Adobe Photoshop is recognized as being the cream of the crop when it comes to professional software. With a price tag of about $650 or so, depending on the versions and where you purchase the software, the ‘professional’ designation is well deserved. But for most consumers, Photoshop is over kill and often for some, difficult to learn and use.

In steps Elements. Elements can be best described as a stripped down version of Photoshop, yet with enough power to do much of what the average user would need. Adobe describes Elements as:

Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 software combines power and simplicity so you can make your photos look their best, share them in imaginative ways, and easily find and view all your photos and video clips.

Focus on just the photos you want to see with new Smart Albums, which automatically bring together photos based on the criteria most important to you. Choose up to 10 search criteria — such as all photos taken with a certain camera, taken since the beginning of the year, and of a particular file size — and then click on your Smart Album to instantly see the matching set of photos.

But there is one more element of Element you will like. Price. If you shop wisely you can find some very good deals. Amazon is offering the older version 5 for $41.99 and the newest version 6 for $74.99.

Comments welcome.

More information on Elements is here.

Adobe is offering to the public a free beta test of its Photoshop Express software. Included in the freebie is up to 2G of online storage. Users can then store, edit or use eye catching effects to modify their photographs. All of this online and is done through your browser. [Gee, this sounds like more cloud computing.] According to Adobe:

SAN JOSE, Calif. — March 27, 2008 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced Adobe Photoshop Express public beta, a free Rich Internet Application (RIA) available to anyone who wants to store, sort and show off digital photos with eye-catching effects. During the public beta period, Adobe will solicit Photoshop Express user feedback on product features and functionality, which will continue to evolve over time. As the newest addition to the Photoshop family line, Photoshop Express has taken much of Adobe’s best image editing technology and made it simple and accessible to a new online audience. Photoshop Express allows users to store up to 2 gigabytes of images online for free, make edits to their photos, and share them online in creative ways, including downloading and uploading photos from popular social networking sites like Facebook.

For all of you who have been waiting to join in on a beta program, this is your chance to play with new software all for free.

Link to Adobe press release is here.

Sign up is here.