You just got back from the family reunion and are confident you got the perfect portrait of the whole clan — after all, you did make all the kids and grandparents stand still while you snapped ten identical pics just to be sure. Sadly, when you upload the photos and see them on your computer’s big screen, there isn’t a single one in which somebody isn’t blinking, frowning, or (in the case of your nephew) sticking his tongue out. Enter the new version of Adobe Photoshop Elements, available at around $80 for either Windows or Mac: This friendly little application boasts a raved-about feature that makes it super-simple to craft one perfect picture out of many shots with minor flaws — just steal a smile from shot #4, a wave from shot #7, and blend them into your base shot using Photomerge, and you have something worth putting in this year’s holiday card. Which, incidentally, Elements can help you assemble, with an array of pre-designed layouts for scrapbook pages, slideshows and any number of other display options. As you’d expect from any program with “Photoshop” in its name, this one knows a thing or two about the technical details — color balance, contrast, et cetera — that make one pic pop out and another look drab. Fortunately for those of us who aren’t tech-minded, the programmers have harnessed Photoshop’s industry-standard tools into a format that’s novice-friendly: click here to tone down the red-eye, click there to make the colors more vibrant, and so on. Elements won’t turn a sloppy snapshot into an Ansel Adams, but it can help a curious amateur assemble a family photo album that looks better than most.

Everyone loves the instant gratification of digital photography; press the button, wait a second, and see your snapshot on the camera screen. But getting those photos someplace useful can be a chore: dig into your desk drawer for the appropriate cable, find an open USB port on your computer, and open up the photo-sync software to move pictures onto the computer. (If you share photos over the Internet, additional steps are required.) Now, however, a new gizmo streamlines the process. The $100 Eye-Fi looks just like the memory card you already slip into your camera to store pictures, but it has a second function built in: It can be set up to communicate wirelessly with the computer of your choice, automatically downloading new photos whenever the camera’s within range — no cables required, no need to open software yourself. It can even go further if you’d like it to: The Eye-Fi can be programmed to automatically move your images directly to a web-based picture sharing site like flickr or Picasia; it can slap them onto your Facebook page; it can even submit them to a pay-per-print service like Costco. Just be sure you’ve deleted any blurry or embarrassing pictures from your camera before you get it near the computer — the Eye-Fi, after all, doesn’t know the difference between a family-friendly photo and one that could get you fired.

Sony is bolstering its lead in the high-definition camcorder arena with the introduction of AVCHD technology-based models. The new Handycam HDR-CX7 model is the world’s smallest and lightest AVCHD high-definition camcorder. It can record nearly three hours of full HD 1080 video on an 8-GB Memory Stick PRO Duo media card (in LP mode). Weighing just 15 ounces with the supplied battery, it provides ultra-portability as well as a virtually crash-proof recording system, instant archiving to Memory Stick PRO Duo media, and effortless connection to a PC via USB for editing and back-up. The new HDR-SR7 High Definition Camcorder can record more than 22 hours of full HD 1080 video on its built-in 60GB hard disk drive, while the HDR-SR5 model’s 40GB hard drive can hold more than 15 hours of footage (in LP modes). In addition to long recording times, these two models offer compactness and Sony’s HDD Smart Protection system to safeguard against data loss as well as easy connection to PCs via USB.

With wedding and graduation season fast approaching, this is an excellent time to think about digital cameras — either as a gift or just for you to get that critical shot. Dell Electronics & Accessories is offering 20 percent off select models from Sony, Nikon, Canon, Olympus and Kodak through April 11 (6 am CT). Check the Dell site for the model that best suits you, but we like the Sony DSC-T9 Cyber-shot for its sleek styling and high performance. At 6 megapixels and with an exacting Carl Zeiss lens, this is not one of those toy “almost-cameras.” The camera has Real Imaging Processor Technology that is said to improve picture quality and clarity, plus a host of other features such as image stabilization that should make anyone seem like a better photographer. At checkout, use the code: $V7CQWF82D0518.