Adobe Photoshop Elements 3 review

All this power was already there in version 2, but version 3 takes things further. Unsurprisingly most of the new features come direct from the latest Photoshop CS release - but what's surprising is just how much high-end power has made the cut. You might have thought that support for 16-bit images and the RAW format, were professional-only features, but they've been included. You'll also find Photoshop's excellent Healing Brush for removing flaws by intelligently sampling another area of the image; the Histogram palette for viewing the distribution of pixel values; the Filter Gallery for viewing and combining effects; and the Photo Filter adjustment layer for non-destructively applying coloured lens filter effects. The on-the-fly File Browser has also been updated to support favourite folders and metadata, though most people will still prefer the Organizer window.

Lastly, Photoshop Elements 3 adds some new editing power all of its own. The new Cookie Cutter tool, for example, lets you crop images and layers into preset shapes - less powerful than Photoshop's layer masks but much more straightforward. The Divide from Scan command automatically isolates multiple images scanned in a single pass, while the Import Frame from Video command lets you quickly navigate video files and grab multiple frames for standalone use. And the new Reduce Noise filter is ideal for clearing up both video and camera images taken in low light conditions. Best of all, and another feature that many Photoshop users would kill for, the Print Multiple command lets you choose from a range of preset image sizes and multi-image page layouts - you can even apply a frame to your photos as they're printed.

It's all pitched and implemented beautifully. Adobe has clearly seen the light, making Photoshop Elements 3 the program your digital camera has been crying out for.

Author: Tom Arah