Photoshop Elements 8 Tutorials - Elements To Restore And Repair Old Photos

By David Peters

Beginners adobe elements video tutorials

Photographs are the best tool we have to relive our cherished memories and remember loved ones who are no longer with us. Unfortunately photographs don?t age well and over time their quality diminishes. Because photos are printed on paper they are often affected by things such as handling, light, moisture, dust, and scratches. Regrettably, these things can ruin our photos and prevent them from lasting through the generations.

Too many people are faced with the question of what to do with photos that haven?t withstood the test of time. Do you wait until they are no longer visible or do you simply toss them? If you are facing questions such as these you don?t have to do either. Using Adobe Elements you can restore your old photos to their original condition.

Choosing the digital photo editing program that is right for you is not as difficult a choice as it might seem. There are a variety on the market however the best and easiest to use is without a doubt Adobe Elements. Once you have chosen your program the first thing you want to do is to create a digital image of your photograph so you can then edit it using your computer. Converting your photo from its paper version to a digital version is as simple as scanning it into your computer. Once the photograph is scanned into your computer you can begin the photo editing process.

With Adobe Elements you will be able to open the scanned images of your photos. When you open the photos you can now edit them as you wish using the tools that are provided by the software. One thing you must remember is to backup the scanned images so you can always revert to the original ones in case of mistakes.

Now restoring your photos when using Adobe Elements is quite simple and it does not need any skilled training, all the tools in the elements software are very simple and easy to use. The most common tools you will use when restoring photos will be the smudge, blur and sharpen tool, these are the tools you definitely will need to get to grips with.

So we are going to look at each of the three tools that you will come across in Adobe Elements and how you can make use of them in restoring your photos. First the smudge tool, this tool is very effective at masking any scratches that would have been on the original photo that you scanned. The smudge tool will also allow you to remove any object in the background you wish to remove as well as correct photos that were not properly focused.

The next tool is the blur tool. This tool will allow you to add some tone to photos so they can appear darker than they originally did. This tool is very effective when you are working with photos that have deteriorated due to long periods of exposure to sunlight. So you will be able to restore the color in your photos so it looks bright and attractive again.

The last most common tool you will definitely use when restoring photos is the sharpen tool. This tool is mainly used to fix parts of a photo that may appear to be blurred. When you scan old photos that are now very light in color you will find that some of the parts will appear a bit blurred and this is what the sharpen tool is designed to fix.

Keep your cherished memories alive and well, restore them using Adobe Elements.

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