Elements vs. CS3 vs. Aperture?

[susantolles]

I am an intermediate-level photographer, self-taught at editing with Photoshop Elements. I recently purchased a photo scanner to convert my old photos to digital format, and there are some that need retouching, and a few older ones that have tears and water spots that need more restoration. I also have slides that are over 40 years old and have faded, needing some major color enhancement. It has been suggested that I get CS3 to do the higher-level editing, but I'm not sure I really need all those features for the price. Also, I just bought an iMac as a secondary computer, and have the option of using Aperture. I would greatly appreciate some advice on which software to use! Huge thanks!

[pixelzombie]

if you can't afford cs3, see if you can find a used copy of cs2..i'm not sure that elements has all of the tonal controls of photoshop...

[Swampy]

PZ, probably has the best option. Buy CS2. Adobe also offers deals on upgrading Elements to PS3 (not the Suite). Aperture my not have the industrial strength you need and you already have a handle on Elements and many of the Photoshop terms and features are the same as Elements so the learning curve would be lower.

There's a $100 savings if you upgrade from Elements 3, 4 or 5
https://store1.adobe.com/cfusion/sto...d=UPGRADE&nr=0

[Joeven]

Even getting your hands on Photoshop 7 would be a big jump from Elements. I use CS2 and I don't see that many improvements over version 7. Maybe you could pick it up cheap somewhere.

Joe

[pixelzombie]

i completely forgot that cs2 might not work on leopard..another alternative is to use GIMP which is free...

[MirediaKunardi]

Originally Posted by pixelzombie

i completely forgot that cs2 might not work on leopard..another alternative is to use GIMP which is free...

Hi!

I have Macbook with Leopard and CS2 suite. I don't have had any problems so far

[Out_Of_Focus]

take a look at Gimpshop its very close to photoshop and it free.

http://www.gimpshop.com/

[Damo77]

Originally Posted by Out_Of_Focus

take a look at Gimpshop its very close to photoshop and it free.

http://www.gimpshop.com/

Hi Out_Of_Focus, can you tell me if Gimpshop is fully colour-managed? I read somewhere that while Gimp is up-to-date with colour management, Gimpshop isn't. True or false?