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The new Smart Brush tool is a combination of the Quick Selection tool (which was introduced in Elements 6) and adjustment layers; it offers a quick way to adjust, enhance, and add effects to your photos and is located in the Full Edit area of the Editor.

When you select the Smart Brush, a Presets menu pops open, showing nearly 70 effects-in nine categories-that can be applied to your photo. Make your choice from the list (we used Dark-Sky in our example, shown below) and simply paint on your image over the area you want the effect to be applied. After you draw an initial selection,the tool automatically switches to the Add to Selection mode, so to add to your affected area, simply continue selecting. To take away part of your selected area, you can use the Subtract from Selection button or hold down Alt on your keyboard and paint away the parts you want to eliminate.

How does it work? If you take a look at the Layers palette, you’ll see that an adjustment layer was created along with the layer mask that accompanies adjustment layers. The area you highlighted is shown in white on the mask, consequently showing the effect. The black areas on the mask are hiding the effect.

To edit the effect, you can either double-click the adjustment layer in the Layers palette or you can double-click the red adjustment pin located in your selection on the image. As long as the adjustment layer is one supported by Elements, the dialog box for that adjustment layer will open and you can make any changes you wish.

Some of the presets were created using an adjustment layer found in the full version of Photoshop and not in Elements, so you won’t be able to edit these effects.

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