I think most people will agree that Adobe Photoshop is right close to, if not at, the top of the list of digital imaging editing programs. And I think those same people will also agree that it is at the top of the list for difficulty in learning to use. Photoshop is by far a professional editing tool, designed for professionals, and it’s quite expensive too (street price about $600). Adobe wisely realized that amateur digital image editors needed a tool also that would be easy-to-use, powerful like Photoshop and competitively priced. Voilà, along comes Adobe Photoshop Elements.

For $99 full price, or $69 for a competitive upgrade for registered owners of Adobe PhotoDeluxe, Photoshop Limited Edition, Arcsoft PhotoStudio, Corel PHOTO-PAINT, Jasc Paint Shop Pro, Microsoft PhotoDraw and PictureIt!, MGI PhotoSuite, Ulead PhotoImpact and PhotoExpress, you can get a state-of-the-art digital imaging program designed to improve your color printouts and web applications. Elements’ editing tools are based on Photoshop software, with a lot of the features included that are built into Photoshop, but Elements also comes with a whole host of new tools designed specifically for Elements and not found in Photoshop.

Upon launching Elements you can be off and running by utilizing the Quick Start screen that provides easy and centralized access to the primary file creation and acquisition features. You can start from scratch or load an existing image, copy something from the clipboard, acquire an image from a scanner or digital camera, or click on the tutorial button and get detailed instructions and tips. There is a Hints Palette that provides easy-to-understand illustrations of each tool in Elements, not just the name of the button, but also a brief description and usage tips relating to that tool so you can learn what each tool does in a hurry.

A new item called the Recipes Palette is a handy feature that interactively teaches you how to perform a particular task but still gives you full control, if you want it. You can get instructions on such things as adding a gradient effect to a graphic, creating a transparent text panel, removing noise (dust and scratches), removing a color cast, or touching up a photo. There is also a "do-it-for-me" button if you’re in a real hurry. The program comes loaded with recipes and you can download additional recipes from Adobe’s web site.

There is a File Browser that displays graphic files as thumbnail images. This allows you to search visually for a file while you are still inside the program. There are several color correction and retouching tools, such as Color Adjustment Variations which automatically generates and displays multiple versions of the same image so you can easily identify the color adjustment you want. There is a Red Eye Brush Tool to let you remove camera flash with pinpoint accuracy instead of applying a red-eye reduction command to the entire file. There are also Level Adjustment Controls that let you precisely adjust colors, brightness, contrast, and black and white levels of an image using numeric value slider bars, and the results are previewed instantly before being applied.

We all take or scan not-so-great photos. Elements lets you crop and straighten these less than perfect images with one command. There is also an Adjust Backlighting command that lets you darken images because of too much flash, or a Fill Flash command that instantly lightens images from not enough flash or light. Also, there are darkroom techniques called Dodge, which lightens a specific area, or Burn, which darkens a specific area of an image.

How many times have you taken a series of photos in a row to create a panorama effect by pasting the photos together? Adobe Photomerge is included that will automatically resize, skew, and blend portions of multiple images into a seamless panorama. All you have to do is copy two or more photos into a separate folder and Elements does everything automatically for you. I have a couple of panorama programs now that I have been using, but I guarantee they are definitely not this easy, nor are the results as good.

One of the carryovers from Photoshop is Elements’ ability to create and edit composite images containing multiple layers. Each layer is editable independently of any other layer, thereby allowing you to create some dramatic effects, such as realistic 3D text, that may otherwise take much more time to create. There is also a rather large library of Layer Styles, such as glow, bevel and drop shadow, that you can apply to a chosen layer with a simple click of the mouse.

Included also are drawing tools, such as the Custom Shape tool which will let you add graphic elements to your images by choosing from a library of shapes and symbols. There is a wide variety of brushes and something called the Impressionist Tool that will allow you to make believe you are Monet or Renoir and apply effects to the entire image or just certain parts or layers.

The Text tool allows you to add text freely to an image with total control of the fonts and type sizes. There is a Warp Text command to transform text such as fisheye, flag, wave and arch. You can type horizontally or vertically and bend and distort any which way you choose.

There is a Filters Browser that displays thumbnail images of some 95-plus special effects so you can see how the filter will affect your image. When you find the one you want, just drag and drop a filter’s thumbnail onto your image and the filter will be applied automatically.

You can experiment with your image and not worry about the changes you’ve made because there are multiple levels of undo in the History Palette. There is also a built-in Background Eraser that will let you create professional, seamless composite images. By simply dragging the tool across the portion of the image you want to keep, you can then erase the background without affecting the foreground object. Then just copy and paste the foreground object into another image and create a new composite image. You could make yourself or your friends show up in some strange places. No wonder photos are not used as evidence in a court of law any longer.

One fun tool is the Liquify filter that lets you quickly distort an image by interactively pulling and twisting the image as if it were made of putty. Your changes don’t have to be real dramatic either. Say you have a picture of your mother-in-law who always frowns when she’s around you. Take a picture of her and put a smile on her face subtly. (If you’re like me you’ll be tempted to put clown lips on her, but this time just ever so lightly make her smile.) Then show her the difference. If she doesn’t like the picture, then go back and put the clown lips on her.

If you’re into publishing your photos on a web page, like I am, Elements will make your life easier and your web pages load faster and look better. Using the Save for Web command lets you precisely and interactively optimize graphics for posting on the web by fine-tuning your output. I have a web site that mainly houses photos of family and friends. What used to take me hours to prepare for posting to the web now takes minutes, and the quality is much better. By using Web Photo Gallery I can now automatically produce photographic web pages without the coding hassles I’ve had in the past. Just a couple of mouse clicks and a couple of choices and I’m ready to upload. Wow! What a difference.

Elements follows through with Photoshop’s ability to produce great printed results. Another added feature is the ability to create a Picture Package that automatically generates copies of a photo on a single page to maximize the use of expensive photo-quality paper by printing multiple layout options such as: two 5 x 7 images; four 4 x 5; one 5 x 7 and four 2.5 x 3.5; two 4 x 5, two 2.5 x 3.5 and four 2 x 2.5, and many more picture package templates (20 in all). You can change the resolution and color mode of each print job as well. A thumbnail contact sheet of all the images in a particular folder can also be printed with full control of resolution, color mode, layout, number of columns and rows, etc.

Adobe’s excellent ability to manage color has also been built into Elements, letting you choose full color management for the best print output, limited management for the best web output, or no color management if you think your images don’t need any help. One feature that will come in very handy if your camera doesn’t produce one of the major graphic file formats is Batch Convert. You can automatically convert multiple image files from one format to another. Simply choose the source file format, size and resolution and those settings will be applied to all files in a designated folder. You can also batch rename files from your digital camera to file names that make more sense.

I don’t think I’ve covered all the features yet but I have at least hit the high points. I’m still playing with and testing Adobe Photoshop Elements, but, suffice it to say, I think Adobe’s got one hot commodity on their hands. Adobe thinks so too because they are giving you thirty days to try it out for free. Just go to http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshopel/demoreg.html, fill out a short form and download the free file. The file size is 53.4 megabytes. If you don’t have cable or DSL, Adobe has provided a small VBOX Guaranteed Download Container, which will manage the download process and allow you to resume interrupted download sessions, should they occur. Save this program to your desktop. Once the download is complete, double-click on the VBOX icon to download the tryout to your system.

Adobe Photoshop Elements is really hard to beat. It takes the place of several other programs that I am currently using and appears to do a better job. The price is reasonable and best of all it can be tried for FREE. System requirements are a Pentium class processor, any version of Windows 98 or better (or Mac 8.6 or better), 64 MB of RAM, 150 MB of hard disk space, at least a 256 (8 bit) color monitor with 800 x 600 or better resolution and a CD-ROM drive.

What have you got to lose? Give it a try. You won’t be sorry! u