VERDICT: Some reasonable hands-on editing power but image management and sharing are seriously disappointing.

Serif PhotoPlus is not well-known, but it’s now in its eleventh release so it must be doing something right.

What the program offers above all else is simplicity. This is immediately apparent in the photo management module, PhotoAlbum 4. With its clean thumbnail view complete with date and calendar panes it’s easy to find your way around – and you can also assign and search on simple keyword tags.
Unfortunately PhotoAlbum is far too simple. The Downloader utility is very basic and PhotoAlbum was the only application on test to crash when we tried importing the entire image collection. The only solution was to break down the collection into separate albums for each year which is clearly undesirable and for many users would prove unacceptable.
When it comes to editing, PhotoAlbum automatically stores backups of your original files which is reassuring and the program’s automatic fixes and dedicated Studio workspace for applying cropping, red eye removal and core image adjustments offer reasonable power. For more editing control you need to open your image into PhotoPlus itself and here you can access version 11’s new QuickFix Studio. This is a more advanced but still simplified workspace complete with large before and after previews where you can fix additional problems such as lens distortion and chromatic aberration – a nice touch is that all changes are cumulative and you can undo individual edits.

PhotoPlus 11’s QuickFix Studio offers centralized access to multiple basic corrections

Back in the program proper you can take advantage of local retouching tools and a range of colour correction adjustments that have clearly been directly modelled on those found in Photoshop. While the selection is now looking dated, PhotoPlus does let you apply the most common as non-destructive image layers. PhotoPlus’s creative filters are similarly borrowed from Photoshop circa 1995 but the separate Instant Artist dialog for converting your photos into works of art is much more modern and effective.
For output, PhotoPlus provides a reasonable Print dialog complete with comprehensive interactive control of image cropping and placement. For other sharing options you have to return to PhotoAlbum which offers burning and emailing capabilities. However, although you can archive your entire collection to disk, for some reason you can’t just copy selected images and, although you can set up slideshows complete with default transition and soundtrack, you can’t output these to disk or email them so you’re limited to showing them on your own system.
Serif PhotoPlus 11 attempts to provide a simplified version of Photoshop complete with dedicated photo management – but Adobe's Photoshop Elements does it so much better.

EASE OF USE 3/6
FEATURES 3/6
VALUE FOR MONEY 2/6
OVERALL 3/6