Dudley Watson wrote:
I use PS Elements 4 for my editing purposes.  I may switch to Paint Shop Pro X2 in the future.

It's been said that 80% of what can be accomplished in PS, may be achieved in PSE.

90% (or more!) of what many people need can easily be done in Photoshop Elements. That's not the same as having all the tools needed, though.

For just one example, if you need to do a CMYK conversion to deliver a press-ready file, it wouldn't matter if that's in the 1%, 10%, or 50% that's missing: you need it--and it's not in Photoshop Elements.

The full version of Photoshop supports a lot of things Elements doesn't, but if your style doesn't need those tools, you won't miss them at all.

So it really comes down to the specific things you need. Supporting 99.9% but missing one critical thing is no good, while supporting only 20%, but having everything you need would be just fine.

General limitations of Elements 6 vs Photoshop CS3/4 (I'm not sure what was added to PSE between v4 and v6, though, and you might have even more limits.)

Limited automation: no recording of Actions; no Scripts. (You can RUN some existing Actions via workarounds, but you can't record your own. Since I typically record a half-dozen temp ones every week...)

No CMYK. Limits masking and extremely hinders--almost eliminates--the ability to properly prepare files for press.

No LAB. Limits masking, makes some color correction very difficult, makes some color changes very difficult, makes some kinds of retouching more difficult.

No direct access to the underlying channels. This is a huge limitation for compositing and color correction.

No tool presets for quick access to commonly used settings.

Limited options on colorspaces. For typical use, that's not critical, as the major ones are supported. For some kinds of fine-tuning, it's a non-trivial limitation.

Limited Adjustment Layers.

No Calculations or Apply Image.

Layer masking is unavailable except via kludging.

No access to 16-bit mode. That's a substantial limitation for black-and-white.

No pen tool; limited vector capabilities. Not critical for some forms of photography; very important if doing graphics.

No Smart Objects/Smart Layers/Smart Filters.

No Vanishing Point. (Perspective cloning/pasting)

Limited HDR support.

A bunch of other things which probably don't matter to most photograph
The first four (bolded items) are enough to eliminate Elements for me as a production tool, and three of them been present since at least version 2--I think they were there in v1, but I'm not sure; I didn't use PS much until v2--other products were more powerful, and I mostly just used PS for conversions and calculations. Actions came later, in v4.

For a LOT of photographic work, Elements is absolutely fine; it's surprisingly powerful. But the limits are reached much sooner, and many relatively simple tasks in Photoshop are either impossible or very time-consuming in Elements. Depending on my clients, I often suggest they  use Elements and see if they run into problems. (Not any photographer who has to deliver CMYK files, though!)

Dudley Watson wrote:
I use PS Elements 4 for my editing purposes.  I may switch to Paint Shop Pro X2 in the future.

It's been said that 80% of what can be accomplished in PS, may be achieved in PSE.

Comments?

It MAY be achieved, but it's also 80% harder and more time-consuming to achieve it.

Kevin_Connery wrote:
No CMYK
No direct access to the underlying channels
Layer masking is unavailable
No pen tool

Seriously?

You'd be better off buying an older discounted version of CS than a brand new version of Elements. Especially if you plan to do any graphic design.

RNokes collection wrote:
I would take a look at lightroom.. I just had a class with Scott Kelby on the new lightroom and he doesn't use Photoshop for anything but working in multi layers..all the editing you can do in CS4 can be done in lightroom but easier and faster.. worth looking at...

I LOVE lightroom. MOST of the editing can be done in lightroom in a much simpler way, yes. But not all, masking for instance IS A BITCH in lightroom, just make sure you keep Photoshop in your workflow, you can temporarily take an image out of lightroom, edit it in photoshop and the correctiosn will appear stacked in Lightroom