Easy Computer Basics, Windows 7 Edition

The pictures you take with your digital camera don't always turn out perfect. To edit your digital photos, use a photo editing program, such as Adobe Photoshop Elements.

Click the Start menu and select All Programs, Adobe Photoshop Elements.

Select Quickly Fix Photos.

Click the Open button on the toolbar.

Select the photo you want to edit.

Click Open.

TIP Other Photo Editing Programs Other popular photo editing programs include IrfanView (www.irfanview.com), Paint Shop Pro (www.jasc.com), Microsoft Picture It! Photo (www.microsoft.com/products/imaging/), and Roxio PhotoSuite (www.roxio.com).

To perform a one-step "smart fix" of the entire picture, click the Smart Fix Auto button.

To automatically adjust the brightness, contrast, and color levels, click the Levels Auto button.

To automatically adjust only the brightness and contrast, click the Contrast Auto button.

To manually adjust the brightness and contrast, adjust the Lighten Shadows, Darken Highlights, and Midtone Contrast sliders.

TIP Different Editing Modes Photoshop Elements 3.0 has two editing modes. The Quick Fix mode lets you make quick and easy fixes; the Standard Edit mode lets you make more difficult changes to your photos. Switch modes by clicking the buttons in the upper-right corner of the screen.

To automatically adjust the picture's color and tint levels, click the Color Auto button.

To manually adjust the color and tint levels, adjust the Saturation, Hue, Temperature, and Tint sliders.

To slightly sharpen the overall picture, click the Sharpen Auto button.

To manually sharpen the picture, drag the Amount slider in the Sharpen section.