Photoshop Elements 11

[Velocette]

The Ladywife takes quite a lot of pictures with a trusty Cannon 60D but of late has expressed a wish to do some slightly more advanced editing etc. Its been suggested that the Photoshop Elements 11 would cover most of the needs of an amateur and is reasonably easy to use. Apparently it can process RAW data which I believe is a "good thing". Should we get it ?

[super sharp shooter]

Photoshop is a good tool to use but can be a little tricky to get use to.

[rodp]

Photoshop CS something was free from Adobe a while back, don't know if it's still available?

[Olliesims]

Photoshop cs6 and Lightroom are now a monthly subscription, last time I checked for Both softwares £8 a month, I use both photoshop and Lightroom, you will be able to do a lot more with them than elements, it depends how far your wife wants to get into it, if just a one off every so often then get elements, if she would like to go deeper into photo editing then the cs6 Lightroom combo,if you ever need help with them just YouTube what you want to do and there's hundreds of videos for if, but like most Adobe products there seriously RAM hungry especially lightroom,

Edited December 29, 2015 by Olliesims

[rodp]

Here you go, looks like it's still available. CS2, it's an old version now but still more than most will ever use.

 

http://www.redmondpie.com/download-adobe-photoshop-cs2-for-free-legally-while-you-still-can/

Edited December 29, 2015 by rodp

[FalconFN]

Photoshop CS something was free from Adobe a while back, don't know if it's still available?

CS2 is free from adobe.

 

I don't know about elements as I've never used it, but processing RAW files is useful only if you shoot in RAW. Personally I very rarely do (I shoot fine JPEGs as shooting it right means you shouldn't need to shoot RAW), but I know many people seem to do so.

 

CS2 will do everything you could possibly need, and free, but I assume elements will be a little more user friendly and have most of the functions of full-blown Photoshop.

[rodp]

I like RAW files I must admit. I can't always be in the right place at the right time (light) so RAW gives me more scope. I believe the pen tool is missing from elements and I use this a lot , mostly to draw a selection around something (usually in posters not photo's I admit) but still very useful tool.

 

Just found AI is free as well, so downloaded it while it's there.

[Velocette]

Thanks for all the advice chaps,,I'm downloading CS2 now to take a look,,,with a view to get Elements later if it proves to be too tricky for the lady novice.

[rodp]

Just ask on here and someone will guide you through it. Once you've mastered layers then everything else drops in to place, and layers is oh so simple when you get your head round it (well, basic layers is, and that's all I use)

[harpoonlouis]

I use Lightroom V5 and if I need to tweak I can open file directly in GIMP from Lightroom so it keeps track of the changes. RAW is like having an unprocessed exposure stored in your camera so you can change just about anything about your image ( except focus) and so sometimes rescue a decent image when you didn't really get it right first time. Tons of Lightroom tutorials around and probably about 10 times easier to get the basic tweaks you need worked out than PS. PS is a beast that few folks need really.