What Photoshop for Beginners ?

[speedboy]

I thought aboujt trying some Photoshop but, there are so much versions. What should i take ? There are some CS versions, there are Elements versions ! Wich is the best for me to make signatures/topics etc. ???

[Webster]

When I was a beginner I mostly used Photoshop CS4.
Now I design and Create with CS5.
I preffer CS4.

[speedboy]

When I was a beginner I mostly used Photoshop CS4.
Now I design and Create with CS5.
I preffer CS4.

im using CS3 now... is it a big difference ?

[Webster]

im using CS3 now... is it a big difference ?

Yes CS4 has more options that CS3 and is a bit more "professional" ;p
Your choice.

[Mr.Eagle]

Photoshop is not a user friendly for me, use Paint.Net if your new on photo editing then use GIMP after that.

[Webster]

Photoshop is the most professional photo editing program.
So If you want to start professional use that, if not, start with GIMP or Paint, as Eagle said.

[Mr.Eagle]

The topic name says all.

[dtlove]

I started using CS3, Upgraded each version when new ones came out, And just recently as I started Web Design work I went back to CS3, Its pretty simple to use and makes getting things done easy.

So, I'd personally recommend you use CS3 for learning.

[speedboy]

Ok im usind CS3 now and im trying to learn some thing with tutorials, also my signature is made by me and some things from the scalletta topic is made by me, like the wantef poster etc. (even if richard says its not good) ! please take a look at it and comment on my designs !

[Lua]

I started with CS5, after learning how to apply effects and layers in Paint.NET CS wasn't very hard at all. I downloaded variety of layer styles, brushes and applied text and those brushes on stocks I already had. I don't think using CS4 or CS5 is a good idea for beginning though. Most of the tutorials on the internet are too overall and may not suit you but try to browse through filters and left-click tools which enables other tools with the same kind.

So, at an overall for a beginner I think;

CS2 - 7/10 - Has very less features and you may not be able to do variety of things
CS3 - 9/10 - Can be a very good choice as still most of brushes and layer styles are CS3 compatible, also doesn't have enough features but enough for a learner
CS4 - I never tried it so I won't vote for this one
CS5 - 8/10 - Although I would vote this 10/10, it can be very complicated for a zero-beginner.

All of them has tons of pros & cons but as an overall for a zero-beginner CS3 would be good. If you want to go for CS5 or CS4 at first, you can give Paint.NET a try. After downloading 20 plug-ins (20 plug-ins are about 5mb, don't worry ) it can be very usefull. I used to do every single signature/avatar on Paint.NET for 9 months - I still use it for resizing and small effects as I'm still used to it's very simple UI

[Norrage]

I used CS2 before. Now im using CS5. Altough i prefer CS2 for beginners, as told above not alot of features what makes it very good for a beginner, i started with it also.

[Dorg]

Im begginer and I use CS5

[Kizzu]

So..I only used CS3,CS4,CS5

and I would definatly recommend CS5 Altough if youre really starting on Photoshop I wouldnt recommend it...If you already know a little about Photoshop with a few video tutorials on the net you will ge there...