Photoshop CS (which is a HECK of a lot more money than fifty bucks -- even Photoshop Elements which is the consumer version is about 99 bucks) is an image manipulation and painting program. If you're thinking about painting your landscapes from the ground up, you can do that with Photoshop elements, but it's basically going to give you a blank canvas and say, "paint away!" Bryce is good for landscapes (look at the galleries here). Carrara, prior to version 4 was pretty weak for landscape work, but the current version is excellent. Maybe someone can weigh in about Carrara Basics -- does it have the landscape and terrain engine? Good luck. - Dex