Photo Corners headlinesarchivemikepasini.com
A S C R A P B O O K O F S O L U T I O N S F O R T H E P H O T O G R A P H E R
Enhancing the enjoyment of taking pictures with news that matters, features that entertain and images that delight. Published frequently.
Adobe Releases Elements 2024
19 October 2023
We have always thought of Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements as one product, which we call Elements. Your phone is adept at both and so is Elements. And for the $50 addition to get the bundle, it's always been our recommendation.
We sat through an uncommonly short briefing of only 15 minutes. These things used to go an hour. It wasn't, we decided, for lack of features. It seemed the team just didn't want to wade too far into the subject.
That may be because we've seen it all before. In Photoshop. A lot of the AI features recently introduced in Photoshop (like Select Sky) are now in Elements.
Indeed, Elements always ran Photoshop's image engine sort of like putting a Chevy engine in a VW bug. And that was no small benefit.
But as we sat through the short briefing, we thought Martha Stewart should be writing this review.
Stewart brought young people without homemaking mentors into her kitchen to show them how to do fabulous culinary projects. Simply.
And that, in a nutshell, is what Elements always has and continues to do. You can produce some fabulous effects simply with this affordable package that uses all the horsepower of its big brother.
The trouble is that it's aimed at the parent who has to produce invitations and cards and the other paraphernalia of parenthood.
It really deserves a broader audience.
We can see it being useful in a professional setting for the wedding photographer doing video. Or the art director who has been tasked with coming up with some promotional items. Or the photographer who simply finds Photoshop too intimidating or doesn't want to go subscription.
We couldn't get Martha Stewart to write this review, but we cross dressed and gave it our best shot. Enjoy.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
System requirements are often an afterthought but with Elements they have become a significant issue. They contradict the idea that Elements is a toy. To get the high-end features Elements delivers, you do need some impressive hardware.
So lets get that out of the way right now.
- Internet connection required for product activation and download of feature and online content
- Intel 6th Generation or newer processor; Apple silicon M1 or newer processor
- macOS 12, macOS 13 (13.4 or later)
- 8-GB of RAM
- 10-GB of available hard-disk space to install application; additional space required for downloading online content and for temporary files during product installation and usage (cannot install on a volume that uses a case-sensitive file system or on removable flash storage devices)
- 1280x800 display resolution (at 100 percent scale factor)
- Intel 6th Generation or newer processor or AMD equivalent with SSE4.1 support
- Microsoft Windows 10 (version 22H2) or Windows 11 (version 22H2), 64-bit versions only; Windows 7, Windows 8.1 not supported
- 8-GB of RAM
- 9-GB of available hard-disk space to install application; additional space required for downloading online content and for temporary files during product installation and usage (cannot install on a volume that uses a case-sensitive file system or on removable flash storage devices)
- 1280x800 display resolution (at 100 percent scale factor)
- Microsoft DirectX 12 compatible sound and display driver
- Windows Media Player (required if importing Windows Media files)
- Intel 7th Generation or newer processor or AMD equivalent with SSE4.1 and AVX support
- 16-GB of RAM for HD media
- 32-GB or more of RAM for 4K media
- 4-GB of GPU VRAM
- Fast internal SSD for app installation and cache
- Additional high-speed drive(s) for media
PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS
- Adobe Sensei AI and automated options make it easy to do everything from quick photo tweaks to total transformations.
- Learn as you go with 62 Guided Edits that walk you through the steps of making basic adjustments, custom creations and eye-catching effects.
- Present your best pics in creative templates for automated Photo Reels, collages, slide shows and Quote Graphics or show them off in wall art and more with the built-in prints and gifts service.†
- Do more with your photos on the go using Web and mobile companion apps that sync with Elements on your desktop. (English-only beta)
- Effortlessly organize your pics with automatic sorting and backup and find photos fast with auto-tagging, face recognition and curation.
- Match color and tone to create a fresh new vibe. Choose from built-in presets or use a photo of your own, click once and then fine-tune hue, saturation and brightness.
Color Match. Use your own source to apply the color palette to an image.
- Select a sky or background with one click for easier editing. Automatic selections make it simple to enhance or replace just one area.
One Click Selections. Select the background or the sky.
- Grow your skills along the way with Guided Edits. Make simple adjustments, custom creations, or eye-catching effects with 62 step-by-step Guided Edits.
- Create stylized text for shareworthy posts. Align text horizontally, vertically or on a path or a shape. Warp it and style it with gradients, textures and patterns.
Add Text. One of many Guided Edits.
- Spruce up your scenes with new, contemporary backgrounds. Make your subjects stand out with the Replace Background Guided Edit.
- Create and share fast-moving Photo Reels. Reels zip through favorite shots, each with its own text, effects and graphics. Save them as MP4s or GIFs for easy sharing.
Photo Reel. Make a movie from your stills.
- Access free Adobe Stock photos to expand your creative possibilities. Try a new background, make a collage or create an inspiring Quote Graphic with access to thousands of beautiful stock photos from right inside Photoshop Elements.
- Discover one-click Quick Actions in one place. Popular one-click edits are now at your fingertips. Instantly blur or remove a background, smooth skin, dehaze or colorize a photo and more.
One Click Fixes. Click to fix.
- Remove JPEG artifacts for a smooth, natural look. Click once to enhance compressed JPEGs with this new option in the Quick Actions panel.
Artifact Removal. Smooth out overly compressed images.
- Turn photos into art with new Artistic Effect options. Just click to add effects inspired by famous works of art or popular art styles.
Artistic Effects. Transform your image with a variety of effects.
- Enjoy a whole new editing experience with a fresh look. Discover modern fonts, icons, buttons and colors that are easier on the eye. Plus, choose from light and dark mode options.
- Add creative overlays in the Web companion app. (English-only beta) Add fun patterns plus overlays that frame your subject or create depth.
Web Overlays. Spice things up with graphic overlays.
- Do one-click fixes and more in the mobile companion app. (English-only beta) Automatically improve tone, remove backgrounds, fix white balance and more with one-click Quick Actions. Plus, bring in pics from a wider range of files and folders on your phone and view creations from Elements Web.
- Auto-sync your photos and videos to enjoy them anywhere. (English-only beta) Sync across the Elements Organizer and the Web and mobile companion apps.
PREMIERE ELEMENTS
- Adobe Sensei AI and automated options make it a snap to do everything from trimming and resizing to creating artistic looks.
- Learn as you go with 26 Guided Edits that walk you through the steps of making quick fixes, cinematic effects and fun animations.
- Kick-start your creativity with templates for Highlight Reels, slide shows, collages, motion titles and animated social posts.
- Do more with your videos and photos on the go using Web and mobile companion apps that sync with Elements on your desktop. (English-only beta)
- Effortlessly organize your videos with automatic sorting and backup and find videos fast with automatic tagging, curation and face recognition.
- Match color and tone to create a fresh new vibe. Choose from built-in presets or use a photo or video of your own, click once and then fine-tune hue, saturation and brightness.
Color Match. Click on an image to match the color treatment.
- Show off the good stuff with automatic Highlight Reels. AI and automation quickly turn your clips into videos that draw people in by focusing on motion, close-ups and your highest-quality footage.
Highlight Reel. Let Elements create a highlight video from your clips.
- Enhance your storytelling with new audio effects. Try effects like Reverb, Vocal Enhancer and DeHummer to improve your listening experience.
- Punch up your videos with fun new graphics. Emphasize key moments or just add some eye-candy with modern new graphics.
Artistic Effects. Tap into Adobe Stock for your clip art.
- Enjoy a whole new editing experience with a fresh look. Discover modern fonts, icons, buttons and colors that are easier on the eye. Plus, choose from light and dark mode options.
- Do more from any browser. (English-only beta) Explore the updated Web companion app to access and view your edited Elements photos and videos from any browser, create collages and slide shows and share the way you like.
- Have fun with your photos on the go. (English-only beta) Try the updated mobile companion app to upload mobile photos and videos to Elements on desktop and Web, do more creative and advanced editing on the desktop and then access, view and share back on your mobile.
- Auto-sync your photos and videos to enjoy them anywhere. (English-only beta) Sync across Elements Organizer and the Web and mobile companion apps.
TIDBITS
We've only had a short opportunity to test the applications but we've made a few notes.
- A subset of Camera Raw is a available as a separate download as Add-On Utilities. Only the Basic, Detail and Calibration panels are available.
- The new monochromatic interface is definitely easier on the eyes. It's a good thing, as Martha would say.
- With either product you get the Organizer, which can auto-tag your images.
- Working on images available on mobile, the Web or your desktop sounds great but we were only able to test the desktop with this release. Everything else is in beta.
- Integrating Adobe Stock takes Elements beyond clip art.
- We tested on an M2 MacBook Pro running Ventura and didn't have any performance issues. All the Elements applications installed by Adobe on our system were Apple silicon.
PRICE, AVAILABILITY
A new license for the bundle is still $149.99 and the upgrade from any previous version is $119.99. That's about $10 a month for upgraders.
The individual components are still $99.99 each with a $79.99 upgrade.
B&H now has all the permutations available at the list price.
CONCLUSION
We plan to work with the new release a bit more before this week. Meanwhile, everything it's been a pleasant experience on an M2 machine, so we're giving it a provisional four corners.
Stay tuned.