[PJ G4]

I am about to get into digital photography. Which would be better for me Photoshop 7 or Photoshop Elements. I am using Panther. Thanks

[druber]

Depends what you want to do with the photos. Basic color correction, crops, etc., Elements will probably be fine. If money's no object, get Photoshop. It's certainly a more versatile tool, especially if you'd like to add text or combine images. There's no question that Photoshop has more tools and can get more done. The question is what do you want to do and how much you want to spend.

[sandandrew]

I've been dealing with this myself recently. I have an older version of PS (6.0) that's great, but won't run in OS X. So I've been using a copy of Elements in X.

I'd say if you're new to digital photography, try PS Elements. It really does about 95% of what you'll ever want (or at least, it does about 95% of what I want, and I've done PS stuff for years), and it's a fraction of the price. You can always spring for the full version later if you need it.

Good luck, and have fun.

[godzookie2k]

sam: why don't you just buy a pshop upgrade? same price as elements... give or take.

PJ: if your delivery platform is web, well basically the only difference between the two are heavy print related stuff. *if* you are planning on going print, or going to print eventually. or planning on doing heavy stuff with your photos, then stay with elements. why don't you download the demos and see which works best for what you do?

[zigzag]

Elements does 90% of what PS does for 10% of the price and is more than enough for a digital photo novice. Most people will never even use a fraction of what Elements can do.

The one cool thing PS has that Elements doesn't is the healing brush. But that isn't worth an extra $500 for a novice - you can do the same thing in Elements with just a little more effort.