Customer Reviews

Photo Essentials 3 [Old Version]

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The 19 word summary that says it all: Go to the ononesoftware site and download the free 30 day fully functional demo and try it for yourself.

The details:

If you are considering Mask Pro 4(and you really should, see my review of that product for details) to use with Photoshop Elements (PSE), then get this instead. You get essentially the same masking capabilities, more stuff, and for less than half the cost!

This software consists of five add-on components to PSE. There is nothing they do that you can't do with only PSE but it will take you a heck of a lot longer. Also, perhaps if you were to spend enough time and develop sufficient skill you could produce better results. However without this considerable investment of your time chances are you will be impressed with what you get from the "Essentials" pack after only a few minutes of familiarization.

Regarding the "familiarization", the training resources provided by ononesoftware for this product (and everything they produce) is as impressive as their software. Whenever you first use a new feature you get the opportunity to view a short (< 60 seconds or so) intro that gives the essentials of its use. Beyond that, there is contextual help available and over 100 on-line videos dealing with everything from general usage to dealing with specific "problem" situations. That aside, out of the box and armed only with default settings you should be able to get great results very quickly.

Finally, there is a free 30-day fully functional demo available at the manufacture's site. Don't believe me, download it and give it a try.

For full disclosure, while mostly automatic there is usually some intervention required. However it is considerably less than what would be needed to accomplish the same thing without this package. Also, I have no personal interest in ononesoftware other than believing they produce a quality product that adds considerable at a very reasonable price.

BTW, I feel that honest, effective reviews can take the place of first-hand experiences that are lacking in online shopping. I've always appreciated the help I've received from other reviewers and work hard to return the favor as best as I can. I hope you found this review helpful and if there was anything you thought was lacking or unclear leave a comment and I'll do what I can to fix it.

This software is a good helping hand for those of us that like to work with our photos but do not have the time or maybe the energy to work with the bare photoshop software. The helps in this package are very much appreciated. I have especially found the "Make it Larger" app helpful to rescue older smaller pixcel photos when cropping the images.

This company basically takes Adobe's features and automates them a bit. Problem is, whenever you update Adobe, you need to buy an upgrade for OnOne because it will no longer work. I also bought Genuine Fractals from this company and have only been able to use it a few times and then my license somehow disappears. I need to go through the motions of contacting their tech support with a load of details and wait for days before they reset my license and I can use the product again. I have had to do this so many times that my original license activation code I have on the software is so outdated that I have to scrounge through several emails from them to determine what the latest key is. It is just not worth the trouble. I may sell it on e-bay as a frisbee.