Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop Elements 8 [Mac]
$99.99
The Photoshop Elements 8 is a great way to make great PICs even better. The available options let you enhance your PICs, while fixing the weak areas.

Adobe Photoshop Extended CS4 Student Edition [Mac]
$999.00
The independent verification service is obscenely slow. The process and submission requirements are significant and feedback is non-existent. Bottom line -- better to go with a different product, or pay for a non-student version if you can -- than to subject yourself to this process. Shame on you, Abobe. Everyone, even students, have enough demands on their time that we do not need more, seemingly fruitless, ones added by a damn software company.

Layers: The Complete Guide to Photoshop's Most Powerful Feature
$44.99
A very detailed step-by-step guide to Photoshop layers. The author, Matt Kloskowski, guides you through the subject in an order that you would use it to improve your photos. The book with the easy and steps to the more difficult in an easy to follow format. Mr. Kloskowski has a sence of humor and uses it through out the book, helping to keep you interested in what could be a dry subject matter. A very good investment for those who want to expand their usage of Photoshop.

Adobe Photoshop Elements & Premiere Elements 7 [OLD VERSION]
$149.99
If you're new to this software, it's pretty intuitive and gives you an easy way to edit your pictures and video. However with resident and free programs getting better every day, one expects the Adobe programs to simply work and work well. However, it is not the case if you're using Vista or even Windows 7. It really slows down the performance, and I have a pretty powerful system so I am mystified. Some of the free programs seem to work faster.

Having used the pro versions of both Photoshop and Premiere I think Elements gives all the tools needed for casual/amateur photo and video editing and the interface is nicer than some other programs. However, one wishes that there were less compatibility issues and everything would work seamlessly. You also need a lot of space for these programs so if you plan to use them on your notebook make sure you get a more powerful system.