What's up with selective color, etc. in PSE 5?

[Lemon Juice]

Hi,
I have tried the free tools for PSE 2 and 5 and I am wondering why there is no selective color like it was in the tools for PSE2? It looks like something has been changed by Adobe, because I have also found some other tools for elements on other sites and the selecitve color, color balance and channel mixer are available but only up to version 3. Does that mean that there is no way to access these tools in PSE5? I'm just wondering if Adobe has really removed them completely (instead of hiding) and if there is any hope. I've tried loading an image with selective color adjustment layer into PSE5 and it works fine (no editing of course). Could it be that it's impossible to invoke the appropriate dialogs in PSE5? Or will it all be available in the full version of hidden tools for PSE5?

[Richard_Lynch]

I may be adding a few things with the full tool set...like a better Curves dialog. Adobe has been moving things in and out and I think even they are confused. As far as I am concerned, whether they put a feature in or out doesn't matter: you can always do exactly the same thing with a different technique.

Tools for Elements 5 should be ready shortly.

[Lemon Juice]

As far as I am concerned, whether they put a feature in or out doesn't matter: you can always do exactly the same thing with a different technique.

Whether they put a feature in or out does matter in one slight advantage here: for example if they retain the selective color or curves in Elements then it is possible to create adjustment layers with these tools - even if you can't edit them in Elements, you have an adjustment layer you can turn on or off, adjust opacity, or apply the layer mask to the adjustment layer. But of course, this may not be the most important feature to have.

Great to hear Tools for Elements 5 will be soon out!

[Richard_Lynch]

Originally Posted by Lemon Juice

Whether they put a feature in or out does matter in one slight advantage here: for example if they retain the selective color or curves in Elements then it is possible to create adjustment layers with these tools - even if you can't edit them in Elements, you have an adjustment layer you can turn on or off, adjust opacity, or apply the layer mask to the adjustment layer.

Well, actually you can do the same thing by applying an adjustment to a composite layer.

1. Create a new layer at the top of the layer stack.
2. Press Command+Option+Shift+E / Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E. This will copy visible to the layer.
3. Apply your change.

That layer can act just like your adjustment layer--especially since you can't edit the adjustments in Elements for those adjustment layers anyway.

I stick by it: there is a work-around for everything. What most people have is a preference for how they'd do it in Photoshop, and frankly those methods aren't always superior.