Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Update 7 October 2015. Getting my first update. Camera Raw is being updated to version 9.2. ---------- I am just getting acquainted with Elements 14, but there are some useful changes compared with 13. Much remains the same, but additions/revisions that stand out include: 1. In the Expert mode, the big changes are haze removal and shake reduction, both taken from Photoshop CC. For both, you can make the adjustments automatically or with the use of sliders. They are on the "Enhance" drop down menu. Haze removal is helpful it cutting through haze that you sometimes see on your photos, especially landscapes, giving you more clarity, especially in the shadows. It is not a tool you are likely to use often, but it is handy to have for those times when haze spoils an otherwise great photo. Shake reduction somehow senses the amount and direction of the blur caused by movement of the camera when the photo was taken and apparently rearranges the pixels and sharpens them to reduce the blur. Holding the camera still is still the best way to prevent blur, but this is a helpful tool to have. A third change in the Expert mode is a refine edges brush that gives you more control when refining edges on cutouts than does the refine edges command in Elements 13. It is on the "Select" drop-down menu. It is also taken from Photoshop CC. 2. The Guided Edit is where there is the greatest change. When you open the Guided mode, along the top are 6 categories: basics, color, black & white, fun edits, special edits, photo merge. Below that will be 9 image windows for the options in the basics category. This seems to be the default way for it to open. The options in the "basics" category are: brightness & contrast, correct skin tone, crop photo, levels, lighten & darken, resize your photo, rotate & straighten, sharpen, vignette effect. For each of those options. there is a sample on which you can do a before and after to get an idea what this option might do for your photo. When you decide on an option to use, click on it and when it opens you can either automatically or with sliders/brushes make those changes on your own photo. The options in the "fun effect" category are old fashioned, out of bounds, picture stack, pop art, puzzle effect, reflection, speed effect, zoom burst effect.; in the "black & white" category they are black & white, b&w color pop, b&w selector, high key, line drawing, low key. 3. The Quick Edit mode seems to have been tweaked a bit, but basically it is much the same as 13. My feeling at this early stage is the Elements 14 is the most complete version to date, more like Photoshop CC than ever. To sum up what I think are the major changes as a photo editor from Elements 13: haze removal and shake reduction in the "Expert" mode and making the "Guided" mode better and even more user friendly. In fact, it is so easy to use that i don't think new users should spend much time with the "Quick" mode. Because I don't use the "Organizer" function, i can't speak to that But I am sure those who do will also find tweaks and improvements have been made. Elements 14 comes in both the 64 and 32 bits versions, and the down loader/installer detects which is best for your computer. If you are wondering if Elements 14 works on Windows 10, the answer is "yes". I have Windows 10 64 bits. Whether there is enough to justify upgrading from Elements 13, each person will have to decide after considering what I think are the major changes. But if you are still using Elements 12 or one of the earlier versions, upgrading to 14 will give you a much better, more complete photo editor.