Adobe Photoshop Elements 8

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Review




Adobe Quality And Robust Feature Set.....As Expected, November 27, 2009
By Chuck Friel (Longwood, Florida USA)
I am an Adobe fan, but I upgrade only on even years primarily because of minimal yearly changes. Elements Ver 8 is well worth the jump. Each version gets closer to features usually found on the professional Photoshop CS.
I highly recommend Elements version 8 whether as your first Elements venture or annual upgrade.



A very user friendly program., November 27, 2009
By Elaine Campbell (Rancho Mirage, CA United States)
I am thrilled with this program which I just began to use, having been stumbling around for some time in a free download photograph editing one. I had my sights set on the real expensive well-known one, and was saving my pennies for it, but this one is most satisfactory, even pleasant to use, and I'm glad I gave it a try. I don't need any other photo editing program now.

I am a beginner with this sort of program, not advanced at all. That being so, I feared I might not "catch on" and need all sorts of extra instruction, videos, books and such. However, there is a built-in tutorial which is easy to follow and clears up practically anything you want to know. It gets you started step by step and before you know it you are just sailing along.

I wasn't even able to open some of the photos I had in my previous program because I kept getting messages that they were not the right size (too big), etc. They opened up with ease in this program, and you simply drag the photos saved on desktop into it. Then it is very easy to specify how many pixels you want them in. You can send them through e-mail in a cinch, and all, all is smooth and easy.

So I feel this is a terrific program for my needs. I suppose the more adventurous and advanced would want to purchase the costly one. But it suits me very well and I am most pleased with this quality program.



Destroyed the Print Dialog, November 25, 2009
By Jim Watson (New Albany, OH United States)
In my opinion, the Photoshop Elements 7 print dialog was great. It was easy to use, understand and allowed lots of control.

Photoshop elements 8 print dialog could not be designed any worst. It is a nightmare come true. Adobe has moved some of the useful controls to popups and eliminated other valuable controls, such as when to print on the page. You can not adjust the size of the image beyond the few the dialog allows and you must go back to the image and resize it to get what you need. I suspect the reason was to simplify the interface. Well, with what was done, you might as well do a control P and hope for the best. Probably for 80% of the people that works,but it sure does not work for me.

I uninstalled version 8 and reinstalled version 7. I can not do my work with such a poorly designed print dialog.

The new interface amy work for you, however I feel as if I wasted my money.



Powerful, affordable image editing; issues with stability, privacy and required connectivity, November 25, 2009
By 35-year Technology Consumer (Maryland, USA)
Photoshop Elements 8 (PSE 8) is an image editor with features that will rapidly surpass the skills (or time available to tinker) of even the most skilled amateur digital photographers.

The interface will be familiar to users of PSE versions 6 and 7. Version 8 It adds additional automated multiple image merge functions (which may not be new users of version 7, which I skipped), has a new different splash screen at start up, but is otherwise similar in look and feel to the two previous versions. PSE 8 offers this for a fraction of the cost of its big-brother Photoshop. Most amateur photographers --and even frugal professionals!-- can perform all but the most advanced digital editing with PSE 8...then use the money saved for some cool new hardware. PSE 8 is also the version which Adobe officially supports for Windows 7.

Note: This review assumes some familiarity with digital photography and digital image concepts, and some previous exposure to other PSE versions.

Installation:
-No issues with PSE 8 installation on a computer with a recent Windows 7 upgrade running on a dual-core 3 GHZ processor with 4 GB of RAM. Because the upgrade to Windows 7 on this machine a month earlier was complicated by the versions of other Adobe products, this was an area of concern. Those problems --resolved by eventually upgrading Acrobat to version 9 in conjunction with the Windows 7 install-- happily remained dormant during the installation of PSE 8.

-At install, PSE 8 recognized that PSE 6 was already installed. It did not force an uninstall of version 6, but eventually prompts to select which version to use. I selected PSE 8, and uneventfully completed the PSE 6 uninstall later. The install routine advises you that you may uninstall the earlier version at any time, but that you will have to select which version to run.

-The license for this product permits installation on one primary and one "mobile" computer, with the restriction not to use PSE 8 on both computers at the same time.

-Total installation time (including entering the registration code and skimming the EULA) was less than 10 minutes.

Function and features:
-The interface, function and features of PSE 8 will be familiar to users of versions 6 and 7. The .psd files are still manipulated using layers and selection tools, the complete spectrum of image effects ("filters") remain, and the image enhancement and editing tools remain available essentially unchanged from the last two versions (along the ability to save in wide range of digital file formats).

-PSE 8's organizing function recognized and indexed (which it calls "importing") my existing 38000+ digital images with some help. Windows users who store images in a location other than the default "My Pictures" location under your user name, will have to prompt PSE 8 where to find their pictures.

-PSE 8 recognized the scanner on my system, and immediately allowed my to import scans using both the scanner's proprietary interface (Epson software) and WIA (Windows Image Acquisition, the successor to the TWAIN image acquisition standard) options.

-Output to the printers on my system was trouble-free. Accepting the default printing options yielded fine results, but advanced options for those who like to tweak are readily available.

Issues:

-Two days after installing, PSE 8 became non-responsive on my computer. A reinstall has relieved this problem for now. Adobe's online troubleshooting tutorial is not for the faint of heart (Windows Registry edits are part of their solution set).

-PSE 8 and Adobe are assuming a lot about user connectivity in PSE 8. As far as I can tell, all of the help files for PSE 8 are online. Select "Help" in the PSE 8 menu bar (or press the "F1" key), and you are not taken to local help files...you are taken online to [...]. This is fine if you are have a reasonably fast Internet connection, but less so if you do not. Note to Adobe: some people are NOT connected at all times). A 27 MB .pdf user guide is available for download; you'll want to to do this if you anticipate needing PSE 8 help when you may not be online.

-Adobe also pushes its online services hard in this version. At install --and every time you launch PSE 8 afterwards-- you will be invited to enter your "Adobe Online ID". If you register (and you'll probably want to just for update notifications), some modest free services (2 GB of storage and some sharing...but only if you sign up for the 30-day trial of Premier Elements 8). Adobe is after two things by emphasizing use of the optiona "Adobe Online ID" option:
(1)enticing PSE users into the $49.95 per year "PSE 8 Plus" services (20 GB of online storage and online sharing and effects services). Seriously: you can register your own domain with unlimited storage from hundreds of providers for much less than this. Resist!
(2) tracking many aspects of how Adobe customers their software. This not a guess; when you start PSE 8, it's opening screen offers you the choice to start the Editor or the Organizer, and the invite to log in. Next to the log in area, there is a link to Adobe's privacy policy. It's long and obviously written by lawyers, but If you're going to choose use the Online ID option, you really should read the privacy policy to learn what types of data collection doing so enables.

As long as you download the .pdf file so you have access to help files when offline, and remain aware of what *any* software company may be doing when they solicit use of online extensions of their products, these are not serious shortcomings.

But, the complete package of after-install stability problems, aggressive invitations to snag personal use data and over-reliance on online help files are what move this from a 5-star to a 3-star review.

One other nitpick: the new "Photomerge Faces" function seems rather silly. It merges facial images from multiple images in what are supposed to be entertaining funny faces. Maybe its the emerging curmudgeon in me, but I didn't get the utility of this.

Finally:
-PSE 8, like all of its predecessors is feature-dense. Even powerful users will benefit from additional assistance. In addition to widely available online forums (hosted by Adobe and many other places elsewhere on the web, to include video tutorials that youtube and google video searches will return), a good reference book will improve your PSE 8 user experience. Please remember: modern technology is complicated, and you are not a dummy! Instead of something in yellow and black that calls you names, consider instead the Photoshop Elements 8 for Windows: The Missing Manual offering (the Windows version is linked; there's one for Mac users too). The "Missing Manual" books (available for many products) treat users trying to master technology like adults, and are extremely useful.

PSE 8 is a powerful tool priced right for consumers; be aware of its reliance on Internet connectivy, its interest in harvesting your usage information and cross your fingers on installation for stable operation...

Addendum (another technical issue): Even when you haven't launched PSE 8, the organizer has processes present running in Windows. While this was not a processor or memory resource issue, it directly interfered with the backup software I use, Second Copy version 7 (SC 7).

SC 7 presented me with error messages indicating it could not complete a scheduled weekly differential backup because a "thumb5.cache" file in one of the images directories was in use by another program.

I didn't know what program used this file type. Based on the file name, I assumed it was something that generates a cache of thumbnail images (duh!). So I navigated to the directory location and attempted to delete this file (a hidden type, visible only if your Windows folder properties are set to display hidden and system files).
At this point Windows informed me that it was in use by the PSE 8 organizer. I found the process in the task manager, ended it, and attempted to re-run the backup, with the same result.

Ultimately, I had to add a file type exclusion into the SC 7 interface to complete the backup successfully. While this does not detract from the overall ability of PSE 8 to help you do amazing processing of your digital images, it is another unfortunate example of how deeply PSE 8 injects itself into the functions of Windows. If I'm not using the PSE organizer: I expect it not to be running processes in my operating system. Still three starts, but beginning to teeter downhill...



More Evolution - Not a huge upgrade from version 7, November 24, 2009
By Daniel G. Lebryk
The new features in Elements 8 are more of an evolution from version 7 than anything revolutionary. I am not certain the upgrade is really worth the price.

This review will focus on the differences between the previous version of Elements 7 and this new version 8. In general, if you are looking for a very powerful, stable, fairly easy to learn photo editing package - just purchase this software. Photoshop Elements continues to be one of the best consumer grade photo editors available. As a pure piece of software, this is a 5 star product. In the realm of upgrades, just barely 3 stars compared to version 7.

For up graders - this is the easiest, fastest Elements upgrade yet. It actually couldn't get too much easier, insert the DVD, select install Elements 8, point to your previous catalog, and the software is completely updated. Earlier versions are not removed, and Adobe gives a cryptic warning about only running one version at a time. I upgraded from Elements 7 to 8, and my catalog of 28,000 images was imported, the catalog converted in under a minute. All my albums, stacks, tags, and photo ratings carried over to this version. Even the viewing preferences I used were carried over. Pretty darn smart upgrade. First run I had to enter my Adobe client information - big deal, I set up the account a long time ago and have never used that service. 2Gb of free backup space, hardly worth the trouble for my 65Gb collection.

There is a new welcome screen that does appear significantly quicker than version 7. Instead of selecting what to do across the top, the organizer or editor choice is down the left side of the splash screen. The majority of the launch window is advertisements for Adobe products and services (I kind of hate that aspect). The software still annoys you with all those silly offers and warnings across the bottom of the organizer screen (you can turn them off in the Edit / Preferences menu).

New to this version - you can now select between charcoal gray background and a slightly gray version. Some people will find that useful. I particularly like the gray background because it does not distract me from viewing the images.

New is a View, Edit, and Organize in Full screen mode (found in the Display menu). This is one very slick mode. The picture expands out to fill the monitor. A thumbnail roll is on the very left edge of the screen. Center of the bottom houses navigation controls (much like the thin bar at the top left corner of the old full screen mode). The left side of the screen has two panels for tagging pictures and doing quick edit (crop, color correction, red eye, etc. all those tools that were present in the old simple edit mode). I liked this view a lot.

Faces ID is probably one of the least useful tools added to this version. The idea is to select some pictures with people's faces. Let the software find the faces and then you manually give them names. Then the theory is, you've trained the software to find these faces and you'd like to let it scan all your photographs for that person. In practice, it's a pain in the rear end to use. It requires confirmation of the face detection after the software thinks it has found the same person. In working with 30 pictures, the software mostly found faces, misnamed people several times, and identified background elements as people about 5 times (requested names for these selections). With 28,000 pictures spanning 10 years, this will never work for my collection.

Run Auto-Analyzer is another new feature. Select a series of pictures and run the Auto-Analyzer; the software automatically critiques your picture, focus, how many faces found, sorts them into image quality (high, medium, and low), and then tags your pictures with those attributes. It took a very long time per image (I am running a very very fast powerful computer) and the information gained or tagged was not terribly accurate (found two faces in a portrait, and that the picture was out of focus).

From the organizer, full edit starts up much faster than in version 7. The editor is much the same as before, nothing really new in the layout here.

In full edit there are a couple of mildly useful new photo editing tools. New, Photomerge Exposure - select a couple of pictures in the photo bin, select the Exposure Photomerge, and the pictures are blended together to make an evenly exposed picture. The software does all this automatically and does a decent job. I tried a few picture combinations and this would not be an easy tool to use invisibly without a tripod. The example is a flash picture with people in foreground and a black background. Then a second picture with the people underexposed, but the background lit up nicely (typical nighttime picture). This would probably work most of the time. In general, a tough effect to plan on using.

Recompose is probably one of the worst tools yet. In theory this is a cool tool, mark objects to remove and keep, and then slide the picture border to resize the image. Instead of cropping or stretching the image; there is a smart deletion of unwanted elements, and eliminating background between kept elements. In practice, if the background is even moderately complex, all kinds of artifacts show up and really ruin the picture. It also significantly changes the composition of the image.

In summary - a couple of new editing modes, a new way to use the organizer that focuses on pictures, facial recognition, and some new picture templates. Not a huge amount of change, and not necessarily worth the upgrade price.