I've used photoshop for years now working with my wife who is a graphic designer and character creator.
you can see her website at
http://www.thecharacterfactory.com/The Character Factory is her trademark, and I use photoshop, not so much for photos but on her scanned artwork, mostly touchups of a blemish in a pencil that needs to be edited out, or cutting the original from the scan and dropping in on a black background, or doing full compositions like the things that have stars, or buttons, or stuff.
If you are looking for truly original designs, send me an email using the fanmail link on the first page. I check it about once a week.
Has anyone seen the new program coming out from adobe for photo editing? I just got something in the mail about it.... what was it called... have to google it...brb....
dang, it is not on their web site yet that I can find... i'll look at home for the paper. if you see a notice of a new editor from adobe, feel free to post the name... I'll forget...