Launching
PhotoKit-EL
After
installing PhotoKit-EL, you must first have an image open
in order
to run PhotoKit-EL. PhotoKit-EL will ONLY run when a 24 bit RGB
color image is open in Elements 2.0. Most digital color images will
be in 24 bit color such as JPEGS, TIFFs and Element's native file
format, PSD. PhotoKit will not run on greyscale nor Index Color
(GIF) formats. To run PhotoKit-EL on these kinds of files, you
must first mode change to RGB before running PhotoKit-EL.
 After
opening an image, your Elements workspace should look something
like the above image. To launch PhotoKit-EL, you will need to navigate
to:File>Automation Tools>PhotoKit-EL.
  
When
you launch PhotoKit-EL, you will see the PhotoKit-EL main dialog
box shown below. If this is the First Time you've ever launched
PhotoKit-EL,
you
will see a different dialog box before seeing PhotoKit-EL. For
more
information about 'First Launch', click HERE.

There
are two drop-down menus you'll need to select from. First is the
'PhotoKit Set' which contains a variety of commonly needed image
adjustments grouped by adjustment type.

The
Color and Tone Sets contain often needed image corrections you
will find useful. The Darken and Lighten Gradations Sets contain
tone adjustments that will correct a portion of an image. The Sharpen
& Smooth Set contains image enhancement effects to increase
image sharpness or smooth grain or noise. The Photo Effects Set
contains
a variety of effects that replicate traditional analog photographic
effects. The Color To B&W Set contains a variety of custom
conversions to monochromatic B&W that will enhance the color
contrast of B&W
conversions. Finally, the B&W Toning Set contains a variety
of color toning for B&W images that replicate what photographers
have traditionally done in a darkroom by chemically treating B&W
prints.
After
selecting a Set, you next move to the 'Effects' drop-down menu.
As shown below, the Effects menu is where you select the actual
effects and their relative strengths to apply to your image.

It's
useful to remember that PhotoKit-EL will NEVER modify the original
pixels in your image. PhotoKit-EL accomplishes everything by way
of creating new layers on top of your base image. Therefore, you
are free to explore and play with your images without having to
worry about screwing them up. You can always delete the PhotoKit-EL
layers and go back to your original un-modified image.
To
see more about using PhotoKit-EL, please click HERE.
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