CS4 users...will I be happy I did it??
 

If you have used Photoshop Elements and now use Photoshop CS4....please give me some feedback as to the main features you feel make it worth the upgrade.

I just got an email from Adobe saying that, as a user of PSE, I could upgrade to CS4 for $299. That is still a massive chunk of money...but now is the time to drop it if I'm ever gonna :)

So, what do you think? I won't be using it for any of the designing aspect (unless someone wants to make a trip to Oklahoma to teach me :)
What features will I notice most? What do you think I will love? What will I be most likely frustrated with??

Also, is the bridge portion better or practically the same as PSE's organizer? Will I still want Lightroom for the organization it provides?

Thanks for reading my rambling questions!!

I started with PSE4, upgraded to PSE6, upgraded to CS2 and now use CS4. I'll try and help out but it's been a while since I used PSE.

Bridge is not like the PSE organiser. Lightroom is much more like the Organiser. I have just installed the beta of Lightroom and I am using that to catalog my photos.

I am still using Bridge to find my Digiscrap stuff. Bridge does allow you tag and search by tags but I don't find it as flexible as the Organiser. If your a big tagger and user of the Organiser you may notice this. I personally find Bridge more cumbersome for searching than the Organiser was.

Bridge does not use catalogs (Lightroom does). You simply look at the folders on your computer and bridge generates a thumbnail for each file so you can view the contents. This thumbanail information is stored in a cache (a spot on your hard drive which stores all the little thumbnails). This can get big depending on the number of files.

Some of things you get in CS4 (off the top of my head, I'll post again if I remember more)
- text on a path - make text go where ever you want
- create you own actions
- create you own custom shapes
- make curves adjustments - if you really want!
- put your layer styles on their own layer - can you do that in PSE?

I have to go out now but I'll post again later.

CS4 does not have a photo bin thingy, so if you're one of these people who load a whole pile of files in the PSE one and then drag them onto your layout (I was), you are going to miss this.

I'm also thinking the Liquify Filter and warp option under Transform, but I'll have to check these ones.

Oh, wait, Paths. These are great. You can create a path (in any shape) and then stroke it with a brush or create a selection from it and then fill it to create all kinds of shapes.

I bought it for design work, but from a scrapper standpoint...
1) Drop shadows... WAY more flexible than in PSE.
2) Photo editing - if you are at all into photography or hope to get into it in the future... the photo editing capabilities are so much better than in PSE with all the adjustment layers you can play with.

I got that email too and have been trying to decide if it's worth it. I think I'd rather get a new lens first though. I'm still learning a LOT in PSE, so maybe I should have that program figured out before switching to CS4 with a million more capabilities.

This is the 2nd time in about 2 years that I've gotten an email for a smokin' deal to upgrade to CS4, so I guess I'm just going to wait for the next email and decide then.

I still can't scrap a page with it, but I always used psp before and still do for scrapping. I love it for editing photos.

I upgraded with that same deal last year and don't regret it at all. I missed the photo bin tremendously at first because I used it a LOT but I got used to that without much trouble. The main things I like are the ease of using/loading actions and brushes, being able to warp shadows, use text paths, and I LOVE that the camera RAW editing will edit jpegs. :thumbup: Totally worth it! :)

FWIW, I tried to use Bridge to tag scrapping supplies after my ACDSee crashed and it was pretty unsuccessful for me. It would freeze up if I had too much open and it didn't have all of the searching capabilities that I was used to with ACDSee. Just my two cents, I know some people use it and like it. :)

I went from PSE 4 to CS3 and I love it. I have been thinking of converting to CS4, but am still undecided.

Thanks everyone!!
 

Thank you for the feedback everyone!

And I'm really glad to know this probably isn't my last shot at one of these great deals!! It was definitely putting the stress on!!

I have PSE 6 and can use the camera RAW to edit jpegs. It's more limited than if you shoot in RAW, but it can still have amazing results. :thumbup: You just have to go File>Open As> and then select your file and make sure that you are opening it as a Camera RAW.

I recently upgraded from PSE 5 to CS4 and I love it but it took some getting used to. I missed my photo bin but I am getting better at dealing with the tabs (I like that I don't have to stare at all of it in the bin sometimes). I love paths because I can put text into a specific shape without any funky spacing. Layer styles, particularly shadowing have more options and you can make them their own layer, which allows you to warp the shadow (one of my fav new things!). I don't think I could go back to PSE after getting used to CS4.