Hi!
I'm brand new here. I want to focus on creating paintings from photographs, both portrait as well as landscapes. I have Photoshop elements now. Would you recommend CS3 or Painter X? Can everything thats possible in Painter be done in CS3 and vice versa(probably not, but would like to hear your experiences). Do these two programs compliment each other or does one make the other obsolete? I also enjoy touching up photos of my kids to remove blemishes etc(I can do a decent job of this using Photoshop Elements).

If you were buying just one, which one would you buy?

Thanks!
Chris.

Chris, welcome to RetouchPRO! Photoshop has some powerful tools for painting but I know little about Painter. However, there are many users of both programs at RetouchPRO. I recommend that you post your question in the Photo Art forum here at RetouchPRO as youare likely to get more responses more quickly.
Regards, Murray

Chris, firstly, welcome to RetouchPRO
Others here know far more than I, but there is no way you can do some of the stuff in Painter with Photoshop, and visa versa (you've already answered yourself :) )
In my opinion, and from what I've tried (and seen) to get the best out of Painter you need a fair bit of artistic flare, (and I don't) plus a Wacom! but Painter has much less powerful tools for manipulation of images. The two programs compliment each other well though.
There is a way to "try before you buy" go to the Corel site and download the trial version of Painter, and buy yourself a cheap Wacom tablet, you won't regret it, and use them in conjunction with your Photoshop Elements program, that way you'll not waste you hard earned pennies.
Enjoy.....John

Hi Chris... let me add my welcome, too.

FYI: A high percentage of Painter owners also use Photoshop (or Elements). These programs compliment each other.

While there is a great deal of functional overlap, as John indicated each has unique abilities.

For photo-art purposes the only major advantage of upgrading from Elements to Photoshop I can see would be the abilty to create actions (recorded command scripts) that can come in handy.

That said, upgrading to Photoshop would not gain access to the Painter-only features, so given your situation I'd definitely opt. for Painter.

If by chance you are a student, have children or relatives who are students, etc. look into acquiring an "academic" version of Painter. Exact same functionality as the "standard" version, but considerably discounted price-wise. Another possibility is to look into the Painter Essentials program, a "Painter-Lite" if you will... a lot of Painter's functionality for about 1/3 of the price.

Before taking the leap, consider browsing the "Painter WOW!" book (for any version of the program) at your local library or bookstore. It will give you an idea of what's possible with the program.

Beware, too, that the more artistic skill/talent one has, the more one will be able to get out of either Painter or Essentials. Otherwise these programs are used, in essence, as creative digital tracing tools, which is how most people who are getting into "photo-art" these days use them. That's not necessarily bad because it's possible to create some very impressive art (by what's known as "cloning" and "autopainting"), but it's like buying a Ferrari and only driving it 10 MPH.

Good luck on your decision. Hope this helps. Let us know what you decide to do.

Also... click my name above/left and send me an e-mail. I'll get you going with the Impressionist plugin, that will come in handy no matter what you decide.

Thanks everybody! I looked at a Painter WOW book at a local store and it is pretty impressive! Also thanks for the suggestion about the academic copy. The price IS heavily discounted. Thinking about ordering the academic version. CS3 is way too expensive for me right now, and moreover I'm more interested in art right now.

Thanks again!
Chris.