Simple visual effects: using Filters
Elements is heading in the direction of the smartphone. By this, I mean that the visual effects achievable are increasingly preset-driven. Open a file, check out a range of special effects, and apply one to your snap by clicking the thumbnail image. Nothing could be easier, and while doing this doesn't teach you how the effect is really achieved, it makes enhancing your work simple, fast, and approachable for the majority of camera users not wanting to spend hours in front of a screen.
As there are over 100 filters in Elements, they are carefully subdivided into collections: Adjustments, Artistic, Blur, Brush Strokes, Distort, Noise, Pixelate, Render, Sketch, Stylize, Texture, and Other. To make it easier to use the filters, Adobe supplies a mini-program called the Filter Gallery, which displays the filter effects in a large window alongside the various sliders that can make it look really good, or not. You might not like all of the filter...