Hi there... i really need to stay offline tonight as i have a ton of work to do, but i had a few minutes and i've been playing with PSE and finding all sorts of fun features i thought only existed in the full photoshop... so, two questions
1. what does the full PS have that PSE doesn't? i'm curious!
2. can someone recommend a book on PSE that explains all the features? i have a decentish book that tells you how to use the general ones for pretty basic stuff (portraiture etc.), but i'm curious about what one can do in terms of photomanipulation... i know there are tons of youtube videos, and that's great if i want to learn how to do something specific, but i'm thinking of something that's more of a reference tool... i.e.: suppose i need to add a lighting effect, what are the options, how do they work, etc...
At my school they used a book called I've got a human in my throat where it gives you step-by-step photoshop tutorials. If we finished our digital imaging class projects early we could do a tutorial for extra credit, so I always had the book out. I found it really helpful and it's from the website Worth1000 where I used to do competitions (its retired now) Here's the link on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Ive-Got-Human-Throat-Delusions/dp/1598630709
Lots and lots of things most photographers couldn't care less about. Here's a few things some photographers might care about:
1. PSE doesn't include Adobe Bridge, an organisational tool that has some similarities with Lightroom's library function. (If you have PSE and Lightroom, you probably aren't going to miss Bridge).
2. The Adobe Camera Raw plugin has a number of significant functions omitted, such as lens corrections, spot removal, adjustment brushes and graduated filters. (If you have PSE and Lightroom, you probably aren't going to use the Adobe Camera Raw plugin, as the Develop module in Lightroom gives you the 'full-fat' Adobe Camera Raw controls).
3. PSE doesn't support 16-bit workflows. This means that you are limited to making adjustments in 8-bit mode, which can introduce banding, noise and other artifacts much more easily if significant and/or multiple adjustments are made (multiple levels/curves adjustment layers, etc.)
4. PSE doesn't support Smart Objects. Smart Objects allow you to go back and edit a filter after it's been applied (so if you discover after doing a whole bunch of additional steps that you want to change how your Silver Efex Pro filter settings were set, you can do so).
5. PSE doesn't support Lab colour mode, an alternative to RGB that can be used as an advanced method of combating noise in an image (as well as various other neat tricks -- Lab can do crazy things like colour replacement really easily).
6. PSE doesn't have the channels panel, making doing channels-based selections (e.g. selecting all the blue elements in a photo) more difficult, and limit the ability to store layer masks outside of an active layer.
7. PSE has more limited HDR image and panoramic support. (Although Photoshop's support of these isn't much to write home about...)
There's a whole bunch more stuff (Photoshop has much better vector tools than Elements, so for creating logos etc. it's got a lot more useful function, the extended version of PS can do 3D graphics, etc.), but for photographers, those kinds of things are rarely a big deal. There's also quite likely to be some things I've forgotten!
@abirkill tx Alexis... really helpful (as always!)... i use LR5 along with PSE, so looks like lots of the PS features wouldn't be useful... and i don't do HDR and rarely play with panos... the 8bit vs. 16bit thing has messed me up some... i find exporting direct to PSE from LR5 kind of pointless at the moment (or maybe i'm missing something) because it seems you have to lose a lot of the data anyway... but i think there are lots of aspects of PSE i have yet to explore so i'll likely stick with it for a while yet...
@ryanarra2@northy Thanks Northy for posting the questions and huge thanks to you, Maddie, for the link to the book and the website. Have ordered the book and think I am going to spend many an hour looking at the fantastic work on Worth1000.
@northy There are various plugins you can use to extend PSE functionality, e.g. "Grant's Tools" adds channels (it's what I use for IR red-blue channel swapping); Elements XXL gives smart object support & a lot more.
Good thread - thanks, all!
I've been an Elements user since Version 3 (I think) but I can't easily afford Photoshop and one of these days Windows is going to stop supporting Adobe Elements 8. I recently bought 11 when they put the download on sale but the new Organizer workspace was so uncongenial to me that I returned it. I use a LOT of keywords to sort so I need that right hand pane free and clear, and I don't see why Elements couldn't have left the caption and keyword tags in the blank space under the photo instead of using up a corner of that valuable real estate.
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1. PSE doesn't include Adobe Bridge, an organisational tool that has some similarities with Lightroom's library function. (If you have PSE and Lightroom, you probably aren't going to miss Bridge).
2. The Adobe Camera Raw plugin has a number of significant functions omitted, such as lens corrections, spot removal, adjustment brushes and graduated filters. (If you have PSE and Lightroom, you probably aren't going to use the Adobe Camera Raw plugin, as the Develop module in Lightroom gives you the 'full-fat' Adobe Camera Raw controls).
3. PSE doesn't support 16-bit workflows. This means that you are limited to making adjustments in 8-bit mode, which can introduce banding, noise and other artifacts much more easily if significant and/or multiple adjustments are made (multiple levels/curves adjustment layers, etc.)
4. PSE doesn't support Smart Objects. Smart Objects allow you to go back and edit a filter after it's been applied (so if you discover after doing a whole bunch of additional steps that you want to change how your Silver Efex Pro filter settings were set, you can do so).
5. PSE doesn't support Lab colour mode, an alternative to RGB that can be used as an advanced method of combating noise in an image (as well as various other neat tricks -- Lab can do crazy things like colour replacement really easily).
6. PSE doesn't have the channels panel, making doing channels-based selections (e.g. selecting all the blue elements in a photo) more difficult, and limit the ability to store layer masks outside of an active layer.
7. PSE has more limited HDR image and panoramic support. (Although Photoshop's support of these isn't much to write home about...)
There's a whole bunch more stuff (Photoshop has much better vector tools than Elements, so for creating logos etc. it's got a lot more useful function, the extended version of PS can do 3D graphics, etc.), but for photographers, those kinds of things are rarely a big deal. There's also quite likely to be some things I've forgotten!
However, I have moved from PSE to Zoner Photo Studio 16. It seems to be the best of PS and LR in one program and much easier to use.
I've been an Elements user since Version 3 (I think) but I can't easily afford Photoshop and one of these days Windows is going to stop supporting Adobe Elements 8. I recently bought 11 when they put the download on sale but the new Organizer workspace was so uncongenial to me that I returned it. I use a LOT of keywords to sort so I need that right hand pane free and clear, and I don't see why Elements couldn't have left the caption and keyword tags in the blank space under the photo instead of using up a corner of that valuable real estate.