Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 continues to grow into being an even better photo editing, organizing and creative software tool. With this latest release, Adobe has now incorporated the Internet into the creative process.
I have used a previous version of Photoshop Elements, but I was surprised by the speed of the program and how Adobe has implemented connectivity to popular photo sharing Web sites such as SmugMug and Flickr.
The program interface is broken down into four categories: Organize, Fix, Create and Share. Organize lets you do just that. Keep track of your photo albums, back up your photos to your Photoshop.com account and more. Fix offers you the ability to do quick edits to your photos or you can choose to use the tool palette to even more detailed work on your photos or use the guided edit list in case you are not sure what you want to accomplish. The Create tab offers you the ability to make a photo book, photo calendar, photo collage, slide show or to even order prints. The last tab gives you options on how you would want to share your photos such as through an online album, e-mail, printer or save it to a blank media disc.
Photoshop Elements 7 offers users a new online capability called Photoshop Basic and Plus memberships.
Photoshop and a lot more
The new online feature in Photoshop Elements 7 provides you with an storage space that you can use to backup your content, share with friends and family or just to place your content in a location that you can access from anywhere in the U.S.
The difference between Basic and Plus memberships is listed in the chart below:
Pricing for the Plus account is reasonable at only $49.99 a year. Adobe does provide additional templates regularly with a Plus account to help enhance your projects along with other goodies so you are getting more than just a storage locker.
When I signed up for my Basic account, I was pleasantly surprised by the Flash-based interface. I have never seen a image editing palette created using Flash but you will be surprised at the responsiveness by the one you find on Photoshop.com. You get most of the common tools you would need for basic image editing and manipulation.
Once you save your edits, the photo immediately becomes available in your photo library. To share your photos with the world, you need to create a new photo album. Then you can drag the photos you want to share into your new photo album. New albums are set to private as default. Just select the small lock that appears to the left of the album and change the album privacy setting.
Being a new user to Photoshop Elements, I am very surprised at the number of options provided. Adobe doesn’t make any assumption on the skill level of the user or whether you are familiar with other Adobe versions or products. While Photoshop Elements 7 is more affordable for the average consumer, this is not a stripped down version of the industry -standard Photoshop application. You have a full palette of tools and features to enable you to fix and manipulate any photo situation.
The Final Word
Overall, Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 is a surprisingly easy and intuitive program that can have creative novices producing quality projects in no time. With an account to the photoshop.com Web site, you can now share your creativity with your friends and family.
When I showed Photoshop Elements 7 to my brother, who has never used Elements before, he was able to sit down and create a slide show from some of his family photos on his digital camera in a matter of minutes. He didn’t need any high-end photo editing tools or anything fancy.
Even if you do find that you need some of the standard Photoshop tools, you can easily switch out of the auto-fix features and bring up the tool palette and image correction settings. With the free online storage, online sharing capabilities and the intuitive interface, Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 or adobe photoshop mac free in general, is the best consumer photo editing and management program available.
