Software Review: Adobe Photoshop Elements 7.0

Adobe Photoshop Elements 7.0 is the latest release from the Adobe Photoshop family. Although it's the little brother of the industry standard digital imaging software product Adobe Photoshop, it is also a pretty powerful product in its own right. While it is aimed at the more novice user, over the course of time, it has gained the necessary features to stand on its own merit.

While the latest version of Photoshop has been announced - in this case CS4 - and Photoshop is considered by many to be the best image editing product on the planet, it is certainly not for everyone. For the professional, Photoshop is a must have, but it is not always the best product for the 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 master. Second, a high end product usually comes with a high end price. In the case of Photoshop CS4, purchasing it new can mean $649.00 USD for the standard version, and $999.00 USD for the extended version. For Adobe Photoshop Elements 7.0 the price is $99.00 USD, or bundled with Adobe Premier Elements 7.0, it is $149.00 USD.

What do you need to run Adobe Photoshop Elements 7.0? Currently it is only available on Windows. If the past is any indication, a Mac version should be scheduled for a future date. So on Windows you need a 2 GHz or better machine with 1 GB of RAM, a mouse, a 16-bit color display with 1024x768 resolution at 96DPI or less, a DirectX 9 compatible display driver, a CD-ROM, and around 1.5 GB hard disk space available. The web features require Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 or 7, or Mozilla Firefox 1.5 through 3.x

So what is new with this version of Adobe Photoshop Elements?

• Interface Brightness - can now be customized in both the organizer and the editor so you can control how bright the interface is with regard to your images. By using the brightness slider, you can make the screen as bright or dark as you would like. This will give you the ability to see your images in their proper light.

• Streamlined Downloading - now has no separate Photo Downloader icon in the system tray. All connection events have now been consolidated into the Windows Autoplay list where you can choose to either use the Adobe Photo Downloader, or launch another program.

Article Author: T. Michael Testi

T. Michael Testi is software developer, a writer, and a photographer. He also blogs at PhotographyTodayNet and at All This and Everything Else.

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