johnbee418 Loc: Manchester Conn.

What are the differences (if any) between Photoshop, Elements, LightRoom, CS, and any others from Adobe?

Heirloom Tomato Loc: Oregon

That multi-part question cannot be answered in 100 words or less. Your best bet is to spend 15 minutes at the Adobe website and check out the capabilities of those different Adobe products for yourself. It's a good website and will tell you everything you want to know.

Tea8 Loc: Where the wind comes sweeping down the plain.

They all do pretty much the same thing, but do have different features. Elements is basically a scaled down version of CS. I'm not to sure about LR because I've never used it, but it works a lot the same way as Elements from what I've heard.

slickrock Loc: jacksonville

LR is simply put a cataloging and processing app. Has PP tools most use for non-compositing photos. Plus book-making and slideshow production. For me, a must have.

marty wild Loc: England

about $150.00+

unclebe1 Loc: NYC & Wellington, FL

Simply, but effectively put. In addition to cataloging all my photos, I use LR for more than 80% of my pp needs. If you really want to get creative/artistic with a photo or photos, then you're going to need Elements or Photoshop. One instructor claimed that Elements had 90% of the capabilities of Photoshop. Whether that's the right percentage or not, Elements does all that I'll ever do. IMHO, Photoshop is targeted toward the professional, full time artistic editor, and is priced accordingly. Hope this helps. :)

Larrie Loc: NE Ohio

I was going to give this a thumbs up since it is a perfectly good answer but I will fleece out the answer a little. Photoshop actually came out before digital cameras became feasible or popular. It provided a means to scan film images into digital images for the web. I believe version 3 introduced a means to manipulate greyscales and succeeding versions added more ways to edit and enhance digital photos. After ver. 8 Adobe introduced Creative Suites (CS) along with layers and so on and so forth to the current CS6. Elements is just that; essential elements of CS without all the extra goodies at a fraction of the price. Of course there is one or two carrots that are always witheld but if you really need them you have to wait for the next version of elements. Lightroom is a upfront program for importing and filing images along with converting RAW to other formats and light editing. Suceeding versions include more features from elements. IMO Canon's DPP included with their cameras is every bit as good as LR. This is all from memory so my timeline may be a little off so feel free anyone to add corrections.

Heirloom Tomato Loc: Oregon

That's a very good answer and you did it in only slightly more than 200 well-organized words. :-P

johnbee418 Loc: Manchester Conn.

I thank you all. I am not leery of the AdobePhotoShop family any more.

Rongnongno Loc: FL

One answer:

PS CS# is god, the other [Adobe products] misguided prophets made to get your money.

Rongnongno Loc: FL

More like $1,000.00 +

Heirloom Tomato Loc: Oregon

Adobe products are the gold standard. I want Lightroom 5 to use in conjunction with Photoshop Elements, but need to upgrade my operating system to run it, so will probably think about it for a while. I might decide to get a whole new computer and 27" IPS monitor. The ideas I'm getting on UHH are hazardous to the budget...

MtnMan Loc: ID

Many.

You might find this interesting: http://tv.adobe.com/watch/the-complete-picture-with-julieanne-kost/should-i-use-lightroom-or-bridge/

It does not address Elements. Elements is three programs packaged together: the Organizer, a "Lightroom light", Adobe Camera RAW, which lets you process RAW images and adds to the Organizer editing capabilities, and the Editor, which is a "Photoshop light".

Julianne recommends if you are new to processing Lightroom should be your first choice. I agree. She also makes other good points.

If cost is most important, though, Photoshop Elements is what you want. The Organizer plus ACR does almost every thing Lightroom does and the Editor much of what Photoshop does. You can get it now for under $50!

Wahawk Loc: NE IA

Corel PaintShopPro (current version X6) plus the free Picasa will do pretty much everything PS+LR will do, for a total cost under $100

viscountdriver Loc: East Kent UK

get Serif PhotoPlus X6.It's as good as Adobe but cheaper