Adobe adds new features to both Premiere and Photoshop Elements
posted Wednesday, October 4, 2017 at 9:00 AM EDT
Slated as the 2018 release, Adobe has added several new features to both Premiere and Photoshop Elements that will make it much easier for the casual photographer/videographer to highlight their visual memories. There are many new changes, but standouts in Photoshop include the ability to open eyes that are closed (like during a blink) as well as a smart and fast auto-selection tool. In Premiere, it is now straightforward and easy to select frames from video clips and export them as photos, and a "smart trim" feature has been added that automatically cuts out the "bad" footage and keeps the "good."
Adobe Photoshop Elements
Though it may sound a bit odd, Adobe has added the ability to open eyes in post, provided you have source images for it to pull from. If someone blinks in an otherwise perfect photo, Photoshop Elements automatically copies the open eyes from one photo and blends them into another to create the perfect shot. Though shown to us in a demo working perfectly, we will play the "wait and see" card here to make sure it doesn't accidently create unusual or unsettling results. If however it works as well as it did in the demo every time, this is an outstanding new feature.
Adobe also added an "Auto Selection" tool, which makes precise photo selections in just about one click. They also included new artistic overlay effects, which embellish any photo with a shape overlay and one-click effects that make it a work of art. A new feature called "Watercolors" allows you to make any photo into a textured watercolor and even finish it off with text. Finally, Elements now has a "double exposure" tool, which lets you put one image inside of another within another in a stylized and recently quite popular way.
They also enhanced their "Guided Edits," which gives step-by-step photo editing help with 49 different techniques. Additionally, Adobe added the ability to replace backgrounds in seconds. Select the subject of a photo and place it on a background that’s more interesting.
Premiere Elements
Premiere Elements new tool called "Candid Moments" allows you to automatically extract still frames out of raw video footage. Though some cameras offer this feature built-in, Adobe is basically unlocking the feature for anyone on any camera. Next, the new "Smart Trim" feature automatically trims the bad footage and keep the good. Smart Trim finds and brings together the best scenes based on the style of your video. You can now quickly and easily freeze frames with motion titles, and quickly create bounce-back effects (export your bounce-back effect as an animated GIF or short video clip).
Another new feature allows you to quickly fixe action cam footage. The tools included allow you to expertly trim, correct color, and fix lens distortions in your action cam footage so it looks its best. Finally, you can easily make animated social posts by embellishing a video clip with either static or animated text.
Similar to what is found in Adobe Photoshop Elements, Premiere elements is adding 18 new guided edits that will help burgeoning editors learn new techniques.
Adobe Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements 2018 will be available standalone for $99 each, or both together for $150 some time in the fourth quarter of 2017.