Photoshop Elements vs. Photoshop CS

[alb52]

i'm sure this has been hashed out somewhere, but i can't find it at the moment...

what are some of the big differences between Photoshop & PSCS (other than the price tag???)? if you've used both, which do you prefer & why?

TIA

[diannerigdon]

Well pse is great for the money, but pscs just has more muscle. The things I notice the most are the typing or brushing on a path, all of the controls you have with text - kerning and text boxes, also styles and brushes have quite a few more controls and are a bit easier to use and access. It's one of those things tho. When I was using pse I didn't think all the time about what it didn't have. But now if I had to go back to it, I'd really suffer. KWIM?

[Keely~B]

I used to have PS Elements 2, I only had it for a few months so it's difficult to say what's different with the upgrades etc. I really liked the program but I have no regrets about moving to the full Photoshop. If you aren't worried about the learning curve I don't think you can go wrong. I got a great deal on ebay, a legal copy for about half the price. You have to be careful but you can get PS for less.

[laurieg]

Amy-
I use PSCS, but learned PSE to produce video tuts.

It's very frustrating to go backwards LOL! There's nothing wrong with PSE, but some things cannot be done and some things are harder to do.

text on a path cannot be done- unless it's a circle, but technically it's not a path

aligning and distributing photos is soooooo much easier in pscs using the tools in the options bar and also the awesome guides, pse just has the grid

there are many more features in the layer palette of PSCS

drop shadows and other styles are more versatile in PSCS

more photo editing capabilities in PSCS- such as curves

lots more brush options in PSCS

masking is easier in PSCS- although you can kinda "cheat" by using an adjustment layer in PSE

as Dianne said, much more text options in PSCS although at least there is now a text box feature in PSE

all that being said, there *are* things that I found in PSE that I like- that aren't features in PSCS:
I like the undo/redo, new file, and open icons in PSE
I really like the cookie cutter tool for cropping a photo once it's in your LO- very cool!
Many like the photo organizer and photo bin in PSE, but I don't use those, just because I'm not used to using them in PSCS

I actually upgraded to PSCS from Photoshop 4, but I waited quite awhile before doing it- wow what a difference though!!! Quite awhile back, there was a deal to upgrade from PSE to PSCS, but I haven't seen it offered since. I do ocassionally see sale though. ;)

HTH :)

[mlpieters]

i've wanted to own pscs JUST to be able to do text on a path. sigh.

[jennv]

Amy--I downloaded the free 30-day trial version of pscs2 on a lark one day. It took a couple days of getting used to, but after that 30 days was over there was no way I was going back to pse4.0. I was able to purchase the "education" version, which gives you the full software just restrictions on use (like no commerical use) for $280. I'm not exactly sure of all the restrictions (maybe someone else has a better idea), but knew I would use it for my personal stuff so I wasn't too worried.

My 2 fav things are the aligning tools and text on a path. I like that it has a TON of stuff that I just haven't figured out yet. Feels like I have something to grow into!!

I do still use my pse4.0 sometimes, but feel that the pscs2 was worth EVERY penny.

[LDesjardin]

It probably depends on what you'll use it for, I found this article by Richard Lynch, creator of the Hidden Power books.

http://www.graphic-design.com/Photoshop/vs_elements.html

[KimChristensen]

Amy knowing what you do scrap wise, CS2 would ROCK for you. There is so much in terms of the way the layer pallete works, masking, etc that I CAN"T BELIEVE you are doing what you are doing without using CS2. IMO the way you scrap, the amount of work you do, etc. it would be worth the money.

[NicholeAnn]

I was wondering the same thing about the differences. Sounds like PCS is the program for me. Thanks!
NicholeAnn