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If your job is photo editing then you almost certainly use PhotoShop however if your hobby is photo editing then the extra cost may not reachable. Certainly PhotoShop Elements is a step towards the main product. However the learning curve is not as steep and it can be described as the consumers PhotoShop.

Certainly the Organiser module works in such a way that others struggle to offer the same. Not only does it control all images it now does the same for PDF's. The simplest control method is obviously time and or date but by using metadata you can filter images in other ways.

The phrase 'no pain no gain' comes to mind as by far the best way to catalogue is by tagging and that requires you enter details on each image - up till now - as one of the new features is find that face and it works quite well. Let's say you have an image of Aunt Jane and you know there are several others just set it working and it is likely to find all the Aunt Jane images. The only drawback it only seems to work on near full face and profiles seem to currently be a problem.

See also: Graphic software

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Most people will spend a lot of time fixing images and while the old method using Auto Fix has changed and this is now Auto Smart Fix from the Photo Browser. This is a mixed blessing as Red Eye removal can now be done without even opening images - it can even be done automatically on importation -  but cropping means you need to open the browser, swings and roundabouts.

If the automatic correction of images are not what you need then the Quick Fix window and this gives you more control on what and how. Now you can apply the changes to just a portion of the image rather than globally. However for extra control use the Standard Edit rather than Quick Fix and a lot of what you find is a steal from PhotoShop.

Another couple of new features are the new skin tone correction and the straighten command that allows you to make images taken at an angle look like they were taken correctly, but beware you will lose parts near the edge of the image.

For those into fine tuning the Magic Selection Brush now has Magic Extractor to do much the same but it is somewhat easier to produce results.

Sharing is now easier and has more options as is email and now you can import Outlook and vCard info directly. Should you not print images yourself it is possible to link directly to a Kodak service.

While this product offers the most in a basic package it also demands more than say something like Corel Photo Album. So as always you choose more work and more knowledge and you naturally get more out. However if you want life somewhat easier then the Corel alternative will give acceptable results for less effort.

This product runs on Windows XP and needs 900MB of hard disc space, you also need a 800MHz processor, a minimum of 256MB Ram (512MB recomended) and 1024x768 resolution.

Adobe PhotoShop Elements 4 is priced at £69.99 but is also available in a double pack with Adobe Premiere Elements at £99.99 should you also be into editing videos. This is only just available and as yet few sites seem to have it listed www.dabs.co.uk have it on order for £59.99.

http://www.adobe.co.uk/products/psprelements/main.html