Adobe Photoshop Elements 2018 is THE Everyday Tool for Photo Tasks

Adobe Photoshop Elements 2018 is here, and there are a couple of solid arguments for a spontaneous purchase. We’ll tell you about them.

Adobe Photoshop Elements: Not an Amateur Version

People like to call Adobe Photoshop Elements a watered down version of Photoshop CC. This definition was never correct, though. Elements, and its just-released 2018 version has always been a completely different software, with a unique control concept.

While the expensive, heavy weight version is aimed at professional image editors that want to manipulate even the last pixel, Elements is directed towards the everyday user. This doesn’t mean that Elements doesn’t produce professional results. The opposite is the case.

Especially for web designers, Adobe Photoshop Elements can be the better choice, as it’s entirely sufficient even compared to the big brother (or sister, to keep genderists calm). The benefits are obvious. You can buy Elements for a one-time payment of 98.77 EUR, while the only way to get Photoshop CC is a Creative Cloud subscription.

The more critical aspect, however, is that Elements’ toolset is a lot easier to learn than the one of the big, often too big, counterpart. Elements is an alternative to Adobe Lightroom, the graphics giant’s photo lab, too, as Elements also aims at users that value fast and easy manipulation of image settings. Thus, one could call Elements a successful mix of Photoshop and Lightroom, which does not even try to match their feature sets but only forgoes functions that don’t matter in an everyday editing routine.

If you’re a professional photographer, these statements don’t apply. Stick with Photoshop CC and Lightroom. But, naturally, your routine is completely different from my webdesign routine.

The Best Innovations of Adobe Photoshop Elements 2018

With the version 2018, Adobe switched to naming their versions after years. This has been long overdue, as there has always been only one version per year as it is.

Aside from many detail improvements, Adobe Photoshop Elements 2018 comes with a bunch of completely new features that massively ease your daily photo work.

Automatically Opening Closed Eyes

We all know it. You take a photo of a client’s team for their website, but one of them closes their eyes. Each. And. Every. Time. Of course, it’s not always the same one. If that was the case, we could do something about that. Replace him with another one, for example…

Adobe Photoshop Elements 2018 Opens Your Eyes. And the Ones of Others, Too. (GIF: Adobe)

Elements 2018 gives you a function that automatically opens closed eyes on images. This requires you to have another image where the according person has their eyes open. So, Elements doesn’t implement some generic eye but uses the original as a base.

Auto Selection After a Rather Rough Outline

Separating objects, like fore- and background, has become more comfortable with version 2018. Improved algorithms promise a more precise selection, even if the object of choice is only roughly outlined.

Auto Selection (Photo: Adobe)

New Assistants for Common Editing Requests

How often are you asked to replace a background, overlay images, or for the special effect of double exposure? In Elements 2018, dedicated assistants guide you through the respective task step by step.

Related: Photoshop Overlays

An Example of What the Assistant’s Result for Double Exposure Could Look Like. (Photo: Adobe)

Expanded Abilities of the Element Organizer

Elements was already able to filter photos by specific criteria, such as people or locations. The photo-tagging based on the subject isn’t new either. This was always a massive help when it came to searching or finding relevant images.

The ability to make Elements curate only the best photos is new, though. Let’s assume you needed twelve images for a custom year calendar. Now, define a period in the Elements Organizer, and click on “auto curate” in the top right. The slider next to it lets you determine how many images should be included in the selection. In the example, you would drag the slider to 12 images.

Now, the Organizer analyzes the selection, and filters the best images, depending on several different aspects, including technological ones.

Is the Update Worth it?

If you already own version 15, which is the version right before 2018, you have to decide if the mentioned new additions are worth the price, which is 80.92 for the update. If you use Elements on a regular basis as a part of your professional toolbox, the answer will probably be yes.

If you haven’t worked with Elements before, version 2018 is the right one to get started. The tool has never been as powerful as it is now.