First, it is a great way to learn how to do more complex tasks in the program, and second it extends what you can do by yourself simply using the built-in commands. The innovative Guided mode serves two purposes. Initially I assumed I'd skip right to Expert mode and stay there, but some of the features in the Quick mode are great for productivity - especially the integrated Before and After display shown next to a sidebar of common image enhancement tasks.

To find out whether Photoshop Elements should be your next version of Photoshop, and to discover why it received ExtremeTech's Editors' Choice award, read on for our hands-on review.Įlements offers three different modes, Quick, Guided, and Expert, that you can flip between at the click of a mouse. At less than $100, the program is affordable for most people, and is the most powerful version of Elements ever. Fortunately Adobe itself is now providing a worthy option in the new Photoshop Elements 12. With Adobe's new 'rent-only' policy (Opens in a new window) for Photoshop, those users, along with new photographers looking for an image editor, the search for alternatives has an increased urgency. Initially it was just about the only good option, leading to its use not only by work-a-day pros who value its extensive feature set, but by millions who would really rather have an easier-to-use and less-expensive alternative.

For over 20 years, Photoshop has been the image editor of choice for photographers around the world.

Ps elements