Which version: Elements or CS ?

BL
Posted By
Brett_Laker
Mar 4, 2004
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129
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7
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I am new to Digital Imaging but will be scanning medium format black and white negative material to the drive. My requirements are I guess fairly simple as far as any manipulation is required, as follows: moderate tonal correction, moderate contrast correction, some simple perspective correction(the usual corrections that can be made in a traditional darkroom). I will then want to output using quadtone process to art papers. I use a mac running OSX.

Can I get by with Photoshop Elements or do I need to go the whole hog? (Please excuse my basic questions, but as I said, I am new to digital imaging.)

Thank you very much for any help or ideas that you may be able to offer me.

Best regards

Brett Laker
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Paul Riemerman
Mar 4, 2004
I used to do quite a bit of traditional darkroom work, and I never learned of a way to do any perspective correction except with a tilt and shift lens on the original camera. I have PS 5.0 LE, but haven’t found any perspective correction features in it. Anybody feel free to correct me if I’ve missed them.

Paul Riemerman

wrote in message
I am new to Digital Imaging but will be scanning medium format black and white negative material to the drive. My requirements are I guess fairly simple as far as any manipulation is required, as follows: moderate tonal correction, moderate contrast correction, some simple perspective correction(the usual corrections that can be made in a traditional darkroom). I will then want to output using quadtone process to art papers. I use a mac running OSX.

Can I get by with Photoshop Elements or do I need to go the whole hog? (Please excuse my basic questions, but as I said, I am new to digital imaging.)

Thank you very much for any help or ideas that you may be able to offer me.

Best regards

Brett Laker
LK
Leen_Koper
Mar 4, 2004
Brett, I suggest you start with Elements. You can always switch to CS later and, AFAIK with a rebate that is higher than the cost of Elements.
You can do anything you like in Elements, probably just only without quadtone, but no doubt there is someone on this forum that knows a workaround to solve this problem.

Recently I started printing on Hahnemühle German Etching fine art paper and it is absolutely gorgeous!

Leen
R
RobertHJones
Mar 4, 2004
Brett,

What will you be using to do your quadtone printing?

Elements is more than adequate to handle all your correction and manipulation needs. The only area where there may be an issue is the quadtone printing.

Do you have a specific quadtone system in mind? With some, you have to play around with adjustments in the CMYK color channels (absent in Elements). Others, have custom print drivers but you may need to use full photoshop features (Cone’s piezo system, for example, comes with a custom driver but uses the full photoshop’s custom dot gain control to fine tune the monitor calibration for wysiwyg viewing). check your target quadtone printing system to see what it’s specific requirements are.

I guess it comes down to $$. If you can afford the $1000 US for the Cone CIS piezo setup and the cost of a dedicated printer, I guess you can afford the full photoshop.

You can get high quality b&w prints through other systems. Maybe someone here that does high end b&w printing can weigh in with an opinion or suggestions. I don’t consider this to be my area of expertise.

Bob
BL
Brett_Laker
Mar 6, 2004
To Bob and Leen

Thank you very much for your replies-much appreciated.

As I said I am new to digital imaging and I have read only a handful of books on the subject. One of the books that I read (Adobe Photoshop for Photographers, Martin evening) mentioned the Quadtone process. I liked the tonality of the examples shown in the book and felt that it would suit the type of work that I do. This is the extent to which I am familiar wth Quadtone!

Recently I have been gradually changing the way I work. I have moved from a pc to a mac. The next stage is acquiring a scanner to scan in the 6X6 B&W negs. Then I have to edit them. This is where i came into this forum asking about whether i should go with Elements or CS. So there is the background to my original query.

Bob, thank you for your advise that I could always upgrade to the CS later. Thank you also for your advise on printing, and I wish you were right when you said that if I could affoRD 1000 dollars for the Cone system I could afford the cost of full photoshop! It seems that it may make more sense to buy the full version so that I dont have to make addtional changes later in the day.

Best regards

Brett Laker
MM
Mac_McDougald
Mar 6, 2004
On the third hand (you do have three, yes?), 30 bucks or so for Element isn’t much of an investement and:
1. you may find that’s all you ever need
2. efforts learning Elements are not wasted, as can be applied directly to full PS if you go with that.

Mac
JF
Jodi_Frye
Mar 6, 2004
Mac doesn’t want you to spend your money…I on the other hand (fourth )think you should spend it…send us all a copy of CS while you are at it ! 🙂
LK
Leen_Koper
Mar 7, 2004
Brett, I have met Martin Evening on a seminar. He is an extremely nice guy, but as soon as he starts talking about Photoshop, allow yourself about 5 minutes and leave.
This man has such an extended knowledge and speaks on only one continuous tone, you really have to be a guru yourself to stay tuned to his wavelength.

Worst thing, he seems to know but cannot help it. What is common knowledge to him, is boring magic to others. 😉

Leen

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