Adobe Elements 11?

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SazzyB100

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Sarah
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Hi, I am an amateur, taking lots of photos in RAW+JPEG on my Nikon D7000. I currently use my Mac to load and store the images (in iphoto). I do some basic editing using the iPhoto features.

I previously had a copy of Elements 8 but didn't use it much or really get on with it. But I am trying to get the hang of doing a bit more post-processing and there are times it would be nice to do things like blur the background or remove an entire object. Can you change backgrounds?

Is this the programme I need? Is it easy to get the hang of? Will I need lots of time to teach myself how to use it?

Is it a useful programme for the amateur photographer who is trying to improve?

Many thanks for your help.
 
Hi, "Elements 11" should be able to do anything you want and there are some very good tuition books available to help :- "Elements 11 For Dummies" is a good starting point or "Elements 11 Book" by Scott Kelby is very good. Both are available on Amazon at much lower prices than the recommended asking price.

Also within the program itself there is a good tuition section.

As a stand alone program "Elements 11" is very good, combined with "Lightroom 4" or even "Lightroom 5" (just out) it's probably all you would need. Hope this helps.
 
Is Lightroom the programme on my Mac in iphoto? Or is it a stand alone 3rd party software programme? Thanks!
 
Lightroom is an Adobe programme, like Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. You can download a 30 day free trial from their website.
 
SazzyB100 said:
Is Lightroom the programme on my Mac in iphoto? Or is it a stand alone 3rd party software programme? Thanks!
Click to expand...

Hi, It's a stand alone software produced by Adobe the same people that produce Elements 11. You can get both of them on a 30 day free trial from Adobe.

Lightroom is an excellent program on it's own but probably wouldn't do everything you want, that's why suggested you go for Elements 11 and use it in conjunction with Lightroom. You would then have a very capable editing set up. It would also cost you a lot less than the full Photoshop.


To start off with though I would suggest you cut your teeth on Elements 11. Hope this helps.
 
I use LR4 most of the time then the rest is spent in PE10 (cost me £15 with Curry's vouchers & offer) for detailed work & I still use Picasa (free) for odd & ends.

I really would be totally lost without LR.
 
Thank you all for your comments. Just wondering how Lightroom differs to the Mac iphoto editor? Seems like they do the same things? Anyone use both?
 
It appears from reading the net that the next version of Elements, ie 12, will be out in the 3rd or 4th quarter this year. Speculation that it will be 64 bit operating system compatible and 16 bit colour (the last bit confuses me!). I believe 11 is 32 bit operating system but not sure how many bits per colour (8, 12 ??). Also the version of Adobe Camera Raw shipped with PSE11 is 7.1, and the latest is 8.2 or 3 I think.
Do you think it's worth waiting for PSE12 or not, if the difference is only minor tweaks then probably not, but if it becomes a 64 bit s/w package then that changes things, i.e. it will offer greater speed of processing.
One final thing, if I may, I was torn between Lightroom 5 and PSE 11 but having read a bit, it seems I need both, is this true? I'm confused because Elements, it appears, comes with ACR 7.1
Many thanks.
Steve.
 
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