Adobe Photoshop Elements 9 Part D

This is the 4th installment in my blog series on Adobe Photoshop Elements 9 which is based on what I learn from the VTC video training program on the subject. I also try and do these posts daily. If you right click on a layer a menu appears with options including merge layers and flatten image. You will frequently use these options. There is a layer mask button in the top right corner of the thumbnail of a photo. This protects all or part of a layer as you apply effects. In the histogram which shows things like light levels and color levels, you can select an area with the lasso tool and get a reading for that area. There are also different types of histogram to choose from. A PSD file has the layers intact and is a proprietary file common to Photoshop & Photoshop Elements. The hand tool will move an entire picture. The move tool is similar but moves the entire layer which must be unlocked. The rectangular and elliptical marquee tools are fairly self explanatory and let you select stuff within an image. If you select and edit part of a photo you will probably need to feather it which is when the edges are slightly blurred and you enter the number of pixels in the box above the photo. There are 3 lasso tools, the simple, magnetic & polygonal. The magnetic aligns itself to lines and contrasting points. The polygonal uses anchor points to select things.