Saw Elements on sale, a few questions...

[Nancy Moran G]

Hi,
I saw Elements 11 on sale for $@60 on Amazon. I DO want to buy this as my 1 st PP product. (Also Photmatix) My question is which format should I buy? I have an IPad 3, 64 gig. I also have a 3 yr old HP laptop.
I use the IPad more as it is easier, smaller etc. the laptop needs more room and I travel in our Rv, so it is tucked away sometimes.
I am NOT techno person. If it functions better on 1 device better, than that is what I should go with?
Any education is appreciated.
Nancy

[jcuknz]

Except for the very simplest of tasks you really need a desktop for editing, perhaps hard to find room for in an RV. Elements 11 would be a good starting point though my preference since I have been using it since almost I started is Paint Shop Pro and anything from X3 onwards would be completely adequate, more than adequate and probably to be found on Amazon ... the one I found for my notebook cost me $15 plus P&P which is normally used when away from home to make a backup of files, but I have not seen one for that price since.

But if you do not want to get too serious there are other programmes, some free, which will meet your needs. The only one I know of is Paint dot Net but others will suggest I'm sure My son has both Lightroom and Elements but the limiting factor for him is he only has a laptop [adobe]. Note PSP will not run on Adobe and maybe not P.N

When I got my notebook I made a soft cover for it as I have a sewing machine and skill for simple tasks

[dje]

Hi Nancy

As far as I'm aware, Photoshop Elements won't run on an iPad so you really have no choice but to buy the Windows version for your laptop. You can run Elements on a Mac of course but I think it's OS is different to the iPad. Elements 11 is not designed for a touch screen interface.

You can get a simple version of Photoshop called Photoshop Touch which will work on an iPad. It's about $10 I think. I have the Android version on my tablet and whilst it's OK, I wouldn't recommend it as a starting off product. I suggest you get to know Elements first.

Dave

[Nancy Moran G]

Thank you both for valuable info. I guess I gave away how techno challenged I am!
Nancy

[dabhand]

Nancy,

Just to get you used to playing with images on your laptop you could get Faststone - http://www.faststone.org/FSViewerDetail.htm - which is very basic but FREE - after which you may find it easier to move on to Elements or Paint Shop Pro.

steveb

[Nancy Moran G]

Thank you Steve, I will check that out.
Nancy

[xpatUSA]

A word of warning re: FastStone Viewer. My free version 4.6 does not embed profiles and if you edit a file that has one and 'save as' it will be stripped out.

Windows XP Pro SP3, FWIW

[rpcrowe]

Photoshop is the standard of the industry. Photoshop elements interface is very similar to that of Photoshop and it would be quite easy to advance from PSE to Photoshop is you would desire in the future.

[jcuknz]

But if you are not in the industry or tied to it in any way you simply do not need adobe unless you use Mac.

For you at your stage you could buy PSP from Version 8 onwards [ they are up to 16 these days, 'X6', 32 and 64 bit ] and be well on your way and maybe upgrade at some time in the future when you know more.

Although none of these programmes are easy to use until you know how ... you should find PSP much more freindly than PS .... I used to have both. The problem in all these discussions is that people tend to like what they started with ... in my case it was simply PSPv.PS and the latter was horendously expensive ... PSE had not arrived and when it did it was no better than the simple Adobe product it surplanted whereas PSP was/is comparable to PS but different.

The use of Photoshop is complicated these days by them going to 'cloud' for a monthly rental fee, fine for the professional but questionable for the amateur.

If you have the slightest intention of joining the industry you should go Adobe but there are numerous independant professionals using PSP who have not joined to the degree of requiring Adobe.

A quick check at Amazon found this link for $17<$30 for open or sealed box ...
http://www.amazon.com/Corel-Paint-Ph...=paintshop+pro
I bought this version for my notebook and couldn't load it until I got home from the States and found it little different to X4 already on my desktop. Paid about the same....
http://www.amazon.com/Corel-PaintSho...=paintshop+pro

[jcuknz]

I fell down on this ... my notebook only has an SD slot whereas laptops have DVD/CD slots. These programmes come on CD and it cost me nearly four times the programme cost to get it into the notebook