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 Photoshop Elements 4.0 ($90 download, $100 box) is the latest iteration of Adobe's photo-editing software for everyone. Version 3.0 was a giant leap forward--the program went from a pared-down Photoshop to a redesigned program in its own right. Photoshop Album, formerly separate software, merged with Elements to make the editor-organizer a super deal. Number 4 is not radically different from its predecessor, but there are a bunch of fun and useful new features that make it worth an upgrade.
Only the most meticulous of us truly enjoy tagging our pictures, but this program makes it simple to find your shots without much effort. The newest quick-search feature? A face finder. The program scans your library for heads and displays them in a grid. You can select each wacky mug of, say, your Uncle Charlie and quickly slap a name tag on all of them. When he's tagged, his thumbnails disappear. Sadly, the program won't remember what Charlie looks like, but it will fix his redeye--you can zap the devil-look automatically on import. The software misses a few ruby peepers here and there, but they're easy to fix in Quick Fix mode.
The Standard Edit mode's two stand-out features will be explained in January 2006's "Digital Toolbox." The Magic Extractor, while somewhat laborious, is still faster than the lasso, and a tool that fixes color based on skin tones will be invaluable to every shooter who forgets to check his or her white balance.
The serious user can make composites using layers, make nondestructive fixes with adjustment layers, and create improved Ken Burns-esque pan and zoom slide shows. There's a basic version of Adobe's Camera RAW converter, so non-Photoshop users can take RAW for a spin (RAW images are totally taggable in the organizer, too).
For the prolific shooter who's new to editing and wants to learn, or the serious enthusiast who doesn't do enough retouching to require Photoshop CS2, Elements 4.0 is a great choice. For more info: www.adobe.com; 888-724-4508.
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