I just want to add my amateur voice to the mix. I've used PS Elements for several years and it truly can do almost everything you would do in the Pro version, particularly for a beginner. I've downloaded the trial versions of Lightroom and CS4. Great products, but I didn't run into much that I can't already do with Elements. I'm also a recent fan of Gimp and try to use that as much as possible to better learn it's capabilities.
As someone else mentioned, spend your money on lenses, flash, or other tools to improve your photographs. $800 in software won't fix crappy photos! You also need to spend the time learning Elements 7 (since you already own it) or Gimp. There are plenty of tutorials that will probably teach you everything you want to know.
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