Photoshop Elements Version 10 Still The Best – ‘Book Mystique Review
When anyone asks my advice on which image–editing program to buy, for the past decade or so my boilerplate answer has been “Photoshop Elements.” That recommendation doesn’t change with the latest Photoshop Elements version 10 that was released last month, celebrating the application’s 10-year anniversary as well as its 10th version release. I’ve used every Photoshop Elements version for the Mac since version 2 (that would be versions, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, and 10 — the PSE 5 and PSE 7 variants were skipped for the Mac platform), and version 10 is in most respects the best yet, with all of my favorite features from previous PSE versions carried over, and some cool new stuff besides.
There are new text functions that allow users to add curving, flowing text to a photo that automatically follows the outline of a subject, custom path or shape.
New special crop guides help users at any level of proficiency more easily achieve interesting, visually appealing compositions. A new Smart Brush feature lets the user paint effects, choosing from any of 100 or so includes 30 new effects like Pencil Sketch and Oil Pastel, onto specific areas of photos. You can create the Orton Effect as well as depth of field and picture collage effects.
Photoshop Elements 10’s Object Search feature automatically finds objects within photos, such as a landmark, flower or pet by initiating the Object Search from the Search pulldown menu at the top left of The Organizer interface window, selecting a photo, and positioning a box that will appear on the photo to identify the object you want to find.
The Elements Organizer’s Visual Search function, formerly offered only in the Windows version of PSE, has been ported version 10 for the Mac, making it easy to search for similar photos. Photoshop Elements automatically searches based on certain criteria, such as colors or shapes to detect duplicate or near-duplicate photos, so you can clean up and delete unwanted editing clutter, and quickly group similar collections of photos, and improve photo composition with crop guides.
For users of social networking or photo sharing sites like Facebook, Flickr, YouTube or Photoshop.com, Photoshop Elements 10 supports sharing their photos directly from within the Elements Organizer, making it possible to view them from virtually anywhere on the go.
The Organizer also supports automatic syncing between multiple devices using Photoshop Elements 10 via Photoshop.com. For Facebook users, PSE integrates users’ Facebook Friend Lists for easily tagging photos that can then be shared directly to Facebook.
Another new wrinkle is that Photoshop Elements 10 now enables developers to create tablet and mobile applications that interact with the application via the included API. This opens Photoshop Elements 10 to a new world where the convenience and interactivity of touch devices and Photoshop Elements intersect.
As noted, PSE 10 comes with a Mac edition of the Adobe Elements Organizer module that can manage all types of documents, not just photos.
The Organizer is a freestanding application that starts up independently from Photoshop Elements, with its own toolset configured in four categories: Organize, Fix, Create, and Share, so you can do basic image editing without having to open or switch over to the main Photoshop Elements application module itself. Organizer can access iPhoto’s library and copy photos into its own directory in the Pictures folder of your User directory, or alternatively you can can also continue storing your images in OS X iPhoto and use Elements as an external editor, if you prefer, although without the Organizer’s tight integration with PSE.
If you’re moving up from an older version of PSE, note well that the erstwhile Galleries feature has been discontinued in PSE 10. If you convert from an older version, its galleries will be converted into albums and listed under Converted Galleries album group. And if you opt not to uninstall the previous version of Photoshop Elements, be aware the converted galleries will also no longer be editable from the older version.
For a comprehensive overview of Photoshop Elements 10’s feature set, visit:
http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop-elements/features.html
While competitors in the consumer/hobbyist image editing software arena like PIxelmator, Funtastic Photos, and Acorn get better and better, and in some instances could be sensible choices (certainly cheaper ones) to meet your image editing needs, none has yet matched Photoshop Elements for raw power and a deep feature set.
For example, while you can usually achieve similar results using the tools in these competing applications, none of them does what I usually need done quicker or slicker than PSE’s “Lighting And Shadows” adjustment, although Pixelmator’s “Curves” adjuster is nicer and more intuitive to use than PSE’s corresponding tool.
Actually, it’s a bit misleading to categorize Photoshop Elements as a “consumer” program, which kind of implies that it’s somewhat compromised or has training wheels or somesuch. “Prosumer” would be more descriptively accurate. Photoshop Elements is intended to be a complete, end-to-end software solution for anyone using digital photography, whether they be a consumer amateur or even many a professional. It is designed to offer a user-friendly approach to fixing common photographic flaws and in enhancing digital images by way of a few clicks. Suffice to say that Elements is an extremely capable graphics program, with power and a range of features that no other application in the sub-$100 price range can match, and with version 10 it’s even more capable.
Photoshop Elements is by no means perfect. The installation and registration rigamarole is still too cumbersome and time-consuming compared with competing image editor products that just let you drag the application file from a decompressed and mounted disk image to the Applications Folder and then enter a simple registration key.
I don’t really like the look of user interface, which in my estimation had gone downhill aesthetically on a steady curve since versions three and four. Happily, this trend has been reversed in PSE 10, with more black Pixelmator-esque background areas, but still more gray than I prefer.
Speaking of gray, the default Elements workspace is integrated, full screen dominant mode with open documents, layer and tool palettes (“panels” in Adobe-speak), and so forth all incorporated in a floating, resizable window called the Application Frame, with only the menu bar remaining outside this space. Personally, notwithstanding that we seem to have entered the era of OS X “iOSsification,” I detest full-screen application viewing modes and much prefer to have access to the desktop without being obliged to hide the application. However, happily, if you don’t like the default Application Frame motif, you can turn it off from the Window Menu and revert to an Elements 6 style workspace with the Desktop visible in the background. It’s still less free form than Pixelmator’s spectacularly attractive interface mode that is comprised of floating windows and palettes that leave the desktop accessible, but does the job.
Another area where Pixelmator shines in comparison to PSE is in startup time. PSE still takes way too long to start up — lumbering PSE takes 70 seconds or so that seem even longer than they are on my 2.0 GHz C2D MacBook running OS 10.6.8 and with 4 GB of RAM. That compares with just 10 seconds for Pixelmator to spring into action from a cold startup.
However, despite a few annoyances, if I was only having one image editor, it would be Photoshop Elements in a heartbeat. Functionality and power wise, it’s still simply the best. If you’re at all serious about getting first rate results from your digital photography, once you get used to using Elements you’ll wonder how you ever managed without it. It’s just plain cool being able to brighten the lighting in muddy and murky underexposed shots or conversely richen the color in washed-out, overexposed ones. Adjusting lighting values is usually job one, and no affordable image editor does that better or slicker than PSE.
Powered by the same engine as Adobe Photoshop, the undisputed industry standard for digital imaging, Photoshop Elements 10 is essentially Photoshop Lite, but there’s no reason to imagine that there’s anything second-rate about it. While graphics professionals and advanced amateurs will continue to appreciate the raw power and esoteric features of Photoshop Creative Suite, it sells for a MSRP of $649.00. Photoshop Elements will pretty much do everything most of us would ever attempt using Photoshop CS, and more, for a much less wallet-punishing $99.99.
Consequently, I’m bemused by people who say they would never bother with “Photoshop Lite,” and that nothing less than full-zoot Photoshop CS will do for them. The irony is that if pressed as to what exactly is missing from Photoshop Elements that’s so mission-critical for them, many will be stymied coming up with a credible answer, and have an even tougher time now that PSE now has a layer mask button. Photoshop CS is of course a tremendous powerhouse production tool for professionals, so if you do need its advanced features, rock on.
But for the rest of us, few will ever test the capability limits of Photoshop Elements, which at $99.95 has to be one of the best value-for-your-money bargains in commercial software.
System requirements Mac OS:
• Multicore Intel processor
• Mac OS X v10.5.8 through v10.7
• 1GB of RAM (2GB for HD video functions)
• 4GB of available hard-disk space (additional free space required during installation)
• 1024?768 display resolution
• DVD-ROM drive
• QuickTime 7 software required for multimedia features
• Internet connection required for Internet-based services.
Photoshop Elements 10 Windows and Mac is available for a suggested retail price of US$99.99. New upgrade pricing allows past Photoshop Elements users of any version to purchase Photoshop Elements 10 for US$79.99. Users can also purchase Plus, available in the U.S. only, from within the product for US$49.99/year.
Photoshop Elements 10 users can purchase Adobe’s integrated online service, Photoshop Elements Plus, which includes 20GB of storage for automatic online backup and sharing (up to 15,000 photos or four hours of DVD-quality video), as well as access to an extensive library of how-toes, artwork and Online Album templates for sharing online.
Information about other language versions, as well as pricing, upgrade and support policies for other countries is available at:
http://www.adobe.com/go/photoshopelements
For free training videos on Photoshop Elements, visit Adobe TV at:
http://tv.adobe.com
Education pricing for students, faculty and staff in K-12 and higher education is available from Adobe Authorized Education Resellers and the Adobe Education Store at:
http://www.adobe.com/education/purchasing/
education_pricing.html
For more information, visit:
http://www.adobe.com