Just in time for the products’ 10th anniversary, Adobe has issued both standalone packages and a bundle offering for Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 and Adobe Premiere Elements 10 for both Mac and Windows systems. The new programs offer new features, new format support, content-aware tools and a new online service that offers 20GB of storage for photos and videos along with additional themes, tips and templates for $50 per year.
The new Photoshop Elements 10 picks up a number of the content-sensitive tools and intelligent technology from the full version of Photoshop, adding new Guided Edits, which assist users in creating effects on photos such as a shallow depth of field in the background of an image or a diffused glow. Users can paint using the Smart Brush to manually change an image using effects like Pencil Sketch, lay out groups of images into a Photo Stack, and the program also offers new text functionality (such as adding text to curving lines or the outline of a selected object) for captioning photos or scrapbooking uses.
Photoshop Elements 10 also has a new Object Search that can help organize photos automatically by what is in them — such as landmarks, pets or buildings. The program also has new templates to add vitality to images, and an improved duplicate (or near-duplicate) finder to help users keep the size of image libraries under control. Exporting options have also been improved, including uploading video clips directly to Facebook and YouTube, along with images to those services as well as Flickr.com and Photoshop.com using the included Elements Organizer. A new Facebook Friend tagger makes it easier than before to tag friends and upload photos to Facebook.
Adobe Premiere Elements 10 adds new color-correction tools for video, along with new “InstantMovie” themes and new pan-and-zoom effects for still images and easier incorporating photos into video projects. The photo feature also incorporates automatic face-detection technology to keep faces and people always in frame. Mac users also gain compatibility with SmartSound to add musical tracks to their movies, while Windows 7 users gain enhanced 64-bit performance.
Premiere Elements 10 now allows users to export movies in AVCHD format, making it possible to burn HD movies onto conventional DVDs (as data). Movies can also be uploaded directly to Facebook and YouTube using the included Elements Organizer. As with Photoshop Elements 10, users can purchase online storage for their photos and videos — up to 20GB for $50 per year — to Elements Plus, which features automatic backup and sharing (Adobe estimates that 20GB is sufficient to store 15,000 typical photos and up to four hours of standard video) as well as an additional exclusive library of tutorials, movie themes, extra effects and artwork.
Both Photoshop Elements 10 and Premiere Elements 10 retail for $100 each, though Adobe is offering both programs together as a bundle for $150. Users of any previous versions of either program can upgrade to the new version for $80, or buy the bundle for $120. The Elements Plus online storage add-on is available to U.S. customers only at present.
