By AppleInsider Staff

Published: 12:00 PM EST

Ahead of next week's Macworld Expo, Adobe announced that its long-awaited Photoshop Elements 6 software for the Mac is now available for pre-order through the company's website.

The new version includes features based on Adobe's proprietary Photomerge technology, which lets users easily combine the best facial expressions and body language from a series of shots to create a single, ideal group shot.

A new Quick Selection Tool aims to reduce a once time-consuming select-and-adjust task to a single click, and photographers can choose from one of three edit modes, each geared toward a different experience level.

The software also features a Guided Edit mode that helps walk users through the steps of improving a photo. Additional enhancements include an improved conversion tool that dramatically converts color images into elegant, nuanced black-and-whites.

"In this release, we’ve focused on going beyond the basics to make everyday and advanced tasks even easier to achieve," said John Loiacono, senior vice president of Creative Solutions at Adobe. "Photoshop Elements 6 for Macintosh allows people to organize and find photos quickly, unleash powerful editing tricks without any heavy lifting, and creatively share photos that give them all the bragging rights.”

Similar to Apple's iPhoto application, Photoshop Elements 6 software will also offer customizable layouts that let users create scrapbook pages, photo books, greeting cards and burn to CD/DVD for high impact sharing which requires no previous experience. Additional sharing options include ordering prints, creating personal online albums for sharing photo creations on the web, printing photos into real U.S. postage stamps, and showcasing creations on a CEIVA Digital Photo Frame.



Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 for Mac will run on Leopard, (Mac OS X v 10.5), as well as previous versions of Mac OS X starting with 10.4.8., and is immediately available for pre-order for an estimated street price of US$89.99.

Adobe, which says it plans to ship the software in the second quarter of the year, will show off many of the product's new features at next week's Macworld Expo in San Francisco (Booth #S1302)