Does Photoshop Offer Artwork and Effects?

[Jerrilyn]

This question is for those of you who work both in Photoshop Elements and Photoshop CS. Like all of you, I feel that Photoshop Elements is just about the most important program I own. It ranks right up there with my Microsoft Suite. But, I've been playing with the idea of investing in Photoshop CS. A friend told me though, that the regular Photoshop doesn't offer the nice artwork and effects pallette that Elements does. Can someone shed some light on this and tell me what I stand to gain by such a big investment.

[Wendy]

Hi Jerrilyn ..

The Artwork & Effects is really aimed at Scrapbookers, although a lot of scrapbook people make their own pages rather than use the things in there.

Photoshop isn't aimed at that market so it doesn't have things like Photobook & Photo Collage.

What things do you use a lot in the Artwork ...

Wendy

[Jerrilyn]

Thanks for your reply, Wendy. I sometimes use under Photo Effects/Image Effects>Old Paper/Old Photo, Layer Style>Glass Buttons. And I also love the Artwork>Frames.

[Wendy]

Hi Jerrilyn ...

Whilst Photoshop doesn't have the Artworks ... it does have layer styles just like elements has, also all the filters etc.

Things like the old photo effects are really actions that have been added gthis was so that Elements can use them ... Photoshop is able to both creat and run actions so you can make your own or pick up these sort of things from various sites :)

Wendy

[kImages]

Jerrilyn - there are lots of actions, brushes, gradients, custom shapes etc. available in the Adobe Exchange and from 3rd party providers for PS3. Does PS3 have the Artwork and Effects pallette, no, but it does have tremendous power to allow you to build amazing artwork of your own making. So if you enjoy the whole journey from making the image to manipulating various "bits" to arrive at the final product then PS3 is another great tool.

Selling points for me were Bridge although now I understand PSE6 has the star rating capability too, the ability to make my own text paths, write my own actions (although I have returned to PSE5 for the Process Multiple Files functions of resizing and adding Watermark), auto align, built in Layer mask, smart objects, smart filters... OK enough already.

But really this is a very personal decision. You can download a 30 day trial version. There is definitely a learning curve so try before you buy.

[Jerrilyn]

Thanks, Wendy. It sounds like both programs are worthwhile, each in their own right.

[Jerrilyn]

Thanks so much, KImages. We were both typing at the same time. Then I was called away from my desk for the majority of the afternoon. Great info from both of you, and I appreciate your help.

[lsweeney]

I think the suggestion to dowload the free 30 day trial is a great one. That should let you play around a little with things and get a feel for what you're gaining in CS3 versus what you're missing from Elements.

I think you'll like the total control aspect of CS3 once you get used to it.