<p>For over 20 years, Photoshop has been the image editor of choice for photographers around the world. Initially it was just about the only good option, leading to its use not only by work-a-day pros who value its extensive feature set, but by millions who would really rather have an easier-to-use and less-expensive alternative. With Adobe's new "rent-only" policy for Photoshop, those users, along with new photographers looking for an image editor, the search for alternatives has an increased urgency. Fortunately Adobe itself is now providing a worthy option in the new Photoshop Elements 12. At less than $100, the program is affordable for most people, and is the most powerful version of Elements ever.</p><p>To find out whether Photoshop Elements should be your next version of Photoshop, and to discover why it receives ExtremeTech's Editors' Choice award, read on for our hands-on review.A mode for everyone</p><p>Elements offers three different modes, Quick, Guided, and Expert, that you can flip between at the click of a mouse. Initially I assumed I'd skip right to Expert mode and stay there, but some of the features in the Quick mode are great for productivity especially the integrated Before and After display shown next to a sidebar of common image enhancement tasks. The innovative Guided mode serves two purposes. First, it is a great way to learn how to do more complex tasks in the program, and second it extends what you can do by yourself simply using the built-in commands. In many cases when I was trying to figure out how to achieve a particular effect, I found switching to Guided mode and looking for a recipe a faster solution than digging through the help files or searching the web.</p><p>My one gripe with the somewhat simplified UI that Elements offers is its lack of flexibility. Tool Options and other common commands are pinned to the very bottom of the Elements window, for example. On a large monitor like my primary 30-inch monster, that places them quite far away from the Tool icons and the rest of the commands they are used with.Powerful image editing</p><p><a href="http://www.extremetech.com/computing/168428-photoshop-elements-12-review-a-cheap-better-alternative-for-most-photographers">Keep reading...</a></p><p>Read also:</p><p><a href="http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/10/prweb11220515.htm">Wiley Announces Three New Photoshop Elements 12 Books</a> (PR Web (press release))</p><p>Explore: <a href="http://news.google.com/news/more?ncl=dZyRNhy3H5mfhgM8bQpu7q3Ueoz0M&ned=us">5 additional articles.</a></p>