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I currently have Photoshop Elements and Premiere 10 and am thinking of upgrading to 12 in both. I also have CS4 which I seldom use. First, do you think it is worth upgrading to 12? Second, the Adobe salesperson thinks I should branch out and subscribe to the Cloud and start using Photoshop, Lightroom and Premiere Pro. What would you recommend? I have taken many of Jessica's classes but haven't scrapbooked in awhile. I'm starting to review my past courses to get acquainted with Elements again.

I wouldn't upgrade to full Photoshop unless you have a reason. Elements does most everything and you can always buy Lightroom as a standalone. If you don't use your CS4, you may not use CC any more. Honestly, I'd jump to 12 (or stick to 10 if you are happy). I don't use Premiere so I can't speak to those.

The user interface going from PSE10 to PSE12 is going to look quite different. Although you will find all of your same tools (and probably a couple of new things), I would recommend downloading the trial and see if you think it is worth it.

Personally, I loved CS4 and if you have it, you might consider giving it another try. You can go through some of your classes using the Photoshop videos. If you don't like CS4, you are probably not going to like CC.

Hi Everyone!

I purchased Elements + Premiere 12 for my laptop. I was wondering the same thing ... I have CS5 and love it. Especially the Bridge program for organizing files. The panels are a lot different from CS5.

I would like to hear from Jessica about the pros and cons here.

It appears to me that Adobe is pushing users to the Cloud, as someone else pointed out, on a monthly subscription basis.

I prefer to purchase all software outright and use until I am ready or need to upgrade. A lot of software companies do this, force the upgrade.

PS CS5 has a lot of other programs bundled in it that are used by Website Developers and Commercial Designers. Like Photoshop + Bridge {use a lot}, Fireworks, InDesign, Dreamweaver, Illustrator -- which I rarely use. If I want a shape, I generally look for it and embellish in PS instead of using Illustrator. You can spend up to $1500 for CS5.

I decided to give the stand alone programs a try, simply because they are a lot cheaper. I will say that I enjoy CS5s fly out menus. However, I'm just used to using it. When I look at digital layouts and kits, I would not be able to say which program they were designed by. Also, consider the shear size of the program. It takes a lot of RAM to use. I'm not techy but enough to realize that, especially with Bridge open at the same time.

I would like to hear more input on this too. Coz looks like I am gonna be learning a new program and am also considering Lightroom now.

HTH!

A Little Update: I am just beginning to use PS Elements 12 and while the panel is much different from CS5 there's a ton of similar functionality.

Jessica's tutorial will help those of you new to Elements 11 + 12 get familiarized with the options for setting up PS new custom workspace and panels. She put the panels all back together in a way that is much easier to use. I couldn't find the Layers Palette today so viewed her Tutorial!

Here's her link

I have PSE11 and 12. I watched Jessica tutorial for 11 and follow the instructions. Now I have 12. Is the setup for 12 same as 11?

I upgraded to PSE 11 when it came out simply because it is SO EASY to install Actions! I don't plan to upgrade again until PSE 14; haven't seen enough improvements to do so.

I hope I never have to depend on the Cloud for photo editing. So I really hope Adobe never changes PSE to the Cloud. If they do, I may just use ACDSee Pro for photo editing. Another thing I do is save all my PSE projects in TIFF format since PSD can only be read in PS or PSE. TIFF is more universal.