Railfan Technology > Photoshop Elements 2020?

I am tempted to purchase this as a DVD to install on my home computers (2).
Any user comments?
Does anyone know if I can install it on my two machines or whether they require two purchases?
I have used PS since 2006, upgraded to PS8 in 2010, and now their support has dried up.  Something about a "problem with my license".
It worked one day and not the next.
I have trust issues taking their recommended cure of going to the cloud on a subscription basis.
It will be hard to post new pix here on TO until I get this worked out.

I've been using PS Elements for several years and like it.  You can install it on more than one computer.

Your post indicated you installed PS 8...the full version Photoshop?...in 2010?  Or were you using Photoshop Elements 8 in 2010?

I go back to about 2004 with a precurser of PSE, Photoshop LE that came free with my Canon G3, my first digital camera.  It lacked a LOT of features we take for granted today, like color balance sliders, etc.  I used it until I 'discovered' Photoshop Elements about 2007 or 08.  Among other things, newer versions of Windows forced me to upgrade PSE 4-5 times through the years and at the same time, take advantage of faster processors and the introduction of multi-processor chips.  Also, my digital cameras got upgraded through the years from 3mp then 5mp, then 8mp, 18mp, and finally 23mp which necessitated more CPU horsepower, more RAM, and more hard drive and now solid state space. 

As a computer techie, once the hardware and software manufacturers 'discovered' a means of ensuring a steady income stream by 'required' upgrades and annual subscription plans such as anti-virus/internet security software, the old 'buy it ans use it for life' as we knew it in the 2000s faded away about 2010 or so.  I have over 30 purchased software products on my computer and various Windows upgrades from one version to the next has caused a LOT of expense to upgrade software that was no longer compatible.  In some cases, I turned to buying used versions (1 or 2 software releases 'old') for a song as they could run on my then new version Windows.  Windows 2000 to XP was very expensive.  Going to Win 7, I had to 'trick' some programs that ran OK in XP to work in Win 7.  But I ended up keeping my XP machine up and running on my network, as there's a couple products that would be well over $100 each to upgrade to then Win 7 and now Win 10 compatibility.  And now, with Windows 11 release a couple weeks ago, I have a couple friends that have sat and waited for hours as Windows 11 'installed itself' without first 'asking permission'.  Microsoft did the same trick when they launched Windows 10, too.

So it could well be that a recent Windows update, even the monthly Windows updates, can upset the apple cart.  I foolishly allowed Windows to update device drivers on my computer yesterday and when done, my sound system fell silent.  Even the 'rollback' from a recovery point just before the update failed.  Reinstalling all the original drivers failed.  I ended up falling back to a 6 day old 'system clone' I do every week and copying over the changes I had made since then to get everything back to normal again. 

One possibility for the PS (or PSE?) 8 not working any more is that Adobe simply doesn't want to support it any more.  That's absolutely true if you're still running on a Windows XP or even Windows 8/8.1 computer.  Although Microsoft still 'supports' Windows 8 for about another year, Windows XP support stopped 2 years ago.  And since then, software vendors are doing the same.  In short, why should Microsoft or software vendors tie up a number of employees to support an outdated/no-longer-supported version of Windows while the customer base for that old Windows declines to near zero. 

It could be, too, that Adobe's internal data base of what products of theirs is on your computer has screwed up once again.  In the past year or so, I've had to completely reinstall Photoshop Elements 2015 (my current version) from the original CD and re-enter the serial number and all that jazz just to get it to work again.  And for downloaded software, I always move those to a special folder for downloaded software so I can reinstall things if needed, which happens on one product or another about every 4-6 months. 

So, if possible, I'd suggest you do a reinstall 'on top of' the existing installation of PS(E?) 8.  And if you do go to PSE 2020, you will find a BUNCH of new features that were added through the years.  Adobe has added features to PSE that are NOT in the current Photoshop 2020.  Among them is the 'heal' feature (great for dust and even areas of mold on slides!), auto skin tone and even the ability to correct red-eye and put a smile on someones' face in versions up to 2015.  What they've added since then, I don't know.  Although PSE is a 'step down' from full Photoshop, I prefer PSE over full Photoshop 2020 which is also on my machine.

Plan B:
If you're hooked on full-version Photoshop, then simply 'rent' it from Adobe for $10/month and it includes the current version of Lightroom as well.  I use Lightroom as a first series of steps for both digital images I took and scans of slides for myself as well as friends.  There's features in Lightroom that greatly simplify doing the same task in Photoshop Elements or full Photoshop.  But there's features not in Lightroom that PS and PSE do easily.  So, in most cases, PSE is my 2nd step of processing images.

For what it's worth, I wrote a couple of long 'dissertations' comparing Lightroom with Photoshop Elements for slide scanning/processing that I did for a friend whose family 'album' from the 1950s was all on slides.  I'm just a 'hacker' at both of them as I've learned just by figuring it out and clicking the Help questionmark frequently.  If you have some time to spend, I think you'll find my preferences changing while doing the 2000+ slides to be amusing.  Hopefully, you'll be able to make an informed decision of what way to proceed.
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?9,4974435,page=1

I have and use Photoshop Elements 2020 on 2 PCs with no issues.  I use the "Expert" mode to get all the features that I used in older Photoshop programs.

Christi

RailFanAZ - RailFanning BNSF & UP
AZ, CA, NM, TX
RailFanAZ.com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/07/21 21:18 by Christi.

As mentioned above, the software companies are becoming very resourceful in finding ways to make you subscribe and/or pay for an upgrade rather than just buy, in order to generate an ongoing cash flow.  I initially fought it with various work arounds, but eventually caved in.  I now pay my $120 a year to subscribe to the full version of Photoshop and everything automatically upgrades as needed, or at least that is the theory.  I don't know what the current status of Photoshop Elements is, but from past experience it is an excellent lower cost alternative to the more expensive full version of Photoshop.  The only downside of PSE in my experience is (and this may have changed) PSE has somewhat more limited or at least less convenient color correction tools.  But most digital originals need little color correction, so that may not be an issue.  It is a bigger issue if you are processing scans from old slides that have color shifted or were not properly exposed.  PSE also has some "auto" correction features, directed at casual users, but I find them occasionally very useful for quick and dirty corrections....the computer is often smarter than I am, which is not too hard.

JBWX 

I have been a Photoshop Elements (PSE) user for many years, and like it. My current version is 15, which has a 2016 copyright date, and it still works fine on my fully updated Windows 10 PC. There has been almost nothing that I have wanted to do that I was not able to accomplish in PSE, except for a couple of rescues of severely degraded slides that had been scanned. But I'm not sure that even full Photoshop, which I have used in relation to work before I retired, would have saved those few images -- they were in abysmal condition. Having used full Photoshop, although not terribly extensively or getting down deep and dirty into its enormous range of features, I just don't feel that it's needed for the kind of personal image work that I do now. PSE works fine for me, particularly for preparation of images for posting here on TO or other websites. It does a good job both with recently created new images out of the camera, and with older scanned film media slides. That's 95% of what I do now, so it meets my needs for the most part.

I have not used Lightroom, although I am planning to try it, based on many positive reports here on TO and from friends. Adobe has thrown a free Lightroom trial at me a couple of times. But I passed because I simply did not have the time then to be able to give it a good workout during the trial period, and to decide if it was worth the higher cost and moving to the subscription model pricing. I may have gotten the Lightroom trial offer because at the time I also had quite expensive subscriptions to several other Adobe professional products which I used in relation to work (Captivate, Acrobat Pro, their digital content management system among them). As someone who was fairly deeply into the Adobe system at the time, they were always trying to rope me into various other products and bundles. Now that I am retired, I no longer use those other Adobe professional products, and have allowed those licenses to lapse. I still get offers from Adobe, but less often.

I prefer software delivery via a CD or installation download and a single license purchase. It just works better for me. I don't particularly like the subscription model. But I do use it now for some other non-Adobe products just because its more workable for those software packages. If I were purchasing PSE now, or upgrading to a newer version, I would probably look first at the CD or the one-time installation download route rather than the subscription model. That's just me, and my needs. As always, your own personal needs and results will vary.

MC



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/09/21 08:08 by ironmtn.

You may want to look at some of the Photoshop alternatives that have popped up to answer the demands of a Photoshop like product without the Adobe subscription model. Affinity Photo and Luminar being prime examples.

Arved Grass
Fleming Island, FL

The latest updates to Lightroom make it a simply spectacular editing AND cataloging
piece of software.  The only reason I even do anything in Photoshop is either heavy
duty object removal or complete sky replacement.  
I understand that the subscription model isn't liked by many, but, were heading to 2022,
and like it or not, it appears to be the future for software companies to distribute their
product.  For about $12.00 a month, you're getting the TWO premier photo editing 
products available.  

John R.

Thank you all for your input.