Sarasota PC Monitor
ADOBE PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS 3.0 - Part 2
A Software Review
by Sharon Rump
Member of the Sarasota Personal Computer Users Group, Inc.In the February issue of the Monitor I started this review with comments about Photoshop Elements 3.0 and its Organizer module which allows you to organize images on your computer and do some minor "fixing" to these images. Now it is time to look at the Editor module and review all of the features that make it one of the best all around photo editing programs on the market today for the average user.
When you open Elements you are given the option of starting with the Welcome Screen which will allow you to choose which mode you want to work with at that particular session. You can also choose to always open to the Organizer mode or the Editor mode but I choose the Welcome Screen as it then gives you the choice to select from a number of different tasks.
Since I want to review edit functions I choose the "Edit and Enhance Photos" option to see what I could do. The first thing that I noticed was that the workspace has a different look from the earlier versions. The tools pallet is located on the left side of the workspace and they are in a bit of a different order which takes a bit of getting use to but. Each tool continues to have the bubble that will give you the name of the tool to make learning a bit easier. As a tool is selected the bar across the top of the open image gives the options for the chosen tool and allows you to customize how you want that tool to act at that particular time. The pallet well is gone and the pallet bin now resides along the right side of the screen with the familiar "How To: option that will walk you through some of the more elementary tasks in Photoshop Elements. You can still choose which information is showing in the well through a simple click in the Window menu.
There is now a photo bin located at the bottom of the screen that will allow you to view all of the open images and with a simple click you can choose which one you want to work on, allowing you to easily edit more than one image at a time.
Editing also gives you choices. There is a Quick Fix mode that has one-touch auto adjustments that are a big help when one is new to photo editing as well as a slider bar that allows you to choose how much of each "fix" you want to apply. There is an Auto Smart Fix button that analyzes your image and makes the best corrections based on what the program can determine. If you don't like that choice, you can individually adjust using the slider bars as stated above. The Standard Edit mode includes the more precise editing with the individual tools. There are the usual tools found in most high end photo editing programs such as crop, magic wand, text, background eraser, eyedropper, fill, dodge and burn.
A new feature to Elements 3 is the Healing/Spot Healing Brush which is wonderful for removing something small from a photo as it automatically clones the area with information taken from the surrounding area to patch or heal the image versus having to use the clone stamp tool and set an area as the original and then do a manual fix. The Spot Healing brush is simpler to use but the Healing Brush gives a bit more control over the fix.
Also new is the cookie cutter tool. It simply allows you to crop your image to a chosen shape. There are many included with Elements and it is as simple as choosing one that is appropriate to what you want to use the image for. You can simply pull the size of template to appropriately crop dimensions. What could be easier?
The Red Eye tool is vastly improved. I have used this tool in the previous version and was very disappointed in how much work it took to get a satisfactory result. With Elements 3 it is simply a click away.
The support of Camera Raw is new to Elements. This feature is helpful to individuals who have more sophisticated cameras with this file capability.
It is now easy to scan multiple photos (as many as your scanner plate will allow) and have them automatically cropped, straightened and saved as individual files. Now digitizing all of the images stored away in a box somewhere just got a bit easier.
After you have your photos just like you want them, there are many options for sharing the images with others. The feature called Photo Mail will allow you insert your images directly into an email with a nice border and fancy stationary that you can choose. The images are available through the Photo Browser and you select what you want by simply clicking each one. They are automatically resized and inserted into the email client you have set up and are quickly on their way.
You can create slide shows, greeting cards, calendars, albums and many other projects from within Elements. You can also upload images and order prints or create a web gallery. The program also easily integrates with Adobe Premiere Elements to create movies or DVD slide shows.
There are a lot of programs on the market today, but you won't find one with the power, user friendly interface and cost as Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.
System requirements:
Intel Pentium III or 4 processor at 800 MHz
Windows XP with Service Pack 1 or Windows 2000 with Service Pack 4
256 MB of Ram (512 recommended)
600 MB of hard disk space
Microsoft DirectX9 compatible display driver
1024 x 768 16bit color display
CD-ROM Drive
You can get detailed information on the Adobe web site at www.Adobe.com. Estimated street price is $99. :
Copyright 2005. This article is from the March 2005 issue of the Sarasota PC Monitor, the official monthly publication of the Sarasota Personal Computer Users Group, Inc., P.O. Box 15889, Sarasota, FL 34277-1889. Permission to reprint is granted only to other non-profit computer user groups, provided proper credit is given to the author and our publication. We would appreciate receiving a copy of the publication the reprint appears in, please send to above address, Attn: Editor. For further information about our group, email: admin@spcug.org/ Web: http://www.spcug.org/
The Sarasota Personal Computer Users Group, Inc. has 1,100+ members and was established in 1982. We are members of the Assoc. of PC User Groups (APCUG), the Florida Assoc. of PC Users Groups, Inc., and we are members of the America Online Ambassador Program.
See http://www.spcug.org for all reviews from the Sarasota PC Monitor, go to the Newsletter Section.