Adobe Launches Photoshop Elements 9 and Premiere Elements 9

Photoshop Elements 9 and Premiere Elements 9 feature all the tools users need to make the most of their photos and videos. Adapted from Photoshop CS5's celebrated Content Aware Fill feature, the content intelligence in the Spot Healing Brush analyzes what's in the image and quickly de-clutters or repairs photos (like removing tourists from a crowded scene) with a swipe of a brush, magically filling in the background. Several new Guided Edit options walk users step-by-step through the process of achieving cool editing effects such as Out of Bounds, making an element of a photo appear to leap off the page in 3D, creating pop art masterpieces, or retouching made easy via the perfect portraits feature.

With Premiere Elements 9, users can create movies in just minutes with the help of intelligent tools that automatically fix audio problems, trim away bad footage, stabilize shaky shots and correct bad color and lighting problems. Any video can simply be turned into an animated film with Cartoon Effects, and optimized performance makes editing and viewing smooth, even in HD.

The releases launch today on Adobe.com and will begin appearing in retail stores and other sales channels in the near future. Suggested retail pricing is set at $99.99 each for Photoshop Elements 9 and Premiere Elements 9, or $149.99 for a bundle of the new packages. The company currently appears to be offering mail-in rebates to bring pricing down to $79.99 for the individual applications and $119.99 for the bundle, but the site has yet to be updated with details on the rebate program.

A "Plus" package is also available for an additional $49.99, providing users with 20 GB of online storage for automatic backup and sharing and ongoing automatic downloads of additional content such as tutorials, artwork and interactive online templates.