Hi yourself,
Here are my answers:
1) Pretty up to date
2) No! Very, sorry for that! Problem is that Elements is dumbed down. Actually I would go that far to say that Elements is a bad thing! There are some other affordable programs for the serious photographers.
Picture Window Pro ( http://dl-c.com/content/view/13/27/ )
or
Photoline 32 ( http://www.pl32.com/ )
3) The basic principles apply to Lightroom or Aperture. The basic principles are very important.
Unfortunately Photoshop CS 3 is the standard tool for photographers, I guess that if you are seriously involved with digital photography you need to invest in Photoshop CS. I'm not saying that Photoshop is better than anything else out there but it is the standard tool of the trade.
Yes, it is overpriced, it is hard to understand and so on. I agree on all that!
Best regards
Erik
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Erik,
Your reply to question number 2 borders on arrogance as well as ignorance. Dumbed down is hardly fair to an ingeneous program available for about $70. Even Jeff Schewe, my photoshop Guru of choice, has said on one of the videos that Elements is 70% of Photoshop. The DigitalDog, Andrew Rodney, again on this site, has said that in combination with Lightroom, Elements would certainly be adequate if not a viable choice.
With the guidance available in many books, my preference runs to Scott Kelby and his crew, Elements becomes a very workable program for anybody and especially a beginner. Another reference I've been noticing lately is a number of excellent British photo magazines that are heavy into Elements, I assume that has something to do with the price of Photoshop over there. I am and was a user of Elements exclusively until Adobe offered a one-time good deal to Elements/Lightroom users to get into CS3 for less than half price, so I went for it and will probably remain a Photoshop user until Lightroom just totally annihilates it.
It's very easy to appear superior to a noobie by foisting your knowledge of Photoshop upon him, and there are some pretty nifty tools there that don't exist in Elements, but in the right hands, Elements is also a pretty amazing tool!
I have Elements V (after 3 and 4), Lightroom and Photoshop CS3 and use them all. Frankly, the learning curve in Photoshop is very steep and a hinderence to a new guy when it should be about the image. I can't really speak to Aperture as I am a PC guy, but it was used in a workshop I attended and I can say unequivocaly that in the hands of somebody who knows how to use it, it is very impressive.
In answer to his original question, Camera to Print will remain viable for years to come. They discuss principles as well as specifics but mostly the sequence of events you must/should consider on your way to a fine print hanging on the wall. You can believe me that Camera to Print is a better bargain than anything else I have discussed in this diatribe. As a matter of fact, all of the videos so far with Michael and Jeff have, in my opinion at least, been very informative, fun to watch, and above all . . . great bargains.
I suppose we should tell him that regardless of how you get there, full retail or by special deals like I got, once into Photoshop, the upgrades are usually comparatively inexpensive.
Bill in WV
Elements V, Photoshop CS3, and Lightroom
