What is Adobe Photoshop Elements 1.0.1?

How many image editors does it take to brighten Adobe’s light bulb? Counting the new Photoshop Elements software, there are now seven (including Windows apps) — though Elements replaces the amiable Photoshop LE. No need to get teary-eyed, though; Photoshop Elements picks up where LE left off, offering the best features of Photoshop proper, plus a nifty bag of extra goodies, all for one-sixth the price.

Photoshop Elements is a robust image-editing package that not only features tools to fix photos, but also contains a range of accoutrements to add artistic merit, design page layouts for print and the Web, create panoramas, produce photo-gallery Web pages, and a lot more. It includes many of the same tools found in Photoshop 6.0, and supports multiple layers, multiple undos, and batch conversion.

A note about the installation: If you currently have Photoshop on your Mac, once you Install Elements, it will kidnap the original Photoshop icon and replace it with the Elements icon, though both programs remain intact. Furthermore, all graphics files previously wed to Photoshop automatically launch Elements when you double-click them unless you grab the Photoshop 6.0.1 update, which uses the old Photoshop icon for both programs.

Sibling rivalry aside, once we explored the depths of Elements, we discovered a well-thought-out program thet easily corrected our photographic mishaps. We satisfactorily corrected an underexposed photo shot against the sun, using a combination of adjustments in the Adjust Backlighting and Fill Flash commands. If you’re not inclined to do much fiddling, the Auto Levels command does a commendable job of balancing exposures and getting rid of minor color casts.

Element’s clumsy Color Cast Correction tool, however, required that we do extra tweaking with Levels to set things right. Also, the lack of a layer mask feature means you must pay careful attention to background erasing when working with layer composites.

We love the File Browser, which displays thumbnails of all images in any folder from a tabbed, drop-down palette. If your image-editing skills are lacking, the Recipes palette provides helpful step-by-step instructions on performing various correction techniques, and the Hints palette walks novices through highlighted tools. More-experienced photo tweakers will appreciate the dodge, burn, and sponge tools, the Adjustment Layer options, and the Levels control.

Filters and effects appear as icons in tabbed, drop-down palettes, and you can drag and drop to apply them. Beyond the usual Photoshop filter fare, there are a number of borders, frames, artistic brush strokes, and texture options from which to choose. We found the Vignette effect a welcome enhancement for our portraits.

Overall, Photoshop Elements will satisfy users of all skill levels by providing easy-to-use tools that work well for the average consumer. If you work in print publishing, Photoshop is the way to go, but for anything else. Elements is a winner.

Fong, Kris. (June 2001). Photoshop Elements. MacAddict. (pg. 48).

Download Adobe Photoshop Elements 1.0.1 for Mac

Architecture

IBM PowerPC

System Requirements

From Mac OS 8.6

Compatibility notes

Emulating this? It could probably run under: SheepShaver