SRS -

As commented previously, for photo work Photoshop Elements really includes ALL of the stuff that you're likely to use in Photoshop itself. If you use it as an "amateur" program, and stick to the canned "fixes," it's quite intuitive and will give you "canned" results. It is capable of overlays, some 30 or so direct choices of screen types - and mods you can make to many of them, a good several dozen or so filters - many editable, dodge and burn, color correction, brightness and contrast adjustment, and can warp/morph to take out bulges (or put them in) to suit nearly any photo need. It also is capable of reading nearly all common file types, and can save to almost any format you're likely to need.

About the only thing that's obviously missing is the ability to work in CMYK color space, and RGB is almost univerally used for photo printers of the kind most of us will ever see.

It is NOT just a cut-down "cheapy" program. It is a "selected part" of the Photoshop system specifically tailored to give you everything you really need for working on photos, and at a very reasonable price. Many professionals who have both will likely use "Elements" for the majority of their photo work - because it does the same job with a lot less effort than the big program.

Unfortunately, perhaps, you're not likely to discover the best ways of doing things just by playing with PE2. If you have a lot of experience with Photoshop - maybe, but only if you've really learned to use Photoshop in a professional manner. The program is intuitive enough for most people to struggle along without really knowing what they're doing; but if you get the book - you'll really be impressed with the program.

John