Hi to all-Newbie testing waters

[Liz5910]

Hi to all My name is Elizabeth-but call me Liz--and i just joined this sight. I am a completely digitally challenged scrapper and I want to find out what its all about. i tried my hand at photoshop-did their free download and was totally lost as to what to do with it then when the time was up on the download i discovered all the photos I had taken during the 2 weeks I had it are stuck in limbo on the program and I dont know how to get them out! So as my very first question---what version or program would I be best to invest in to start this learning experience? Whats the general opinion as to the best (and easiest) to use? Thanks.

[April]

Any version of Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Photoshop Elements. It's my opinion that they are all take about the same amount of time to learn if you have someone helping you. Here you'll have a lot of help so you'll do fine. Plan on a few hours of study and practice.

[montmeag]

I really like Photoshop Elements (I have PSE5). You have a lot of flexibility in what you can do with your LOs but it is not terribly expensive. I got PSE5 for $30 off e-bay. There is a learning curve to it but once you get the hang of it it's awesome. This site is great for helping you learn it, too. They have free online classes and plenty of tips and tutorials. Plus you can ask any question here and usually someone knows the answer. Good luck and welcome.

[supermombritt]

I use elements 4.0 and it works for me. I got mine on ebay for cheap too. Welcome. Don't give up because it can be a bit frustrating at first because there are so many
things to learn. Once you get the hang of it you will laugh at how stressed you were. At least I look back and laugh.

[Amaris]

I hope you keep with it if you are really keep having problems just ask questions here and take the beginners class it is an amazing class.

Donna

[Alyson]

Welcome!! I use CS2, but that's the full version and pretty pricey, so if you want something cheaper definitely go with Elements. I've tried Elements 5.0 and 6.0 and they are both excellent. There are people on the forum that use every version, so you should be able to get help with any of them...plus there's a lot of stuff that is the same or similar between the versions.

[chryslergreen]

Welcome Liz! I agree, I use elements and I think it's great!

[RobRob]

Hi Liz! Welcome! I use elements 6 and I love it. THe best way to start is get one of April's beginner Cd's. They are awesome because they include a beginner's tutorial that will walk you through photoshop and scrapbooking. It's really amazing. I fought with photoshop for hours because I just KNEW I could figure it out myself...then finally broke down and paid the 14.95 for a beginner CD, WELL WORTH IT!
Good luck! You'll love it here!

[lyndia]

I am brand new today. I use elements version 3 is that version too old or I am still just completely baffled?

[Alyson]

Welcome Lyndia!! So glad to have you join us! I think you should be fine on Elements 3. A lot of things stay the same between the versions, so you should be able to learn what you need to know, and do most of what you want to do. In the future, if you decide there are some features you wish you had, you can always upgrade.

[chryslergreen]

I started out on PSE 3 and it was great. I now use PSE 5, but I didn't notice a lot of differences. No matter what version of Elements you use, MOST things - especially the basics - will be the same. Just ask questions if you get stumped, we'd love to help if we can!