Note: Premiere Elements* versions 8.0/8.0.1 to 2018 are pointed to in the following.
Premiere Elements (video editor) and Photoshop Elements (photo editor) each comes with an Elements Organizer. When the Premiere Elements version and Photoshop Elements version are the same and installed on the same computer, they share the same Elements Organizer when Elements Organizer is accessed from either Premiere Elements or Photoshop Elements.
For the person who has only Premiere Elements 2018 Editor with its Elements Organizer 2018 workspace, the Elements Organizer's "Instant Fix" feature gives the Premiere Elements person a photo editing (FIX) opportunity* for Crop, Red Eye, Effects, Smart Fix, Light, Color, and Clarity. This "Instant Fix" feature works only with Elements Organizer photos**. Elements Organizer photos can come from Elements Organizer Import direct. Also, photo copies are placed automatically in the Elements Organizer whenever the photos are imported into the Premiere Elements project's Expert or Quick workspace using its Add Media. Depending on the "Instant Fix" choice, the photo fix can be for one at a time or batch.
Elements Organizer 2018 and 15 "Instant Fix" feature is the same and differs from that found in versions earlier than 15. Compare:
- In 2018 and 15 versions, those "Instant Fix" choices are named Crop, Red Eye, Effects, Smart Fix, Light, Color, and Clarity, with user custom adjusts for Crop, Effects, Light, Color, and Clarity.
- On the other hand, Elements Organizer 14/14.1, 13/13.1, 12/12.1, and 11 "Instant Fix" choices are named Crop, Contrast, Red Eye, Color, Sharpen, Levels, and Smart Fix, and only Crop is user custom adjustable; all the rest are auto type.
- Further, for Elements Organizer 10, 9.0/9.0.1, and 8.0/8.0.1, there are photo fix opportunities, and they are named Auto Smart Fix, Auto Color, Auto Levels, Auto Contrast, Auto Red Eye, and Crop; only Crop is user custom adjustable
ISSUE
It was decided explore the Elements Organizer 2018 "Instant Fix" feature and gather more details on how it works.
FINDINGS
Elements Organizer 2018 "Instant Fix" Features
(Explored with 3*** jpg photos imported into Elements Organizer 2018 Workspace using its Import tab.)
Crop
User Custom Adjusts
If 3 photos were selected in the Elements Organizer 2018 Media workspace and its "Instant Fix" opened, all 3 photos appeared on screen in the "Instant Fix" workspace which showed a View set by default at "Show All Photos". Crop was not found to work unless the View set was for "Show One Photo". So, this is what was done to get the 3 photos each cropped to 16:9 within one "Instant Fix" Crop session.
1. With the 3 photos selected in the Elements Organizer Media, clicked on "Instant Fix" tab at the bottom of the Elements Organizer workspace.
2. In the "Instant Fix" workspace, clicked on the first jpg and then set View to Show One Photo. Clicked on Crop in the vertical bar to the right of the workspace in order to see the thumbnails for the different crop resolutions. The crop resolution choices were:
Custom
1 x 1
3 x 5
5 x 3
4 x 6
6 x 4
5 x 7
7 x 5
16 x 9
9 x 16
8 x 10
10 x 8
I selected the 16:9 resolution, established the crop for photo 1, confirmed the crop. But, I did not click Done.
3. Next, changed View to Show All Photos, clicked on the second photo, then made sure to change the View to Show One Photo, and followed the path that I used for the crop of the first photo. After confirming the crop for second photo, again I did not click Done.
4. Changed View to Show All Photos, selected the third photo, then made sure to change the View to Show One Photo, and followed the path that I used for the crop of the first and second photos. After establishing/confirming the crop for the third photo, clicked on Done, followed by Save which saved all 3 cropped images.
Tip: There is a Before After tab at the bottom of the "Instant Fix" workspace. It is best used in View = Show One Photo after crop is established/confirmed and before Done is hit.
Red Eye
Auto Adjust
Like Crop, the Red Eye fix worked only if View was set at Show One Photo. Consequently, Red Eye details were the same as those for Crop in order to correct the red eye in each of 3 photos within one "Instant Fix" Red Eye session.
Effects
User custom adjusts
With "Instant Fix" workspace View = Show All Photos, the same given effect could be applied to all 3 photos at the same time. Further, each of the photos could be given a different effect in the same "Instant Fix's" Effects session using the toggle between View = Show All Photos and Show One Photo technique detailed for Crop above.
Effect choices presented as thumbnails for the different looks and included:
No Effect
Aged Photo
Antique Light
Bueno
Caramel
Charcoal
Classic
Coral
Crystal
Dreamy
Forest
Frost
Gravel
Kaleidoscope
Lomo
Memories
Moonlight
Olive
Pastel
Pearl
Polar
Radiance
Retro
Sepia
Summertime
Twilight
Vintage
Woods
Yesteryear
Another 3 Elements Organizer jpg photos 4:3 were used here. The outcome from the same Crystal**** effect application to 3 different Elements Organizer photos can be seen in Figure 1 (Before) and Figure 2 (After).
 | |
| Figure 1. Elements Organizer 2018 "Instant Fix"/Effects/BEFORE Same Crystal Effect Applied To All 3 Photos At The Same Time. View = Show All Photos. |
 |
| Figure 2. Elements Organizer 2018 "Instant Fix"/Effects/AFTER Same Crystal Effect Applied To All 3 Photos At The Same Time. View = Show All Photos. |
Smart Fix
Auto Adjust
With "Instant Fix" workspace View = Show All Photos, the auto adjust Smart Fix could be applied to all 3 photos at the same time. Further, Smart Fix could be applied to 1 or 2 of the 3 photos in the "Instant Fix" workspace by using the toggle between View = Show All Photos and Show One Photo technique as detailed for Crop above.
Light
User Custom Adjusts
With "Instant Fix" workspace View = Show All Photos, the same given Light effect could be applied to all 3 photos at the same time. Further, each of the photos could be given different lighting in the same "Instant Fix" Light session by using the toggle between View = Show All Photos and Show One Photo technique as detailed for Crop.
The "Instant Fix's" Light presented as a vertical row with 8 thumbnails, each representing a different level of lighting. Slider was moved up to make the image lighter or down to darken the image. No name or number was given to these thumbnails.
Color
User Custom Adjusts
With "Instant Fix" workspace View = Show All Photos, the same given coloring could be applied to all 3 photos at the same time. Further, each of the photos could be given different coloring in the same "Instant Fix" Color session by using the toggle between View = Show All Photos and Show One Photo technique as detailed for Crop.
The "Instant Fix's" Color presented as a vertical row with 8 thumbnails, each representing what appeared to be a different level of saturation. Slider was moved up to make the image look more saturated or down to take the image to desaturated look. No name or number was given to these thumbnails.
Clarity
User Custom Adjusts
With "Instant Fix" workspace View = Show All Photos, the same given clarity choice could be applied to all 3 photos at the same time. Further, each of the photos could be given a different clarity choice in the same "Instant Fix" Clarity session by using the toggle between View = Show All Photos and Show One Photo technique as detailed for Crop.
The "Instant Fix's" Clarity presented as a vertical row with 8 thumbnails, each representing what appeared to be different levels of clarity. Slider was moved up to try to make the image look sharper or down to take the image to a fuzzy look. No name or number was given to these thumbnails.
COMMENTARY
In searching Premiere Elements Editor/Elements Organizer for the best editing tools for particular project media, do not overlook those offered in the Premiere Elements Editor itself. For example, in Premiere Elements 2018 Editor:
- Crop (Expert workspace only. fx Effects/Transform/Crop)
- Effects (Expert workspace - Full. Quick workspace - Limited. fx Effects area)
- Smart Fix (Expert and Quick workspaces. In right vertical tool bar, Adjustments/Smart Mix Panel)
- Light (Expert and Quick workspaces. fx Effects and Adjustments areas)
- Color (Expert workspace - Full. Quick workspace - Limited. fx Effects area and, in right vertical tool bar, Adjustments area)
- Clarity (Expert workspace only. fx Effects/Blur & Sharpen/Sharpen)
As always, content of blog post continues as a work in progress, checking for accuracy and latest information.
___________________________________________________________________________
*Premiere Elements versions were on Windows 7 Professional SP1 64 bit.
**Two considerations for moving edited photo from Elements Organizer to Premiere Elements Editor:
In Elements Organizer workspace, right click thumbnail for the "Instant Fix" edited photo and select Edit with Premiere Elements Editor
or
In Premiere Elements Editor, use Add Media/Elements Organizer.
***In one case exploration for "Instant Fix" Effects, 101 instead of 3 Elements Organizer workspace photos were successfully taken through the process of applying the Sepia effect to all 101 photos at the same time. Of note:
- The selected 101 Elements Organizer workspace photos opened into the "Instant Fix" workspace displaying only the first 8 photos. The remaining 93 could be viewed 8 at a time using the Next button underneath the display of the photos in the "Instant Fix" workspace. (For the 101 photos, there were 12 displays of 8 and 1 display of 5.).
- With the View = Show All Photos and with any one of the 13 displays in view, "Instant Fix" fx Effects Sepia was applied to all 101 at the same time with one click on the Sepia choice.
- The maximum number of photos that the "Instant Fix" feature would accept was not determined beyond this 101 photos exploration.
ATR
