Full Review

Photoshop Elements delivers Photoshop's imaging power to consumers and hobbyist photographers in an accessible tabbed interface.

The Auto QuickFix tools (Smart Fix, Color, Tone, Contrast, Detail, Color, and Red Eye) handle all the editing that many photos require. For photos that need special treatment, PSE's full edit interface is very flexible, with quick icon-based alternatives for arranging multiple pictures on your screen, plus resizable, self-adjusting tool panels.

Among PSE 8's handful of extended photo editing tools is an Exposure tool that allows you to combine two nearly identical photos taken with different exposure values. The auto mode attains optimum exposure on some pictures, but other images may need tweaking via the manual tools. Another notable tool is Recompose, which allows you to make photo fit into a specific size or orientation by choosing which elements of the picture to remove and which ones to keep.

PSE 8 offers additional templates and content for making photo books, calendars, greeting cards, stamps, prints, collages, and slide shows. The Share tab has delightful Flash templates for sharing photos and videos digitally.

Version 8 upholds Photoshop Elements' reputation as a top consumer-level photo editing program. Its new edit tools, content, and templates are appealing.