Hi Chris,
I've got Elements 2.0 , 4.0, 5.0 plus loads of others.
You will find that they all have the basics & more.
I've just purchased Serif Photoplus 11 complete with album plus4 and
a very thick user manual for £ 13-00 inc postage direct from Serif.
It has got everything that all the other programmes have , Layers,Masking etc. etc.
Did I need it? No! but for that price I can give it to one of my nieces as a present.
Of course I will tell her it cost me £60-00
Tomkin
Also try
www.freeserifsoftware.com there are five free programmes there including photoplus 6.0 It's old but it's got everything
you need. So you can do plenty of practising for nothing. Of course they will then have
your e-mail and occasionally present you with offers, but over the years it's never annoyed me.