Photoshop CS4

[Luke11]

Being new to photography and having a quick look around at software I am a little confused with all the different versions of CS4 and don't know which one is the one to get. I also have been looking at the Adobe Elements 7 or 8 and for now I think this would be good enough for me to start. But what is stopping me from buying this is I have seen some CS4 go very cheap in price. Is this a good price for Adobe Photoshop CS4 extended version 11.0 with training DVD ....... $320.00. For that price I would rather buy this instead of Elements. But is the CS4 I mentioned the right software for what need as a growing photographer.

Cheers,
Chris.

[Luke11]

Ok I think I know what I did wrong. This is the extended version for people who have photoshop. Am I right?

[ricktas]

Yep. it is the UPGRADE version. Seriously if you have better things to spend your money on..get Elements, it has all the major PS component and does a damn fine job

[JM Tran]

or get an old copy of CS3 2nd hand or even new. Much better than Elements and nothing short of CS4 that u will need

[Luke11]

Thanks Rick! I think I will go for the Elements and master that and then see where I am at with my photography and go with the CS4 or 5 by the time I am ready to upgrade. JM I do like your solution but I rather get new for now and wait for my skills to grow with Elements then dig into something at a higher level if needed. Thanks guys.

[Harves]

CS4 Extended (http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/family/) has a few extra features, that seems to be the only difference. It will do everything you want as far as editing photos goes. As long as your machine has the specs to run it you won't have any issues.

[peterrad]

Go with the elements, to get started, one nice little difference between elements and photoshop.... you can process multiple photos (batch process) in elements, with ease.

[Blueywa]

I hear a lot of people saying use LR3 for the 90% plus, then for layers etc use PhotoShop.
What about LR3, and Elements 8?

[ricktas]

LR3 has really improved over the first two major releases of the software. It is very powerful and has an easy work flow. Personally, I still like using PS, but certainly LR has the tech to allow you to do most things now. It really depends on your workflow, and how you process your photos. There are still some things that PS is better for.

[salnel]

I too am very new to both photography and the software and didn't know what program to get..everyone had different opinions so I downloaded a trial of both lightroom 3 and CS5. I now have both as I found Lr the easiest to learn (for me) but i got CS5 as well, as it will do things Lr doesn't. I am on a steep learning curve but try before you buy. You can download the full programs and you can use them for 30 days so you get a very good idea of what they are like.