Although we take computers much for granted these days, using such a machine to store, process, and edit high resolution stills and video data requires a totally different set of features compared to a machine that's only used for web browsing, social media, emailing, or downloading music.

Although the compatibility of Windows and Mac computers used to be very minimal, their operating systems are now far more user-friendly, both in the way third-party hardware interacts (such as external drives) and in the similarity that most software is now shared between the two systems:

Is there a difference between running Elements on Windows or a Mac? The answer to this often-asked question can get you into a lot of hot water, depending on the technical leaning of the person being asked. To be honest, I have used Windows and Macs, desktops and laptops, for a long time and find that, when editing images, there's no difference in performance between the two...

As we expand our image collection, we'll not only need large capacity hard drives, but also backups. It's important to perform backups in case the original drive corrupts, or suffers a mechanical failure. Nothing is forever and even though the drive might be a premium brand, things can still go wrong, usually when you least expect it.

There's no point in backing up your images, or your Elements catalog for that matter, to the same place where everything else is stored. If it becomes corrupted, everything is lost. For this reason, it's important to consider buying a second, large-capacity hard drive, preferably one with a higher capacity than the initial storage device, which is then used only for backing up your images, music, Elements' catalog, and so on.

If you are using a Mac, this is very easily set up using a pre-installed Apple application called Time Machine. Windows users also have it easy because most of the good quality external drives available...

Looking at your media in the Organizer couldn't be easier. The main window displays all media files in a mode called Grid View—these are adjustable-size thumbnails. But if you create and populate albums, the main window will only display what's in each album.

Compartmentalizing an image collection into multiple albums, therefore, is an effective way to break up what would otherwise be a confusing mass of images in the main screen, into smaller, more visually digestible quantities:

One quick tip for anyone wanting to sort through a lot of images is to maximize the thumbnail size so the screen effectively only displays one image at a time, then use the up/down arrows on the keyboard to scroll through the latest import while examining each file full size. Every time you find an image that you love, want to keep, or think needs editing, you can classify it using the number keys to add one, two, three, four, or five stars (see the Organizing your work –...

As I mentioned in the introduction to this section, media backup is very important. Once lost, there's little chance you'll ever get your images back again if there's a major technical problem, so be warned!

If you have a Mac, follow these steps:

The Catalog Manager (Organizer | File | Manage Catalogs) is used for several tasks. These include the following:

It's quite important to ensure that your backed up catalog is saved to a location that is different to where the default catalog is stored. For most, this means saving it to an entirely different drive – in the following illustration, there are five different drives available for backup:

While a software-driven data backup is a good procedure to set up for all users, it might not back up your Photoshop Elements catalog. And even if it did, it wouldn't be in a format that Elements can recognize, should you need to restore it after a software mishap.

The catalog is where all your hard work is stored: tags, keywords, albums, captions, places...

A plugin is an additional bit of software produced by a third-party company. It's designed to either expand Elements' existing features, or to add new ones. Plugins are typically called Photoshop-compliant plugins, which essentially means that they will work with all Adobe programs, as well as a wide range of other editing programs (such as Corel Paint Shop Pro).

My current favorite Elements plugin changes the look of any image from purely photographic to something very illustrative at the click of the mouse:

Probably my all-time favorite plugin for Photoshop Elements is called Moku Hanga (a Japanese phrase for wood block printing). Now, I love these traditional Japanese prints, but I could never afford one because they are very expensive—however, I can reproduce the look of a real woodblock print using this amazing plugin from Jixi Pix. It takes a few minutes to create an effect like this but, because the plugin offers so many variants, it usually takes...

It's a sad fact that all image editing is virtually worthless if the monitor on which you make all your creative decisions doesn't actually represent the correct color, brightness, and contrast accurately. Color management—the process of making sure that what you see onscreen is both accurate to life and will be correctly reproduced online and in print—is I think, an unnecessarily complex operation. Although Elements' calibration is not nearly as controllable as that found in Photoshop, it's presented in a reasonably easy format that should work well in most situations. And if you are sending your work into a commercial print environment, you can always let them handle the finer complexities of color reproduction, which allows you to pay more attention to the editing process.

This chapter dealt with the absolute basics of preparing yourself for the process of image editing.

Although setting up a computer might not seem a glamorous part of the image editing process, we have seen that if you can acquire at least some of the right gear, while adhering to a set workflow, the mechanics of your job will become both faster and easier. It should also greatly assist in helping to future-proof your skills for years to come.

Of most importance is the process of organizing your media files. If you follow at least some of the suggestions in this chapter, you'll find that searching for, and finding, everything you bring into this application so much easier. Misplacing images should become a thing of the past.

The next chapter deals with the basics of image editing. Even the most basic tools and features covered in this chapter can be used to transform your work from the everyday to something quite special in just a single click. This is one of the real strengths...