Adobe Photoshop Elements 6: Cool Mac Photo Tool

a review by Tom Piper

I’m a great fan of iPhoto for storing and improving my photos, plus all the other great features from slideshows to the creation of photobooks. But, sometimes I need more . . . and more doesn’t always mean the king-of-the-road Adobe Photoshop. A wonderful middle ground that fits many of my needs is Adobe Photoshop Elements, the most recent version of which is Elements 6 for the Mac.

As their website emphasizes, you can go beyond the basics to tell great stories with your photos. Powerful yet easy-to-use Adobe® Photoshop® Elements 6 software for Macintosh helps you make your photos look their best, share them in creative ways in print and on the web, and quickly find and view them. Photoshop Elements also works great with iPhoto.

I’ve been a big fan of Elements for a number of years, and was just blown away by the new features that Terry White previews during Adobe’s breakfast at Macworld last January. For example, when he pointed how a common problem we all often face with group photos (you take a half dozen shots of the same group, but someone isn’t smiling or is looking away in each shot) could be resolved using Photomerge and other tools, I immediately pledged to get this product when it was released.

Indeed, there are many worthy upgrades as summarized in the following comparison to Elements 4:

System requirements include a PowerPC® G4 or G5 or multicore Intel® processor, Mac OS X v10.4.8 through 10.5.2, 512MB of RAM (1GB recommended), 64MB of video RAM, 1GB of available hard-disk space (additional free space required during installation), 1,024 x 768 monitor resolution with 16-bit video card, DVD-ROM drive, QuickTime 7 software required for multimedia features, and an Internet connection required for Internet-based services. It can be downloaded at time of purchase, but its big at 1.27 GB.

If you are on a budget (or just don’t need the high-end Photoshop), I highly recommend Adobe Photoshop Element 6 which functionally will probably do 80% of what you would need from the high-end units. Just take a minute to look at the features available to organize (store, browse, sort, label, hide, reject, more), edit (photomerge, crop, one-click fix, rotate, straighten, sharpen/blur, enhance, add text/graphics, composites), create (scrapbooks, cards, labels, step-by-step instructions, flexible layouts, add effects) and share (albums, online, quality prints/books/calendars/stamps/photos) . . . see how below.

This excellent software package retails for $89.99, but can be found for $79 or less at Amazon and other internet locations. If you have an earlier version, an upgrade is available from Adobe for $69.99. A complete description and free trial version is also available on Adobe's Web Site.