Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0 review

Digital photography enthusiasts need look no further for their editing and management requirements, but are they right?

25 January 2006 0:33 GMT / By Stuart Miles

Chances are, you've got a digital camera, and chances are, you are likely to be collecting digital images on your computer's hard drive faster than you can say Bob's your uncle and Fanny's your aunt.

So what do you do with all those images? Well to help you fix, find and manage all those images is Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.

Combining what was originally Adobe Photoshop Album 2 and Abobe's Elements series, Photoshop Elements 4 marries the two applications together seamlessly.

The end result is one of the best photo management packages we've seen on the PC.

Because Adobe has upped the image editing functionality of the package you can now edit and fix your images more effectively on the fly and we actually found it easier than doing the same procedure in Elements more grow up professional package Photoshop CS.

Included tools include Auto Red Eye Removal, Magic Selection Brush, Skin Tone Adjustment, and Magic Extractor that all allow you to fix common photography problems and expand creative control.

Adobe has also improved the Red Eye Removal function and it now eliminates red eye automatically as photos are downloaded from the camera. The new Magic Selection Brush quickly selects specific parts of a photo for easy colour, lighting, and contrast adjustments. The new Skin Tone Adjustment allows consumers to get more realistic skin colours in just moments. The new Magic Extractor, which surprisingly easily allows you to cut out specific subjects from photos.

Beyond the image editing functionality, the company has also improved and enhanced the image management side of the software. Elements 4 includes an enhanced Folder View that lets you move, create, or delete files and folders but all in a similar way to previous versions.

Sharing online has also been improved and Adobe rather than going it alone, the package requires you to sign up to Kodak's EasyShare Gallery. This also means that you can get one-click printing from the printing and camera manufacturer and these range from single 6x4inch prints to hardback books and much more. It's certainly a nice inclusion and means that you can share your images with family and friends without having to drag yourself and a computer around to show them your holiday snaps.

Verdict

Adobe Photoshop Elements is such a complete package for the digital camera enthusiast that we've struggled to find fault with the package.

Gripes for us are the inability to choose another other online sharing or printing program like photobox other than Kodak's offering. The other annoyance is that its only available for Windows PC rather than both the PC and a Mac (however this is unlikely to concern PC users with only a PC and Mac users who are happy using iPhoto)

All in all then, a pleasure to use with plenty of features to please everyone.

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Review Recap

Made by: Adobe
Price as reviewed: £72
Latest price: Compare prices
The good: Easy to use, simple interface, auto fixing features, sharing and printin functions
The bad: You can only share and print via Kodak
Quick verdict: Adobe Photoshop Elements is such a complete package for the digital camera enthusiast that we’ve struggled to find fault with it
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Winner