Adobe - Photoshop Elements 2021 - Mac OS, Windows

Photoshop (the full version) from Adobe has been around literally for decades, and is used by creative types of many sorts and experience levels. For many years though, it was a VERY expensive program to purchase, and eventually, a few years ago, became a subscription program. Not everyone needs the bells and whistles of the full version though, or wants to subscribe, so a while back, Adobe created Photoshop ELEMENTS, which originally was a stripped-down lite version of Photoshop. It has evolved, slowly, into a program that offers much more than earlier versions (which were a bit sparse on features), but doesn’t overwhelm a user with a pro-only type interface. When you first open the program, you are greeted with an updated welcome screen that will flash a few tips in one panel, and offer a scrollable area of projects you can choose from. It loads a little quicker than previous versions. You can also see the last few files you had open and were using, and from here can open the file organizer to see many files on one page, open the photo editing program, or if you have purchased the video editor as well, can open that from here, too. A search area lets you search for things before opening if you like. Elements 2021 now offers many tools that semi-pros and even professionals will use, but also has easy to understand “quick” and “guided” areas where you can make quick adjustments to images, or do more extensive adjustments like remove objects, make part of an image into a drawing, create memes or even animate photos into a 3D(ish) GIF. Someone closed their eyes? You can paste open eyes into the image! Create larger panorama photos stitched together from several you take of the same scene, share your creations using social media, and a TON more – far too much to list here; the guided area has six categories of projects and I count literally just under 60 different things it will guide you through to do to your pics. The interface for the hand-held areas is much easier to use than older versions of Elements too, and there is the “expert” mode for those who know what they’re doing and want full control over their images or other project types as well. As someone who has put my toe in stock photography, I’ve found that the expert mode has all I’ve needed for my images from the basic adjustments like cropping and lighting adjustments, cloning tools, and text work, to more elaborate lens distortion correction tools, being able to work with “RAW” images, layers, and much more. Taking photos with a phone or camera and using them as-is has become a norm for many people, but I would encourage you if your budget allows, to try Elements. Start off with basic photo adjustments to brightness/contrast and color adjustments and work your way up to the guided projects. You will be amazed at how just a few quick, simple, adjustments will improve good images into great ones, and having a program like this to help you along the way makes it a less tedious learning process. Before you know it, you’ll be delving into the expert area and doing more than you thought possible. Recommended.

I love Photoshop Elements 2021. I use it all the time. I get such cute pitures. I can't see how anyone would't like it.

As a photography hobbyist, PS Elements is the perfect editor for me. I have been using the 2020 version of elements for the past year, and I am still discovering new and more creative ways of adjusting my photos in remarkable ways. I do not edit video, however, so I do not address that feature. For 2021, there is not much new for simple photo editing since the previous version. There are some very clever guided editing features that will be especially useful for those who post to social media. I have used some of these, such as creating duotones, selecting and moving subjects in photos, and adding text. I really like the quick edit that will replace the sky in landscapes; this is quick, beautiful, and is as simple as it could be. Expert mode is of course where there are all the editing features. Layers, histogram analysis, selection options and transformations are all there. Usually, there are several ways of performing the same task, because the result with one tool may be better than with another. New for 2021 is further refinement of the facial adjustments: not only can one open closed eyes and create smiles, but now one can tilt, rotate, and elevate the head of a subject. This is very slick. You will want to use a computer with a fast CPU, at least 8gb RAM, and the ability to input with a stylus is a definite plus, but not essential. If you already have PS Elements 2020, you may want to look closely at the new features in 2021 to see if they are useful to you. On the other hand, anyone who has been working regularly with an older version of PS Elements would not go wrong with upgrading now to the 2021 version. PROS: - Full-featured photo editor, IMHO best in class for consumers - Fun and very satisfying to use - Multiple options for fine-tuning all aspects of the digital image - Excellent printing options - New features for 2021 work well and are useful, particularly for anyone who is posting photos to social media CONS: - With flexibility comes complexity, and it takes some time to learn the fine points - Works best on high-end computers; fast CPU, >8Gb RAM, hi-res display The pictures shown here are of my granddaughter- a plain, back-lit snapshot I know, but I tried the new “facial feature” tweaking just for fun. It took me less than 60 seconds to do this:

The Adobe - Photoshop Elements 2021 - Mac, Windows program is the next update in a long history of Adobe Photo-editing software. Previous years have been easy to install and easy to use. The 2021 version is basically impossible to install on a Mac. Numerous requests to "log-in" to your Adobe Cloud and account, several failed attempts at registering despite working directly through the Adobe platform, and finally resorting to using the trial version just so that I could actually try the updated version out. I usually give Adobe - Photoshop Elements software 5 stars, however, their 2021 version has been nothing but a disappointment from beginning to end. For reference, I use this program on a MacBook Pro 2019 edition and have never had installation issues before. After nearly a week of trying to get this resolved, I am finally throwing in the towel and returning to my 2020 version as it worked fine without any issues. PROS - Adobe brand and quality - Apparently added RAW photo elements in a recent update - 1-click download on PC, easy install on Window OS CONS - Nearly impossible it install on Mac - Registration code provided from Adobe does not work - Multiple account logins required on Mac in order to install and register - The entire registration process for Mac is frustrating and a waste of time! - Help/Support links to their website are broken! No real help too resolve registration issues!

I’ve been using Lightroom for years, but really dislike Adobe’s forced subscription model, which is why I took a look at Elements. Elements has just about everything most users would ever need. It has an Organizer module, which lets you organize photos by folders, create photo albums, and add keyword tags. Although, with Adobe’s facial recognition and Sensei (an AI search capability), manually adding keywords could be a thing of the past. Elements does a pretty good job of recognizing the people in your photos. And with Sensei, you can search your photos for just about anything you could think of. You can search for things like lakes, mountains, cars, smiles, holidays, guns, and even rodents if that’s what you need to find. Not sure why you’d need to search for rodents, but you can. The Editor module has plenty of guided edits that walk you through correcting lighting, straightening out a picture, removing objects, creating a panorama, and lots of other things. You can even completely change out the sky if you want. I only spent a couple of minutes, just for kicks, on the attached photos. My only real complaint is that it requires you to have, and log into, an Adobe account. One of the reasons I looked into Elements to begin with was that there’s no subscription required. If there’s no subscription, then why do I need to log in to an account? Makes me wonder how long before Adobe says ‘you’ve been using one version of software for too long, so we’re going to lock you out ‘cuz we want some more $$’. Not a huge deal, but irritating enough to cost a star nonetheless. Bottom line, if you’re looking for a good way to edit and organize all the photos you take, you owe it to yourself to take a look at Elements. And, in my opinion, one of the best things is that if you’re happy with the features Elements 2021 provides, you only have to pull your wallet out once, and you can (theoretically) use the software for years.

All the features of previous version and some new fun features that set it apart from others. Its super easy to use for beginners with many learn as you go guided edits to easily make your creation look professional and more difficult than it was. Yet powerful enough for pro photographer to use daily for any number of projects. Some of the new fun features are making your photos animated to move and turning them into 3D images, and one click background removal making it easy to select an object and drop it seamlessly into another photograph or put it in a different place in the same .image. Moving and resizing subjects in an image as well as editing facial tilt and even facial features such as opening closed eyes also come in handy for making that special shot a perfect special shot.

Adobe Photoshop Elements 2021 (For Mac) is a great tool for photographers at any level, but particularly for those just starting. The application has so many tools and options to choose from and you can really make your photography pop! I would consider myself to be a very novice photographer with very little experience with editing other than the options in native Photos apps on my devices. This tool provides for a fun and creative experience. Pros: - Easy to install and navigate with very little instruction needed; however, there are a ton of tutorials available online and the help function is quite good and easily accessible - Multiple levels of assistance for photo finishing (Quick, Guided, Expert) - Social media-oriented tools for all skill levels - Outstanding photo organizer - Real-time before/after, particularly useful and fun with video effects Cons: - It is a bit buggy and I’ve included a few screen shots to demonstrate - Sometimes very slow to load from initial splash screen in to photo editor, even on newer mac with >16gb of RAM and 2GB video memory - Takes a lot of space! For those with SSDs, you might want to check out keeping the majority of your work on an external drive Overall, as a “newbie” to more advanced photo editing, this application is a great tool for tweaking photos to make them precisely how you want them to look. I enjoyed playing with the video and 3D functions as well. Aside from the few little bugs I encountered, I’d recommend this application for anyone looking to spruce up their photography and have a great time doing it!

This is very easy to work with application. Sky replacement is an option I was looking for long time. Now, just one click and picture looks beautiful. May be for professional photographers this is to sample app, but for people who just want to edit pictures and fix them it very helpful tool!!!