Asking about semi-pro is a very subjective thing, but I believe
anyone who is truly serious about digital photography will insist
on post processing and use PS. The software is more important than
the camera if you are truly into workflow. But any truly serious
person will take the time to become proficient at PS too.
I use PS7. But PS 8 has the raw converter built in, and I'm
interested in it. PS7 is an unbelievably powerful program, and most
people here don't use it because they don't want to take the time
to learn it. Hence all of your other responses. So be aware, it
will take time to learn it and become proficient at it. Simple
picture adjustments are easy to do on it, but if that is all you
ever use PS for, then it is a waste. If you get into layers,
curves, masking, plug ins, etc, the program will come into its own.
At least there are lots of learning resources out there. This
program continually amazes me.
Check out this post on another thread I did where I did some quick
PS work.....
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1024&message=6338998
If you don't want the extreme of PS, then PS elements I think is a
great program. My retired parents use PS elements, and are now
hooked on post processing their digital pictures. Good
instructions, easy to use, and probably the program most people on
these forums should use.
Hope this helps.
kw.............