If you want more customization you simply click the Edit Photo or Edit Video button and it will automatically launch either Photoshop Elements or Premiere Elements. You are not locked into Photoshop or Premiere. Organizer includes an option to set a different default-editing tool to launch. I also like how everything integrates with Adobe’s online toolset – Photoshop.com.
Considering how many issues I’ve had with iPhoto in the last year, as a Mac user this is certainly a tool that I may end up using instead. It’s been rock solid, fast, and stable. I have always considered Windows Live Photo pretty ugly and barely functional.
Premiere Elements
Highlights of this year’s video editing tool include better support for importing and exporting AVCHD video format. This format support is important because it is a “standard” format used by a lot of hard drive based HD Video Camcorders. New share functions include support for exporting video directly to Facebook.
Premiere Elements now has a much more sophisticated and robust Chromokey Editor. Chromokey is the process of replacing backgrounds, usually Blue or Green, with new ones. It is how professionals create those exotic Space Stations or how a weatherman does the weather. It is limited only by your imagination. A good dedicated chromokey system used to cost thousands just for the software alone.
Another highlight this year is the new 3-way color correction editing feature. This allows would-be editors to have more precise control over the color in video clips.
There are other reasons to use Premiere Elements over iMovie or Microsoft Movie Maker, including its support for numerous codecs, its extensive support of multi-track editing (up to 99 tracks), a nice set of tools for audio enhancements, and a ton of built-in filters for enhancing your video (of which iMovie has none). You can spice up your video by using any of the numerous included transition effects and the built-in title editor.
When you are ready to export your project it supports all the current popular formats including AVCHD, MPEG4, MOV, AVI and numerous others. You can export directly to YouTube, Facebook, and Vimeo.
I really like the Audio toolset in Premiere Elements. You can use the narration tool to add voiceovers to your clips a little easier than manually monitoring your levels; there’s built-in access to Sonic Fire Pro audio and there’s a full-featured audio editor included.
There is an instant movie function that automatically applies a built-in theme to your video clip. The theme includes graphics, automatic transitions, and letter designs. You can also apply a theme template to your DVD projects. I love the idea and the relative ease of use of this.
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