Introduction

Photoshop Elements has evolved through several generations to become a sophisticated photo editor. What was once a low-end, consumer-grade product is now a tool for novice photo editors, amateur photographers, and professionals alike.

Elements shines on its own turf and is distinguished from Adobe Photoshop in many ways. Not only a program for improving image quality, Elements is a complex software application that offers you many different editing tools for designing a variety of photo creations and sharing your photos in a number of ways. Of course, it also gives you all the standard editing features you need for, say, controlling image brightness or working with color correction.

Why should you buy Elements (and, ultimately, this book)? The range of people who can benefit from using Elements is wide and includes a vast audience. Elements has something for everyone — from beginning image editors to intermediate users to more advanced amateurs and professionals. And in Photoshop Elements 8, the Macintosh version is once again supported.

We'll even stick out our necks a little and suggest that many Photoshop users can benefit greatly by adding Elements to their software tool chests. Why? Because Elements offers some wonderful creation and sharing tools that Photoshop hasn't yet dreamed of supporting. For example, in Photoshop Elements 8, you can create postcards, greeting cards, calendars, and photo albums with just a few mouse clicks. You can place orders with online ...

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