PhotoShop Elements 8 questions before buying

[Tumbleweed666]

Thinking of buying E8 (I don't have any previous version) for general editing use,and also for some specific tasks, in particular to start with 'fixing up' a bunch of scanned in photos
- fix marks on old (60+ years) b&w photos
- attempt to enhance the contrast of faded pictures
- fix faded colour photos (some of these are worse than b&w photos 2x-3x their age!)
- adjust colours - can I click and say 'this is blue sky' or 'this is green grass' and get everything else altered accordingly?
- remove noise/grain (within reason obviously)

I also like some of the other stuff that I have seen in E8, such as removing space between objects in photos, HDR, perspective correction (IIRC?) and also removing people from a scene if you have several photos of it.

Any other apps I should be looking at? I don't really want to go the whole 'gimp' super expert route. I tried ?seashore' but wasnt impressed. As a relatively infrequent user I'd rather have something that was task oriented with wizards, than a gimp type app that can do everything as long as you study it for longer than it takes to get a quantum physics degree.

I'm not too bothered about free/non free as long as it does the job, but dont really want to pay more than the price of PSE8. Aperture, as I recall, is expensive and also unless you pay for all the (numerous) add-ons, doesn't do a whole lot.

I'm also a little surprised I havent seen much discussion about Elements 8 here. Is that because its too new and also most folks who'd use it dont think its worth the upgrade price? Or does it suck?

 

[ChrisA]

Thinking of buying E8 (I don't have any previous version) for general editing use,and also for some specific tasks, in particular to start with 'fixing up' a bunch of scanned in photos

Photoshop Elements (any recent version) has almost everything a photographer needs. It will do what you want. But you will have to learn how to use it. Try some of the video tutorials. Any photo editor will require to to learn basic skills like selections and masks

 

[SelfMadeCelo]

I would try out the free trial and see if it does everything you're looking for http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshopelmac/

 

[mtbdudex]

I have 13 days left with my free trial of PS8, I own PS6.

I just saw a Costco add for $49.99, here you go
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11495740&whse=BC&Ne=4000000&eCat=BC|84|20522&N=4001503&Mo=109&No=2&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&cat=20522&Ns=P_Price|1||P_SignDesc1〈=en-US&Sp=C&topnav=

[edit]
I decided to buy PSE8, total $54.79 with Mich tax, delivered in 2-3 days.

At this time I don't have $299 for the full Adobe CS4 (I get that price with my 2nd grade daughter ed discount), I rather put the $$$ into a new lens for now.

 

[AlaskaMoose]

Just be aware that PSE8 is not compatible with older Macs (like the one I have). It's compatible with Intel Macs only.

 

[mtbdudex]

Just be aware that PSE8 is not compatible with older Macs (like the one I have). It's compatible with Intel Macs only.

You 17" iMac is G3 or G4? I had 17" G4 1Ghz, that machine lasted many-many years, and your's still going! Sweet.

 

[AlaskaMoose]

You 17" iMac is G3 or G4? I had 17" G4 1Ghz, that machine lasted many-many years, and your's still going! Sweet.

Mine is a G5 with a 1.8 GHz PPC. Have never had a single problem with it; no crashes, not hot flashes, and so forth. I replaced the hard drive with a 500GB one because I needed more room for photos, and that was it. Every Mac I have purchased have lasted quite a lot of years, too.

 

[akdj]

Photoshop Elements 8 is an excellent program. I use CS3/4 PS on the main workstation, but my wife is getting into photography and post work much more these past 6 months. Just bought her a copy for her MBP a couple of weeks ago and I am VERY impressed. So is she. Intuitive, easy to learn, well thought out and VERY powerful for a hundred bucks (or much less...bummed I did't snag that Costco deal)

As far as $100 programs, I'm not sure you can match it's power and support (tons of excellent mini lessons on adobe's site)

Highly recommended!

J

 

[Elbert C]

I have 13 days left with my free trial of PS8, I own PS6.

I just saw a Costco add for $49.99, here you go
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11495740&whse=BC&Ne=4000000&eCat=BC|84|20522&N=4001503&Mo=109&No=2&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&cat=20522&Ns=P_Price|1||P_SignDesc1〈=en-US&Sp=C&topnav=

[edit]
I decided to buy PSE8, total $54.79 with Mich tax, delivered in 2-3 days.

At this time I don't have $299 for the full Adobe CS4 (I get that price with my 2nd grade daughter ed discount), I rather put the $$$ into a new lens for now.

Did you look at the system requirements for PSE 8 that you linked to?
Just wondering.

 

[mtbdudex]

Did you look at the system requirements for PSE 8 that you linked to?
Just wondering.

Talk about egg on my face, posting a link to a windows software package in a Mac forum Good catch!

The $30 instant off is available at other places, I found costco by search.

[edit]
I got the costco coupons in the mail late last week, it had PC/Mac version in that, so I assumed online both were available, looks like only Windows version online, go to store for Mac version.

Including shipping $70 to your door.
http://www.macmall.com/s?rch&q=photoshop%20elements&includeImage=true

 

[obibobi]

I pre-ordered it and got it when it was released.
I think it is very good for an advanced amateur like me, I haven't found anything I miss from PS CS4 which I could use at my previous workplace.

EXCEPT for one thing:
In CS4 I can go to Image, Image Size and have the option to change the picture to any pixelsize, but in PSE8 the steps are longer:
Image, Resize, Image Size …
and when I try to change the document size the options are percent, inches, cm, mm, points, picas and columns, BUT NOT pixels.
Maybe it's me being an amateur, but this has been a part of my workflow for a long time, so I don't know how to do the things I want as quick as I'm used to.

There is another thing that is strange but you can modify easily, keyboard shortcut to zoom in, "cmd + =" which is impossible when your working on a laptop keyboard and absolutely illogical.
"cmd + +" should be default as in every other application.
If "cmd + -" is zoom out, why use = ?