Photoshop Elements?

fmw

No longer a newbie, moving up!
Joined
Sep 30, 2006
Messages
3,694
Reaction score
493
Website
www.foodieforums.com
I've been using Photoshop CS2 for years and years. It does everything I need except deal with modern raw files. I have to change. I don't rent software so the new Photoshop is out of the question. Editing photos online is out of the question because I have metered internet service. So I'm wondering if Elements will get the job done for me. My minimum requirements are:

1. crop and resize
2. clone stamp, spot healing and eraser
3. image>adjustments>levels, brightness/contrast, hue/saturation, shadow/highlight
4. image>rotate canvas
5. file>automate>photomerge
6. Ability to paste one image over another ctrl C,A,V.

Can elements do all of things at a minimum? If not, what can?
 
Last edited:
What about lightroom 5 - I believe that is still sold as stand alone software to use fully out of the box with no subscription and it should do most of what you need.

Another option would be to consider using GIMP - powerful if more tricky to use than Photoshop.

Elements can do a lot but often has odd shortfallings; however some things you can get by using shortcut key-combinations same as full photoshop and there are a legion of 3rd party addons that can expand basic elements.
 
You don't want to use Elements for raw file conversion. So solve that problem with alternative software and just keep using CS2. If you're on a WIN system you can download the free raw converter Raw Therapee. If on a MAC the same as well as DarkTable. Both free and both excellent.

If you want to spend some money do as Overread suggested and get the stand alone version of LR5.

Joe
 
I use UFRaw as a RAW converter. It can be set up to feed into your Photoshop CS at the end of the RAW conversion.
 
My old Windows computer is running LR and CS4 (I think that is now a free download from Adobe - and unsupported). So RAW files are initially opened in LR and then in LR can send to PS and then back to LR.

On my Mac I am running LR (5.6 standalone) and of course recently installed the now free NIK software and have the On1 program for layers. The NIK and On1 are usually opened from LR with the Edit-In option. On1 can also be used by itself, but most the time I run everything through LR.

At some point I will move to the Creative Cloud option for LR and that will add PS to my Mac.
 
Keep your old CS2. Buy NOT RENT Lr5/6. It will do 95% of what you want, opens all RAW files, and it will then allow you to edit in your CS2.
 
Thanks guys. I downloaded the raw therapee and I'll spend some time figuring out how to use it. I appreciate the input. At least with PS I don't have to learn a new program.
 
I found yet another free option from Adobe. I downloaded a free converter that reads all the modern raw formats and converts them to an Adobe DNG file that can be used by my old Photoshop. I can edit the DNG file in Photoshop and/or convert it to yet another format. I haven't used it yet but I assume it will work in Bridge as well. The raw therapee converts to TIFF or PNG. The DNG file is what I'm used to for raw editing.

Thanks for the input.
 
Oddly, the Adobe converter doesn't recognize the NEF files. Raw Therapee works just fine but doesn't produce a DNG file and is fussy to use. Since Lightroom is becoming rentalware I don't want to be stuck with another unsupported product from Adobe.

I downloaded the PS Elements trial. It works just fine and does about what my version of Bridge does with the NEF file. It converts to a 16 bit DNG file which can be edited in Photoshop. I found it with the video editor included for $99 and ordered it. Despite its missing some functionality I think it will work fine for me. The converter would have been ideal if it had worked.
 

Most reactions

Back
Top