Adobe photoshop elements User Manual

CHAPTER 7

Set additional options:

For the paintbrush tool, select Wet Edges to 

paint with a watercolor effect. The paint builds up 
along the edges of the brush stroke.

For the pencil tool, select Auto Erase to paint the 

background color over areas containing the 
foreground color.

Specify the rate at which a brush stroke fades 

dynamically. (See “Specifying a paint fade-out 
rate” on page 149.)

Drag in the image to paint.

The eraser and magic eraser tools let you erase 
areas of an image to transparency or to the 
background color. The background eraser tool lets 
you erase to transparency on a layer. 

You can also use the Auto Erase option with the 
pencil tool to erase the foreground color to the 
background color as you paint, unless the area 
does not contain the foreground color. In that case 
the area is painted with the foreground color.

The eraser tool changes pixels in the image as you 
drag through them. If you’re working in the 
background or in a layer with transparency locked, 
the pixels change to the background color; 
otherwise, the pixels are erased to transparency. 

Select the eraser tool ( ).

Choose a brush size from the pop-up palette in 

the options bar. To learn more about using pop-up 
palettes, see “Using pop-up palettes” on page 35.

If a brush is too large to fit in the palette, it appears 
as a smaller brush with a number indicating the 
actual diameter in pixels.

Choose the tool Mode you want to use as an 

eraser—paintbrush, airbrush, pencil, or block. 

Specify an opacity to define the strength of the 

erasure. An opacity of 100% erases pixels to 
complete transparency. A lower opacity erases 
pixels to partial transparency. (This option is not 
available for block mode.)

If you’re using the paintbrush eraser, select Wet 

Edges to erase with a watercolor effect. When this 
is selected, the erased effect builds up along the 
edges of the brush stroke.

Specify the rate at which a brush stroke fades 

dynamically. (See “Specifying a paint fade-out 
rate” on page 149.)

Drag through the area you want to erase.

When you click in a layer with the magic eraser 
tool, the tool automatically changes all similar 
adjacent pixels. If you’re working in the 
background, or in a layer with locked trans-