[BendtheBar]

Good thoughts. I will add that the higher the elbows, the less stress you will place upon your shoulders.

A quote from Jeremy Likness:

When the flat bench is performed through an exaggerated range of motion, such that the elbows drop below the same plane as the shoulder joint (so the upper arms go below parallel with the ground) the shoulder joint is forced to rotate slightly in order to accommodate the range.

Any joint such as the hip joint or the shoulder joint that can move in multiple planes (rotate) sacrifices stability for increased movement, and therefore becomes more susceptible to injury.