Adobe - Photoshop Elements 2018 - Windows, Mac OS

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The vast majority of our reviews come from verified purchases. Reviews from customers may include My Best Buy members, employees, and Tech Insider Network members (as tagged). Select reviewers may receive discounted products, promotional considerations or entries into drawings for honest, helpful reviews.

• Rated 4 out of 5 stars

  Good upgrade from older elements.

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  I had Photoshop Elements 14 and this was a good upgrade. Like the open eyes feature, although it could done with some work on older versions. Was going to the CC photoshop andLightroom, but I needed something I could already work with.

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  Posted 7 years ago by RickE

• Rated 5 out of 5 stars

  Great consumer friendly Photo Editing package

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  Pros: Easily accessible filters and special effects Easy to follow wizards for quick easy editing of photos Expert mode with many common photo editing features Support for Touch, tablet, and active stylus Works with my Surface Pro 4 in all modes No Subscription! Cons: Steep learning curve when using Expert mode Cut-Out tool does get confused easily Often need to go into Expert mode to adjust Cut-Out tool’s selection Save changes can be confusing I do some photo editing of my family and event photos. Most of my photo editing needs focus on the arts and crafts that I make and post to various sites. For the last three years I have used Photoshop like competitor products. My biggest paint points are the Cut-Out tools when changing backgrounds, special effects, applying filters, or converting my photo into wallpaper for block text. This year, instead of paying for my annual, marginally improved upgrade, I chose to give Photoshop Elements a try. My needs are simple. I take the photo, sharpen the photo, adjust the color, and maybe apply a few special effects when needed. I was not expecting much from Elements and thought the wizards were marketing fluff. I was mostly wrong. Attached to this review is a picture from my last Disney vacation as an example of something that would take me hours to figure out in another product. I was able to do the same work within five minutes with Elements. What I did was load the photo into the “Quick” view. Selected the view drop down to Before & After. And then walked through the preset special effects. I found the effect I want and then went straight into the “Guided” tab. From there I applied text to my photo, pressed a button, and my image magically became wall paper for the block text! You have no idea how excited this made me. The great part is that I can get fancy or as simple as I want to make it. If there is an effect or a touch up that the wizards can’t do for me, then “Expert” mode is available. The features are a subset of what you will find in Photoshop CS but they are probably the most commonly used features. The icons are large and easy to handle. Each feature does have a subset of adjustments to reduce or amplify an effect. These features are where the learning curve steepens considerably and an opportunity for Adobe to leverage hover help bubbles. Unfortunately, they do not. You will be forced to head out to YouTube and look for helpful videos on how to use each feature’s settings. The good news is that Adobe does supply information about their features online. Click on the question mark in the section that pops up at the bottom of the screen and you will be taken to a web page with more information. So, read or watch a video from some kind stranger. I also love the fact that this product works without issue on my Surface Pro 4. It is slower on the surface than my full featured desktop. The speed has more to do with the portability and convenience over raw performance that most of these ultra-portable devices fall into. The good news is that the MS Pen works without flaw. And Adobe fully supports finger gestures. I cannot tell you how much of an advantage an active stylus is over a mouse pointer. When I need precision, the Surface is my go-to platform. When I need raw speed, then I’ll leverage my desktop. I do have a few gripes that I hope Adobe addresses in upcoming updates. First, if you hover your mouse pointer or active stylus over an object eventually a name will pop-up. This is helpful if you don’t know what an icon represents. The problem I ran into is that the pop-up is usually blocked by my active stylus. It would be nice if I can indicate to the program that I would like the pop-up boxes to appear over my pen tip and not under it. My next gripe is the selection tools. I tried to use the background replacement wizard with an actual person in the shot and found that it was only partially successful. For whatever reason, any colors in a photo that are close will throw the tool off and give you some strange selection. I also found that multi-layered objects such as a box with a pattern on it will also through off the selection tool. This may be where I need to spend more time learning about the selection tool. My point is if you really want to swap out backgrounds then you will need to put some time into the tool and even the wizard before you will get the effects you want. Finally, I noticed that when I edit a photo, I’m only editing a safe copy of the photo. Meaning, the original is preserved. What I find difficult, and I hope Adobe addresses this, is how do I accept the changes to the photo. A few times, I have made the mistake of saving my photo only to find out that I did not save anything at all. I was forced to do a Save As and then create a whole new file. I would like to see some mechanism that tells me what will save my changes, how it will save them, and where it saves them. I have only had this product for about a week. It’s going to take a month of dedicated use before I can dig through all the cool features. My list of pros and cons are superficial at best. My chief take-away is Adobe put together a consumer-friendly package with many common tools and effects front loaded for the weekend photo editor. There are many advanced features back loaded for those who want to take their photo editing skills to that next level. So far, this has changed the way I work and what I expect to see in a consumer-friendly photo editing program.

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  Posted 7 years ago by ITJim

• Rated 5 out of 5 stars

  LOADED WITH EASY-TO-USE TOOLS

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  Photoshop Elements 2018 I’ve provided two of the several example photos I created my first afternoon using Photoshop Elements 2018. A photo taken at the Fort Worth Stockyards was turned into a puzzle. A photo taken in Boston Harbor was turned into Photo Text. I could have gotten fancier, but I wasn’t in the mood to read directions. Yeah, it’s that easy. And, no, I’m very much an amateur, althoughI have used previous version Elements 15 a number of times. This is a simple review because Photoshop Elements is a simple decision. Whether you view photography as a hobby or just a serious interest, you really ought to own a copy of Photoshop (CC subscription usually for professionals or Elements for everyone else). If you own an older (than version 2015) Elements, this Elements 18 is a revelation in photo editing. It brings Photoshops well known capabilities down to where us regular folks can easily accomplish professional effects. It’s a minor upgrade from “15”, but still worth if for me. I love playing with my pictures. Are you ready for a comprehensive photo management program? It’s here. Elements recognizes faces, places, and can organize your photos by various criteria. This program takes the frustration out of managing thousands of pictures. Are you looking for an photo emergency room dedicated to recovering and correcting picture problems? Elements can manage your scanner to digitize your photo albums. (Did you know almost every printer/copier is also a photo scanner?) It will help you bring back old family photos from the dead. Those faded skies and bleached or stained pictures are quickly restored. Are you an artist looking for a way to turn your pictures into stunning displays? Being “photoshopped” has entered the language because of its unique capability to modify photos. This is, of course, the primary reason why people buy Photoshop elements. It has amazing editing features. And you can choose “Guided” mode or “Quick” mode or “Expert” mode. There are video workshops built into the program. No college workshop is required to generate really special photographs long after you’re home from the game or the vacation. But workshops often appear in local schools because the program has so many features to explore. Whether you’re recovering long faded photos scanned into your computer or generating puzzles from your pics, or fixing poorly staged group photos or generating special effects, or aging modern pictures or creating artistic renderings, this program has no limits. This program is loaded with photo manipulation tools . . . and sufficient help, step-by-step guidance, and content relevant hints to make you smile during the entire creative process. This is an easy program with which to succeed. Highly recommended.

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  Posted 7 years ago by TECHBEENGOOD