Editor Expert - Adobe Photoshop Elements 11 for Photographers - page 212

# don't want to change shape during the transformation process. So in the case of the example

you see here, the people in the center of the photo are Marked for Protection using a special
green-colored brush. The rest of the scene is left untouched signifying to Elements that this
detail can be adjusted. The Recompose Tool uses the same edge and corner handles as the
Free Transform tool, so after areas are marked for protection, the format of the picture can
be adjusted by dragging on of the handles.

EXPERT

After selecting the Mark for Protection brush from the
Recompose options bar, you can paint over the impor-
tant parts of the image to ensure that these key details
are not altered in the transformation process.

The Recompose Tool in Action
In this example, the panorama format image needs to be changed so that it is more of a
square shape. The key details are the people in the center, so the Mark for Protection brush
is used to paint over these parts of the photo. The tool's options bar also includes a Mark for
Deletion brush which can be used to paint over areas that you want removed during the
transformation process. This brush paints in red. Both brushes have Eraser equivalents that
can be used to fine-tune the areas marked for deletion or protection.

Once all areas have been marked, the edge handles are used to drag in the left and right
sides of the photo to create a square-shaped picture. The end result sees the people left
untouched and the background and surrounds squashed to accommodate the new format.
Cool!

Recomposing to a specific shape
As well as the free form transformations like the example above, the tool can be used to
reformat an image to a specific ratio. This is pretty handy if you are trying to get a photo
to fit a specific piece of printing paper. To recompose to size just select the format from the
drop-down list in the Preset section of Options bar.