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Took a PS image (a DL sized flyer for my church) to the printers today, was told that, "Sorry Sir, but Elements doesn't use CYMK colours, only RGB, so it's no use for 4 pass colour printing".

Is this true? Does full version Photoshop handle CYMK colour?

I've never been able to afford PS, only Elements which does a pretty good job IMHO.

Thankfully was able to re-do the image on my old faithful Pagemaker 6.5 with no problems.

Is it worth buying full version of Photoshop? Any ideas appreciated.

Max

ozimax,

I'm affraid if you wanna get serious only PSCS is the go.

Mic.

Elements is the severely bastardised version of Photoshop... it's not made to be used by people who want to do any professional work and it's likely that the extent of any professional work you'll get out of it is web-based, hence why it'd be limited to an RGB output.

As a comparative newcomer to the world of digital photography as yet I do not have any photo editing software.

I was thinking of buying elements v.3 I dont plan on getting too deep into editing, just simple tweaking and the basics.

Would it be preferable to go CS?

I think my wife would probably divorce me, she's just allowed me to splurge on a D70 and SB800.

Geoff:

Elements 3 would do a great job for basic editing, it even has the healing tool which is a must for re-touching portraits.

Welcome to the forum!

Max

Geoff Marland wrote:I think my wife would probably divorce me, she's just allowed me to splurge on a D70 and SB800.

I think you start to learn what can you get after the divorce paper signed cos it's lot of tempting and of course, there are lusts in the winding road ahead

Geoff Marland wrote:Would it be preferable to go CS?

Not sure of your situation, but if you have a kid at school, you (they) are eligible to buy the Educational Version of Photoshop CS (which is exactly the same as the normal version)...

All you need is some sort of proof that your child is in full time education...

This brings the price down to about A$440

Thanks for the thought John but my son is long past school days.

Installed PS cs this week, pretty amazing software and completely different to elements. Gives option of RGB for digital printing and 4 colour for offset printing.

Max

ozi you will have a ball in cs its more than you imagine. use your brain and let it go. whatever you imagine make it happen read the tutorial it only comes from practice

I think Elements is OK for basic editing. PS is as dear as poison, but it ain't the industry standard for nothin'.
Working in 16 bit colour rather than 8 for starters, and greater control over colour space makes a huge difference.

16 bit is good but its data hungry and slow

actually 16 bit is a pain in the butt. if i scan 48 bit on my scanner at work in rgb i end up with 16bit which is a pain in the arse. 16bit is a pain in ps nomatter what version as well. even with 1.5gb ram still a pain. most large format printers IE: epsons HP's etc use cmyk + lt cyan and lt magenta and will not accept rgb files depending on the rip software. it is a good idea to turn most poster prints to cmyk before printing large format. the only realistic problem you will run into is the iradescant blue colours that will get dirty from the mode change. this can be easily remidied by using the selective colour correction which i exclusively use contrary to many peoples beliefs. if you know colour you will use this method preferable to the global change that curve correction will do to an image. curve correction is for minor gradation changes that will effect either highlight midtone or shadow end changes. sure if you know that individual channel correction in rgb mode will produce a result go for it. i believe that after many years of experience you will want to be dammed accurate dont forget you will be playing with three channels not four. sorry for a bit of OT nnnnnnnnsicco but it is a huge comparison in program levels we are discussing and i believe its worth the ramble.
good luk ozi and keep the good surf pics coming

Have found out that PScs works much more quickly than EL's, not sure why but my little iBook definitely works faster in cs.

Max

Just to add my 2 cents worth to this conversation. Elements is a great starting place to get your teeth into Photoshop until you can afford to buy the full version.
(Thankfully work pays for mine)

Thanks for all the informed comments.

Money is a bit tight at present so I will probably start with Elements and hopefully graduate to something more advanced later on.