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NZ Macguide Issue 6
Photoshop for the rest of us
Adobe's Elements software is consumer digital imaging software based on the comprehensive Photoshop engine, yet it has been designed to be easy-to-use. As a replacement to Photoshop LE, Elements can correct common digital camera problems, enhance images and provides paint, texture and special effects, all in the comfort of OS X and without plunging users into the seemingly limitless depths that full-blown Photoshop has. Leaving out all that complex colour management, masking, paths and everything else that suits the high-end print world means that Elements can let you concentrate on home uses for digital images: prepare them for the web, to email and for printing on home printers, all via an intuitive, friendly interface. However, many of the best features of Photoshop are here too: you can step back up to 1000 times via History when things go wrong, there's a palette well where you can dock your most-used palettes and there's a useful set of filters for fixing problems or for getting creative with presentation.  | Elements also simplifies getting scans and images direct from source (with supported devices) and as with Photoshop 7, there's a File Browser to simplify cataloguing, storing and tracking your images. | Help is constantly available to guide you through the touch-up process and new features include seamless panorama stitching for those digital Anselm Adamses, easy red-eye removal (a brush tuned to change red to a neutral colour - don't paint over Santa's hat! - it also fixes that green-eye effect on some animals), batch processing and QuickFix and Color Variations for fast exposure and colour adjustments.  |  | Quickfix 'before' and 'after' on a home digital snap | Painting
The brush facility has been greatly enhanced and is now on a par with Photoshop 7's, and likewise Elements now handles Styles and Layers in much the same way.
Other handy features include Adobe's comprehensive Save For Web facility, letting you try out different JPEG, GIF and PNG settings and previewing them before you commit, plus enhanced Tool Options for greater tool control, Create PDF Slideshows (no Acrobat required, just free Acrobat Reader to view them, so you can send electronic slideshows for to view on Macs or PCs), Create Web Photo Gallery and Attach to Email, which lets you automatically attach images to emails as you work with them. In use, the new version is quick and efficient and very comprehensive for an 'amateur' package, with the QuickFix and Enhance options well implemented.
You can't change modes to CMYK, but the common web formats are all supported. For the home user with a digital camera, this package is excellent - it also provides a good way to start to get to grips with Photoshop if you see yourself going down this road in the future.
Pros - Cheap
- Effective
- Some tools exceedingly well implemented
Cons © Parkside Media 2003
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