As we predicted not long ago, Adobe has released a new version of Adobe Photoshop Elements 11. The new $99 image editing program for beginner photographers, has an updated interface, new intuitive editing environment with one-click options, and a new organizer to help you find your photos.
The Elements interface remains similar to the previous versions with three ways to edit your photos depending on your level of experience, Quick, Guided, and Expert. In the Quick mode, you can adjust your photos and see what they will look like with easy one-click adjustments giving you instant previews of the changes. In the Guided mode, Elements will walk you step-by-step through an adjustment with instructions for each of the controls to help you get great results. Then there is the Expert mode where you can take complete control of the adjustments just like Photoshop to perform your edits on your photos manually.
Adobe seems to have really put some work in to the Organizer included with Elements 11. Now you can filter your photos much easier with its new categories of People, Places, and Events to easily locate specific photos. Find all your photos of specific people in the People category or in the Events category find all the photos taken at an event by the date of the photos. The Places category seems to be a feature taken from Lightroom 4 where you can add your photos to a map and easily find all your photos taken in one particular area or location.
Organizer also has an updated Tag feature which can auto analyze your photos and apply keywords to help organize your photos. Also new is the Smart Tag which automatically analyzes your photos by quality and content and Tags them so you can easily find all your blurry or dark photos.
Other enhancements in Elements is an updated Photomerge process, the new Raw processing of Adobe Camera Raw process 2012, new Tilt and Lens Blur filters, and the newly added, very powerful, Refine Edge filter seen in its big brother Photoshop.
Once again Adobe has beefed up Elements making it a powerful image editing program. So much so I think this is going to be a new way for photographers to save money and still have the power to edit their photos with the tools they need. I think most new photographers will find Elements to be plenty of power for most of their photo editing needs and if you pair it up with Lightroom 4 you have what I call the perfect $250 digital darkroom. I know Elements won't be for every photographer but saving $600 is certainly worth a look to see if it has all the tools you actually need and use and its a great way to make sure you actually need Photoshop before spending $700.
Elements upgrades are $79 and new versions, $99 both are available immediately for download and a boxed version will be shipping in mid October.
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