in elements 10, suddenly my adjust lighting to levels to white point makes the screen light blue

[besscutler]

in elements 10, suddenly my adjust lighting tool to levels to white point makes the screen light blue- not white.

i have windows 7 but because of deadline i cannot upgrade now and i don't think that's the problem anyway because everything else works and has worked for years.

is there some easy fix for this. i just can't edit properly with this broken

thanks

[hatstead]

Can you target a black area on the photo and click on that with the black eye-dropper?

If that does not work, reset preferences. Go to Edit>Preferences>General and reset on next launch.

[besscutler]

did u get anything from me

[Peru Bob]

Did you try what was suggested by hatstead ? 

[besscutler]

yes i did try to contact him. all were bounced.it didn't work. but i'm not sure i did the sequence correctly with edit, preferences, reset. when gray general screen displayed, i tried both reset buttons. but i wasn't sure if it made a difference when to click reset. so i did one when i opened and image first then clicked reset on far right. at this point i wasn't sure whether to close the image and then open it again to test it or to keep that image open, then reset, then see if it worked.

[besscutler]

hatstead - my replies to you were getting bounced back to me. but finally i got you here again.

it didn't work. but i'm not sure i did the sequence correctly with edit, preferences, reset. when gray general screen displayed, i tried both reset buttons. but i wasn't sure if it made a difference when to click reset. so i did one when i opened and image first then clicked reset on far right. at this point i wasn't sure whether to close the image and then open it again to test it or to keep that image open, then reset, then see if it worked.

[besscutler]

well i hope one of u answers. i'll keep checking.

thanks very much.

bess

[Peru Bob]

This is what hatstead is suggesting:

Restore default preferences
Preference settings control how Photoshop Elements Editor displays images, cursors, and transparencies, saves files, uses plug‑ins and scratch disks, and so on. If the application exhibits unexpected behavior, the preferences file could be damaged. You can restore all preferences to their defaults.

Note: Deleting the preferences file is an action that cannot be undone.

Do one of the following:

Press and hold Alt+Control+Shift (Mac: Option+Command+Shift) immediately after Photoshop Elements begins launching. Click Yes to delete the Adobe Photoshop Elements settings file.
Go to Edit > Preferences (Mac: Photoshop Elements > Preferences > General), click the Reset Preferences on next launch button, and then click OK. When you restart Adobe Photoshop Elements, all preferences are reset to default settings.
A new preferences file is created the next time you start Photoshop Elements Editor. For information on a specific preference option, search for the preference name in Help.

from here:

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop-elements/kb/preference-file-locations-photoshop-elements.html

[besscutler]

already a problem. there was no place i saw to click yes and delete settings file. i tried it four times. where exactly is the preference file?

[besscutler]

sorry, meant where is settings file

[besscutler]

also did u realize i have windows 7

[Peru Bob]

Use the second option:

Go to Edit > Preferences (Mac: Photoshop Elements > Preferences > General), click the Reset Preferences on next launch button, and then click OK. When you restart Adobe Photoshop Elements, all preferences are reset to default settings.

[Jeff Arola]

When you bring up the Levels or Levels Adjustment Layer double click on the White Point eyedropper and

set the RGB values to 255 for R G and B

[besscutler]

i believe they were already set at 255.

but i fooled around with a few unedited images and used the glider to get the whites i needed.

i wish i could just fedx my computer to you. hours and hours of wasted time.

thank you VERY MUCH for yr help. if u think of anything else, please let me know.

best,

bess

[besscutler]

jeff,

i shouldn't have given up last night. this am i guess my head was more clear. i realized that i was getting the two boxes mixed up. the big and little ones u showed. anyway i got it! then the directions made sense. it works beautifully now!!

and your solution, like all things good, was clear and simple. i knew it was some little adjustment that had gone wrong, and i had adobe tech support just pushing me to buy its new product (money, money, money). can i hire you for life. i live in maine. jeff, you are a rare commodity! thank you. i love doing photoshop and am self-taught, but would really like to know more and do more. so if u ever give a class, i'm there. best wishes to you and peru and hatstead. bess

[Jeff Arola]

You could check the other eyedroppers for the default values.

Black point RGB 0,0,0

Gray point RGB 128,128,128