Is photoshop elements any good and will it do what I want it to?

amumonamission

amumonamission

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Sarah
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Hi,

You will have to forgive me as although I am keen on photography I know nothing about photo editing.

I want to get some decent software and was thinking of getting photoshop elements 7 or 8 but really don't know what I am doing!! I know what I want the software to do but the description doesn't really tell me if either can do any of the things I want.

I would like to be able to edit images so for example the background is in black and white but part of the image in colour, remove unwanted items from the photo, duplicate some items in the photo etc etc..

Also which is better and what is the difference between elements 7 and 8?

Will I be able to edit canon RAW images as I have heard that some software does not support the file format?

Any help with this would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance
 
I have Photoshop Elements 7 and it will do all you are asking. I dont know what the upgrades are for Elements 8. It will support RAW files, but I find the Canon DPP software excellent for working on RAW images.
 
:thumbs:
Oh yes! Welcome to TP, I'm sure you will find it very imformative.
 
PS Elements is a light version of PS, and far less expensive. It will do all you asked about and more. You can download a 30 day free trial to see if it's what you want.
 
Elements is a good starter software if you're not that familiar with imaging software, and will probably be fine for everything you want. Always go for the latest version as this will have the latest plug ins already installed.
 
I moved onto PSE recently from Corel and Canon's bundled software. I also tried GIMP for a while. It is a powerful tool and I'm still getting used to it. It has more tools than I can shake a stick at.
 
If I need to do anything with layers I use Elements, I can't really justify spending almost 10x the price for the full version of Photoshop, it certainly doesn't do 10x more!!!
 
I agree with everything already said here that Elements will certainly do all you have asked for and much more including processing RAW files. Always make sure you have downloaded the latest updates for RAW from the Adobe site to be sure it will work with your camera.
You will find that its quite intuitive to use, I have used 7 and found it excellent. Elements 8 has a few improvements but not enough to warant upgrading from E7 IMHO, but If you are buying from scratch its always worth getting the latest version.
Good luck with which software you buy and welcome to TP.
Trev
 
So what are the significant differences between elements and photoshop?

(my editing is currently non-existent)
 
The full version of Photoshop has lots more options, which to an expert can make things easier, but if you are new to post processing and want to pick up the basics Elements is more than enough (and about 10x cheaper)
 
Elements would be worth buying if your new to everything, I started with the full package but only because I got it free :)
 
amumonamission said:
Hi,


I would like to be able to edit images so for example the background is in black and white but part of the image in colour,

Thanks in advance
Click to expand...

Cant remember what this technique is called but I dont think you can do it in Elements. I am sure someone more knowledgeable will you know
 
Selective desaturation, it's easy to do in Elements.
 
Lord Carson said:
Cant remember what this technique is called but I dont think you can do it in Elements. I am sure someone more knowledgeable will you know
Click to expand...

It's called Selective Colour & it's very easy to do in Elements.


Elements is a nice, easy, powerfull digital darkroom :thumbs:
 
You could even try Elements 5 or 6, which you should be able to pick up very cheap, it will give you a foundation as to what you need before shelling out, personally i think photoshop CS3/CS4 is more than anyone starting out needs, only if your a pro photographer would you really need photoshops full versions, another thing to remember is a decent book/guide to help you learn elements, which will cost about £15/£20, although there are plenty of tutorials on "YouTube" :)
 
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