OK, first some history.

I've been out of photography for quite a few years after having my own darkroom when I was in highschool in the '70s. Now I've gotten the digital bug and I have a Fuji Finepix and plan on getting a DSLR next year. I would like to get serious about this as a hobby but I won't be going pro. I would also like to restore a bunch of old family photos.


Now please convince me that Elements 2 is the way to go (perhaps with the addition of HPT). I can get a bootleg copy of PS7 until I can afford to buy it or need it. I'm loathe to go that way as I'm opposed to piracy. But I'm not sure that I won't quickly outgrow Elements. Can someone explain what I would be missing if I went with Elements? Will it come up short? Why buy Elements as oppoesed to PS?

Someoneplease help me.

mkh

About the biggest argument for Elements of Photoshop is price... hundreds of dollars.

Here's a site that outlines some of the major differences. The tone is a bit Phothshop biased IMO, but if you look past that, the information is accurate.

http://simplephotoshop.com/photoshop_elements/photoshopelements_vs_photoshop.htm

Unless CMYK is a must have (not available in PSE) and based on what you wrote about your background and near-term needs, I'd say go with PSE and learn to use it. If/when you run up against PSE limitations that full-blown Photoshop addresses, you can take the leap to PS knowing 95% of what you learn in PSE is transferable to Photoshop.

HPE provides some workarounds, e.g., playing actions, curves, layer masks, that answer the most common complaints about PSE limitations. While not as easy to use as the native Photoshop functionality, they do work.

~Danny~

Thanks Danny!

I'm leaning towards Elements mainly because I can't afford to spend the money on PS at this time and still keep SWMBO happy. I also don't want to run PS illegally.

I think the biggest help you have been is in the link you referred to. It has some great looking tutorials on Elements. Most things I've found elswhere are PS specific and require some translating to use with Elements. Translating can be tough if you are still learning the software.

marshall

Glad to help, Marshall...I admire your ethics to run legal software.

Here's one of the best Elements tutorials I've run across:

http://www.arraich.com/elements/psE_intro.htm

...and as time goes along having this forum and Richard Lynch as a moderator for it here at RetouchPRO is a great asset! :)

Continued success,
~Danny~

Thanks again Danny.

With all of this information I thing you have sealed my decision. I'm going to purchase Elements when my 30 day trial expires.

marshall

If i may post another link that is pretty good...

http://hiddenelements.com

There you will find out what Hidden Power adds to Elements. You can also have a look at the newsletter, in which I discuss some very Photoshop things within the context of Elements.

About 'outgrowing' Elements...that is a possibility. However, i use it at my day job because it is all I really need for that in developing images and correcting.

The Photoshop difference is volume CMYK (you can do CMYK with Elements--unlike most believe), recording actions of your own (though a PS6 Demo can help, and you can run them in Elements), and more involved web work (Elements does not have Image Ready).

Elements at $57 on Amazon (
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00006ANW9/newwriting/ )
is really quite a good deal, and $500-600 LESS than Photoshop -- even with my book. And don't get the impression I am pushing Elements, I write Photoshop books too! You work differently in Elements, but that doesn't mean it is inferior for what you describe (image editing). Things you feel you are 'missing' are exactly the type of things I could be tempted to add. I hope to be doing some more adding very soon.

Richard Lynch

Richard,

Thanks for replying.

I've decided to purchase PSE2 when the trial expires. I also plan on getting your book as well as the one from Katrin Eismann. THe two books combined should increase the power of E2 as well as go along ways towards learning how to use E2.

I'm new to this and sometimes I know what needs to be done to a phot to enhance it sometimes I don't. Even when I have some idea as to what needs to be done I don't know how to achieve it. For example I have an image of a flower that I want to brigthen the petals while bluring and darkening the background but I don't know how to do that yet.

I don't know enuff to know what I'm missing but I do like the concept of actions. I can't find a copy of PS6 demo to create the actions with. Is there any way they could be written as a script. I've been a sofware developer for 17 years and have developed web sites using ASP etc. for the last 6 years. If there is any type of scripting language available then I should be able to do it than way.


Thanks again.

marshall

Just so you know, Katrin's book ( http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0735713502/newwriting/ ) works well with mine. In fact she mentions mine in her new version for those using Elements who may need a few additional tools to complete some exercises.

I'd be glad to hear more about how that works out for you.

In the book I show an example specifically about isolating the color of some flowers (chapter 6), but don't rush there as there is some background you might need from earlier chapters.

Doing what you want is not often the best place to start, as the stuff that seems interesting to do isn't always the easiest.

Hope that helps.

Richard Lynch