Amateur Photographer Magazine

 Adobe mulls Photoshop Elements 8 overhaul (interview) - Page One: Lightroom changes Adobe market

Friday 27th November 2009

Angela Nicholson

Future updates to Adobe Photoshop Elements may well include much greater control over image curve adjustments, according to Photoshop product manager Bryan O'Neil Hughes.
In the latest version, Elements 8 (introduced in September this year), the curves adjustment is restricted to just four sliding controls that allow the user to alter image brightness and contrast by manipulating pre-designated areas of the curve.
O'Neil Hughes said this has much more to do with a desire to make the control accessible and understandable to a wider audience than to make a clear delineation between Photoshop CS4 and Elements.
He added that the situation had moved on from the position a couple of years ago when Adobe was convinced that Photoshop was for professional photographers, while Elements was for amateur users.
In an exclusive interview with Amateur Photographer (AP) technical editor Angela Nicholson, he said that Adobe Lightroom has 'blurred the edges [of the different markets] a lot'.
O'Neil Hughes suggested that more intuitive adjustments - made using the Targeted Adjustment tool introduced with an update to Camera Raw for CS4 - may appear in later versions of Elements.
This tool allows the user to click on the image to select the tone they want and move the cursor up or down to make adjustments.
As well as being easier to use - a key aim for Elements - this type of adjustment can be more powerful and may be used to adjust several aspects with one move.
During the AP interview, Photoshop engineering architect Russell Williams added that Adobe's goals include simplifying the Photoshop user interface to make the regularly used features easier to find and employ.

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