Photoshop Elements 4: The Missing Manual

What's New in Elements 4

This book is about Photoshop Elements 4. If you have an earlier version of Elements, you'll find a fair number of similarities, especially between Elements 3 and Elements 4. (There's a lot of difference between Elements 3 and the two earliest versions of Elements, though.) However, Elements 4 includes a number of really useful new features, and a lot of general sprucing up, so if you have an older version, you may want to consider upgrading. Some of the main changes in Elements 4 are:

• Totally redesigned custom slideshow with lots of new features, including the ability to pan and zoom, or to add clip art to your slides (Section 16.2.2).

• You can send your slideshows to your TV if you're using Windows Media Center Edition and have things hooked up to do so (Section 16.2.2.4).

• Some wonderful new tools to make it easy to select complicated objects (the Magic Selection brush, Section 5.4.1) and to remove them from their background for use in other images (the Magic Extractor, Section 5.5.5).

• A handy new Straighten tool to level out the contents of a photo (Section 3.3).

• A totally new (and fast) fix, Adjust Color for Skin Tone, which lets you correct the skin tones in your image and the overall color of the photo with just a click (Section 4.3).

• A new Red Eye correction you can apply automatically as you import your photos into the Organizer (Section 2.1.1).

• Text tool improvements: you can create paragraph text, and the text menu now shows the font names in the actual fonts.

• Lots of new choices for online ordering, like bound calendars, and a much easier way to order and share photos online (Section 14.2).

• Better integration with the Adobe Premiere Elements video-editing program.

• For Elements power users, you can now quickly remove, apply, or convert the ICC color profile for any image (Section B.3.7).

• For RAW shooters, you can now convert your camera's RAW files to Adobe DNG format right in the RAW Converter (Section 8.1.5).

• You need Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or Windows Media Center Edition 2005 to use Elements 4. If you have Windows 2000 or older, or a Mac, you'll need to stick with Elements 3. (See "If You Have a Mac," next.)

Note

The official system requirements for Elements 4 specify Windows XP with Service Pack 2. But, if you're a Service Pack 1 holdout, Elements should run just fine. However, remember that you're not as secure when using the online components of Elements as you would be with Service Pack 2.

A quick way to tell which version of Elements you've got is to look for the version number on the CD. If the program is already installed, see Section 1.1 for help figuring out which version you have.

Incidentally, all four versions of Elements are totally separate programs, so you can run all of them on the same computer if you like, as long your operating system is compatible. (Adobe doesn't recommend trying to have more than one version open at a time, though.) So if you prefer the older version of a particular tool, you can still use your older version. As a matter of fact, if you're experienced in Elements and addicted to the many add-on tools and actions for earlier versions, you definitely want to keep your old Elements around. (Adobe has taken steps to make sure that most of those tools can't work in Elements 4; more details on Section 17.4.) If you've been using one of the earlier versions, you'll still feel right at home in Elements 4. You'll just find that it's easier than ever to get stuff done with the program.

If You Have a Mac

At the time of this writing, Adobe has released Elements 4 as a Windows-only affair. If you have a Mac and you bought Elements 4, return it and trade it for a copy of Elements 3, which remains the latest version for Macs. (There's a Missing Manual for Elements 3, and it covers both operating systems.) It's a pity, because there are some great new features in Elements 4, but Elements 3 is still a fine program, and as capable as it was before Elements 4 was released. Of course, if this situation displeases you, you're free to let Adobe know about it (drop them a note at www.adobe.com/support/feature.html).