What version of Premiere Elements are you using and on what computer operating system is it running?
The information supplied is incomplete, but does have the ring of a mismatch between source media properties, project preset/project settings, and export settings.
So let us start from the beginning...
1. What did you or the program set as the project preset? The project preset is supposed to match the properties of the source media? So, what were the properties of what you put on the Premiere Elements Timeline? Videos (video audio compressions, frame size, frame rate, file extension, pixel aspect ratio, etc) Photos (how many and what pixel dimensions)?
2. What did you select as your export....Share or Publish+Share/Computer/? and what specific export settings?
The screenshot that you referred in your initial post did not show up. Please give that another try with details of what you are presenting.
Let us start here and then decide what needs to be done to resolve your issue.
I am using elements 11 on imac OS X v 10.8.4
I didn't specifically choose any project presets (100% novice to adobe premiere). From what I checked on the file properties, they all have different sizes. As export I selected publish+share/computer. The export settings were MPEG NTSC DVD Standard.
I used 1 video clip and about 50 pictures (again, different sizes).
this is the final export:
this is the elements expert timeline
I suspect that problem is going from a 16:9 project preset to a 4:3 export.
But, let us see if we can support that idea with observations and results.
With this same project, same settings, same everything (everything looking like they should), export your Expert workspace Timeline to:
Publish+Share/Computer/MPEG with Presets = NTSC DVD Widescreen. Do not modify the Export
Settings under the Advanced Button/Video Tab and Audio Tab of that preset.
Let us see what happens and then we will take our lead from that result.
>Pretty new to adobe
The Help-and-Tutorials page http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1275830 may help
Premiere Elements FAQ List (2 pages of FAQ as of September 2013) http://forums.adobe.com/community/premiere_elements/premiere_elements_faq?view=all
Premiere Elements TIPS List (6 pages of Tips as of September 2013) http://forums.adobe.com/community/premiere_elements/premiere_elements_tips?view=all