Moving in the right direction, but it isn’t easy teaching an old dog new tricks.

A wide range of power, but too old-fashioned and confusing for most users.

Best-of-breed photo management, editing and sharing with great usability and value.

A new interface, smart albums, guided editing and photo merging keep Photoshop Elements ahead of the pack

Best-of-breed photo management, editing and sharing with great usability and value.

A simplified interface, strong photo-to-art Focus and the low price make painter essentials a great buy.

For a new release, Snapfire already looks old-fashioned and unexciting, but at least the basic version is free.

Modern photo management software that offers surprising power, especially considering it’s free.

Non-destructive image processing and creative filters feature in this comprehensive upgrade to the market leader.

Efficient photo management and sharing, but let down by some surprisingly underpowered editing.

Xenofex 2 is an updated range of Photoshop-compatible plug-ins from Alien Skin, the developer of Eye Candy 4000, one of the most popular filter collections and a personal favourite of ours. This was mainly down to its interface, which is thankfully shared by the new Xenofex collection.

When you think of photo editing, the chances are you think of Adobe Photoshop. However, the majority of non-professional users don't need Photoshop's high-end power and can't justify its cost. That's where Paint Shop Pro (PSP) comes in. Its low price is definitely its initial attraction, but that has never stopped it aiming high. At times, as with version 6's introduction of vector layers, it has even left Photoshop trailing behind. However, version 7's minor fiddling was a serious letdown and as time passed, it began to look as if PSP had run out of steam. Version 8, though, shows this isn't the case.You begin to realise how fundamental the overhaul has been as soon as you load the application.

An excellent release that reworks Photoshop’s core colour-correction capabilities, making them even more powerful

Improved handling of templates, tracing, text and layers along with new table support, but ultimately X4 disappoints

Photoshop moves beyond photo editing to conquer completely new territory.

Microsoft prepares to march into Adobe territory with its forthcoming suite of graphics and web development software.

QuarkXPress defines and dominates high-end publishing in much the same way as Adobe Photoshop does photo editing.

Powerful new versions of InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator, and now Acrobat 8 Professional too.

New realism for bristled brushes and automatic painting that approaches manual quality give Painter X an edge.

Some reasonable hands-on editing power, but image management and sharing are disappointing.