Recomend Software?

[tybo78]

If I get Lightroom and Elements 8 would I be missing much by not getting CS4? Features I am interested in are HDR, panoramic photo merging, masks, layers, cloning, color and white balance corrections, sharpening, and your basic fixers.
I'm not trying to over process my images, just have some artistic license and I'm afraid CS4 will never see it's full potential in my hands (at least not yet).
Of course Lightroom and Elements are not my only options as there is a seemingly endless ocean of post processing software out there. That is why I'm having trouble deciding.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated !

[Saralonde]

You should be fine with those two. They will cover almost everything you want to do. Not sure about HDR, but you can do panaramas in Elements.

Did you download the free trial of Lightroom yet? You can also download a free trial of Photoshop if you want to see exactly what it has to offer.

[Saralonde]

Just checked and found this about HDR in Elements 8.

So it looks like you'd be covered.