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

[Randa]

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!!

[schmoo]

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.

[schmoo]

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.

[schmoo]

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.

[Megan Turnidge]

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.

[glumirk]

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.

[AmyM]

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.

[Randa]

Originally Posted by glumirk

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.

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!!