Photoshop Elements

Adds Online Features



ADOBE KNOW WHAT'S hot these days. And online photo sharing is more popoular than ever, thanks to sites like Flickr and Facebook.

With Photoshop Elements 7, Adobe provides ties to its new online service, Photoshop.com, and adds enough fresh features to the desktop application to make version 7 a worthwhile upgrade.

Photoshop.com, which incorporates Adobe's Photoshop Express online editing service, is offering two level of membership: a free 2GB Basic membership; and a $50 per year Plus membership that entitles you to 20B of storage. The free membership provides automatic backup of your images. When you edit pictures on the site, the revised file will sync up with your home PC's files-and vice versa.

New to version 7 of Photoshop Elements is a Smart Brush tool borrowed from the full Photoshop, as well as a handy Scene Cleaner that has been added to the Photomerge tool. This edition also lets users adjust the background tint from charcoal all the way to stark white. More good news: Photoshop Elements 7 has FTP settings. Unfortunately, it still lacks the Fade slider tool available in Photoshop.

The application continues to straddle the line between novices and more-seasoned users. It offers three levels of editing: Full Edit, Quick Fix, and Guided Editing. This arrangement feels a bit clunky at times, especially when you must blunder through menu options and tabbed screens to find advanced options such as editing color curves.



For anyone seeking a combination image editor and organizer that doesn't break the bank, Photoshop Elements 7 is a powerful contender. The online components permit you to do more from within a familiar interface, and its new tools alone make it worth the upgrade.- Kathleen Cullen

PC World November 2008