Is Photoshop Elements good enough?

In light of Adobe's recent release of Photoshop CS3, many readers are wondering whether they need to spend upwards of $650 for the new program. Of course, if you've already got Photoshop CS2, the $195 upgrade is something of a no-brainer.

But what if you're considering buying your first editing program? Should you spring for the full monty and buy Photoshop? Or is Photoshop's little brother, Photoshop Elements, good enough?

Let's cut to the chase: for most of you, Photoshop Elements is more than good enough. It's great.

Understanding the product

So what is Elements and what is Photoshop, and what's the difference? On the surface, Photoshop Elements 5.0 is a reduced functionality version of the full Photoshop program. But it's not as much Photoshop Lite as it is a program designed and tuned for camera enthusiasts rather than graphics professionals.

With prices starting at $79, it's also a heck of a lot cheaper.

The basic Photoshop Elements program also contains Photoshop Album, which is a nice image organizer. Where things start to get really interesting, though, is if you buy the Photoshop Elements/Premiere Elements bundle.

For those of you interested in motion video, Premiere is, well, the premiere video editing program out there, designed for professional video editors. Premiere Elements is a very strong video editing program, but it, too is optimized for camera enthusiasts rather than people who make their living editing video.

The reason I said this starts to get interesting is that the bundle, which costs $149, is a complete end-to-end solution for managing your photos and your video. Plus, the combination gives you a few interesting features not available in each program separately. Figure A, provided by Adobe, summarizes those added features:

If you ever have an interest in producing DVDs, you should undoubtedly get the bundle.

What's missing?

I'm often asked what's missing from Photoshop Elements that's in Photoshop. Let me start by answering it this way. You could get a very nice digital camera, a pretty nice digital camcorder, Photoshop Elements, Photoshop Album, Premiere Elements, and a DVD burner for just about the amount you'd pay for the full Photoshop.

But if you're concerned about features, About.com lists the following features as those that are in Photoshop that aren't in Photoshop Elements:

• CMYK and LAB color modes
• More tools and features that work with high-bit (16-bit and 32-bit) images
• Combine multiple exposures to create high dynamic range (HDR) images
• Channels Palette
• Recording custom Actions (for batch processing)
• Adjustments: Color Balance, Match Color
• Layer Masks, Layer Comps, and Quick Mask mode
• Smart Objects, Smart Guides
• Lens Blur Filter
• Vanishing Point Tool
• Pen tool and paths palette
• Some adjustment layers (curves, color balance, selective color, channel mixer)
• Editing History Log
• Text on a path, advanced text formatting
• Advanced Layer Style manipulation
• Advanced Color Management
• Advanced Web features and ImageReady (rollovers, slicing)
• Customizable tool presets, keyboard shortcuts, and menus
• In the features and tools that are shared, the Photoshop version usually offers more advanced options for fine tuning and control.

I sometimes use Elements and I sometimes use the full Photoshop. Because we do animated Web ads, I couldn't live without ImageReady and I often use adjustement layers. But most people I've talked who don't do graphics work for a living never use any of the features above.

Wrap-up

We are huge fans of Photoshop Elements and recommend it to most people looking for an image editing solution. We have one minor beef with some of the background software the program installs on your computer (see "Permanently turning off the automatic Adobe Photo Downloader"), but otherwise are unreservedly impressed with the product.

We give the Photoshop Elements/Premiere Elements bundle (and Photoshop Elements alone) a picturesque four out of five.