Adobe graphics software is designed for professionals and tends to be difficult for normal people to learn. I have been known to gripe about this a teensy bit.

But I can’t deny that Adobe is strengthening its grip on the consumer market for photo software with the release of Adobe Photoshop Elements 3. Here’s the official site and here’s a typical review.

Adobe has continued to simplify the tools for image editing, even adding a “Quick Fix” interface that conceals most of the difficult bits. More importantly, they’ve incorporated Photoshop Album, formerly a separate program for organizing photos, making it an inseparable part of the photo editing program.

I still find Microsoft’s Digital Image Pro to be powerful enough for my needs and far easier to use, but it’s not as clearcut a choice as it used to be. This is an impressive release. Adobe’s software for organizing photos is better than Microsoft’s “Digital Image Library,” and Photoshop Elements 3 is getting better word of mouth and better reviews. If you’re only going to learn one photo program and hoping to stick with it for the next few years, you should probably get Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.

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