Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.0 is the latest release from the Adobe Photoshop family. By now most readers are aware of the release of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 1.0 early in the spring of 2007 (now on version 1.2), and the release of both versions of Adobe Photoshop CS3; Standard and Extended, that happened later in the spring. Well Fall, 2007 brings the release of Elements 6.0.
Just what is Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.0? It is the little brother of the industry standard digital imaging software product Adobe Photoshop; in this case CS3. Photoshop is considered by many to be the best digital imaging product on the planet. While Photoshop is great for the professional, it is not always good for casual user, or amateur for a couple of reasons. First, with a high end product, there is usually a high end learning curve that can take months; even years to get good at. Second, with a high end product usually comes a high end price. In the case of Photoshop CS3, new can mean $649.00 USD for Standard, and $999.00 USD for the Extended version. Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.0 on the other hand is $99.00 USD, or bundled with Adobe Premier Elements 4.0, is $149.00 USD.
What do you need to run Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.0. Currently it is only available on Windows, with the Mac release coming early in 2008. So, on Windows you need 1.3GHz, or better machine, with 256 MB (512 recommended) A Mouse. A 16-bit Color display with 1024x768 resolution at 96DPI or less. A CD-Rom, and around 1.5 GB hard disk space available.
So what is new with this version of Adobe Photoshop Elements?
• Get Going Faster – As expected one of the main goals of any software is to try to increase the speed with which you can get things done, and this is no exception. With things better organized, you can move more efficiently.
• Smart Albums – You can now bring together just the photos that you want to see. You can set up to 10 search criteria; things like type of camera, date of shoot, or other info, then click on the Smart Album, and you will see the matching set of photos.
Article comments
1 - Imagine
I have found that this version is really rocks. It is so much easier to use, and faster as well. I like the photo blending and selections the best!
2 - Randy Sills
Thanks for the news, I am going to have to upgrade my version 5.
3 - Big Dave
I downloaded it to upgrade from v4.0. There isn't as much of a difference from 4.0 as I expected. It certainly isn't any faster. I have a 2.0G/1M Vista machine with a 13k photos/30G collection of personal photos. It works OK but leaves me not completely satisfied. I've now spent $300 over the years on purchasing and upgrading Elements and may go the Google Picasa route next time. The business model I would prefer is Free Upgrades for Life but enticements to pay for additional new features. I might pay more for the photobook feature that is included in 6.0 if I didn't have to upgrade for $75 already.
This latest upgrade was forced on me because of a lot of bugs with 4.0's non-integration with Vista. I paid Adobe to fix their own bugs.
4 - T. Michael Testi
Thanks for the comments Big Dave,
I cannot really comment on how it runs on Vista since I have not made the move to it as yet and at this point no real plans to.
One thing I would disagee with is your comment about these being Adobe's bugs. Photoshop Elements 4 was never made to work with Vista. This would be no different than if you tried to run PSE 4 on Window's 3.1; won't work there either.
Which is why when I bought a computer earlier this year, I did not get Vista, rather got XP. I'll wait till it becomes more mature.
T.
5 - hgjgjhg
Where can you find brushes??
Everywhere I look, its only for Photoshop CS3
6 - Jim T.
I'm using Adobe PS 4 on my Mac and thinking of upgrading to 6. I had a few questions. Will PS 6 handle Raw CR2 files and if not, what would be a suitable companion for my Raw files. Thanks.
7 - T. Michael Testi
Hi Jim,
Photoshop Elements 6 will handle Raw files and you can read more about it here.
I would suggest that you download the evaluation version and see how you like it.
Another option would be to get Adobe Lightroom which is wonderful at processing Raw files as well.
Thanks
T.
8 - mary
I'm using adobe photoshop elements 4.0, this does not have CMYK, or Curves. what software would be suitable for my mac? can adobe photoshop elements 6.0 work for me?
9 - chip towle
I don't have a left index finger and right thumb and ring finger. This has made using a keyboard quite a challenge! Can Photoshop Elements help me to regrow these missing digits? No, it can't, as I have tried using various brushes and crop tools to effect these changes, and I also have stopped reading the Bible, because the language doesn't make much sense, and I have spent too much time nauseated as a result of all the "thees and thous."
10 - Gary Shaw
I have adobe photoshop elements 6
and after loading it FAILS and with a connAPI.DLL error report.
not very usefull
11 - Gary
I recently purchased Photoshop Elements 6.0. When I tried to load it I got the following message:
"Error 1503 Error reading from file C:Program FilesAdobePhotoshop elements 6.0MEdit_Libfnp.dll. Verify that the file exists and that you can access it".
I am not very computer savvy aneed need help.
Thank You
Gary
12 - Gary
I forgot to mention.....My computer has Windows XP.
Gary
13 - Sage
Where can you get it for free? Is it even possible to get it free anyways? Does it work on a PC? Sorry for showering questions onto you here!