Adobe Announces Photoshop Elements 10 and Premiere Elements 10

Adobe’s Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements are popular consumer-software packages for editing photos and video. The Elements versions of Photoshop and Premiere are basically less expensive, “lite” versions of the full-blown offerings, intended more for consumer use than professional, and they’re bound to become even more popular with Adobe’s announcement of Photoshop Elements 10 and Premiere Elements 10.

To clear up any confusion, let’s review the array of packages being offered before discussing some of the new features they contain. Photoshop Elements 10 for Windows and Mac is offered as both a stand-alone package and as an upgrade for users of previous versions. Likewise, Premiere Elements 10 for Windows and Mac is also offered as both a stand-alone package and as an upgrade for users of previous versions. There’s also a Photoshop/Premiere Elements 10 bundle for Windows and Mac available as a stand-alone package and as an upgrade.

Photoshop Elements lets you edit, retouch, organize, share and archive digital photos, while Premiere Elements lets you do the same for video clips. The Photoshop/Premiere bundle offers enhanced functionality that the individual packages don’t offer, such as the ability to use photos in movies to create freeze-frame effects and the ability to add cinematic effects to traditional photo slide shows.

As far as new features and functionality go, there are many. New in Photoshop Elements 10 is the ability to paint any of 100 effects and patterns onto specific areas of a photo. New effects include Snow, Pencil Sketch and Oil Pastel. New Guided Edits provide step-by-step assistance in highlighting subjects, adding glowing effects and breaking up photos into collages of snapshots.

With Photoshop Elements 10 you can now add curving, flowing text to photos. You can also use your Facebook Friends list to quickly tag faces in photos. A new Object Search can automatically find photos containing specific objects, such as your classic car, snowmobile, toothbrush or pet. New crop guides help you create the best composition for your photos. Managing large photo libraries is easy, as Photoshop Elements 10 can automatically detect duplicate or near duplicate photos for grouping or deletion purposes. Fresh new templates are also included.

Premiere Elements 10 is also loaded with new features. You can now turn photos into movies with custom pan and zoom motions and the software can automatically find faces and pan and zoom right to them. Footage with flat color can be made more vivid without affecting skin tones. You can also adjust colors in highlights, shadows and midtones independently. In addition to publishing HD content on Blu-ray media, you can now get HD quality on standard DVDs using standard burners. And you can export content in the high-definition AVCHD format.

Adobe’s Photoshop Elements 10 and Premiere Elements 10 are loaded with many other new features and enhancements. The software supports 64-bit Windows 7, so you can save time and put your high-end computer to good use. Adobe also gives you 2GB of free online storage for automatic online backups and for viewing and sharing content wherever you go.