New management, photo-editing tools due in October

Adobe on Wednesday morning announced Adobe Photoshop Elements 8 (Mac and Windows versions), offering automated and "intelligent" photo-editing software for consumers. Billed by the company as "the perfect" complement to iPhoto, the Mac version of the software offers new options for media management, including all the features in Adobe Bridge CS4 software -- for quick organization with a custom viewing workspace and full-screen preview with one-click close-ups as well as keyword tags and a variety of search options.

In addition, Adobe also said that Photoshop Elements 8 for Mac now includes all of the intelligent photo-editing options as the Windows version, adding to the existing Photomerge Exposure, Recompose and Quick Fix previews.

The new tools will include Scene Cleaner for brushing away unwanted elements, such as tourists or cars, from a series of photos, while the new Smart Brush tool helps users apply effects to a specific area of a photo with a single stroke and Touch-Up brushes make common editing tasks quick, such as whitening teeth or making bright blue skies. In addition, users can display their photos on the Web with gallery templates or personal Web pages, by e-mail and on CD or DVD.

Other new features include the ability to get the best exposure by combining shots with and without a flash; recompose photos to any size without distortion to fit custom sizes/frames; and to apply a full range of common photo adjustments — including color, contrast, and lighting — with just one click and then view the entire group of adjustment previews.

Adobe says it has also enhanced its step-by-step instructions for touching up photos. The new Photoshop Elements 8 software will walk users through each editing step with new Guided Edit options to achieve both basic and artistic effects. In addition, users can soften surfaces while keeping edges and details crisp with a Surface Blur filter as well as share photos in new web gallery templates that can be easily previewed before uploading.

Although Adobe Photoshop Elements 8 (Windows) is available now, the Mac version of Photoshop Elements 8 is expected to ship in October 2009 for $100 (in both English and French versions); it now available for pre-order. A $20 mail-in rebate is being offered through October 31, 2009 for electronic software delivery from Adobe.

Adobe says the software will require a multicore Intel processor and will support Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger or later, including Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard and Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard.

by MacNN Staff