Adobe Photoshop Elements

Photoshop Elements is a budget-priced consumer-grade version of Photoshop with an abbreviated feature set and an entirely different user interface. At $99.99, it’s a great way to get started with Camera Raw if you’re on a budget, and comes bundled with many scanners.

Two major features missing from Elements is the L*a*b* color space, and Smart Filters. However, Elements incorporates an interesting feature that Photoshop does not; three different types of editing modes, Full, Quick and Guided.

• The Full mode uses adjustment and pixel layers similar to the full version of Photoshop. 

• The Quick mode is a panel of tools which include “Smart Fix”, Red Eye Fix, Auto Levels, Auto Contrast, Lighten Shadows, Darken Contrast, Midtone Contrast, Auto Color, Saturation, Hue, Temperature, Tine Auto Sharpen, and Manual Sharpen. 

• The Guided mode is essentially a tutorial that asks you what you want to do, and presents you with the appropriate tools. Interestingly, these tools include manual control for brightness and contrast which are missing from the “Quick” mode.

In the Quick and Guided modes, the interface allows you to see a before and after version before committing to the changes. Unfortunately, unlike adjustment layers the changes are applied “destructively” to the selected pixel layer. However, this can be a duplicate pixel layer and image saved as a layered Photoshop or TIFF image file. Changes made in Camera Raw however are non-destructive, and are stored as metadata in the Camera Raw database.

Elements’ greatest forte is that it’s an excellent way for those unfamiliar with Photoshop to learn its many tools and the general concept of a layered image file.