PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS 3.0 and PREMIERE ELEMENTS, published by Adobe; about $189 each or $279 for a boxed set (excluding GST):
Everyone’s heard of Adobe’s popular Photoshop, accepted as the industry standard for working with photos.
Photoshop Elements (for Windows and Mac) is a pared down version with an equally pared down price that is perfect for the home user. Sure, it doesn’t have quite as many bells and whistles as the full version of Photoshop but it has everything you are likely to need — and then some.
It’s easier to use and more powerful than earlier versions and offers users convenient ways to manage photos with simple search options and intuitive tagging.
The Photo Browser, based on Photoshop Album, lets you catalogue both online and offline images. Finding photos quickly is a breeze when categorising your images using keyword tags, collections and catalogues. Being able to search through photos using a timeline is also a huge bonus.
Of course, Photoshop Elements comes with all the usual features youd expect — the filters, fixes and editing options. However, the new features in this version a pretty special. Smart Fix analyses a photo and with one-click, applies enhancements to automatically improve photo quality. Improved red eye removal means a simple click near the eye makes red-eye disappear and the powerful Healing Brush fixes blemishes and imperfections with one step.
Premiere Elements is Adobe’s home video editing software. This is once again a pared down version of another program — Adobe Premiere Pro.
Transferring and editing is kept simple and as you delete or trim scenes, gaps in the timeline are automatically closed. The how-to guides make life even easier.
If you fancy yourself as a bit of a budding George Lucas, you’ll enjoy the opportunity to add hundreds of special effects, transitions and enhancements — from spinning graphics to scene fades.
Burning your video footage to DVD is also a piece of cake with menus and scene indices that are automatically created and linked to you edited work.