Adobe Systems Incorporated today announced two major upgrades to its digital photo and video software for consumers: Adobe® Photoshop Elements 6 for Windows & Adobe Premiere Elements 4 for Windows. Tight integration and a shared Organizer, with a common database accessible from either application, allow users to do more with their photos and videos. Available separately or together in a single retail package, Photoshop Elements & Adobe Premiere Elements software give photo and video enthusiasts more creative ways to organize, edit, create and share digital photos and home movies.
Photoshop Elements software helps enthusiasts achieve desired results quickly and easily. New Photomerge technology helps solve the challenge of taking the perfect group photo by combining the best facial expressions and body language from a series of shots to create a single new cohesive group shot. The new Quick Selection Tool reduces a once time-consuming select-and-adjust task to a single click. Addressing all levels - beginner to expert - there is an opportunity to select one of three edit modes, each geared toward a different experience level. A new Guided Edit mode helps walk users through the steps of improving a photo.
Adobe Premiere Elements 4 makes it possible to create entertaining movies in just minutes. The new Organizer, the same found in Photoshop Elements, helps sort video clips and still photos with visual tagging options for people, places, or events. Video enthusiasts can apply comprehensive movie themes to a sequence of scenes in just a few clicks, creating a movie complete with transitions, effects and DVD menu. Background music and sound effects help underscore emotions, add emphasis, or create a mood. The new Audio Mixer works like a mixing board in a recording studio, adjusting the relative volumes of different audio with sliders. The new Sharing Center centralizes available ways to show off videos. Users can upload and share videos in multiple ways, including Blu-ray disc, the Web, and mobile devices such as the Apple iPhone. Videos also can be exported in a video format based on Adobe Flash® to Web sites like YouTube, without requiring any special encoding.
I'm really looking forward to the new Photoshop Elements, as I use the current version daily. I'm not quite as invested in the video side: I think standalone video cameras will be largely killed off by still cameras with decent video functionality, while most consumers just don't need extensive video editing capabilities. It's just too tedious and time consuming.