I've been using Photoshop Elements off and on for many years. I am trained on and have been using Photoshop since 2007. However, I ended my Adobe subscription due to my decreased need for it and what I call the "fallout" of Summer 2024 (search online, it's not hard to find). I have appreciated Photoshop Elements because of its non-subscription model, allowing me to keep using it long after paying for it. Since I work on both Mac and Windows, it's nice to have the alternating upgrade cycle between the two systems. I bought this one version because my Mac version was 2 years old, but also because of the changing model that Adobe has gone with subsequent versions where they are not month-to-month subscriptions, but they have planned obsolescence.
If you are reading this review and this product is no longer available, know that changes between versions is not significant, so you can skip a year or two and not miss too many features.
If you are new to Photoshop Elements, the key to this software over most other image-editing software is it has built-in "easy, medium, hard" levels, as I like to call them. If you are very new and know little about photo editing, there is a version that will do basic touchups for you without you needing to know much, called Quick. Just select the option for what you want to do and choose the option that gives you the result you like best.
As you get more comfortable, the "medium" version, known as Guided, will get more creative and technical, such as removing objects from the photo, changing backgrounds, and doing more advanced enhancements.
As an experienced Photoshop user, I use the "hard" version known as Expert. Here, you have a basically a less powerful version of Photoshop, with layers and layer effects, a full pallet of tools for selections and drawing, filters, and a lot of familiar panels like History, Histogram, and Color Swatches. It's surprising that there are so many capabilities in this package, and unless you are a professional photographer or graphic artist, Photoshop Elements may be all you need. It is also nice to have the Quick and Guided tools for quick edits if you want them, but you still have plenty of control with the Expert tools.
Read into the licensing terms carefully before purchasing any future version after this one, but if you purchase this one, it is a perpetual license.