The basics

322 ADVANCED PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS 5.0 FOR DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHERS
FREE FORM
PHOTO LAYOUTS
12.06 Align, arrange and distribute your frames
Suitable for Elements – 5.0 | Diffi culty level – Basic | Related techniques – 12.01, 12.02, 12.03, 12.04
The Auto Fill option within the Photo Layout feature is a great way to get your photos into a
layout quickly and easily. In the previous sections we have looked at how to adjust the pictures
and the picture and frame combinations; now lets look at how to change the way that each of the
picture elements relate to each other.
Photoshop Elements contains three specialist controls designed for this purpose. They are
located on the options bar of the Move tool and are divided into Arrange, Align and Distribute
headings. When clicked each shortcut button displays a variety of composition options in a
drop-down menu.
Book resources at: www.adv-elements.com
Composition changes >>
The options grouped under the
Align, Arrange and Distribute
shortcut buttons provide quick
ways to alter the composition of
your framed photos.
Align >>
The Align option is one of three new
arrangement features designed to work
with the contents of layers.
After multi-selecting several layers in the
Layers palette, the picture content of
these layers can be composed according to
the options in the Align menu.
Top and Bottom Edges align the picture
via the top or bottom extremities of layer
content. The Vertical Centers option
arranges the picture parts around a
horizontal line or axis. Left and Right
Edges move the picture content to either
side aligning the edges of the detail. The
Horizontal Centers feature arranges all
the content of the selected layers around a
vertical axis.
In the example, the three pictures are
aligned using the top edge of the frame.
Do this by selecting the layers fi rst and
then choosing Align > Top Edges.