Pixiq

Photoshop Elements has been around for 10 years, so to celebrate, Adobe has released version 10 of its top-selling photo editing software. Elements, and especially version 10, is definitely what Adobe regards as photo editing for the masses. It’s not just that it’s on the cheaper end of its editing software scale, is available for both Windows and Mac, but that it’s meant to be easier to use, too.

Elements 10 includes the Guided Edits tool that holds people’s hands through the editing process. I’m all for it; I remember how overwhelming I found editing suites when I first started to edit my own photos. Show people how powerful but easy-to-use your software is and they’ll love it. Blind them with science and they’ll run screaming. So you can create a shallow depth-of-field without wanting to tear out your hair and you can create a layout of several images with Picture Stack but not get your knickers in a knot.

There’s text functionality so that you can overlay you images with curved lines of text that follows whichever path you want it to. For something a bit more arty, there’s Smart Brush, which includes effects such as pencil and oil pastel.

To keep everything neat and tidy, Elements 10 organises as well as edits photos. There’s the capability to find photos according to what’s in them with Object Search. And if there are duplicate photos, it’ll clean them up. If you buy into Photoshop Elements Plus, you get access to 20GB of storage for automatic online backup and sharing.

Photos can be shared directly from the Elements Organiser to Flickr or FaceBook and videos can go straight to YouTube. Instant gratification is there. Oh yes, Elements 10 is definitely for the masses.

Want? It’s available from Adobe’s website immediately and will be Apple, Amazon, and the like shortly. Expect to pay £79 (including VAT), or £65 (including VAT) if you’re upgrading from a previous version of Elements.

(If you want to buy it bundled with Premiere Elements 10 to edit your videos, you can do that for £119. Same place.)