What's Hot: A photo organizer is only good if it can help you find specific photos quickly and easily. While it's not the best of its class, the Organizer tool in Photoshop Elements does offer two unique (and fun) features that make it easier to find specific images. The software has a built-in mapping feature that is well integrated with the photo viewer. If your camera has a built-in GPS, the Organizer automatically places a map pin pointing to the geographic location each of your geocoded photos was shot. (You can also drag and drop non-geocoded photos on the map to manually associate them with a specific geographic location.) Then, drag and zoom the map to show only a certain region (say, Hackensack, New Jersey) and turn on the "Limit Search to Map Area" option to show only those photos that were taken in that region. Not even Google's own Picasa organizer can do this, despite Google's substantial mapping offerings.
Next, the software has a Face Finder, which quickly scans all your photos and finds the human faces in each one. Then, you manually identify each face (including multiple faces in a single photo) and the program tags your photos accordingly. Thereafter, you can quickly find all pictures of Grandma, whether they were taken in Hackensack or Budapest.
The Organizer can also be configured to automatically copy new photos from your camera's memory card onto your hard disk, and even organize them into folders named for the dates the photos were taken.
The Editor has two personalities. On one side, there's the Quick Fix tool, which lets you quickly change the lighting (but not exposure), fix red-eye, adjust the color balance, add sharpening (which, incidentally, does decrease picture quality), and crop the photo as you see fit. The Full Edit tool has a more complete array of touch-up tools, such as the eyedropper, rubber stamp, text, pen, eraser, and lasso selection tool. There's a pretty slick Straighten tool, which only requires that you draw a horizon in order to rotate an image.
What's Not: The integrated map is a mini version of Yahoo's online mapping service. Although it's handy, it only works when you're online. Given the choice, I'd prefer
Google Maps (of which Yahoo Maps is a clone), because it offers higher magnification (you can zoom in closer) and better navigation. Unfortunately, there's no way to choose a different mapping service.
Next, the face finder is most useful if you've taken the time to identify the faces in all your photos. But the Face Tagging window is clumsy and difficult to use, even for a handful of photos (you need to drag and drop the faces to identify them); I'd hate to have to face tag my whole collection.
The feature that copies photos from your camera is very slow, and rather a pain to set up. You have to click through no fewer than six separate prompts each time you insert a memory card, unless you dig into the Preferences window and turn off a bunch of checkboxes. The organizer also has a tough time remembering to delete the photos from the card when it's done; I've set this option twice, and it still won't do it. And when it's finished copying your photos, you see only the new photos in the Organizer; you have to click a button to return to the main view and see your new photos in the context of your whole collection.
Finally, the toolbox in the Full Edit tool is powerful, unless you're accustomed to toolbars in full-featured photo editors (like Photoshop), in which case it feels limited and toy-like. For instance, it's hard to take seriously the cookie cutter tool, which allows you to crop a photo into a silly shape, such as a heart, butterfly, or snowflake.
