So one day the boss calls and asks me: "Julie, can someone with Photoshop Elements come along to your One Day Beginner Photoshop Workshop?”
"Sure thing!” I
reply. "I'll just have a wee look
at Elements and see what the differences are so we can let them know what
they'll be missing during the day."
Photoshop Elements is a pared
back version of Photoshop, which covers the main "elements" of full
Photoshop. Whereas full Photoshop will
set you back around $1000, Elements is around $185 (price in AU and may vary),
so I was expecting the differences to mirror the price difference.
So I dutifully downloaded a
trial version of Photoshop Elements 10 and worked my way through the workshop tutorials,
looking for what is missing in Elements.
The further through the workshop notes I went, the more I discovered
that virtually everything I was going to be teaching was possible using
Elements alone. I was amazed, and
impressed! For a fraction of the cost it is possible to achieve virtually
everything most photographers need to achieve.
What are some of the
differences? Bridge and MiniBridge are
not part of Elements, which has the Organiser instead. However, the Organiser is felt by many to be
better than Bridge. In Camera Raw, there are only three panels -
the Basics panel (which covers the majority of what we do in Camera Raw), the
Sharpening and Noise Reduction panel, and the Camera Profile panel. The panels that are missing cover some of the
"finishing touches", but I found ways to achieve the same thing
elsewhere in the program.
Onto Photoshop Elements itself,
I discovered that the layout was slightly different but in a more user-friendly
way, with the option to choose Quick, Guided, or Full Edit functions. The Guided edit option, as it sounds, takes
you through the changes you can make to your image, in a way that teaches you
at every step.
Layers are said to be the
heart and soul of Photoshop, and they certainly exist in Elements also. While the adjustment layers don't always
appear in the same way or in the same place, every adjustment I wanted to make
was possible in Elements. The majority
of the most used tools in Photoshop were present, and in fact the Text tool has
more features in Elements than it does in Photoshop. There is also a Recompose tool (absent in
full Photoshop) which comes with complete instructions on how to use it, as
well as a link to a video tutorial on its use!
How I wish Photoshop had that for all its features! Content Aware Fill, an awesome function of
Photoshop CS5 is only present within the Spot Healing Brush, but it did a great
job here.
Image by Julie Martin
2 comments:
Yes, Elements is great. One restriction that bothers me is that you have to restrict your images to an 8-bit colour space before you can use layers, user panorama merge, etc. That can't be good for smooth tones.
For every positive there is a negative Rodney and for many this suits there needs just fine. It's all about what we want out if it:)
And thank you Adobe for allowing so much more in Elements 10!
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