photoshop or paintshop?

Personally I would go with Photoshop. I wrote a comment on an above one you can find versions of photoshop for cheaper. Good luck.

I have both and I'd have to say that PhotoShop does a lot more and is easier to use for me at least. If you don't have much money, try PhotoShop Elements.

I don't know anything about Paintshop since I've never used it. I do use Photoshop and I absolutely love it! What an amazing program! I'm currently using CS3, which is fantastic! I would definitely recommend Photoshop! I can't really compare it to any other program, since I've always only used Photoshop. But I can say that you won't be disappointed with Photoshop!