Introduction to PhotoKit-EL

PhotoKit-EL gives you all the wonders of a darkroom without the chemicals, letting you achieve the same effects on digital images that you once could only do in a darkroom.

The PhotoKit-EL toolkit offers accurate digital replications of traditional darkroom effects such as tone adjustment, color balance adjustment, and conversion to grayscale. But it also offers effects that are difficult or even impossible to achieve in a traditional darkroom, such as sharpening to improve detail and graduated tone adjustments to improve specific areas in an image.

PhotoKit-EL is an Automate Plug-in, a new breed of plug-ins for Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0 that allows custom programming to drive Elements automatically-it's like having an expert Elements user at your beck and call.

PhotoKit-EL's image enhancements and adjustments are easy to use. Choose PhotoKit-EL from the File menu's Automate Tools sub-menu, then a simple dialog lets you see the PhotoKit-EL tool sets from which you can easily select the desired image effect and let PhotoKit-EL do the work.


The main PhotoKit-EL Dialog

PhotoKit-EL uses non-destructive editing-all PhotoKit-EL Effects create a new layer labeled with the name of the effect, leaving the original underlying image untouched, so it's always safe to experiment. PhotoKit-EL never, ever, changes the underlying image data. By far the easiest way to learn what PhotoKit-EL Effects do is to try them-they can't do any harm.

PhotoKit-EL's layer-based approach is also very flexible. The layer created by a PhotoKit-EL Effect is just a starting point. You can vary the strength of the effect globally by adjusting the layer's opacity, or locally by erasing the portion you don't want.

If you want a particular effect to be stronger, you can simply run it again. You can easily see exactly what each effect does to an image by turning the layer's visibility on and off, and if you don't like it, you can simply delete the layer, leaving the original image unchanged.

Each of the Effects in PhotoKit-EL provides a consistent, repeatable result, day in and day out. You don't need to start from scratch every time you open an image. This philosophy coupled with the design of using all visible layers and returning the results as new layers-while NEVER touching your original image-lets you use PhotoKit-EL easily and safely.

The PhotoKit-EL Sets offer a variety of Effects organized by category.To see the Sets, launch PhotoKit-EL and click and hold on the PhotoKit Set pop-down menu. To see the Effects in a Set, click on the PhotoKit Effect pop-down menu

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After selecting both the Set and the Effect, simply click on the 'OK' button and PhotoKit will run the effect on your image and return the results in a separate layer. If you click on the 'Help' button you will automatically launch the PhotoKit-EL User Guid. If you click on the 'Info' button you will go directly to the PhotoKit-EL Info Page at the Pixel Genius web site where you can check for updates, download free recipes and effects and contact Pixel Genius if you have any problems. Note: the 'Info' button require an Internet connection.

 

Elements 2.0 and PhotoKit-EL System Requirements:

NOTE: To install PhotoKit-EL, a U.S. or International English version of Elements 2.0 must already be intstalled. PhotoKit-EL can not be properly installed in any non-English version of Elements 2.0 at this time.

Windows

Intel® Pentium® processor
Microsoft® Windows® 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows 2000, or Windows XP Home/Professional
128MB of RAM, 150MB of available hard-disk space
Color monitor capable of displaying thousands of colors at a resolution of 800x600 or greater
Internet Explorer 5.0, 5.5, or 6.0 (updated with applicable Service Packs)

Macintosh
PowerPC® processor
Mac OS 9.1, 9.2.x, or Mac OS X v.10.1.3-10.3.3 (or above)
128MB of RAM with virtual memory on, 350MB of available hard-disk space
Color monitor capable of displaying thousands of colors at a resolution of 800x600 or greater

PhotoKit-EL Sets & Effects List:

Color Corrections Set:
Warming 1, Warming 2, Warming 3, Warming 4
Cooling 1, Cooling 2, Cooling 3, Cooling 4
+Magenta, +Red, +Yellow, +Green, +Cyan, +Blue

Tone Corrections Set:
Darken Blacks, Darken Shadows 1, Darken Shadows 2, Darken Shadows 3
Lighten Shadows 1, Lighten Shadows 2, Lighten Shadows 3
Lighten Whites, Lighten Hilights 1, Lighten Hilights 2, Lighten Hilights 3
Darken Hilights 1, Darken Hilights 2, Darken Hilights 3
Contrast Reduction 1, Contrast Reduction 2, Contrast Reduction 3
Boost Contrast 1, Boost Contrast 2, Boost Contrast 3
Lighten 1/4 Stop, Lighten 1/2 Stop,Lighten 3/4 Stop, Lighten 1 Stop
Darken 1/4 Stop, Darken 1/2 Stop, Darken 3/4 Stop, Darken 1 Stop

Darken Gradations Set:
Darken Center Oval, Darken 4 Corners, Darken Top Corners, Darken Bottom Corners
Darken Top 1/4, Darken Top 1/2, Darken Bottom 1/4, Darken Bottom 1/2
Darken Left 1/4, Darken Left 1/2, Darken Right 1/4, Darken Right 1/2

Lighten Gradations Set:
Lighten Center Oval, Lighten 4 Corners, Lighten Top Corners, Lighten Bottom Corners
Lighten Top 1/4, Lighten Top 1/2, Lighten Bottom 1/4, Lighten Bottom 1/2
Lighten Left 1/4, Lighten Left 1/2, Lighten Right 1/4, Lighten Right 1/2

Sharpen & Smooth Set:
Edge Sharpen 1, Edge Sharpen 2, Edge Sharpen 3,
Luminance Sharpen 1, Luminance Sharpen 2, Luminance Sharpen 3, Luminance Sharpen 4
Detail Sharpen 1, Detail Sharpen 2, Detail Sharpen 3
Noise Reduction 1, Noise Reduction 2, Noise Reduction 3

Photo Effects Set:
Grain 50, Grain 100, Grain 200, Grain 400, Grain 800
Fog #1, Fog #2, Fog #3, Fog #4
Diffusion #1, Diffusion #2, Diffusion #3, Diffusion #4
Center Clear Blur #1, Center Clear Blur #2, Center Clear Blur #3
Black Rules 2px, Black Rules 3px, Black Rules 4px, Black Rules 6px, Black Rules 8px
Soft Black Rule Thin, Soft Black Rule Medium, Soft Black Rule Fat
Soft Edge Vignette 4px, Soft Edge Vignette 6px, Soft Edge Vignette 8px, Soft Edge Vignette 12px

Color To B&W Set:
Deep Red Contrast, Red Contrast, Yellow Contrast, Orange Contrast, Green Contrast, Blue Contrast

B&W Toning Set:
Sepia Tone, Cold Tone, Selenium Tone, Platinum Tone, Brown Tone