So confused......

[joyful]

I am trying to decide what photoshop to purchase but there is so many of them. What would be the best one to purchase???:confused:

[TheWengler]

Well what do you want to be able to do? I use Elements 5 and it works well for me. Sometimes I wish I had Lightroom as it's much easier to process a large number of files. Adobe has trials for them too if you want to take them for a spin.

[fotogmarc]

Agreed with the 30 day trial, it'll give you a chance to see what you use and don't need. The older versions of elements will save you some money. I've heard great things about lightroom, I just haven't convinced myself to spend that kind of money. Be sure to check all of the software you received with your camera and printer, some them have PSE included.

[D Thompson]

It depends on how much you'd like to spend and what you need to do with it. Photoshop Elements will do for most people and is an easy price. Lightroom is a little higher and powerful. Photoshop CS4 is expensive, costly, and takes a while to learn, but it is the best. They all have trials and I would suggest starting with the Elements trial. If it does everything you need then stay with it.

[mattdm]

I am trying to decide what photoshop to purchase but there is so many of them. What would be the best one to purchase???:confused:

Or use the GNU Image Manipulation Program. Open source software, available at no cost.

http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/stable.html

[photogreen]

Or use the GNU Image Manipulation Program. Open source software, available at no cost.

http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/stable.html

GIMP is a great tool. The only thing Photoshop is used to be significantly better is printing (with all the profiles and stuff). If you're not in to it (yet) GIMP might work just fine for you. Try it out.
I personally know a couple of designers that say that GIMP is actually better than Photoshop :)
Hope this helps.