elements Help and Support
• Selecting photos
• Rotating photos
• Hiding and deleting photos
• Moving files

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