Image Processing Software, Advice for image processing newbies Options

[Juramike]

What kind of image processing software would be good for a newbie interested in starting to manipulate basic images (JPEG, TIFF, PPG)?

Is there a big difference between Photoshop CS3 and Photoshop CS3 Extended?
What do y'all recommend?

(And how can I get this cheap? Man, this stuff looks expensive!)

Any advice would be helpful, but I am so NOT an IT guy: I still move my lips when I try to read software manuals. (I usually just click the default option on installation windows and jsut hope everything works OK.)

-Mike

[machi]

This is very brief description of basic morphing with Sqirlz Morph, which can answer some question from EPOXI thread and belongs more
to Image Processing Techniques.

You can download program from here http://www.xiberpix.net/SqirlzMorph.html.
Animation process is really simple.
Key parts of the procedure are:
Preparing initial images (cropping and centering).
Opening two close (in time) images.
Matching corresponding key points on images.
Testing and repositioning key points (most time consuming part, most difficult key points are those on sharp edges without distinctly quidance).
Making output video (if it's video for follow-up processing, choosing compression to lossless is good idea).
Making same procedure for all images and joining videos (in different program, I use VirtualDub).

EDIT: Squirlz => Sqirlz