For more years than most people can remember, Adobe Photoshop has ruled the land as the top image editing program on the market, but its hefty price tag – and its steep learning curve – has kept it almost exclusively in the realm of professionals. Fortunately, Adobe offers a simpler version of the app. Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0 retains the most essential features of the marquee title, but with a kinder price tag and more guidance for the average consumer.
With Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0, you can organize, edit, and share your photos, and 
you won’t even need an advanced degree to figure out the commands. On the surface, Adobe Photoshop Elements has cleaned up the organizational tools, especially in the Organizer and Photo Downloader views. Building on its “stacking” ability, Organizer can now automatically construct stacks of photos it deems similar, based on its analysis of the images’ time stamp and subject matter. You can also view all the images within each stack right in the main window, instead of a separate browser. If you tend to feel overwhelmed by too many dialog boxes, Photo Downloader gives you the option of getting rid of extraneous selections.
Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0 adds an ingenious twist to the task of organizing photos: It can now plot the images on a Yahoo! Map. Photoshop Elements can read GPS metadata, but barring that, you can just drag and drop your images directly onto a zoomable map or enter the location information by hand, all the way down to the full street address. Thus, to view photos from your trip up the coast to, say, Santa Barbara, you can simply select the red pushpin on the map and peruse the pics tied to that locale.
If you’re no longer content to print out your images or post your photos on a website – or are looking for novel ways to present your memories – you now have a treasure trove of possibilities in Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0. If you know how to drag and drop your images, 
you’re already halfway to creating a layout that allows for variations on how many shots to include, as well as in the background theme and the frame selection. You can make it as simple as you’d like or go all out with a professionally created backdrop.
Once you’ve created your layout, you can embellish further with details, such as seashells or starfish on a beach scene. All this is done by dragging and dropping. Scrapbookers will certainly appreciate these options, but they’ll also appeal to anyone who wants to kick up their photos albums or greeting cards.
For those who prefer a little more action in their shots, Adobe Photoshop Elements 5 lets you create your own slide shows, complete with customizable transitions, pans, zooms, captions, music, and more. Animated flipbooks are also now within your reach. Simply 
select your desired images and let Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0 do the rest of the work.
But no matter what form your photos take, you can access Adobe Photoshop Showcase directly from Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0 and share your photos in a richer, more interactive environment. Whether you opt for the free package or upgrade for more options, you’ll find that your photos can be embellished with extra images and effects, such as a scrapbook with pages that turn or a seasonal scene with a corresponding animated backdrop.
But what can you do with the photos before you unleash them to the general public? Photoshop is renowned for its ability to work magic on, let’s say, unflattering images. A flick of the Healing Brush Tool is all you need to smooth over wrinkles and fine lines in your pictures, though, unfortunately, it’s not available in real life. Using the Foreground Brush and the Background Brush, you can also create a brand-new image by combining elements from different shots.
Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0 allows you to fine-tune your images too. The Adjust Color Curves command lets you shift contrast and color in your images with nearly the same element of control you’ll find in Photoshop, but with a much more user-friendly interface. You can also convert a color image to black and white, then tweak the intensity and the shading of the picture to your liking.?
You’ve taken the pictures, and you’ve even loaded them to your computer, but now what? If you thought you’d never master Photoshop or image editing on your own, think again. Adobe Photoshop Elements 5 will take you beyond red-eye removal and into the realm of slide shows, photo albums, and flipbooks. Your vacation photos will never be the same again. In a nutshell, the top new features in Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0 are as follows:
????????? Color curves adjustment
???????? Black-and-white conversion
???????? Lens distortion correction
???????? Flexible themed layouts
???????? Multi-page creations
???????? Flash-based photo galleries
???????? Map View
???????? Web upload service
???????? Flipbooks
???????? Online backup service
???????? Online photo stamp service
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