Photoshop CS5 or Photoshop Elements?

It's absolutely nonsense to assume photoshop elements is "less advanced" than the creative suite- it is an assumption made by those who've not actually used it because they use the CS. There is the tendency to assume that since the CS is more expensive, it's better. I can assure you, that is not necessarily the case. The CS has more functions and broader resource allocation to be utilized by more advanced users. Elements is more like a streamlined version, simplified, but is still a powerful editing tool. It has the same editing capability, runs lighter, and requires less resources because the functions you are most likely not to use aren't there. A rule of thumb is, unless you're doing large scale manipulation and require more resource allocation and speed, you don't need the CS. To answer your question more clearly, yes photoshop elements will be sufficient for what you described is the scope of your editing requirements. I now use elements exclusively. I had an older laptop with CS3 and when it crashed, I had no way of transferring it, and could not afford the new version at the time. So I decided that for what I do, which is in and of itself, pretty involved, I could afford to see whether the $80 version of photoshop can stand up to the $600 version. It did, and I've not found a reason to spend so much on a version of photoshop that is more capable than I need it to be. In fact, I rather prefer elements for its cleaner design and more user friendly controls. As the saying goes, different strokes for different folks. However, I would say that to splurge unnecessarily isn't particularly wise if you don't have to. Coming from GIMP, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. With what you'll save, buy yourself something nice.

Photoshop Element will do almost everything you can do on Gimp.

The biggest differences between Elements and CS5 is the ability to automate a lot of processes. This is useful for pros who have to repeat the same steps over and over on thousands of images, but it doesn't typically justify the price difference for amateurs.

Other differences included things like Content Aware Fill, which is one of the best advancements to Photoshop ever. Features like that are not available on Elements yet, but probably will be on a later version.

I prefer CS5 because it can run on 64-bit operating systems and take advantage of the 6GB of RAM I have on my computer when working with enormous files. There is not a 64-bit version of elements and there probably will not be in the future. That means you are limited to around 2-3GB of RAM for the software.

So I just played a little bit with PS Elements, and no... It does not provide near the amount of features CS5 does. At all. It is very basic, and you might as well stick with gimp than pay for elements...

I would suggest using their free trial periods. Try elements first. See how you like it. When that time is up, try CS5, see if it's worth it

(wait til you have photo jobs to work on before each trial!)

Another thought is paint.net. It's an open source FREE program that is interfaced very similarly to PhotoShop. It actually has a few built-in filter goodies that are quite impressive. What's more, it works in layers just like PS.

Get it here: http://www.getpaint.net/

Another option, if you're stuck on the PS idea and want to move in the direction of most photographers, is to look into the student edition of CS5. If you are a student and can prove it, there is a huge price break for you.

Good luck.

Hey there,

I am a web designer and I use photoshop everyday. It's a great tool to edit photos: you can edit images, resize and retouch pictures, make collages, apply cool effects, ecc. It's a professional tool but you can still use it if you are a newbie to make basic graphic things like resizing and cropping images, change colors. etc.

You can download a free version of photoshop here: http://bitly.com/1p34bny

Cheers.

Photoshop Elements is less advanced than GIMP. Elements is the dumbed down version of Photoshop.

CS5 is more similar to GIMP.

To be honest, if you have GIMP, you need neither of these. There is very little Photoshop CS5 can do that GIMP can't do - and Elements can't do half the stuff that GIMP or CS5 can do.

What's more GIMP is free.

CS5 is to advanced for just editing saturation and skin blemishes.I'm 14 years old been using Gimp for a while now and I like the results.

My photos - http://www.flickr.com/photos/adamtolle/

CS is waste of $$$ unless you're a pro

Elements has lots of bloat ware, ie; lots of cataloging

Gimp is perfect

I have close to 100 photo and graphic arts programs (photogrammetric, focus stacking, etc.) and my favorite is faststone photo viewer free