Photoshop Elements

[Liiz]

Would like some feedback on Adobe Photoshop Elements. I'm new to photography. Liiz

[Donald]

Liiz

Are you able to be bit more specific about what you're looking for feedback on. Is it just a general comment about whether Elements is a good post-processing package? Or is it any particular aspect about it that you're wanting to check out?

[Liiz]

I'm thinking of purchasing this software and wanted some comments on it.

[Colin Southern]

I'm thinking of purchasing this software and wanted some comments on it.

It's a very good & very capable entry-level package. It's not as powerful as it's bigger brother Photoshop, but then again, most people don't need the power of Photoshop, nor do they have the time or the inclination to make the significant investment in learning to use the majority of it's capabilities.

In my opinion - for a number of reasons - if you don't need Photoshop, then Photoshop Elements ("PSE") is the next best thing.

[Donald]

EDIT - Oops, Colin's beat me. But what I was going to say is ...........

Okay great.

Well, the first thing to say is that I'm not an Elements user.

Elements is, of course, a member of the Adobe family of post-processing packages. As such, it is a very professional, accessible and competent tool. Those who do use will, no doubt, come into this thread and comment, but I understand it does all the things that you would want in order to process and make pictures. A great many people find that they need nothing else - that Elements does all they'll ever need.

It doesn't have all the bells and whistles that its big brother/sister, Photoshop, has. But that is something you could graduate to if you wish, once you have dipped your toe in the water with Elements.

The other great advantage that the Adobe suite of products has, because it's the market leader, is lots and lots of online and hard published support material. You could spend your life looking at, listening to and reading tutorials on Elements, Lightroom, Photoshop. They're everywhere. Whereas, as a user of the open source package The GIMP, I and those like me have a much smaller pool of resources to draw upon.

So, is Elements good? Yes it is. And it may well be the ideal software product for you given your current stage of development in the world of photography.

[Liiz]

It's a very good & very capable entry-level package. It's not as powerful as it's bigger brother Photoshop, but then again, most people don't need the power of Photoshop, nor do they have the time or the inclination to make the significant investment in learning to use the majority of it's capabilities.

In my opinion - for a number of reasons - if you don't need Photoshop, then Photoshop Elements ("PSE") is the next best thing.

[Liiz]

Thanks Colin. Liiz

[Liiz]

Thank you Donald for your advice. You mention you are the user of the open source package "The GIMP"? I'm curious!
Regards, Liiz

[mythlady]

Hi Liiz -- I started with Elements and used it for several years, until I desired features (like layers) that at that point were only available in Photoshop. Now, however, I believe that layers are available in Elements too, which makes it a great choice for someone new to photography/post-processing. I'm not familiar with GIMP, so can't recommend that, but for the price, PSE is a very good choice.

[arith]

Well I ask myself is there anything I can do better in photoshop; and since I have got Gimp and a dozen other applications, and so I know what tools are available, I conclude that I cannot.

Anybody who has photoshop benefits from 16 bit arithmetic, and that is it, the clever stuff like 'content aware fill' is just a bridge too far, more useful for graphic designers.

You can use layers in PSE9 and also layer masks, they are all very easy to use.

[tbob]

I use Elements 8 on a Mac. Does everything I want and more. All I want is the ability to take my images from RAW to JPEG and do some quick colour and curves improvements. I will never graduate to full on Photoshop because I am one of those people who finds image manipulation on a computer a screaming bore. This is a reflection on me not on anyone else as I wish I could find image manipulation fascinating; I actually envy those who are accomplished at it. The point is to determine how much image manipulation you want to do and get what you need. For me Photoshop is buying a Formula 1 racing car to buy groceries.

Elements is relatively inexpensive, certainly worth the money. I would recommend it

[Donald]

Thank you Donald for your advice. You mention you are the user of the open source package "The GIMP"? I'm curious! Regards, Liiz

Liiz

The GIMP official website is here. One of the things about open source software is that it's the product of a collaboration between lots (and in some cases, lots and lots) of enthusiastic people who want to develop something outwith the mainstream commercial arena.

There are lots of consequences of that, most of which are very, very good. But it does mean:
a) the growth and development of the product is organic. So it grows and develops in bits ... and not necessarily in any logical or sequential order and,
b) People devote their energies (and it's done on a part-time, voluntary basis) to developing the product rather than writing the guidance on how it works. And because they developed it, they know how it works. But they often don't get around to explaining to the rest of the world how it works. So you have to figure it our for yourself.

Now that can be both the fun of it and the total frustration of it, depending on your particular approach to life and learning.

So, like all these packages, there is a learning curve. With the GIMP it's not necessarily steeper. It's just that you've to do the climbing without so many others resources around to support you and sometimes you've to go up the steepest inclines without a rope - to get totally carried away with my mountaineering metaphor.

If you do ever think about the GIMP, let me know and I'll direct to you towards what I think is the best resource for learning. It certainly taught me.

[Geoff F]

Speaking personally, Liiz, I have never found any of the Photoshop range to be logical in use; at least not for me.

For me, the Serif Photo Plus series made more sense, at least initially. Although it does basically work in a similar way to Photoshop, in all it's forms. Gimp, as others have mentioned is also similar; and you can't get much cheaper than free!

But the Photoshop family of photo editing software are the most widely used - worldwide.

Which version of Elements are you considering, Liiz? More decisions!

The Photoshop CS range have even more options and may be worth considering although this may prove to be something of a leap for a beginner.

The latest version (CS 5) is certainly a comprehensive package and I think that the results are a little bit better in terms of sharpness and colour reproduction than the Serif Photo Plus option. However, it is also around 10 times the price! Even more compared with Gimp.

But I suppose your final decision will partially depend on exactly what you want to do with your photos and your budget.

[Liiz]

Thank you all for your helpful advice. I will take it all on board. I have just bought my first SLR camera - a Nikon D3100. Very happy with it. I'm glad I found this website which has a wealth of information for a novice such as myself.
Once again, thank you. Liz