Posted by Mike Duncan on October 2, 2007 at 3:07 PM
I've just started getting into digital photography recently and need to purchase photoshop. I'm in graduate school and we can purchase elements 5.0 for $31 or CS3 Extended for $158 through the school. Money is a little tight so I'm wondering if I need CS3 or can I get away with elements? I'm willing to spend the extra money if it's worth it but I'm also wondering if I'm going to ever use half the stuff that's on CS3 (keep in mind I'm an amateur)
Thanks,
Mike
Posted by Dan Borzynski on October 2, 2007 at 3:16 PM
Ignoring for a moment the realities of a student budget, CS3 is about as good as it gets. Most of the tutorials, books, and options exist for CS*. There is a lot to say for having its power.
But budget is a concern. Up to this year, everything I have ever sold, either as a print or as stock, was edited on Elements 1 or 3. 5 has more in it than either program and in some cases, does things a bit easier. I will admit that I have gone back to images I edited a few years ago under 1 and 3 and have just cringed, seeing how bad some of the work was. But that was a user issue, not a program issue.
If you can swing CS3, go for it, but it is not worth eating PB&J or generic macaroni and cheese for a month. And Elements is cheaper than most of your textbooks. You can always pick CS* at a later time when you have more money.
Posted by Mel Ladewig on October 3, 2007 at 12:37 PM
Elements is a very powerful application. One of the things I like better in Elements than CS is the organizer. Bridge is basically a fancy windows explorer. Elements Organizer is a organizing database for your images. It is alot like Lightroom (I think the student pricing for this is $99).
One of the things I like better in CS* is the ability to batch process files. The other thing is more complete 16 bit editing.
One of the things I dislike is that Elements has disabled some basic functions from Photoshop forcing you to find work-arounds. One of them is the ability to paint a mask directly on some layers.
$158 is a really good price for Photoshop, but $31 for Elements is a steal.
To be honest, you won't use half the stuff in Elements because it is almost clipart type functionality. Elements and Photoshop CS3 do share many of the same tools, but CS3 is just more complete and without some of the annoyances of Elements.
Also you need to check out the new version - Elements 6. I downloaded the upgrade this weekend and it is sweet! You'll love it! It's a great program and I don't know that I would ever switch to PS3.
Melinda
Posted by Mike Moats on October 4, 2007 at 9:04 AM
Hey Mike, I make my living selling images through the art show circuit, nature publications, workshops, art directors, and some limited stock. I use Elements 2.0 to process all my images. If your images are shot properly in the field (as you had to with film) you'll have less need for processing. I think people tend to rely on photoshop to correct their poor technique. I hear this from students in my workshops, that they'll just fix the problem in photoshop. If you're just in need of enhancing the limitation of the digital camera than go with the Elements 5.0. If your looking to cut and paste from one image to another, or do some special effects than go for the more powerfull CS3.
Posted by Mel Ladewig on October 4, 2007 at 6:16 PM
I would agree with Mike that Elements can do all of the adjustments that you would need to prepare an image for printing. It is a very powerful image editing application.
The ability to record actions and batch process files is one of the features in CS3 that I think saves time and makes it an improvement over the Elements versions. For example, you might want to resize for the web and sharpen. You can record this in an action and apply this to an entire folder of photos. The only other major advantage is the more complete support to work in 16 bit which helps reduce posterization issues when making saturation, contrast and levels types of adjustments that would be applicable to photographers. There are other functions that exist in CS3 but not in Elements, but I think these are the major distinctions.
Posted by Dan Borzynski on October 5, 2007 at 3:31 PM
The thought just occurred to me. I am assuming that you are looking at buying a student edition of the program (same thing but cheaper). I have the vague and possibly wrong memory that if you buy CS3 as a student version now, and leave school, you won't be able to upgrade to CS4 as an upgrade when that comes out. Does anyone know if this is true?
I dont know about the update to CS4 but, for that price i would certainly get CS3
Posted by Mel Ladewig on October 8, 2007 at 4:44 PM
Dan, As I understand it, that is no longer the case. You can upgrade from the student version to the regular version at the regular upgrade rate. I do think that you are right about the student versions in the past though.
Discussion
8 repliesThanks,
Mike
But budget is a concern. Up to this year, everything I have ever sold, either as a print or as stock, was edited on Elements 1 or 3. 5 has more in it than either program and in some cases, does things a bit easier. I will admit that I have gone back to images I edited a few years ago under 1 and 3 and have just cringed, seeing how bad some of the work was. But that was a user issue, not a program issue.
If you can swing CS3, go for it, but it is not worth eating PB&J or generic macaroni and cheese for a month. And Elements is cheaper than most of your textbooks. You can always pick CS* at a later time when you have more money.
One of the things I like better in CS* is the ability to batch process files. The other thing is more complete 16 bit editing.
One of the things I dislike is that Elements has disabled some basic functions from Photoshop forcing you to find work-arounds. One of them is the ability to paint a mask directly on some layers.
$158 is a really good price for Photoshop, but $31 for Elements is a steal.
To be honest, you won't use half the stuff in Elements because it is almost clipart type functionality. Elements and Photoshop CS3 do share many of the same tools, but CS3 is just more complete and without some of the annoyances of Elements.
Melinda
The ability to record actions and batch process files is one of the features in CS3 that I think saves time and makes it an improvement over the Elements versions. For example, you might want to resize for the web and sharpen. You can record this in an action and apply this to an entire folder of photos. The only other major advantage is the more complete support to work in 16 bit which helps reduce posterization issues when making saturation, contrast and levels types of adjustments that would be applicable to photographers. There are other functions that exist in CS3 but not in Elements, but I think these are the major distinctions.
Mel-