Rating: 
Summary: Excellent, excellent, excellent!
Review: I cut my teeth on Adobe Photoshop 3 back when I was working as a photojournalist, and later used Corel PhotoPaint 8 extensively. I was considering an upgrade to the latest version of Photoshop, but the high price tag made me wince. So, I read some reviews of Photoshop Elements 2.0, was impressed, bought and installed it, and in no time I was up and running.This is the bottom line: Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0 is outstanding! I have an old 8x10 class photo from 1973 that has deteriorated to such a state that it now has a severe magenta cast over the entire image. I wanted to archive this image into electronic format before it got any worse, so I scanned it high res into Photoshop Elements, and a couple of mouse clicks later I was looking at the image in its bright, original colors. Once you tap into the power of this program, you'll wonder how you ever got along without it. It's very easy to use, it's very powerful (especially its selection tools and layering ability), it produces excellent results, and doesn't require a library of volumes to understand how to make it work (like its big brother does). Although Adobe provides a decent and comprehensive user manual in the box, I highly recommend purchasing Visual Quickstart's Photoshop Elements 2 (by Craig Hoeschen and Christopher Dahl) along with the software. I have always been a fan of the Visual Quickstart Guides, and this book is no exception. It breaks everything down in digestable chunks so that in no time at all you will be working with layers and filters to create some very dramatic images. The only thing I didn't really care for in Photoshop Elements is the image browser. P4 machines shouldn't have much of a problem, but it slowed down my Celeron 766mhz considerably. But the solution to that was easy: I simply don't use it. Instead I use File>Open to get my images, which also provides a thumbnail preview. All in all, if you own a digital camera, scanner, or do any image-editing work, then definitely give this software a try.
Rating: 
Summary: Great product-simple to use
Review: Its got most of the basic features of Photoshop. Definitely enough for most to do some good personal photo editting. Not for professional use, but, far superior to most of the software packages that come with the dig cameras. Very straight forward and easy to use. Definitely worth the money.
Rating:
Summary: The best imaging program on the market for consumers
Review: Photoshop Elements 2 is easily The best imaging program on the market for consumers. It has the power of its big brother, Photoshop, but is still easy to use.
Rating:
Summary: Photoshop for the Rest of Us
Review: What a program!! This is NOT a stripped-down version of "real" Photoshop but is a powerful and easy to use image manipulation tool. It is oriented toward the home digital photographer rather than the graphics professional but anyone should be able to get great results. I also purchased the book "Photoshop Elements 2 Solutions" by Mikkel Aaland. It's organized around specific tasks or projects and is very clearly written - a wonderful reference for both Elements and digital photography in general. The Manual that comes with Elements is pretty good but I recommend buying Aaland's book, too. I dabble in digital art (Coriel's Painter 7) and use Elements to manipulate reference photos and completed paintings in addition to home snapshots. Works great on my iMac running OS10.2
Rating:
Summary: Perfect Software
Review: Though it is missing one consumer feature, a slide show utility, it is otherwise great software. I have never hit a wall on features, so I don't see why anyone outside of the publishing field would need the full version. I'm also glad Adobe puts all versions on one disc. So, if a Wintel user decides to switch to a Mac, they don't have to buy a Mac version.
Rating:
Summary: Easier to use than Photoshop and has most of its features
Review: Great for use with a scanner, import your images... Great photo editor and creator of web pages, a bit limited in how photos may be arranged for printing but has most of the features of Photoshop in a more user-friendly format. A must have for anyone who has a digital camera!
Rating:
Summary: Everything you need
Review: So long as you aren't a graphics professional who needs the color separation, this is the best pixel level graphics package out there. Runs in both OS 9 and OS X, so you'll be ready when you upgrade to your next Mac.
So many filters and functions, it will take you some time to learn them all!
Runs quite fast on my 533 G4, haven't had any problems in OS X, I love it for creating and editing graphics for the web.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Difficult to Learn
Review: I found it very difficult to get through the operation of the layers function in this software. The information provided did not explain clearly how to establish a background layer that would allow me to resize and join two photos. Seems pretty simple, but it wasn't. I wouldn't recommend buying this software without taking a class to learn how to use it.
Rating:
Summary: The Cloning Tool is Great for Retouching, Removing Dust
Review: Adobe Photoshop Elements 2 is now the only photo editing software I use. It has many one-touch commands which allow me to adjust the color, brightness and contrast. But when it comes to retouching (actually changing the physical elements in the photo), the cloning tool is the one I employ 98% of the time.
The cloning tool simply copies a circular area (of adjustable size) from one portion of the photo to another. This is great for removing blemishes from faces, eliminating telephone lines from scenics, and deleting dust from scanned images (to name just a few of its many uses). For faces, simply click on a portion of the visage with similar color and texture, and copy it over the offending blemish. For telephone lines, just click on a nearby portion of sky - and then click along the length of the unwanted cord. The cloning tool will copy the section of the sky adjacent to the portion of the telephone line you're erasing, so the resulting firmament will look as inspiring as you remembered it. If you've ever tried scanning prints of your kids' school portraits (shhh!) you know that dust can often times ruin the results. With the cloning tool, your duplicates (or blow-ups) can now be as clean and clear - as the originals! Overall, I now find myself enlarging - and displaying - my photos a lot more. The cloning tool in Adobe Photoshop Elements 2 is truly a godsend!
Rating:
Summary: A BEST BUY, for photography
Review: I've been a serious photographer for 40 years, in and out of the darkroom all that time. I know about mixing my own chemicals and really making my images sing. I've about $5,000 in darkroom equipment upstairs, which is for sale. Adobe Photoshop Elements, for about a hundred bucks, made it all obsolete. "Elements" is a misnomer. This software has about everything that Adobe Photoshop 7.0 (around $500) has for a photographer. I don't know about graphic arts, though.
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