yes off course it is, you will get out of photoshop what u put into it, but dont let it take your life over, and remember photoshop can only make a good shot better, it cant make a bad shot good lol.
I have been using version 3 for a fair while and find it good. I also bought a book ‘Hidden Power of Photoshop Elements’ which came with a CD of extras add-ons which lets you do some things with Elements which are normally only available in full Photoshop.
Find Elements great for cataloging pictures too and easy to use. Well worth checking out.