If you have a child or relative attending a College, University, or Tech School, they can probably get you a copy of Adobe Photoshop for a lot less than you'll pay at Best Buy or other retail. At the University of Wisconsin where I work the "Adobe Web Collection" goes for $284. Included in this bundle are: GoLive 5.0, Illustrator 9.0, LiveMotion 1.0, and Photoshop 6.0.

Photoshop can be intimidating, but if you're doing digital photography its ultimately the package to have. Photoshop can also be simple to use. There are lots of free or inexpensive 'actions' available on the Web. Check Fred Miranda\'s site for a sampling, or one of the many forum's devoted to digital photography.

Talk about a bargain basement price at Wisconsin!

It is also the price in Indiana, if you have a wife who is a College Professor..

This is not unusual pricing for the higher education community. Students can buy a copy of Office Pro for $35, the Windows XP upgrade is $25.

Here's a tip. Sign up for a class at your local community college - class costs are typically low. Gee, how 'bout Beginning Photoshop, Landscape Photography, or even Intro to HTML. :-) You'll gain access to low software pricing and maybe learn something fun!

For those who don't want to pay quite that much, Adobe offers an intermediate package called Adobe Photoshop Elements. This incorporates some of the more advanced techniques available in Photoshop as well as all the basic digital software. It sells for about $90. It's great for someone who wants more than the usual options but not quite ready for Photoshop.

Paint Shop Pro goes for about the same price as Adobe Photoshop Elements and one good thing about PSP is that Jasc allows you to download a free 30-day trial copy from their website (www.jasc.com I believe). You then have the ability to learn some of the features of photo editing software without cost and to decide whether you want to start your beginning photo editing with this program before going on to something a little more complicated. If you do decide to go with PSP, it's best buying it through www.amazon.com where you're sure to get it for less money.

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Terry (Teresa) Forrest

Tim,

What a great idea. As development Director of the Mission I work for, I need some good pictures of the kids for fund raising displays, fliers etc. I am planning on taking some classes and glad to hear I can get these programs at a reasonable price. ASU east campus at Gateway Airport is just 6 miles from my new house. I'll have to check their bookstore. Back to school I go! Never to old to learn.

Dale

[This message has been edited by DALE LAWRENCE (edited 02-15-2002).]

I am using the Photoshop Elements and I love it, it was packaged with my new scanner, but It is certainly worth the $90.00 price tag, I think it is around $60.00 for an upgrade version. I had used Photoshop 5.0 before and the Elements is alot better (IMHO)

Went through Costco today and say Office XP Student version for $127. All you have to be is be a student K-12 or a full or part time teacher. It is an upgrade version. Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Access, Outlook included.

Buy 5.0 cheap on Ebay and then purchase an upgrade version of 6.0. You should end up ahead of Tim's deal.