[USMCWayne]

With the onset of winter, I'm wondering how useful is Photoshop Elements?

By "useful" I mean, can I take pictures of figures, and layer them into various outdoor scenes and scenarios?

Is it possible to add muzzle flashes, smoke, and explosion effects?

 

[Pivot]

Try this:

http://www.onesixthwarriors.com/forum/showthread.php?t=73397&highlight=photoshop

 

[USMCWayne]

Thanks for the link. I must have missed, or ignored, it the first time around.

But I'm not talking about Photoshop per se, just the cheaper Photoshop Elements.

Last year I sold the 15 acre property I was using for all of my outdoor photo shoots, and have been unable to find anything suitable for the various story lines I'd like to pursue.

It's been a real bummer not being able to work the stories I have on my mind and thought, if the cheaper Elements allowed, I was going to try try to resume my photo stories over the winter.

Besides, for SciFi or Aliens type stories, the outdoors doesn't seem to be the best option.

 

[Pivot]

My bad.

 

[mx22]

Well, look at it this way. Elemets is a cheaper, cut down version of Photoshop - I think its mainly geared towards amateur photographers. That said, Elements is still a capable image editor. The main question here is... are you skilled enough to make a good image by cropping and pasting one image inside of another. If you are, then Elemets won't be a problem for you. If you are a begginer, be prepared to spend some time learning before you will start getting all the cool stuff.

P.S. For a cheaper alternative to Photoshop, look at Paint Shop Pro. I used to use it loooong time ago and I heard people say it's rather good. There is also Corel Draw, but I have never used it and I'm also not familiar with its price...

Cheers!

Alexei

 

[WritinMan]

Photoshop Elements is an outstanding program. I once heard it described as 90% of the features of Photoshop for $90, and that's pretty accurate. The main features removed from Elements involve the advanced print options. For photo editing it has the features you need.

I still use Elements 2.0. It has what I want, and runs great. More recent versions have some more features (particularly those for making it easier to remove unwanted backgrounds), but I hear they don't run as well, and are memory hogs.

 

[IslandOfToys]

If you want a good FREE image manipulation program that is really awesome, try GIMP. I've used it a lot and love it. I used to use Paint Shop Pro at home and used Photoshop at work, but I honestly prefer GIMP to either of them.

They make it for Linux, BSD, Solaris, Windows, and Mac OSX.

http://www.gimp.org/

 

[rogerbee]

Are the Photoshop plug ins that you get for the full program compatible with Elements?

If the answer is no then the full program would still be your best bet. A google for plug ins may yield some that add dramatic effects. I used to have some that added flames and smoke and they were rather good.

CHEERS!

 

[mx22]

IslandsOfToys - sorry, I'll have disagree with you, GIMP is nowhere near as good as Photoshop/Elemets. Yes its free and it comes usefull when you are short on money, but then Elemets are not all that expensive. I would definitely recommend people to buy Elemets instead of going with GIMP.

rogerbee - some of the plugins for Photoshop work in Elemets and some don't. To the best of my knowledge that is... I'm not a big plug in user...

Alexei

 

[F210]

I'll ditto WritinMan's comments. I purchased Photoshop Elements after reading a review that said just that - most of Photoshop's features at a fraction of the price. That was a few years back. And I still use 2.0 also. And frankly, I don't think I've touched all its capabilities. An outstanding program that I would definitely recommend.

Jim
F210

 

[cree82]

IslandsOfToys - sorry, I'll have disagree with you, GIMP is nowhere near as good as Photoshop/Elemets. Yes its free and it comes usefull when you are short on money, but then Elemets are not all that expensive. I would definitely recommend people to buy Elemets instead of going with GIMP.

rogerbee - some of the plugins for Photoshop work in Elemets and some don't. To the best of my knowledge that is... I'm not a big plug in user...

Alexei

I am not a GIMP fan either, especially having to switch back and forth to the multiple tables. Personally, I use Corel's Paint Shop Pro, and for one reason, its simplicity.

 

[WritinMan]

Are the Photoshop plug ins that you get for the full program compatible with Elements?

If the answer is no then the full program would still be your best bet. A google for plug ins may yield some that add dramatic effects. I used to have some that added flames and smoke and they were rather good.

CHEERS!

You can buy (for very little money) some brushes or layer sets for fire and exposions. Most of them don't mention Elements, but if they work in the regular version of Photoshop (up to 7) you should have no problems. If they were designed for Photoshop CS, you might have some problems geting them to work in Elements.

 

[IslandOfToys]

IslandsOfToys - sorry, I'll have disagree with you, GIMP is nowhere near as good as Photoshop/Elemets. Yes its free and it comes usefull when you are short on money, but then Elemets are not all that expensive. I would definitely recommend people to buy Elemets instead of going with GIMP.

To each their own good sir. I simply prefer GIMP to Photoshop or PSP. In part it's because I wanted to stop using Windows and switch to Linux. I did so a few years ago and have replaced anything I used on Windows. I was using GIMP at home and Photoshop CS2 at work, but instead decided to just use one program and that was GIMP. It's come a long way in the past couple of years.

If someone needs Photoshop, then by all means, they should buy Photoshop. If they want Elements for a lighter duty Photoshop experience, then sure, get it. I merely wanted to suggest an alternative that is both free, full featured, and has a lot of user support from all over the world. And you can get your money back if you're not happy.

Another thing to consider is if someone wants a full version of Photoshop at a lesser price, find an academic version of the software if you work for or go to school and have a valid ID. Way cheaper.

 

[Titan]

USMCWayne, may I humbly add that Photoshop Elements 5.0 is what I have been using for my photostories. For the price (mine from Costco), I believe it delivers a lot. It is easy enough to learn.

The fun part is becoming proficient at it. Again, this is just my humble view.

Examples
Simple:

Medium:

Complex:

Work in progress.

I hope this helps.

 

[romedome]

Hi Wayne, I've been using the old Photoshop Elements 2.0 until I upgraded my Mac to Leopard so now I have to get the latest version.

I'm at the same level of expertise as Hylton/Titan above and use it to layer the figs above backgrounds and scaled (but not 1/6th) vehicles.
See this as an example.
I can do muzzle flashes with it but haven't learned yet how to do explosions, I'm assuming that can be done.

I will miss your 15acre property by the way. I've used PhotoShop/E because of my small backyard myself as well as to achieve effects I couldn't otherwise. An expansive yard would reduce the photoshopping I do (I wouldn't have to chop out that pesky 1:1 fence I always have as background). Plus I'm slow on Photoshopping things but sometimes the results are worth it.

 

[Good Duck]

I'm running Photoshop SC, at home and office. Draw and paint with it. I got Elements too, and it was good. But, Photoshop SC. Man, it was great! The image was done in PS years ago just for fun. Did it in about 4 to 5 minutes between online games. i didn't touch Elements for years. I'm not sure if Elements can do that much that fast.

 

[Mercenary25]

I'm using Photoshop CS3 but I used Photoshop Element before. It's good.