Last time we took a look at Adobe's top video editor, Premiere Elements scored just above the average 3 out of 5. It was a bad launch, but mostly because the features it introduced didn't feel "wow" enough. enough to compete with them. software that came with your computer or free alternatives.
It's a very tough market, and it certainly seems like everyone and their cats have video editing software, vying for your attention.
The great advantage of Premiere Elements is its brand. Adobe Premiere Pro is an industry standard giant. As a result, its little brother, Premiere Elements, often enjoys privileged status in the field.
As you would expect from a creative application specialist like Adobe, Premiere Elements is a good stable video editor and a real alternative to Adobe Premiere Pro for less experienced or demanding editors.
So here we are going to focus on some of the new features introduced by Adobe with its 2022 edition, and see if they are worth your hard-earned money.
- Adobe Premiere Elements 2020 at Adobe for €99.99
aspect ratios
As we all know, the days of working solely in 16:9 (and, before that, 4:3) are long gone, thanks - for better or worse - to the inexorable rise of social media.
Today we interact with a multiformat world. And Premiere Elements has you covered: Start a new project and you'll have a list of options, like Landscape, Portrait, Square, and Social. Each has a dropdown menu that allows you to select the exact aspect ratio and frame rate you're looking for.
Getting the right dimensions for your project is one thing, but not all of our supports are often a match, as they often come from multiple sources. In the past, her timeline took the dimensions of the first clip you dragged to her.
Often this is no longer practical, so to ensure your project retains the dimension you manually set, make sure the "Force selected project preset for this project" box is checked.
Automatic framing
Au fur et à mesure que vous ajoutez de clips de différents formats, vous verrez que Elements réduira les afin que vous puissiez tous les voir dans le cadre spécifique, ce qui inevitably lead to des barres noires en haut et en bas, ou à gauche et on the right.
At best it's distracting, and at worst it can lead to tiny media in the form of thumbnails in a sea of black. Having to fix this manually can be a hassle, especially if you use a lot of media.
Fortunately, the developers thought of that and created a new auto-framing option. Knowing that it will be used frequently, you will find it easily accessible at the top left of the timeline section.
If this was just an option to zoom in on the center of your video, it wouldn't be worth much. Instead, this tool works with Adobe's "Sensei AI". What this AI does is analyze the clip, determine which section is the most interesting, and frame it accordingly.
For the most part this works well, and it's very apparent when an object is moving through the clip, as the frame moves dynamically to keep that object in the shot throughout the clip. If you feel you need to adjust the results, you can do so in the "Applied Effects" section.
highlight and shadow
Speaking of video effects, there is a new, simple but very effective one called Shadow/Highlight.
You'll find it in the "Advanced Settings" section of the "Fx" menu, and we were pleasantly surprised. We dragged it over a few clips and the default settings worked great, brightening the scene and making the dark shots much more dynamic and visible.
On its own, for a consumer product, this would have been a great addition. However, Adobe has gone one step further, allowing you to deselect automatic edits, thus taking control of the Shadow and Highlight sliders.
Wait, there's more. Beneath them, you'll find a host of other sliders, allowing you to tweak the changes as you wish.
Sure, you may not need that control all the time, but it's nice to know it's there for when you need it.
animated overlays
Perhaps the most fun addition to this venerable video editor is "Animated Overlays".
The process isn't as simple and automatic as the other new features we've highlighted so far, but the results are good, and there's certainly nothing wrong with a little user involvement.
These new overlays are located in the Graphics section (confusingly represented by a smiley face icon). Just drag the one you're interested in onto a video layer above the clip you want to affect, then change that overlay's settings to blend it with the media below.
If that sounds too confusing, don't worry: one of the new guided tutorials is dedicated to this new feature and will get you up and running in no time.
Adobe Premiere Elements pricing
Most Adobe products are available as part of a Creative Cloud subscription. It's ideal for those who need immediate access to tools like Photoshop and InDesign for a monthly or annual fee. Bad news for everyone else.
With Premiere Elements, there are no ongoing subscriptions. Just a one-time payment for video editing software.
The price has stayed the same for at least two years: €100/€85,56 - or €80,70,91 to upgrade from a previous version.
This is a perpetual license. This means that the editing tool is yours for as long as you want. If you don't feel the need for new features in the future, you won't have to pay Adobe another penny.
In a world where every app is stubbornly switching to a subscription model, if you haven't already, a one-time purchase of video editing software is very refreshing and welcome.
final verdict
Adobe Premiere Elements 2022 is a powerful consumer video editor. It offers different modes to suit your skills and comes with tons of tutorials to help you improve the quality of your videos.
The new features are welcome and bring many improvements to suit the needs of the modern casual editor.
Is it worth the price of admission when there are cheaper or even free alternatives? Of course, most lack the ease of use and number of tools that Elements has, and ultimately that decision can only be yours. Fortunately, Adobe's 30-day free trial is here to help you get to grips with the video editing tool before you commit.
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