By Cari Cooney
I've been lucky enough to review Adobe's Photoshop Elements 6.0. Having experienced only freeware to edit my images, this was an exciting opportunity to get my hands on a high-quality piece of software. I'd like to show you my experience with Photoshop Elements, and give you the dish on what beginners and experts alike can accomplish with this software.
"So, if freeware can do all of these things, what puts Adobe above them?"
First impressions
Upon opening Photoshop Elements, I was pleasantly surprised. The starting menu was a colorful welcome screen with four buttons. These four buttons allowed me to organize, edit, create and share. It was nice to be able to pick one of those choices, rather than having the program open up into one screen in which I would have to dig to figure out how to upload an image for editing. Figure A shows the friendly start up screen.
FIGURE A
It's easy to choose which route you want to take with these simple options. (click for larger image)
When I was trying out the software, I was easily able to navigate, add new layers, touch up photos and add awesome effects and enhancements. One of my favorite photo-enhancing options is to take a grayscale photo and add touches of color. This look has become so popular with weddings, senior pictures, and the world of professional photography in general.
Adobe's layout is so clean and user-friendly, that I didn't have a problem understanding how to accomplish this task using Elements. Take a look at an example of the grayscale to color function in Figure B.
FIGURE B
These glass balls were originally a deep, cobalt blue. Once transformed completely to grayscale, I used the brush function to re-add the color back into the balls. (click for larger image)
I also had a little fun with this feature, I added a layer to overlay color, but I didn't change the original picture into grayscale. See Figure C.
FIGURE C
Elliot is tickled pink with the re-color function. (click for larger image)
How Elements is different from other image editing software
Well it is, and it isn't. Don't get me wrong -- Adobe has put together a great package in 6.0. It can do basically the same thing other photo software can. You can obviously edit images to reduce redeye, sharpen and touch up blemishes. You can also convert your images into resemble watercolor, mosaic tiles or add a neon glow as shown in Figure D.
FIGURE D
This shows a typical "Neon Glow" effect along with a side window to the right, showing the basic effect options. (click for larger image)
So, if freeware can do all of these things, what puts Adobe above them? Here are some answers!
Photoshop Elements 6.0 has a few functions you just don't find with most free image editors. There is a function called photomerge. If you took 2 pictures of someone standing in the same pose, and one looked great, but their eyes were closed and the other one had bad lighting, you can actually blend the photos together, to make the perfect picture!
You can also make your own calendars, well sort of. Adobe has partnered with Kodak for a Photo Calendar feature. You can upload your pictures and then be directed to a Web site to fix the layout, and for a small fee, your custom-built calendar is sent to you!
Elements also offers a "guided edit" tutorial. It takes you through the basics of photo editing, giving you tips and assistance to alter your images to make them look their best! However, it lacked in this area, because although it assisted you, you still had to figure some things out by yourself. Also, not all the features users may want to learn were offered in the guided edit. There are links to direct you to the Internet, where live Adobe specialists are ready to answer your questions.
The Guided Edit function taught me some important tools used in image editing. Look at Figure E to see four vases on a shelf, with unsightly shelf hardware showing.
FIGURE E
With Elements, you can point and click to remedy this problem. There is no color choosing and no headache! (click for larger image)
Now compare with Figure F.
FIGURE F
Even close up, the bracket has been erased from behind the vase. No eyesore here! (click for larger image)
That's all for now
This product deserves 4 out of 5 stars. A few reasons this product doesn't get a perfect rating are...
The instruction booklet is pretty small. Detailed instructions are available on the Web, and you can even pay for some extra information, but when you're learning image editing, it's nice to have the instructions in front of you, in print. This way, you don't have to flip back and forth between Web pages to find information, and then apply them to the program. That's my opinion anyway.
I would have also liked to see colorful examples in the booklet, instead of just black and white. Cognitive beginners like myself rely on examples to help us learn and gather our own creative ideas.
Overall, I was satisfied using Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.0 as my image editor. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a reasonably priced program ($99) to create, edit and easily share your photography.
Stay tuned next month for the sequel to this article. This program was a 2-disk set, and next time I'll be taking Adobe's Premier Elements 4.0 our for a digital video editing test drive!
RATING: 4 STARSCari Cooney is a freelance writer from Iowa. She has over 50 articles published to the web and can be reached at CariCooney27@gmail.com