A Step Up from PhotoDeluxe

I believe I am the third person to try to write a review of Photoshop Elements. Adobe has given up on a review, but I now have worked it thru quite a few of its paces and wish to report on my findings. Being a confirmed PhotoDeluxe user from a OEM version, I received with one of my cameras, scanners, or new computers, and progressing thru the updates to the present, I went in with the idea, show me if it is user friendly. I tried the upscale programs that Adobe has and found they were above my ability to use as a hobbyist. In Teaching the Photo Special Interest Group for TCCUG, I decided not to use Photoshop 5.0 or LE, as I found it to be more for avid photographers and not for the person just starting in Photos on the computer.

I found Elements to be the upgrade from PhotoDeluxe 4. Home edition and was much easier to get going than LE was. The help system they have in elements is without a doubt the best I have seen. Each tool you place your mouse on gives its description and if you desire to find out more, you can open up the help palate on the right side of the screen. This will open up a full explanation of the tool and how to work it. While working with a photo and the programs tools, I found Elements had advance quite a bit over PhotoDeluxe. You can undo your goofs several times, or until you get back to the original Photo. That is progress. Many people have asked how to size a photo in inches. This program not only will do it in pixels but in inches also. The clone tool is about the same except you have to use the keyboard to set the clone. The text tool will place text either vertically or horizontally and in different fonts and colors. As with all programs, to learn a new system at first is like having two left hands, but as I worked with Elements, I found, I did adapt to it and liked what they have come up with. Elements brought in photos from the scanner and my camera without the slightest problem. To be able to use the eraser tool in whatever color you select is something new and their method of changing colors is really great. To be able to change the color cast caused by ageing of a photo is amazing to say the least. This will take some practice, as many other parts of the program I worked with will. To have them available is to be able to make use of them as you learn. The ability to create a panorama composition with two or more photos is another thing that set me back in wonderment.

Without a doubt with the hints, recipes, and tutorials to help you learn the applications, a person should be able to be up and running in time. For someone just starting in Photo's this may not be your first step program unless you wish to read and try, and repeat reading and trying. If you are past the crop, resize, and print stage, then Photoshop Elements is for you.