Will PSE 10 be enough?

[Cobalt Blue]

It's probably been asked before but I couldn't find it. Is PSE 10 enough for all my post processing needs.

I love macro photography (getting a 100mm f2.8 for my birthday), I really love landscapes and seascapes plus the usual family pics and holiday snaps.

I really have no clue with photoshop but I've realised I really need to learn.

I want to buy a canon 430EX II speedlight, a 15 -85mm lens and then I'll have enough left over to buy photoshop elements but not enough for CS5 or CS6.

Will this be enough or would I be wasting my money?

Thanks
Teressa

[WhoDo]

Will this be enough or would I be wasting my money?

If it isn't I'd be alarmed, Teressa! Personally, I'd recommend LightRoom 4 instead or at least as well. I have PSE9 and LR4 and I do 99% of my processing in LR4. I only go to PSE when I have a cloning issue I can't handle with the limited tools in LR4, which obviously isn't too often.

I hope that helps.

[salnel]

Lightroom 4 for me as well..you can download a free trial for 30 days and there are heaps of videos tutorials to help you.

[Darey]

PSE 10 is an excellent application and I'm sure it will do 100% of what you will ever want to do from downloading and sorting shots, processing & editing and on to printing & exporting to different media (including the Internet).

I suggest that if you get PSE 10 (approx $149) you should also get a copy of "Scott Kelby's" 'The Photoshop Elements 10 book'.

I use PSE 9 and have a copy of Scott's Elements 9 book. When I want to do something new I read the tips in Scott's book while working on my task and I have now become quite proficient with processing. Scott is an excellent writer and his books are very easy to read and follow. He also has books for Lightroom if you need it.

The only other suggestion I would add is 'Don't try to do everything at once, take your time and learn one thing at a time and learn it well.' You will be surprised how much you learn in a relatively short time.

Enjoy your photography.

[ricktas]

PSE is a great tool. Nothing wrong with it at all. Remember that most editing packages in the last few years all offer the basics, and in similar ways. Layers, filters etc, contrast, saturation, mono, etc are all included. Upgrades these days usually consist of tweaks and could be called 'luxuries'. Cause you can edit a photo in a 5 year old software package just as well as you could with the recently released PS CS6. Older versions, from the last few years are quite capable, just don't have some of the bells n whistles..which we probably do not need anyway..really..even though the are nice and can make some editing steps easier.

[mistletoe]

Its worth noting that there are a few free photo editing packages that are becoming fairly powerful now.

GIMP 2 is worth a look. As far as I can tell it offers all the editing features you would expect including layers and layer masking, multiple blend modes, distortion correction, cloning tools. Infact, I can't see that photoshop offers a great deal more. Maybe, PS is more intuitive and user friendly, but certainly not by any significant margin. It has extensive online documentation and there are plenty of plugins available for it too.

http://www.gimp.org/

Given its free, its probably worth a look before spending money on the usual packages.

[Cobalt Blue]

Thanks everyone for your replies. So much to think about!

I'll download the trial of LR4 and make a decision from there.

Harvey Norman have PSE 10 for $136 - as long as I can figure it all out! I'm a little technologically challenged

Teressa

[rodw]

Thanks everyone for your replies. So much to think about!

I'll download the trial of LR4 and make a decision from there.

Harvey Norman have PSE 10 for $136 - as long as I can figure it all out! I'm a little technologically challenged

Teressa

It's a long time since I've looked at Elements but coming out of the printing industry, there's basically nothing a photographer needs that is not included in Elements. Some of the things that professional graphic artists need like clipping paths, different Colour spaces, CMYK, duotones, undercolor removal, and other stuff you've never heard of are not included in Elements but you simply won't care...

[Bennymiata]

PSE 10 does about 95% of what PS CS5 can do, at less than 10% of the cost.

Lightroom is fantastic for RAW files, as you can do things to them in a more sophisticated and sublte way, but the 2 are different programs and it is realy better to have both, as Lightroom can do things PS can not, and vice-versa.

There are great videos to get you started on the adobe.com site (look for Aobe TV on the main page), and once you get into it, it is really quite easy to come to grips with.

[Karl]

I have PSE 9 and do the same sort of photography you have mentioned and it does everything and more for what I want

Karl