Adobe Photoshop Elements
by Tim Godby
Initial Impressions:
I’ve always liked Adobe's packaging and Photoshop Elements is no exception. The installation CD and mini-guide come in an attractive DVD-style case that can be kept long after the box is tossed.
Installation
Installation is very straight forward requiring about six clicks. While I'm not a huge fan of serial numbers and having to keep up with them, I am even less fond of software piracy and what that means for the rest of us. With that in mind the registration process is an inconvenience I can live with.
Getting Stared Guide
I'm just old fashioned enough to really appreciate a printed guide and the one included with Photoshop Elements is extremely helpful both as an overview and "dive right in" guide.
Interface:
Opening Screen
After launching Photoshop Elements, one is presented with three initial options: "Start from Scratch", "Open File…", or "Connect to Camera or Scanner". In addition there is a list of recent files (if you've actually used the software and a button linking directly to Tutorials. There is, of course, the option to disable this screen in the future.
Editing Modes
There are two editing modes in Photoshop Elements: Quick Fix and Standard Edit. Quick Fix is exactly what the name implies. Most of the more advanced features are tucked neatly away leaving only the essential Crop and Red Eye tools and a series of "Smart Adjustments" on the right-hand side. These include: General Fixes, Lighting, Color and Sharpen. All have an "Auto" button as well as sliders for more precise adjustments. The "General Fix" is an all-purpose tool with an adjustable threshold which attempts to make a picture-perfect correction in one click. In many cases this may be all you need.
Choosing Standard Edit brings up more of the Tools and Palettes Photoshop Elements has to offer, allowing for some rather sophisticated editing and wonderful effects. One of these, the "Syles and Effects" palette has a host of what I call "one click wonders." More on that later.
Tool Bar
Photoshop Elements' Horizontal Toolbar contains nine self-evident icons. I'd like to highlight two of them.
File Browser (third from the left)
I could write an entire review on this feature! In short, the File Browser provides the ability to quickly and easily preview, sort and select through one's entire photo library. This includes viewing and editing Metadata as well as Keywords. But the File Browser doesn't stop there. From here you may evaluate, sort and batch process your images; renaming, adding and editing keywords and other important information all in a few clicks. There are even automated options for creating PDF slide shows, Contact Sheets, Picture Packages and even Web Galleries (these are also available under the File menu). The evaluative abilities of the File Browser are likely the most useful. Using the File Browser, it becomes a simple matter to select and flag only the best shots from a particular session making the subsequent editing process easier and more efficient. For frequent users of Photoshop Elements this will quickly become one of your best and most powerful friends!
Attach to E-mail (Six from the left)
The “Attach to E-mail” operation has some wonderful intelligence. It warns the user before sending large, possibly incompatible files (like a native PSD instead of the more typical JPEG) offering to convert and down-size on the fly. This is a huge time saver and could make the difference between others’ being able to view your masterpiece.
Keyboard Shortcuts
Any Photoshop user will feel right at home. All of the keyboard shortcuts I typically use in Photoshop are unchanged in Elements and I suspect this is true across the entire application. I mention this first for a reason. I'm as fond of the mouse as most users but Adobe provides keyboard shortcuts to the tools for a reason. They’re fast, efficient and extremely productive. My unequivocal advice is to learn them and use them!
Help System
Adobe shuns Apple's Help Viewer in favor of their own Help Browser. While I'm not enough of a programmer to know why this decision was made, I can tell you the help system is very effective and works well, providing multiple context-sensitive links, examples and the occasional "Do This for Me" option. If you're stuck on a particular task or don't really know quite where to begin the Help Browser is your first and likely last stop.
Photo Bin
My first impression of the photo bin was that it took up too much screen real estate (and you can simply close the bin to rectify this). As I began to use the program I learned to like it. A little resizing of the window is all it really needed and it truly provides easy and convenient access to multiple photos. Much more convenient than making trips to the Window menu.
Tools
Again, for Photoshop users you'll see many of the tools you've come to know and love. For iPhoto users there are a lot of options with which you will not be familiar because they are simply not available. Let's take a brief tour of some of these.
Text Tool
Imagine that! A photo caption is fine for many things, but what if you'd like to place text directly on the photo. Photoshop Elements makes quick work of this with the Text Tool. Select the Text tool (by typing a "T" on your keyboard) click directly on the desired location and type away. You'll notice Photoshop Elements creates a new layer in the Layers Palette which contains your text. If you’ve never worked with Layers they take some adjustment. In a very short while, however, you’ll wonder how you lived without them. From here you may choose font, font size and weight and position to taste. Photoshop Elements even includes beautiful drop shadows, bevels, emboss and other text effects which can be found in the Styles and Effects palette. Click on several of the thumbnails until you find the effect you like. For more detailed editing, double-click on the cursive “f” next to your text in the Layers Palette.
Spot Healing Brush
There many situations in which digital photos possess slight imperfections or flaws. This can range anywhere from little blemishes on the subjects' skin to age creases on scanned heirloom shots to little bits of dust on the camera lens or CMOS. All of which you were completely unaware until looking at them later on the computer. For these and many other scenarios the Spot Healing Brush is a bit of "pixie dust" to the rescue. All you have to do is option-click on an area adjacent to the problem to define what it should look like and then a single click on the problem spot does the trick. For larger or more complex situations more than one click and/or a painting motion may be required. Either way, this little gem can be the difference between a good shot and a great one.
Blur Tool
Let's say you really meant to set your camera for a shallow depth of field (by using portrait mode or manual settings) so that your subject was in beautiful focus artistically surrounded by a less distinct "blurred" background. Instead, you took a very good shot but with everything perfectly focused! One remedy is the Edge blur tool in iPhoto 6, but that is a rather broad stroke and not terribly effective. The Blur Tool in Photoshop Elements is a very precise artistic tool allowing you to blur exactly what you wish to the exact degree you wish thereby achieving nearly the same result you'd have gotten with the proper camera settings.
Other Unique Photoshop Elements Features
Photo Merge
Strictly speaking this is not a "Tool" but rather an option under the File=>New menu. I mention it because it is a feature so unique, powerful and easy to use you will literally take photographs just so you can use it! I'm talking about those fabulous panorama shots we've all seen proudly displayed in galleries and on friends' walls. You may have wondered how such things were possible. In the old days it was accomplished only with painstaking care, a lot of time and, quite often, expense. Enter Photo Merge. With only very little preparation on your part (e.g. taking a series of photographs being careful to keep exposure and ISO settings unchanged and your horizon as even as possible [think tripod] and an overlap between successive shots of about 30%) Photoshop Elements can literally work magic.
Process Multiple Files
Let's say you've just taken 20 of the most fantastic family reunion shots ever and you want to add a little sharpening, adjust the contrast in all of them as it was a bit overcast that day and format them as 4X6 prints to send to all the family. Your digital camera has captured all these memories as 8X11 images at 300 dpi, but you really only need 150-dpi for your ink-jet printer to work its wonders saving time and file size. If you're using iPhoto you may take some time on each shot and manually adjust for contrast. If you choose the correct paper size iPhoto will automatically adjust the image to fit. But as for optimizing the photo for size and dpi you're out of luck. Using "Process Multiple Files" all of this can be done with all 20 photos in two clicks and one keystroke!
One-Click Wonders
You've no doubt seen photographs displayed on the web or in print that had the most unusual and interesting edge effects. Ever wondered how it was done? Well, one certain way would be to use the Style and Effects palette in Photoshop Elements! A simple drag-n-drop or double-click will create those very artistic edge effects right before your eyes. But it doesn't end here. There are literally dozens of Effects, Filters and Layer Styles all applied with the same ease. And again, there is just nothing like this in iPhoto.
Shadow and Highlight
Finally, I just have to mention one other feature that by itself is nearly worth the price of the program. And you just might miss it altogether as it is buried under the Enhance=>Adjust Lighting menu. It's called "Shadows/Highlights". Others I know have a different name for it. Pure magic.
It has happened to you. While dining in some memorable waterside restaurant you decide that a picture is absolutely necessary. Fortunately you brought along your digital camera and there are more than enough willing patrons to help you out. Some benevolent volunteer frames you and your friends up in the viewfinder being careful to get that gorgeous water in the background, snaps the photo and everyone enjoys the rest of the evening. You rush home afterward load the photo up and discover to your horror that the camera, doing what it was supposed to do, has perfectly exposed that bright water background and let everything else, you included, a nearly featureless dark mass. The good news is the information is actually there. The bad news is there's just no good way of getting to it.
Unless, of course, you have Photoshop Elements! Pulling up Shadows/Highlight gives you three horizontal sliders, one each for Shadows, Highlights and Mid-tone Contrast. Some simple experimentation with these can quite literally bring light into the darkness and allow the actual subjects (you) of such a photo to emerge from the shadows and rescue what would otherwise be a forever lost moment. You really have to see this one in action to appreciate it.
Speed
Photoshop Elements is surprisingly fast on my 1.33 GHz PowerBook as it doesn't carry quite the weight of its larger sibling. Some of the more complex operations like PhotoMerge and Gaussian blur obviously take a little processing time, but for the majority of the edits and adjustments most of us make I find Photoshop Elements to be quite fast.
Space constraints prevent a truly thorough review. I haven't yet mentioned things like the Undo History Palette which keeps a visual tally of all the changes and edits. We haven’t gone into depth concerning Layers (including alpha channels) which allow for very powerful non-destructive editing and effects. Nor have we discussed Layer Masks or the very important fact that images can be scanned directly into Photoshop Elements. All of these features are just not available in iPhoto..
Conclusion
Since iPhoto is an "In the Box" item for purchasers of new Macintosh computers, it may difficult to justify purchasing additional software for working with your digital photos. Indeed, Apple has built-in to iPhoto some amazing features and the tight integration with the rest of the iLife suite is something Adobe just can't match. Many users, however, will be left wanting more and this is where Photoshop Elements really steps up to the plate. Adboe has put so many of the essential Photoshop features into Elements and at an extremely reasonable price ($$ retail) For most users, Photoshop Elements is all the software they really need. Features like Photomerge, Shadows/Highlights, Layer effects and Edge Styles take the creative possibilities far beyond iPhoto. Even professionals needing a Quick Fix or special effect will find Photoshop Elements both easier and faster than Photoshop. Though its similarity to PS may make the learning curve a bit steeper for the new user, the extremely helpful "How To" palettes and "Do This For Me" options make getting wonderful results simple and fun. I highly and enthusiastically recommend Photoshop Elements for anyone interested in getting the most out of their digital photos.