Just when everyone’s settling in to Elements 5, Adobe throws out an upgraded version. Photoshop Elements 6 is on the horizon and adds some nice functions. Now you just have to decide if you want to upgrade or not.

You can see what’s new in Elements 6 at Adobe’s website. A direct download of the PDF datasheet is here.

Elements 6 has:

• Improved Panorama blending
• Photomerge™ Technology for blending two group shots. It grabs the “good” faces from each photo to make a perfect group portrait.
• Better Help and step by step wizards
• Finer control in Brightness/Contrast, B&W conversion and the Clone Tool
• Improved Selection tools (using Brushes) for quicker selecting and adjusting of areas of your image
• Smart Albums to quickly gather images based on selected criteria

Some of these additions and changes are nice. It appears that the Selections with brushes is like Quick Mask mode in Photoshop CSx; I like that. A few of the improvements seem minor and would make me seriously consider not upgrading. Only you can decide for yourself based on your needs.