You don't need to know an f-stop from an aperture to get great pictures the first time you fire up Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.

But if you want to get the most from the program, you will need to explore its hidden features and work your way through the tutorials.

I've been working with Elements almost every day for a couple weeks now, and I'm still finding new features.

Even if you have no interest in fancy tricks like editing people out of your pictures, you should still consider Photoshop Elements.

The program simply does far more than iPhoto or any other entry-level editor to save your pictures from the limitations of your camera and your skills.

It can lighten impossibly dark pictures. It can pull rich color from the washed-out glare. It can even sharpen blurry images.

Photoshop Elements can't correct every problem, but its powers will astound people who usually work with the photo editors that came with their computers.

If all this sounds tricky, you may want to try the program's Guided Edit mode, which asks you what you want to do to picture and then shows you how to do it.

Guided Edit is a great way to get a feel for what various features do. Not only does the program explain them in reasonably plain English, it also shows you a split-screen image of how your photo will look before and after any action.

Moving beyond individual pictures, Photoshop Elements lets you assemble your photos into virtual albums.

Starting with the album templates that come to the program, you can drag and drop pictures where you want them. You can resize them on the page. You can twist them to odd angles. You can make photos overlap.

And when you're all done with that, Photoshop Elements makes it easy to e-mail your masterpieces to friends or publish them online.Cost: $90 for Mac, $100 for PC

Pros: Can do nearly anything you can imagine to your photographs

Cons: Takes weeks to fully learn

Bottom line: It's a great choice for people who want to move beyond basic photo programs.