Software Review: Adobe Premiere Elements 11

Adobe Premiere Elements 11 is the latest release of the consumer-based video editing program from Adobe. It is a scaled-down version of their professional level package Premiere Pro, without all of the learning curve of its bigger brother, but yet it still provides a lot of power. It can also be purchased as a bundle with both Adobe Photoshop and Premiere Elements 11 for a significant savings.

Like Photoshop Elements, Premiere Elements is a lot easier to work with and a lot more manageable than Premier Pro and while it has fewer features than pro, the features it does have are more geared toward, and better serve the general consumer and even the low-end prosumer as well.

To find out what you need to run Adobe Photoshop Elements 11, just check out their requirements page.

So what is new with this version of Adobe Premiere Elements 11?

• Manage your videos – more easily in the media Organizer. This completely redesigned Organizer presents information in a much easier and more approachable way. Now you can simply move video clips from your memory card or any other device to your computer using preset preferences. Premiere Elements organizes them by date. With full-screen preview, you can get the full effect of your video clips.

• Map your memories – and relive your journeys. Through the use of the map view, you can zoom in to a particular area of the world and see what videos you took there. In addition to helping you retrace your steps, the mapping feature also assists with remembering exactly where the videos were taken after visiting multiple destinations. The Places view in Premiere Elements integrates with Google maps, enabling you to organize and search videos by location.

• Adjust color – with new sliders give you the ability to adjust video footage color much in the same way you now do with photographs. Color is an important part of any video and now you can adjust it quickly and easily. Instant previews give you a quick look at how these adjustments will change the look of your video so that you can play with the sliders to get the color just right.

• New effects – and enhancements give you the ability to show off you videos using eye-catching effects and themes within your movies. You now have new options to keep your creativity alive and create one-of-a-kind movies to wow your friends and families. You can add professional polish with a wide range of great-looking motion graphics, effects, animations, and more. From favorite cinematic styles to adjusting the speed of your footage or blending video clips together to get interesting effects

• New popular movie styles – that will make your videos really stand out. You now have the new FilmLooks which can make your movie look like a classic old film or a Hollywood blockbuster set in an alien world. Simply drag and drop the FilmLooks effect onto your movie and the software handles the transitions and effects that make it shine. In the video’s below, I used the News Reel look and it was both easy to use and very realistic.

• Slow down or speed up the action – giving you the ability to create emphasis, suspense, or drama in key movie moments, while fast-motion serves to accelerate your narrative or create a sense of energy, excitement, or fun.

• Blend modes – effects have been available in image-editing software programs for some time. Adobe Premiere Elements 11 lets you use some of the same techniques on video clips for unique effects that will turn heads. Blend modes can enhance one clip with the colors or textures of another clip. You can also use this technique to add your signature or a copyright line as a watermark, and more.

• Share videos on Vimeo – is made easy through Adobe Premiere Elements 11. Now you can connect to all leading online video sharing services, including YouTube and Vimeo. It’s fun to share your polished and perfected video clips and photo slide shows with audiences near and far, and Adobe Premiere Elements 11 takes care of optimizing and formatting for specific destinations so your movies always look great.

• Two editing modes – now includes Quick and Expert editing modes, so you can create a great movie in just a few clicks, or dive in to the Timeline and explore all of the creative transitions, effects, and styles the software has to offer.

Adobe Premiere Elements 11 really has improved over the last version in that it really seems to have the power for the more advanced user as well as being able to hand hold to the beginning user. It manages this balance well. It also seems to be much improved in its responsiveness as I could notice no lags when working with it.

I love the new effects, the FilmLooks and the Blend modes. They really add a lot to one’s ability to work with video and give the home user some of the kind power that previously was only available in some of the more professional packages or through the purchase of add-ins. If you are looking for a consumer based video editing program or are considering the upgrade to version 11 from any prior version of Premiere Elements, then I highly recommend this product.