On Tue, 10 Jul 2007 12:33:40 -0700, stevendelapp DeleteThis @yahoo.com wrote:
>Am new to digital photography. My 1st major investment will be a
>digital camera with RAW capability. To date have tested a few but am
>still undecided.
>
>Also am a "total newbie" concerning PhotoShop but would like to start
>using Camera RAW from the beginning.
>
>Have checked Adobe's PhotoShop website and tried to compare Elements
>5 with CS3 and CS3 Extended but this is really difficult for a newbie
>to do. Would like to save some money starting out which is why am
>checking Elements.
>
>Am wondering if it is worthwhile to even learn Elements 5 or the std
>CS3 if I ultimately want to use CS3 Extended?
>
>Reviewing the comparison features am guessing that 32-bit HDR support
>may be important but it is difficult for me to tell the difference
>between basic and enhanced support forPhotoshop CS3 Photoshop CS3
>Extended. http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/compare/
>
>Am interested in any comments and suggestions.
>
>Thanks
>
>Steve
Hi Steve! Well you ask some good questions, but there is no one
good answer. The other answers I see posted are excellent, so I'll
just add one more opinion to them.
First is the camera.....if you are serious about photography, but
don't have the thousands to spend on a top rated digital SLR, then go
for something like a Canon Digital Rebel. They are under a thousand
dollars, and will let you get a good idea of how they work, plus give
you excellent pictures. You could go for the top models at $5000, but
by the time you learn all of the functions of it, it will be outdated,
and newer models will be out. Plus, the model you spent $5000 for
will probably have dropped to $3000.
As for Photoshop versus Elements, well, that's a tough one
because I've used both and seen what they can do. I took a class at
work that was supposed to be PhotoShop, but turned out to be Elements,
and during the class, I found that there were many things I couldn't
do in Elements that I could do in Photoshop. The thing is, I was
already familiar with Photoshop, and I used it extensively to restore
pictures. Trying to use Elements was like going backwards to me, but
if you've never used either one, then Elements would seem to be what
you need, since you wouldn't know it's limitations.
One thing I've told others over the years about
PhotoShop.....don't be intimidated by it. When you first install it
you will have all sorts of palettes displayed and they can look
daunting. The thing is, just use what you need with Photoshop. You
don't have to know how to use layers, histograms, etc. when you first
start out with it. If you just want to crop a picture and sharpen it,
then you just learn how to do that.
Once you feel comfortable with a few tools or filters, then you
can begin to explore other tools and filters. It can be a long, slow
process of learning, or, if you're really into it, it can be a fast
learning process. It's all up to you and your abilities.
That's how I learned PhotoShop....the slow process. When I first
installed PS (that was back with version 3), I was completely
overwhelmed by it, so I didn't use it. After hanging in the groups
and seeing what others were doing, I decided to try it again, using
the advice of others who said to only use what I needed.(sharpening,
cropping, etc.) After using it for a short period of time, I realized
that it wasn't this complicated, hard to use program. It was as easy
as I wanted it to be, or as complicated as I wanted it to be,
depending on how deep I wanted to get into it's functions.
What happens is that when you get familiar with the basic tools,
you will find that you want to explore some of the other tools. If
you're like me, you'll end up getting stuck trying to do something,
and you'll end up asking for help. When someone gives you help and
explains how to do it, you will find their explanation opens up a
whole new level of PS that you weren't aware of. This is what I enjoy
about PS....finding new things that I wasn't aware of.
So if you think that you'll eventually want to have the most
control over pictures, then Photoshop is the way to go.
Anyway, this is turning into a novel....sorry about that.
Whatever you decide on, good luck!
Talker
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