Adobe Photoshop Elements 7Reviews: Adobe Photoshop Elements 7
Binding: CD-ROM Brand: Adobe EAN: 0883919168296 Edition: Elements Format: CD-ROM Item Dimensions: Label: Adobe Languages: Manufacturer: Adobe Model: 65026616 MPN: 65026616 Platform: Windows XP, Windows Vista Publisher: Adobe Release Date: October 13, 2008 Studio: Adobe Features:
Rating:  - No supportAdobe Photoshop Elements 7 I'm sorry I did not buy this from Amazon.com. I'm not sure they would have taken it back, but I know the place I did buy it from will not take back opened software. Maybe no one will take back a software product that does not work correctly. In the same week, I had a technical problem with a Microsoft product and Photoshop Elements 7. Microsoft actually called me and walked me through the solution. Adobe sent me an e-mail telling me they would not answer my question because it concerned software I didn't own. Never mind that I didn't ask the question about the software they claimed I did not own. My attempts to get back in touch with Adobe failed. If you have Elements 6, your catalog may not convert to Elements 7. You could lose a LOT of mega-data such as sorting tags, date the picture was taken, etc. For large collections of pictures, this could be days worth of data entry lost. Adobe does not have a solution for this that works. Or if they do, they'll tell you that you don't own the software (regardless that you do) and shut you off with a "go away" answer. Interestingly enough, Microsoft (the evil empire) actually tried to help me in the same week. Yeah, buy it if you're a newbie to Adobe. Keep whatever program you have if you aren't. Maybe one of these days Adobe will feel the need to do customer service. But they don't now. Rating:  - great...better than picasafound this software to be much more powerful than picasa....though one must take some time to learn how to use it....so i'm still using picasa for basics....when i'm going to print glossies....i will use adobe photoshop elements 7.....and make them just right before printing. Rating: - Finally, I'm beginning to like this programI have to confess that the last Photoshop Elements I had installed in my computer was version 2, and that its less-than-intuitive interface made me give up on it after a few tries. All I wanted then was a program that would enable me to fix red eyes and resize, crop, and lighten pictures as easily as possible. Editing with PSE2 felt like a chore to me and did not look at PSE upgrades until Vine offered version 7. Today I admit that Photoshop Elements 7 pleasantly surprised me. The installation was easy and so far the program is running even though I have Windows XP with Packet Service 1 only. PSE 7 is geared for 3 levels: Full for experienced users; Quick for intermediate/beginners and those who like shortcuts, and Guided for beginners. "Guided" makes things so much easier. It gives you step-by-step instructions for the most common editing tasks and it provides the right (tool) buttons to click right then and there. No more guessing or fumbling with the toolbox menu. Cropping or turning a color picture into an old-fashioned one is easily done at this level. And the spot healing brush is just the thing to get rid of pesky pimples in your photos. However, when it came to Guided Activities such as merging pictures, I did not get the results I wanted in spite of the instructions. I ended up going to Adobe's website where I found short video tutorials for some of the Photomerge features. Action Player was one effect I wanted to learn more about. However, I did not find further information in the Help section of the program nor at the website. By the way, the Help section of PSE is not searchable so you have to sort of guess under what category the topic you're looking for may have been placed. The next thing I tried was to fix red eyes. PSE "Quick" offers two options. You can have PSE correct red eyes automatically (it's amazing, you don't even have to select the area first) or go to Touch Up and use the Red Eye Removal tool. Both options work well and easily for me. Another tool I find interesting under Touch Up is the Pearly White adjuster that helps whiten teeth in the pictures. However, I haven't figured out how to work this one out yet. After dragging the brush over the area, I didn't see any significant changes and I'm not sure how to proceed. There are no instructions to tell me to click a button or a slider to use to adjust the whitening level. Also you're supposed to change the size of the brush to fit your targeted area. I have not tried the Full level, and I think I will leave the review of this level to colleagues who are experts at photo editing and at using PSE tools. Later, I may get a good reference PSE book to try to learn how to use the different brushes, sliders, and lasso tools available at the Full level. There is so much to explore in PSE7 and a lot can be accomplished with practice and perhaps by taking a class or two. I feel that I'm just scratching the surface. But for now, I'm happy using a combination of "Guided" and "Quick" features. They have given me the results I wanted for my current editing needs. Rating:  - BEWARE OF THE REBATE SCAMThe program may be the best on the market, I havn't got past the fact that the rebate scam is very difficult for me to swallow. In order to qualify for this rebate you have to be replacing another photo program (in most cases an Adobe program) with this one... and have purchased that program 6 months or less ago. Otherwise... you will not get the rebate. Read very carefully the deeply embeded rebate info before you commit to purchase. Rating: - Worth spending a little time learning itI've used full-blown Photoshop since version 3 or so, but even today I still only use about 25% of its features. Because of this, I usually recommend Photoshop Elements to my friends. Why spend hours and hours trying to learn a complex program when a smaller and much, much cheaper one does everything most people need? PS Elements is like its big brother Photoshop CS3 with a more user-friendly face. Like its predecessors, it gets some of the best new features from the latest version of Photoshop. Smart Brush and a Scene Cleaner are examples of recent features imported from Photoshop. The three-level structure of PS Elements 7 helps organize things without overwhelming the beginner. Guided editing is great for someone new to Photoshop, with easy to use adjustments. Quick Fix is just that. "Full" gives the user the full-access, with big-brother Photoshop features like filters, layers, and so on. The Amazon page and other reviewers have outlined the feature set of Elements pretty well and I won't do that again here. Highlights: Scene Cleaner, which removes unwanted things from a photo (assuming that you have another, similar photo available to copy from) works great. The example usually shown is the way you can "borrow" the head of one person in a group shot with a better version if it's available in another similar shot. (Moral: always take several shots of a group, so you'll have this option available.) The toothbrush tool for whitening teeth can be done using older-type tools, but it is easier in PS Elements 7. Same with the ability to make skies bluer. There is a custom slideshow with gee-whiz effects. You can add captions (I use this to add information to old family photos that i scanned), zoom effects, an music or narration if you wish. By the way, PS Elements does support RAW files, which more advanced cameras can produce. They are unprocessed (thus 'raw") photo data that you upload to your computer and use software like PS Elements to tweak the image and bring out the best in the photo. Not for beginners, but the capability is there when you need it. PS Elements works as a photo organizer, allowing keywording, photo rating, and search functions including Smart Albums which will create albums using criteria that you specify. For slightly more advanced users, you can create and record a series of steps or "actions" that you perform on an image so you can use them again on other photos. Making your own is fairly easy, but pre-written actions are available online. This can be a real time saver. Access to Photoshop.com, which is included, is okay, but there are many more photo sharing sites available, so this should not be a major selling point. "Photoshop Elements 7: The Missing Manual" is an excellent tutorial and reference book if you need more help. The Missing Manual series is my go-to source of information on graphics software. In sum, PS Elements 7 is a good solution to photo editing for people who want a capable program and are willing to spend a little time learning it. The rewards are worth it. Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 ReviewsMore reviews:Buy Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 Sale Reviews Deals
Adobe Photoshop Elements 7
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