To be frank, I did not look into this aspect of the program more than superficially. Many of the improvements for Elements 8 for both Windows and Mac involve the latest operating systems and support for their newest capabilities, as well as the changing web culture like Facebook and Twitter.

I wish the gray tone background colors of Bridge were also applied to the Elements 8 application! And it does essentially the same new things as Elements 8 Explorer does on Windows-it’s just arranged a little differently. The Bridge browser in the Mac version of Elements 8 is the same basic Bridge as comes with Photoshop CS4. I applaud this digital soft-focus portrait lens effect. And, even the Filter menu, which rarely gets enough attention for lots of good stuff, has a new “portrait” enhancing filter that softens smooth areas, like complexions, and keeps eyelashes and eyebrows sharp. The Smart Brush allows painting on local changes that in the past were only global functions and offers a library of some 50 effects. On the humorous side, if you have a digital camera with, say, a 3:4 aspect ratio and you want to print a picture of someone who thinks they are chubby, use Recompose to make the picture a 4圆 and flatter them it will make the person look taller and thinner.

Any 35mm photographer who has been exasperated trying to crop an image to fit an 8x10 print can now do so easily and even protect key subject(s) from any lateral distortion. Another, one of my new favorites, is Recompose.

This Exposure variant is a bit like HDR, allowing the photographer who brackets exposures to combine a couple of them, or to combine a straight shot with one that has a flash fill to obtain a better overall exposure effect. Found under the File>New menu, Photomerge offers several variations, including the Exposure function. Elements 8 offers quite a few new and improved features and functions that provide expanded image control and editing capabilities.

Adobe photoshop v 8