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Review: Adobe Photoshop Elements The name Adobe, to anyone who does photo editing or web design, is synonymous with top of the line graphics software. Photoshop has set the industry standard for power and features. But it’s not for everyone. With a price of six to seven hundred dollars, and a list of features a mile long, Photoshop is not for the casual weekend photo editor. Adobe recognizes this, and has been trying to make a mid-range photo-editing program for home users for some time now. Their other attempts, PhotoDeluxe and Photoshop 5.5 LE were not very successful – each for different reasons. PhotoDeluxe was mostly packaged with scanners and digital cameras, and lacked the features necessary to do much more than clean up pictures and apply basic effects; whereas Photoshop 5.5 LE was simply a cut-down version of Photoshop, with not enough power for serious work, and too complex of an interface for the home-user market they were aiming for. Photoshop Elements however, manages to strike a nice balance. Elements is based on the extremely powerful Photoshop core, but has a few extra layers between it and the user. One interesting addition is the “Effects” toolbar. It allows you to apply effects that are not just preset, but the program actually goes through a series of steps to create them, allowing you to see the ‘behind-the-scenes” process and eventually (if you’re so inclined) try it on your own, or make up new procedures. Elements also includes a Filter browser that shows thumbnails of what each filter will do. This is a great improvement for the uninitiated user because they don’t have to guess at what each filter will do. In addition, the help system overall has been approved. Any time you place the mouse over a tool a helpful ‘hints’ box gives you basic information about what the tool is and how to use it. This makes the learning curve much easier than simply jumping into Photoshop with an inch thick manual and no idea where to start. Speaking of manuals, Elements comes with a truly impressive one. It weighs in at 283 pages, and covers every aspect of the program. Not exactly light reading, but an excellent reference. It also includes online documentation, tutorials to get you started, and sample images to play with. Overall I would consider Elements an excellent program for anyone looking to get started in photo editing. At around a hundred dollars it won’t break the bank, and it has enough features to keep you busy for a long time to come.
Adobe Photoshop Elements
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