I’m not a heavy Photoshop user but I do use it for regularly for things like retouching, cloning, cropping, re-sizing, watermarking, batching, running actions and working with templates such as those by “the album café” or “focused by WHCC.”
I currently use Photoshop CS2 and the time has come for me to consider upgrading. I’m just wondering if I can get by with Photoshop Elements instead.

Nichole,
the only way of knowing that without actually knowing all the features of CS2 that you use is to have you get a demo version of Elements and use it for a while. If it meets all your needs, then it's an excellent value. If it doesn't, at least you'll know. Keep in mind that you can upgrade from CS2 to CS5 at a pretty decent discount over the full price of PhotoShop so you have to consider the features/price relationships. Good luck.

Jim

Thanks, I just downloaded the 30-day trial for PSE but since it does not easily support actions I don't think it's going to be an option for me. I'll play with it for a day or two and see. I'm also very interested in the content aware feature of CS5.

You are right about the upgrade. But the copy of CS2 that I am currently using is actually licensed to a company that I use to work for. (However, I have the serial number and disk). I had been wonder if I could still upgrade or if I would have to pay the full amount.

Point to ponder.

1. If your a photoshop user and use masks, actions, layers, and other tools that are normal to a moderate workflow, elements will not make you happy.

2. If you need a less expensive copy of Adobe products and are a student or teacher you can order from Academic Superstore (just Google them) for a reduced cost.

3. If your neither, you can take a course at a CC and qualify.

Just some ideas for ya.

Roman

Thanks Roman. I can tell already that I will not be happy with PSE. I am very much use to the workflow of CS.

But I can see where I would recommend PSE to someone like my mom.

I was curious, never used it before, had to know. Now I know.

I'm still wondering if my current copy can be upgraded or perhaps I can get a single user licencee student edition.

Try the upgrade. I have found them to be very reasonable. Call'em
an ask. Better to have features that you don't need than to miss those you do need.

So I decided to try the upgrade and purchased the download. It requires that I enter my old registration key from CS2, which is a valid key but for some the installer cannot verify that CS2 is actually on my machine. Unfortunately Adobe Tec. Support is down until Monday. Hopefully they can fix the error for me so I can install CS5 or I hope that they will at least credit my money back if this is not an option that I can use.

Is this a Windows CS2 application or Mac?

Jim

It's for Windows, I'm running Windows 7.

This whole situation is kind of funny. See, I purchased a new laptop back in August to replace my 5 year old desktop. I was running older software, some of it 10+ years from my college days. So I've been slowly upgrading my programs. I think I've spent more money on software upgrades then I actually did on the laptop.

Somebody else will probably have to help you since we're currently entirely Mac but when you upgrade the Mac software, the programs have to be in the Applications Folder for the upgrader to "see" them. Not sure if that's the case with Windows machines.

Good luck,

Jim