[critterdoc]

Would appreciate recommendations from anyone who has experience editing digital photos with both Photoshop Elements 3 and iPhoto 5. I'm attracted to the slider-based editing panels that each program appears to offer, but don't know enough about editing to judge which of the two offers the best array of easily accessible slider-based editing options for a non-pro user who is seeking a more intuitive way of cleaning up and enhancing photos than GraphicConverter or big Photoshop.

[Superchicken]

If all you're planning on doing is cropping, adjusting colours of the whole photo etc iPhoto 5 should be enough. PS Elements offers a fuller suite for things like touching up zits, etc. That said they're also good for pairing. IE Fix colour of photos in iPhoto then drag it onto Elements for advanced retouching. I would say PSE is a great option.