W
e’ve closely watched the Elements
kids since their birth, and though
we’ve generally been pleased with
their development, we’re a bit concerned
about Adobe Premiere’s and Photoshop’s
offspring. While Photoshop Elements 6 con-
tinues to impress us and we’re sure she’s
on her way to an Ivy League school and a
happy life as a doctor, Premiere Elements
has us worried.
First, the good news. Photoshop
Elements is a darling. Now fully matured,
she’s able to pull off some truly useful
tasks, including merging a handful of bad
group photos into one good photo simply
by selecting a base image. You then pick
and choose faces from other photos and
Elements merges them into one perfect
group photo. The new Quick Selection tool
allows you to choose sections of an image
based on nearby colors, so you can easily
change the color of an object without hav-
ing to use other selection tools.
Not all the new features are practical
though. One new trick, the ability to mergeportrait photos, lets you do such useful
things as blend the eyebrows from mom
and the mullet from dad onto another
person’s image. While neat to play around
with, you’re unlikely to actually use this fea-
ture more than once.
Many of Photoshop Elements’s other
enhancements come in the organization
and sharing department. While good for
anal-retentive types, color us unimpressed
because they don’t help those who already
have huge photo libraries.
But enough about that overachiever.
Premiere Elements, which we gushed about
at version 2, hasn’t developed as quickly as
his sibling. When he turned 3, he couldn’t
display HDV content while it was being cap-
tured. He also couldn’t detect scenes when
capturing high-def content. Now turning 4,
Premiere Elements can fi nally display HDV
content and detect scenes, but he doesn’t
understand the AVCHD format—something
other kids in his grade can do.
Premiere Elements, once quick on
his feet, feels sluggish even on modern
hardware. Also
annoying: Video
previews are dis-
turbingly pixelated.
Adobe says it’s the
side effect of an
“improvement” it
made to its video-
scaling algorithms.
“Unfortunately,
these algorithm
changes uninten-
tionally affected
the preview
resolution, which
appears differ-
ent when a clip or
photo has a dif-
ferent resolution
than the project
resolution. Userscan work around this issue by fi rst render-
ing the clips that have a different resolu-
tion from the project,” explained an Adobe
spokesperson. The upshot is that previews
are unacceptably bad.
We also had issues creating still-
image slide shows—they looked choppy.
But it was actually that little do-gooder
Photoshop Elements’s fault. One of
Premiere’s recommended newbie ways
to create a slide show is with the photo
organizer in Photoshop Elements.
Unfortunately, the tool is crap. We
achieved more satisfactory slide shows
using Premiere Elements’s native (albeit far
more complicated) still-image support.
Not everything is bad here. Elements
does have some niceties, such as top-notch
titling and better online fi le-sharing capabili-
ties—and that freeze-frame button is still
handy. The stock title menus and art are
also superior to that of other products. The
interface is also tweaked to be friendlier to
newbs, with easier access to guides that
walk you through tasks and improved media
catalog management.
As a pair, Photoshop Elements carries
the water for the underperforming Premiere
Elements. As a stand-alone product,
Photoshop Elements 6 would garner a 9
verdict, but being bundled with Premiere
weighs the package down.
—GORDON MAH UNGAdobe Photoshop
Elements 6
and Premiere
Elements 4
One of the Elements kids needs to repeat a grade
Photoshop Elements 6’s Group Merge function will make family gatherings happier.Subpar performance and low-resolution previews make Premiere
Elements 4.0 a disappointing update. $150, http://www.adobe.comADOBE ELEMENTS 6.0 & PREMIERE 4.0KIRK DOUGLAS
Elements 6.0 adds useful
tools that take the work out
of image editing.MICHAEL DOUGLAS7
Elements 4.0 continues
to disappoint with problems such
as ultra-low-resolution video previews.80 MAXIMUMPC (^) | FEB (^08) | http://www.maximumpc.com