Elements or full photoshop for collage?

LG
Posted By
Lyn_Gall
Aug 29, 2004
Views
243
Replies
6
Status
Closed
Hi,

I want to create photo collages. Would photoshop elements be suficient for this? I’d prefer not to buy full photoshop if I don’t need it.
Just in case this is relevant, I use a G4 mac x 10.1

Thanks!
Lyn
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Allen_Wicks
Aug 29, 2004
It depends on how elaborate you want to get building collages. PS allows you to mask, a huge feature that justifies the entire cost if you might want to mask. Also, PSCS allows color matching that can be be a very, very big plus if you want to blend backgrounds. Download trial software and test.
SS
Susan_S.
Aug 29, 2004
IIRC, the latest version of photoshop, CS requires at least 10.2, while Elements 2 will run happily in 10.1.5 or 9.2 – so to run CS you will have to upgrade your operating system as well. While Elements doesn’t allow you to mask, you can get pretty close by "faking" masks using grouped layers. There are also downloads available that allow full masking and some curves ability to run in elements. Having said that CS is very much more flexible, and I’ve upgraded so that I can process RAW files, but Elements can create collages very satisfactorily, with maybe a little more effort than in CS. I’d repeat the advice to try out the trial downloads and compare.
WE
Wendy_E_Williams
Aug 29, 2004
Lyn,

A couple of questions for you:

Are you going to do your collages commercially or is it a hobby? and What type of collages do you want to do?

Elements can do quite a lot of things and it is likely that you will be able to do your collages in Elements although it may take longer … things like masks are available as add ons or as workarounds but do take longer to do. This means that if you are doing it commercially PS itself may be better option for you as you will be able to achieve the result quicker. Also, if you do require features like colour matching then PS will be the way forward for you as it is not available on Elements 2.

Allen’s suggestion of downloading both sets of software and trying them out is a good way of deciding.

If you want any more information on Photoshop Elements try the Elements forum:

<http://www.adobe.com/support/forums/main.html> then scroll down the screen until you see Photoshop Elements.

Wendy
NK
Neil_Keller
Aug 29, 2004
Both Photoshop Elements and Photoshop CS can be installed simulataneously on a computer, too.

Also consider that PE can be bought new for around $80-85; a small fraction of the cost of PS CS (and system upgrade). And you should have at least 1 GB RAM to take advantage of Photoshop — more if you can.

Neil
LG
Lyn_Gall
Aug 31, 2004
Thanks everyone. I’ve found this really helpful & can’t wait to download the trials & give it all a go.
Lyn
B
Buko
Aug 31, 2004
Lyn, remember, unless you update your system you won’t be able to run the photoshop demo.

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