I do screapbooking and Photobooks all the time in Elements 10. I do not use "layers" at all...I use the BASIC mode in the editor for all my repairs. The pix come out professional looking. The learning curve for Elements is not bad... I ve used other programs and I find Elements the right tool for the job. It also does many more things I know you will find necessary down the road. Its like anything else. Once you get used to it youll want to expand your capabilities. Elements will be right there waiting for you..So for now, skip the "layers" processes just save your edited files in another format like .jpeg, tiff, bmp, etc. and keep your originals.....

Exactly right, Bobber. I know many people who love PSE, and I have tried it myself a couple of times and have given up--because, while I might move upward on the learning curve after using it for a while, if I cannot accomplish my simple goals early in the trying of a product, I move on. For example, the first time I ever tried to use Microsoft Word, I could see that you could publish a book, write a term paper with footnotes automatically embedded, and many advanced features. However, the first time I used it, I simply wanted to create a text document. I was able to do that immediately and THEN move on to the more complex features. If I open an editing program and it takes me 15 minutes to find where the heck I can adjust the lighting in my photo, it's not a good sign for me. I am currently downloading TRIALS of PaintShop Pro 4, ACDSee 14, and PhotoImpact. They may all be over my head, and I may need to revert to Picasa or something similarly simple, but at least I will have tried. Also, in fairness to myself, the times I tried PS or PSE, I was attempting to learn to do digital scrapbooking (for which I ended up with FotoFusion rather than PS). Perhaps I never gave it a fair shot for simply photo editing. Thanks for all input. There'a lot to think about here. I take MANY pictures and am a prolific scrapbooker, so what I print out needs to be excellent.

I am having a difficult time and would like to be able to settle in on a photo editing program so that I can learn ONE and stop trying various ones! But for now I'm still in the trying stage, so please make suggestions. Here's what I'm looking for: I want to be able to do some editing of my digital photos (taken with Canon Rebel T3i). Do not need advanced features. Just want to take the jpg and fix things like lighting and saturation, under/overexposure, color. Also want to add text, do touch-ups (like airbrush or whatever it may be called), change to b/w or sepia. Additionally, for my heritage albums, I would like to be able to work with old photos to brighten and sharpen and repair. I am okay with spending money for a good product, but it seems that $$=difficult. I do not want PhotoShop or PSE (have tried both--overwhelming for me). I have used Picasa--okay with it, but I don't think it has any touch-up features. Have downloaded the free Gimp, but it looks very complicated. Any suggestions?