Operation Manual

114 LESSON 4 Image Editing Basics
Working with Auto Smart Tone
From Photoshop Elements 12, the Auto Smart Tone feature provides a new, highly
intuitive way to make the most of your photos with just a few clicks. Even if you
begin with no clear idea of what adjustments an image needs, the Auto Smart Tone
dialog box provides visual clues and simple controls that make the process easy.
Called “smart” for a good reason, the Auto Smart Tone feature uses “intelligent”
algorithms to analyze and correct an image automatically—and then actually learns
from whatever adjustments you make.
Auto Smart Tone begins by comparing your image to a database drawn from hun-
dreds of images of all types; then references information about how those images
were corrected by different photographic professionals in order to calculate an
automatic adjustment that is uniquely suited to the particular photo you’re editing.
Auto Smart Tone adjustments combine corrections to different aspects of both
tone and color, depending on the deficiencies of the image at hand.
1 In the Organizer, isolate the photos for this lesson, if necessary, by clicking the
Lesson 4 folder in the list at the left, or the white arrow beside the Lesson 04
tag in the Tags panel. Select the un-edited images DSC_0006.jpg, DSC_0212.jpg,
DSC_0378.jpg, and DSCN0532.jpg; then, click the Editor button in the Task bar.
2 In the Editor, click Expert in the mode picker at the top of the workspace to
switch to Expert edit mode; then bring the image DSC_0378.jpg to the front by
clicking its name tab at the top of the Edit window. Choose Auto Smart Tone
from the Enhance menu to open the Auto Smart Tone dialog box.
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Note: The Enhance >
Auto Smart Tone com-
mand is available in
both Quick and Expert
modes in the Editor.
The Auto Smart Tone
dialog box opens with
the automatic adjust-
ment pre-applied. In
the center is a “joystick”
control that can be
dragged in any direc-
tion: a preview in each
corner shows what to
expect from dragging in
that direction. For this
photo, the upper left
preview is dark, low-
contrast, and saturated;
the thumbnail at the
lower left is also dark,
but has more contrast
and less saturated color.
At the right, the upper
preview is brighter, with
more neutral colors; the
lower is even brighter,
with more contrast.