Adobe Releases Photoshop, Premiere Elements 9

Adobe has released Photoshop and Premier Elements 9 for Macs and Windows PCs with improved tools for automated photo and video editing and posting pictures on social networks.

Among the major enhancements in Photoshop Elements 9 is the inclusion of Adobe's Content Aware Fill feature, which until now has only been available in the professional version of Photoshop. The technology can analyze what's in an image and automatically de-clutter or repair photos. For example, if a person wants to remove objects from a photo, a person only needs to swipe the object with a brush to have it replaced with the background of the picture. Premiere Elements 9 is the first version of the video-editing software released for the Mac. New automated tools in Premiere can be used to fix audio problems, trim bad footage, stabilize shaky shots and correct bad color and lighting problems.

Both products have a better Organizer component, which essentially acts as a content hub for organizing photos and video. The feature includes facial recognition software for searching photos and video that contains a particular person. Tools have also been added to post photos and videos directly to Facebook and to combine media into online albums. Adobe is also offering a plus version of Photoshop and Premiere. The higher-priced products include 20 GB of online backup and sharing of photos and video. In addition, Adobe has added tutorials and artwork.

Photoshop and Premiere Elements 9 were available as of Tuesday on Adobe's website as a bundle for $150. The Plus version is available in the United States only for an additional $50 a year. The two products are available separately for $100. Adobe said the products would be available at retailers "soon."

Adobe competes with several lower-cost image editors, including Corel Paint Shop, Microsoft Digital Image Suite, PhotoImpact from Ulead Systems and PhotoPlus from Serif.

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