Introduction

Digital photography is fun. But anyone with a digital camera will instantly recognize this scene. Buried somewhere amid hundreds of computer files with names like 101-0144_IMG_2.JPG and 104-0459_STE.JPG are your pictures of Aunt Mutt and Uncle Leo at the Grand Canyon. Getting the pictures into the computer was easy. In fact, getting Uncle Leo to smile was a snap compared to trying to find that picture of him on your computer.

Photoshop Album will make such hair-pulling searches a thing of the past. Not only will it easily find your photos, it also will inspire and guide you in creating online galleries, electronic greeting cards, and even printed albums. Instead of leaving your photos hidden in a shoebox, you’ll be able to easily add them to email, store them as CD-based slide shows, or even order extra prints online that will make Uncle Leo grin all over again.

This book will help you master all the exciting options in Photoshop Album. It also will offer plenty of ideas and tips on how to organize, edit, and share your photos.

The Main Components:

The Quick Guide
By default, the Quick Guide appears every time you launch Photoshop Album. The guide's Overview tab invites you to click any one of six icons or matching tabs to perform common tasks. The icons and tabs correspond to Photoshop Album's six modes, which are explained a bit more later on.

The Main Window
The Photo Well dominates the program's main window. It lets you toggle among various views, from tiny thumbnails to just a single large photo. Use the left-side Tags pane to organize and classify your photos using keywords. Photoshop Album makes it easy to customize the main window to show only what you need, when you need it.

The Toolbars and Timeline
Using the Menu bar, Shortcuts bar, and the related timeline, you can perform most of Photoshop Album's major tasks. By clicking the icons in the Shortcuts bar, you often can avoid hunting through the Menu bar's eight drop-down menus. Right below the Shortcuts bar lies the timeline, which you use to zero in on the photos you're seeking. Depending on how much information you need at the moment, the Options bar across the bottom of the main window can show or hide various views of the Photo Well.