Which Photoshop to buy?

[Rascal]

Sorry if there is a thread on this alrdy but I've been thinking about buying Photoshop and was wondering which one to get. The website has Photoshop CS5 or Photoshop Elements 10 with a huge price difference on each one. I'm looking for feedback on what exactly the difference is between them.(Do they have the same features, Which do you use, Does it matter etc) Thanks in advance

[Steel General]

IIRC Elements is a 'stripped down' version (Photoshop Lite if you will), if you can afford the real version then I'd go with that.

If money is a concern then you may want to look at the GIMP. It's free, has great support and many of the members here use it as well..

[jfrazierjr]

Rascal, if you are not a serious artist already or plan to be, I would suggest the following.

1. Start with some free software first
   
   • Gimp is my choice
   • Paint.Net has most of the features.
   • Neither of the above have all of the features of PS(Gimp being closer), but as they are free I would still suggest either as a first choice to try before you buy. Also note that at least GIMP has some things that PS DOES NOT, out of the box(such as full color brushes and must better render clouds(but.. there is also a free clouds plugin for GIMP that is 100 times better than the GIMP built in one....)
   
   
2. A tablet IMHO would be a far wiser first purchase(or add on if you have the money for both)
3. Stay away from Elements totally... it's lack of layer support is way to limiting IMO
4. If you or any of your immediate family is a Student, you can qualify for the Student Discount and get the Full PS for about 70% less

[Rascal]

Thanks to u both for the info! I am a student and didn't know about the discount so hopefully I can get a good deal. I'll tinker around with GIMP until I get some money