Adobe Elements 8???

[photo_chick]

I have read some of your other posts on this subject and can see where you are coming from. As we get down to the pixel level it is possible to make just about any change to a JPG that we wish. This includes changing or adding things that were not even there, as an example see Bert Monroy's works that did not use a camera at all. As you note, it is "much, much, much easier" with a RAW file. After creating an image purely in PhotoShop I might even add a few more "much"es in there!

I think a lot of it comes down to how you approach images, too. Photographers look at an image differently than graphics type people (graphic designers, game designers, etc). I see contrast, color, exposure and a limitation of working with what's there as a photographer but the graphics people I know just see pixels and values that they can make whatever they want. And those guys are way faster at photoshop than I am, so what would take me hours to do to a jpeg they can do in minutes. It's funny, you hand some of those graphics people a RAW file and they don't want to work with it, they're so accustomed to working with jpegs.

I do love how easy those sliders are with RAW files. Much more in sync with how my darkroom oriented brain works.

 

[MOmousefan]

Photoshop and Premiere Elements 10 are bundled for sale for under $100. I got the bundle for $75 from Staples. This is an upgrade from 8.0 and has many improvements. Premiere comes in 32 and 64-bit versions; I loaded the 64-bit version as I am running W7. There is a Mac version on the DVD.
I won't go into detail on all of the improvements, you can read them at the Adobe website. I would not buy Elements 9 based on the complaints from people who have used it.
So far I am very satisfied with both programs as I am a rank amateur and cannot justify buying CS5.