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Picture of Photoshop Elements 3.0 BoxAdobe’s Photoshop Elements 3.0 is a program that will make your life easier when it comes to working with digital images. It’s the little brother of the full Adobe Photoshop. It is capable of many of the same tasks as its big brother, but at a fraction of the cost. Academic pricing starts at about $60. Elements can be used to import images from many sources, including attached scanners, digital cameras, and even frames of video. It can also be used to crop, resize and optimize images for the web. It has a built-in image straightener, for those times when you scan an image and it comes out crooked. It is capable of doing many types of color correction, and it also enables you to add shapes and text to your image. It also has one of the easiest red eye removal tools around.

Below are some tutorial videos that will show you some of Elements' talents (Flash Player required):

The Interface (3:12)

Opening Images (3:02)

Fixing a Bad Scan (3:04)

Correcting Colors (2:08)

When Manual Controls are Better (Lightening an Image) (3:30)

Removing "Red Eye" (1:44)

Another great resource is the Photoshop Elements Techniques website with lots of tutorials, video and other information on using Elements 3.0. If you need a tool to do the color correction, red eye, and resizing chores, and you don't have $60, try some free software called Picasa.