Which photoshop do I buy? Elements, CS4?? Help!!

[WVCoalMiner]

You can download free trial versions of ALL Adobe's products at Adobe.
Try before you buy!!!!

[crmonroe]

I would have to second the suggestion to give PaintShop Pro a try, I am using version X2. You may not find as many turorials for Paintshop as you will Photoshop, but the price is hard to pass up.

[dlambert]

I'll second PSP. I'm sure there are places where it's inferior to PS, but I think it's a great option if cost is an object. There's a decent range of "quick fix" features and "detail-oriented" features, and it's got stuff like macro recording and batch mode that I've used when processing large numbers of files.

If cost were no object, I think I'd get PS and bite the bullet on the learning curve because it's the best out there and most of the tutorials and tips you'll find are going to use PS, but the concepts generally translate to most other tools.

[windrider86]

Tutorials for PSP are pretty much the same. There are a few terms that are wierd but for the most part pretty much on the money.
dlambert- I have Cs3 and PSP. guess which one I use the most?

[DaddyHDR]

Stick with PSE7 (Elements 7) and subscribe to Elements User: Photoshop Elements Techniques, Tutorials, Downloads, Videotips, Newsletter and more (cheap) and learn how to fake Elements into thinking it's the total package. This forum is sponsered by Adobe and has many, many talented users that have taken Elements to a new dimension.

Since you already have the program, now is the time to learn what's under the hood. You won't be disappointed I promise.

Good Luck!

[Pappy]

I know that it sounds like an oxymoron to use "cheap" and "Adobe" in the same sentence, but don't forget about the student discounts available. Go to a site like Academic Software, Student Discounts : Gradware : Educational Software Savings and you'll see Adobe products at much more reasonable prices than anywhere else. All you have to do is send in proof that you're a student. If you're not a student, you might have a student in your household. Or in your neighborhood. For example, whether he knows it or not, my 13-year-old son is about to purchase Lightroom 2 for only US$100. All I have to do is get a statement from his school verifying that he's enrolled.

I've never used Gimp, but I really trust Adobe. I use several of their products every day in my work, and I have nothing but praise for them. Plus, as someone has already mentioned here, Adobe products are the standard for photography. When I scan through all the photography magazines at Barnes & Noble, almost all of them have tips and tricks for Adobe products. And with the low prices available on education-discount sites, I'm going to stick with the standard.

Good luck,
Pappy

[fceexp1]

Great question. I had access to CS3 and found myself swamped with thoughts of all the things I could do with this bright shiny object. But then I took a step back and thought, "I'm a photographer, not a graphics person (no slam to those hard working and very creative people!!) so CS3 is like using a shotgun to go ant hunting. I have purchased Elements 7 and then bought SilverFX Pro plug in (which cost too damn much, but it has saved me tons of time with my BW work) and I'm pretty happy with what I can produce. These are very powerful programs but at the end of the day, I needed to remind myself that the image I want to make was seen first through my viewfinder, not on my 22" flat screen monitor. Hope this helps add to the discussion.

[nategesner]

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.

[jrdnjstn]

I'd stick with Photoshop elements 7 if I were you. Like everyone says it almost does everything you want it to do. I had Photoshop CS2 when it came out and it was nice but it was difficult to learn.

I have right now Photoshop Elements 6 and I love it. I have Corel PSP x2 and the pro (on different computers). i also have paint.net (which is free to download). If you're not a student and can afford to spend the $500+ it costs for Photoshop CS4 then get it.

I don't have alot of time to edit photos. I just mess with the curves and do some cloning and that's about it.

I did a search for what you wanted to do, here's the link...Adobe Photoshop Duotones

Go to youtube and do a search for tutorials, there are a ton of them. If you learn to do actions or want to download brushes or fonts or whatever deviantart.com is a good website for those things

[Gossi]

I agree with fletch. I've been using PSE (since 3, now 7) for quite some time, even shooting RAW.

Now I've started using Lightroom and I switch to PSE if I have to do something LR is not capable of doing (e.g. Photomerge-Panorama). Lightroom only costs a fraction of PS CS4.

I like Lightroom a lot, it seems a lot more logical and organized to me than PSE, all the controls right at your finger tips, not hidden in menus. Also, in LR all edits are non-destructive, all the adjustments are recorded as adjustment instructions, and not in the image itself, meaning you can always go back to whatever point of development you want.
But you probably need to know a little more about developing a digital image than with PSE. Also, Lightroom is excellent for organizing images.

I am quite happy with the two options, rarely ever going to PSE. One of the reasons for me for net getting PS CS4 is the knowlegde you need to understand the tool. As far as I can see it's not that easy.

Beat Gossweiler
Switzerland