Expert: Kamal Krishna - 5/30/2011

Question
I am going to buy a new computer. Friends say that I should buy Adobe PhotoShop and Adobe Premier Elements 9.

I collect photos. Mostly JEPG. Can you give me some simple examples what Adobe can do for me and my photos. One thing I would really like is when I get small (2 inch x 2 inch or less!) photos, is a way to make them bigger. Normal way of pressing the + key just makes the photos turn into a lot of tiny cubes. Or perhaps, for my needs, Photoshop is not what I should buy.

Any advice will help. Thanks.

Answer
Hi Dave,
I see you are totally new to photoshop.
I'd suggest Adobe Photoshop Elements since you may not require all the advanced features of Adobe Photoshop.
(Note: Adobe Premier Elements is for video editing and not for photos.)

Press + only zooms the picture but doesnt increase the size. The tiny cubes are pixels, and they together make the picture.
If you want to make the images bigger you will have to use "Image size" function, however the more you increase the more loss of quality happens. (the tiny cubes start to appear bigger or in a word its known as pixelated.

Heres a link explaining the Image Size option in detail : http://www.awdsf.com/courseware/photoshop/ps2_ImageSize_Resolution.htm)

Hope this helped.
Do let me know if u need further assistance
- Kamal Krishna