Organise, Edit, Create and Share. This is the Photoshop Elements 7 mantra. No longer is this just a program where you try to find the elements you need, it is all about workflow and procedures. And a good thing too. This is progress. Photoshop Elements 7 carries on where version 6 started the race. This procedural approach now makes it much easier to learn and use what was already a simple program. Simple made simpler.
So what does Elements 7 do that 6 doesn’t? Here is the comparison sheet.
I tried a few of the enhancements and was quite impressed. This is definitely an incremental upgrade as you can do many of these things in version 6, but Adobe have just made them much easier.
One of my favourite features is the new Photomerge Scene Cleaner which lets you combine parts of similar pictures to get rid of unwanted elements, such as people walking by in the background, passing cars, and so on. With patience, I found I could get excellent results, although selecting the corresponding points in each picture without skewing the resulting photo was a little tricky at times. However Smart Brush is the best feature of the bunch. Paint over a section of a photo to select the portion you want to modify, use the Alt key to remove any unwanted portion of the selection, and then choose from a wide variety of effects ranging from color enhancements to portrait effects to lighting. The Smart Brush does an excellent job of selecting the correct portions of the photo; very little manual tweaking is typically necessary.
Finally, this review would not be complete with mentioning photoshop.com membership. Adobe are strongly promoting this. See below for the comparison of the two services - the free and paid for one. Bear in mind however, that the Plus membership requires an annual payment, although you do seem to get a lot for your money.
+ MEMBERSHIP
Conclusion
If you own Elements 6, should you upgrade to version 7? It depends. The new features are generally simpler ways to do what you could do before. However, if you find yourself regularly using them, then it may well be worth shelling out for the latest version. If you are in the market for a new photo-editing packing though, this is the best software you can buy for the money. There really is nothing to touch this excellent software. 4/5.
Reviewed By Gary McNeil
So what does Elements 7 do that 6 doesn’t? Here is the comparison sheet.
Product benefits | Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 | Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 |
| Fix common photo flaws with just one click | Yes | Yes |
| Count on flexible layout options to create scrapbook pages, CD/DVD labels, and more | Yes | Yes |
| Easily organize your photos and video clips with visual tagging options | Yes | Yes |
| Easily create perfect group shots with Photomerge® technology | Yes | Yes |
| Easily clean your scene of tourists, cars, and other unwanted, moving elements | No | Yes |
| Simultaneously select an area and apply incredible effects with a single brushstroke | No | Yes |
| Whiten teeth and make skies bluer in one step | No | Yes |
| Soften surfaces while keeping edges and details crisp with a filter that works great on portraits | No | Yes |
| Find photos in a flash with a new text search box | No | Yes |
| Showcase photos in stunning, one-of-a-kind Online Album templates, including World Travel and Newsreel | No | Yes |
| Get everything in Photoshop Elements 7 and Adobe Premiere Elements 7, plus additional functionality that lets you easily create with photos and videos — all for a great value | No | No |
| Access all of your photos and video clips from one convenient place, no matter which product you’re using | No | No |
| Automatically add video-style effects and transitions to traditional photo slide shows, and then burn them to disc for sharing | No | No |
| Create dramatic freeze-frame effects from video frames, and add text and graphics to individual frames to make professional-looking disc covers and labels | No | No |
I tried a few of the enhancements and was quite impressed. This is definitely an incremental upgrade as you can do many of these things in version 6, but Adobe have just made them much easier.
One of my favourite features is the new Photomerge Scene Cleaner which lets you combine parts of similar pictures to get rid of unwanted elements, such as people walking by in the background, passing cars, and so on. With patience, I found I could get excellent results, although selecting the corresponding points in each picture without skewing the resulting photo was a little tricky at times. However Smart Brush is the best feature of the bunch. Paint over a section of a photo to select the portion you want to modify, use the Alt key to remove any unwanted portion of the selection, and then choose from a wide variety of effects ranging from color enhancements to portrait effects to lighting. The Smart Brush does an excellent job of selecting the correct portions of the photo; very little manual tweaking is typically necessary.
Finally, this review would not be complete with mentioning photoshop.com membership. Adobe are strongly promoting this. See below for the comparison of the two services - the free and paid for one. Bear in mind however, that the Plus membership requires an annual payment, although you do seem to get a lot for your money.
+ MEMBERSHIP
| PHOTOSHOP.COM MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS COMPARISON | Plus** MEMBERSHIP | BASIC |
| Get creativity-inspiring ideas, tutorials, seasonal artwork, and templates delivered regularly to your software | Yes | No |
| Get new interactive Online Album templates delivered regularly to your software | Yes | No |
| Backup your photos with automatic online backup and add more storage as needed++ | 20GB of storage (about 15,000 photos*) | 2GB of storage (about 1,500 photos*) |
| Share photos in fun, interactive ways via invitation-only Online Albums | Yes | Yes |
| View your photos online virtually anywhere you are | Yes | Yes |
Conclusion
If you own Elements 6, should you upgrade to version 7? It depends. The new features are generally simpler ways to do what you could do before. However, if you find yourself regularly using them, then it may well be worth shelling out for the latest version. If you are in the market for a new photo-editing packing though, this is the best software you can buy for the money. There really is nothing to touch this excellent software. 4/5.
Reviewed By Gary McNeil