There are many online tutorials that are very good for learning the basics of most programs, then you just have to experiment to see what works for you. I personally prefer using Bridge and Photoshop but obviously many prefer the Lightroom workflow and LR can be purchased as a standalone program. Long time Elements users would disagree but may not know what they are missing.ĭepending on your aspirations and budget ultimately you would be better off learning your way around Photoshop or Lightroom. The raw converter options are quite truncated in Elements, at least the last version I looked at which would be a year ago (they seem to come out with a new one every 6 months). To be honest, having spent so many years with Photoshop I find Elements nearly unusable because I feel handcuffed by what you cannot do, the desktop and emphasis on automatic adjustments. It is not Photoshop but if you learn the ropes it is more capable than Elements in my experience. If I could choose only one I would choose Paintshop Pro.

If you are shooting raw I found Paintshop Pro inherently more capable than Photoshop Elements but it uses a somewhat different paradigm than Adobe products.

Jpegs have little room for massaging pixels. In truth if you are shooting jpegs there is little to be gained by anything other than the software that came with your camera. There is a learning curve for all complex software.

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