Hi, Elements are cut down versions of the Professional Adobe CS photoshop and several hundred pounds cheaper, as well as being designed for the amateur user.

They are still very good with all the most important features, ive still got the original Elements programme which served me well for years, worth a google to find out more.

regards brian.

Photoshop Elements is a powerful editor based on its big brother, Photoshop. It cost less than $100 and has a very user friendly interface. There's tons of help with lessons on how to use it online. Also, there's a dedicated Forum at http://www.elementsvillage.com/forums/ that is a wealth of information, tutorials and personal help. I've been a member there for 6 years even though I've moved on to the full Photoshop software years ago.

Hello,

I finally just decided to try and attempt to learn GIMP myself.

I have had several situations come up in the last few weeks in which I needed some advanced editing tools.

I finally made the decision to try and use GIMP.

You can get tutorials right on the GIMP website at:

gimp.org

Also as already suggested youtube.

You can also just to a search.

I was abble to locate an online book that is free. Here is the web address:

http://gimp-savvy.com/BOOK/index.html

Even with all this I also found GIMP totally overwhelming.

There is something else I located that I have decided to use. It seems it may be the answer I was looking for to learn GIMP.

Someone has website with an online book toturials. This website is for people who are just begining GIMP.

The cost was only $12.00 US dollars. I decided to get the subcription to the website. I downloaded the book and have just viewed one or two of the tutorials.

I have not even read twenly pages of the book yet. What I have found from just reading the few pages I have and the few tutorials I have viewed is that book and tutorials are layed out so well that they are very easy to understand.

Here is the web address:

http://how-to-gimp.com/

Just as aleady mentioned. The other software you can consider are Photoshop, Photoshop elements. Photoshop also has a big learning curve and elements will also take a while to learn.

Just so you have this other information Serif is another software. This is another software I may be considering.

The learning curve with Serif is much simpler and you can call the tech support they have at no additional charge. They also have a free version you can start with.

The cost for the free version is about $90.00 US dollars.

Just so you have this information. If you want to practice on some other software that is online. Here are two others.

www.pixlr.com

www.aviary.com

www.getpaint.NET this one you have to download

Good Luck

gloryg