Thread: Photoshop and Photoshop Elements

Can anyone tell me this:
On a practical level, what is the difference between Adobe's Photoshop and Adobe Photoshop Elements?

Photoshop is a full figured program that does many, many things. You can manipulate images and text. The elements program is a much less program and it still works with photos but you can't manipulate them. I think that's the difference.

Well, I did a search and without reading too much - I imagine Photoshop CS2 does a lot more - as it costs around $500

Elements - about $89

can i uesd my own templates in voda?

Thanks you guys.
I knew the $ difference was huge, but I think what I wanted to know, and didn't clearly ask, was if the 'whole enchilada' is fluffed wiht lots of bells and whistles that I might have elsewhere.

I was having some trouble knowing exactly what I want. (sound familiar to anyone? lol)

I THINK what I want is this:

I want to be able to draw, play with colors, add images or parts of images, and maybe have a go at animating things. And I don't want to have to know much complicated stuff to do that. I mean, I'm not totally inept, and I am willing to learn, but I don't want to have to hurt myself to play, know what I mean?

Any suggestions?

Originally Posted by larazovich

Thanks you guys.
I knew the $ difference was huge, but I think what I wanted to know, and didn't clearly ask, was if the 'whole enchilada' is fluffed wiht lots of bells and whistles that I might have elsewhere.

I was having some trouble knowing exactly what I want. (sound familiar to anyone? lol)

I THINK what I want is this:

I want to be able to draw, play with colors, add images or parts of images, and maybe have a go at animating things. And I don't want to have to know much complicated stuff to do that. I mean, I'm not totally inept, and I am willing to learn, but I don't want to have to hurt myself to play, know what I mean?

Any suggestions?

lol Liz .... you are too funny .........

remind me to email you tomorrow or so and I'll get you pointed in the right direction .... and you won't be needing to spend that kind of money and it won't hurt ... lol

so tomorrow okay ............... or you can email me ... either or ....

excellent, will do.
Thanks

For something to "start" you off, have a look at Ulead Photo Express. I cant remember if you can do anything with animation in there, but I started to use that before I moved on to Photoshop. Its a good little programme. Hope you find what you are looking for!

Regards
Teri

Thanks Teri.
Lady started me out with some great suggestions, lots to read, very helpful. I have a couple of good photo editing programs and can move easily through them - have adobe photoshop elements which came bundled with a graphire pad, and Ulead photo express too, and of course Picasa, which is the most userfriendly of all, though limited in terms of bells and whistles, is free download and has served me very well-have shared with tons of people..)
Am reading more about how graphics are made. And am trying Jasco Animation Shop3.
'phew' busy...
Will let you know what ends up being best for a slightly dim bulb,,,lol

I just got Jasc Animation shop (free trial) and havent even tried it out lol. Good luck!!

Regards
Teri

good luck to you too, let us all know what you think, and I will too.

Well I use Photoshop CS2, and I never heard of the other one. But if your looking to buy I really suggest Photoshop CS2 because it is a very good program with lots of features. You can do pratically anything with it!

Hi LadyEye,

I read your post re:Photoshop.

I have recently purchased CS2 and now would like to know if ti is necessary to go to an additional expense if I am going to create a flash site.

I hear FLASH 9 is the route to go but are there other options that will do the same thing without the expense and huge learning curve.

Regards
ROb (SA)

Here is an update of what I have discovered thus far:
I have Photoshop Elements, Paint.net, Jasco Animation Shop, and BMG (Beneton Movie Gif.),
My goal in the beginning was
1. to learn to make simple and then more complex animations
2. to animate portions of photographs
3. to merge photographs or parts of photographs with other photographs or other animations

And, I was looking for the most simple program to do that, the most user friendly one that didn't require knowledge too far where I am, which is just slightly above 'stome and chisel' ...

After messing around with the programs listed above, and a couple of others, here is what I think.

For drawing things, and putting together frames for animated gif files, for touching up photos on a pixel level, paint.net is a hands down winner. Great program, and I see there is a recommendation and lots of kudos on another thread for this.

For animations, both the Animation Shop and BMG are pretty easy, and both are user friendly. The 'help' associated with both isn't great, but it only took a few trial and error attempts to find out what I wanted to know.

Here is another recommendation, although I didn't start out investigating this. For general photo handling, organization, and most editing needs (up to repair, where you might want to manipulate or remove middle parts of a photo - use paint.net for this) I am definately sold on Picasa.

These programs: Picasa, BMG, and Paint.net are all FREE downloads, adn I find it slightly ironic thatlike them more than some others that I purchased, and will now gather dust..

Thanks to all who added their 2 cents about this, and in particular LadyEye, who gave me lots of ideas about what to investigate..
Enjoy.

Hi Liz,

Thanks so much for the detailed reply.

would you perhaps be able to help a little futher and provide me with some links that I may find these downloads.

Regards
Rob

Sure thing, sorry, meant to post them:

http://www.getpaint.net/index2.html

http://picasa.google.com/

http://software.benetonfilms.com/sof...ca42d1493d49de

There you go!

Thanks Liz.

Youre a star

Hi I use CS2 it is very useful for serious editing using Raw files.It is very useful for wildlife, sports photography as it allows a wider range of exposure changes post picture taking. Also has the faciltiy for adjustment top shadow, and highlight areas separately, not sure it offers a great deal more from an artistic point than Elements.
One thing I would really like to know if anyone has tried this, in CS2 you can select images and save them as a gallery, this provides reduced thumbnails and once you have opened a thumbnail fully you are able to cursor backwards and forwards without returning to the thumbnails - is it feasible to load this up to BV, if anyone has or knows how I would be interested in knowing.

Thanks Chris
www.norfolkbirding.com

Hi every one, HERE IS WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW :

the first question was what's the difference between photoshop and photoshop elements :

they are both a great programs for photo editing and special effects, the difference is each one of them contains some features which doesn't exist in the other, but they are really minor, if you will use elements, it's probably because you want to use kind of features which are limited - I recommend Photoshop CS2 for full work.

But no offence for those who want to use the free softwares to develop their web sites, but if you really want your business to grow in quality, you better swap to Adobe programs, they are powerful and easy to use.

TIP : if you want to create a logo, do never do it in a photo editing program, always use a vector based program like illustrator or corel draw.

For more help in design tips, I'm actually working on a tutorial section in my web site, it will launch soon.

Do you have trouble on programs and you don't want to get hurt, E-MAIL ME.

hehehehe, ACTUALY THIS IS WHAT YOU REALLY NEED TO KNOW,

I called a friend of mine and asked him to give me a specific answer about this issue, the answer was :

BUSINESS.

photoshop as we all know now is made in Adobe Suite, the cost is xxx$, so when you buy a photoshop only will cost you more than its price whitin the Suite, but when you buy the Element it will cost you 10 times less than photoshop.

There is no technique difference - Minor ones.
Still will repeat :

Do you have trouble on programs and you don't want to get hurt, E-MAIL ME.

Interesting. I suspected that all along.

As I said a couple of posts back, for most of my general photo editing needs I use Picasa. It offers extraordinarily simple, almost no-brainer photo editing tools, great for general needs. Although lots of programs offer some of the same things as Picasa, I kept coming back because it is sooo simple.

When I want to do more editing, or any drawing, I use paint.net, another free program discussed in great detail in other places on this forum.
I keep learning more about this tool, and I have yet to be stymied by it.

For animating I am using either BMG (free) or Animation Shop (minimal cost). They are different in some ways and each has features I like.

Using these tools I have been able to make some fun animated signatures, banners, and drawings, as well as enhancing photos, alittle morphing.. I am having a blast. I found these programs were surprisingly not hard to learn, just required alittle patience.
So there you go.
Oh, there are LOTS of other free drawing/animating/3D/special effects dowloads out there. I am trying out a couple and will chime in if I find some particular thing I like.
Maybe other people could do the same? This stuff is easier to learn when you can talk to someone who has been there..
Thanks to all, LadyEye in particular, who have helped me find things..

yeah, that's great

Actually, that softwares are really useful on making elements for a web site, but my only thing is, because I'm thinking big in the future for my online business and I will have design and advertisement business included, billboard and signage printing, and as I'm already working in an advertising field, Adobe software are mainly done for that, I mean Advertising agencies, studios, publishing companies, but looking at your web sites , you really don't need to complicate your life with adobe.

I like the annual festival one, hope to come for a visit and assist one day.

All the best.

Sounds all great Nite Producer ... can't wait to see what you are going to let us all in on ... perfect ...

Liz ... you are doing terrific, I saw what you did for CL ... that is way cool and most fitting too ... lmao ...

Go Girl!!

Hi Rob

Sorry, I didn't see your post until now about the flash ... I'm not an flash expert, but I do believe you need an additional program for that ... There are some around that aren't too too expensive ... Good Luck, we'll watch for your work ... sounds great.

Hi Liz,

If you want to play at; your microsoft program should come standard with Paint for you to paint with.

If you want to play with photos and images here is a link to an excellent freeware: www.irfanview.com

Photoshop is not a program to play with but for serious learners who really want to learn as it is going to dent your pocket.

But if you really want to look around the internet for an older version of photoshop ie Photoshop 4.0 or 5.0 which also has all an amateur will need to handle their photos.

Epson use to give a free CD of Photoshop 5.0 with every purchase of their printer.

The Photoshop improvements ends at 7.0 and now they have come up with CS2. You dont need CS2 Liz.

If you want to play with animation look around there are a lot of animation programs on the web.

www.xara.com has an affordable animation program which wont cost you much.

Try them out first before you buy.

Thanks for the suggestions, appreciated.
I am currently using Elements for some stuff, PIcassa for some stuff, Animation Shop and BMG for animations, and paint.net for other stuff. the paint shop tha come bundled with the windows program doesn't have much to play with; Paint.net is much more complete. (there is a great thread on this if you do the forum search)
I am having pretty good success making animations so far using the tools I mentioned, and am having a blast with doing small photo animations..
It's not nearly as hard as I thought it would be, but surely does require patience..

I jus wanted 2 say, photoshop is very expensive, I know, but it is WELL worth it, it is a simply amazing programme.

vodafreak