Let me start by saying that photography is purely a hobby for me. I would like to get your thoughts on Elements 10 to start some post processing.....other than the "free programs".
Photoshop Elements is an excellent, cost-effective basic program for photo processing. Version 10 will probably do everything you need, other than processing that requires advanced masking techniques.
I've heard that Version 11 may be just around the corner (end of September), so you may want to hold off making the purchase for a few more weeks.
Ele10 has most of the features you will want . Its now much closer to the full photoshop.
But another program that is worth a look is LIGHTROOM 4 . While not a replacement for photoshop it cores a lot of what you need to do with an image. Most users of Lightroom report that they use it for about 95% of what they do.
I would get lr4 now and photoshop elements later (probably when 11 comes out) . They work hand in hand so it's worth having both.
Lightroom is more capable for dealing with raw images than jpg images. It does amazing things with raw because it does the conversions as well as the editing, and yet no matter how often you tweak the images it does not produce a new file with those tweaks unless or until you specifically export one. This can save heaps of storage space and also reduces the risk of changing an original forever instead of changing a copy of the original.
The image management features are well worthwhile although the better features take some initial effort from you before they can save you time in searching for the right images later on. Luckily you can apply this effort progressively and selectively so that it need not be done all at once nor to every image; you can begin with the images that you are most likely to want to find later on.
Even if you get PSE it is worthwhile to get Lr too but Lr will do more of what you need most of the time than PSE or even Photoshop.
Thanks guys...I don't know why I hadn't looked at LR4......I knew I had seen lots on here about it but I guess I thought it was more of a professional program. It looks like I will probably go with LR4 and then if needed add Elements.
I use Elements 9 (Elements 10 did not have anything new that I needed). With it you can do most everything an amateur would want to do. Elements+ (http://elementsplus.net/) is a very good add on program also.The disadvantage is 8 bit instead of 16 bit processing if that is a consideration for you.
Bob
Years ago when I wanted a better photo editing and cataloging solution I was confused about what to get. Here's what I decided on and I've been very happy with my choice.
I got Lightroom for photo cataloging, importing, etc. It can do quite a bit of editing also, but it has limitations. I also have Elements which is great for more extended editing like merging photos, taking a person out of a photo, making a collage, etc. The two complement each other very well.
