Can this latest edition of Elements
improve where Elements 10 left off?
Adobe Elements has been the number one
photo-editing package for amateurs and enthusiasts for several years. A
simplified substitute to Photoshop, it has been designed to be user-friendly
for beginners, while also offering advanced functionality to satisfy more
experienced users. Elements 10 offered what we thought were all the features an
enthusiast could possibly need, so has Adobe released another version too soon,
or has Elements 11 improved again? Let's look at the latest features to find
out.
Elements
11 offers more ways to organize and share images
New features
Unlike Photoshop, which is aimed at
professionals who like to concentrate on editing their shots with the finest
control, Elements 11 offers more ways to organize and share images. Open the
Organizer and the first obvious differences are the larger icons and cleaner
looking interface. These changes have made it much easier to navigate, and not
only can you view full-screen image previews, it’s easier to manage your photos
based on the people in them, where they were taken, or when they were taken.
Provided you have an Internet connection, the places view is a great area of
the organizer to plot an image or group of images, and if your camera supports
GPS, Elements 11 will now recognize the coordinates before automatically
adding the images to its integrated Google map. Elsewhere in the organizer, the
new events view lets users assemble shots based on the date, month and year
they were taken. Finding the shots you add to the events area is also made very
easy thanks to a new calendar column on the far right of the interface. Not
forgetting the importance of sharing images, Elements 11 supports direct
uploading to emails and social media channels such as Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo
and Flickr. These options are available from the share tab within the
organizer, but unfortunately there's no option to export images directly to
Twitter.
In
terms of its performance, Elements 11 ran fast and smoothly on our 2.53GHz
Intel Core 2 Duo Macbook Pro
Switching from the organizer to the full
editing area reveals it’s not only the organizer that adopts the new,
friendlier looking interface. Icons and palettes are much larger than those in
previous versions, which suggests Adobe’s focus is on making sure the interface
isn't a daunting place for inexperienced users, or those who haven’t used the
software before.
Elements 11 also adopts the three editing
modes - Quick, Guided and Expert. These offer different ways to edit your shots
based on the skill level of the user, and though there haven’t been any changes
to the Quick edit mode, there are more options within the Guided and Expert
edit modes.
The Guided edit area is a great place to
work if you’re unsure of how to go about achieving certain types of adjustments
or effects. It offers a clear explanation of each effect as well as a small
thumbnail image to give you a clearer idea of how the final result will look. The
four new additions to this edit mode include High Key, Low Key, Tilt Shift and
Vignette.
Moving into the more advanced Expert edit
mode, there are three new filters, which include Comic, Graphic Novel and Pen
and Ink. Each of these artistic filters come with four readymade presets and
sliders to take precise control. Elsewhere, Refine Edge has been enhanced to
offer all the functionality of Photoshop’s Refine Edge, with the added benefit
of a rase Refinements tool. This works by restoring the original pixel edge if
you’re not happy with the adjustments you make using the Refine Radius tool.
Adobe has also taken time to refine the Actions command. Actions were
introduced into Elements 10, but you can now load pre-made actions from the
Internet, but unfortunately you can’t create your own custom folders.
Performance & interface
In terms of its performance, Elements 11
ran fast and smoothly on our 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Macbook Pro. No
infuriating delays were experienced other than when we started working with
extremely high-resolution files. Adobe claims the performance and rendering
processing has been optimized to make it run faster, and an area where we did
notice a speed improvement was when we switched back and forth between the
organizer and editing area.
Working with Raw files in Camera Raw 7.1
was also trouble-free, but we’re expecting another Camera Raw update soon to
make it compatible with recently launched cameras, such as the Fujifilm X-E1
(see page 24) and Sony NEX-6.
As for the interface, we like the light
grey surround and darker background, however the positioning of the tools and
palettes will take some getting used to for previous Elements users. The Layers
palette now appears at the top right of the interface, where previously it was
at the bottom right. The organizer and layout icons are also repositioned at
the bottom of the interface, but as we discovered there are two really useful
icons for taking steps backwards and forwards if you make mistakes when you’re
editing. Hopefully this will be a feature we see in a future version of
Photoshop.
The
Layers palette now appears at the top right of the interface, where previously
it was at the bottom right.
The significant developments in Elements 11
are found in the Organizer and it’s fair to say little has changed in the full
editing area, other than it sporting a new look.
Elements 9 and Elements 10 users won’t see
a huge benefit from upgrading to Elements 11. Yes, you’ll get a more intuitive
organizer to work with, as well as the latest Raw converter, but these features
alone don’t really justify the expenditure.
For users of older versions however,
Elements 11 is a more attractive proposition. When you consider that it offers
Masks to edit your images more precisely, and Actions to apply repetitive tasks
more quickly, it offers a lot more control at your fingertips than you will
have been used to in the past.
What’s more, if you’re struggling to open
Raw files in your current version of Elements because your camera is producing
newer files than your software can read, $112.6 is a reasonable amount to pay
for a package that’ll give you all the Raw support you need.
Although we’d say this latest release
doesn’t offer any groundbreaking changes, we’re yet to use any other software
package that offers quite so much for your money.
Minimum system requirements
Microsoft Windows
§ 2GHZ
or faster processor
§ Microsoft
Windows XP with SP3
§ 2GB
of RAM
§ 7GB
of available hard-disk space QuickTime 7
§ Color
monitor with 16-bit color video card
§ 1024x768
display resolution Internet Connection
MAC OS
§ 64-bit
multi core Intel processor
§ Mac
OS X vl 0.6-vl 0.8
§ 2GB
of RAM
§ 7GB
of available hard-disk space QuickTime 7
§ 1024x768
display resolution Internet Connection
Upgrade Price
§ If
you own any previous version of Photoshop Elements you’ll be eligible to an
upgrade price of $97.
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