Photo editing software

[mwellsgarage]

Okay i am looking to purchase NIKON D5000 in the next couple of days, having finally decided on the camera i want i now need to decide what photo editing, software to get and the best place to get it from. Are there any good free editing software packages? is photoshop the best and if so what version? i am in need of desperate advice and guidance please

[andy-xr]

You should get a trial of CaptureNX bundled with the camera. Whether you use it enough to pay for it after the trial period is up to you. I've used it before, liked it then went off it when I got the D300.

There's also Irfanview, Gimp and a host of other programs such as PaintShop Pro before you get to the Adobe stuff. And then there's the internet based ones, is it Picasa??

Depends what you want from the software, if it's just a bit of levels and crop then anything from the freebies would be fine. If you're planning on digital art, you'll probably end up at Photoshop sooner rather than later, even if for the tutorials, actions and plugins.

[Simpo Two]

Andy and I obviously have different tastes as well as filters

Photoshop Elements. It's not expensive and you'll be starting off and learning on the industry standard.

[oobster]

I bought PS Elements 7 recently and i'm just starting to get the hang of it.

I bought it from Ebuyer - arrived next day and was a decent price too.

If your going for PS Elements and you have never used any version of PS before then you should get this book from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Photoshop-Elements-Digital...

I have been through the book over the last 3-4 weeks and it really is a good way to learn how to use Elements.

[Dave^]

try gimp and paint.net


http://www.gimp.org/

http://www.getpaint.net/


both have their own dedicated support forums, with many, many plugins etc, and both are totally free......

[cs02rm0]

Dave^ said:

try gimp

[andy-xr]

Simpo Two said:

Andy and I obviously have different tastes as well as filters

[Davi]

Dave^ said:

try gimp

How does Gimp compare to Photoshop in tools / methodology?

Frankly Adobe have had enough of my money over the years, I can't afford to buy yet another copy for another computer!

[TuscNick]

mwellsgarage said:

Okay i am looking to purchase NIKON D5000 in the next couple of days, having finally decided on the camera i want i now need to decide what photo editing, software to get and the best place to get it from. Are there any good free editing software packages? is photoshop the best and if so what version? i am in need of desperate advice and guidance please

Just bought the D5000, I am very pleased indeed with it.

I sue paint shop pro, was about £40 fom PC world - does all and more than i need at this stage

Cheers

Nick

[Dave^]

Davi said:

Dave^ said:

try gimp

How does Gimp compare to Photoshop in tools / methodology?

Frankly Adobe have had enough of my money over the years, I can't afford to buy yet another copy for another computer!

tbh i haven't given it a proper try yet, so i wouldn't like to say.... but i'd hazzard a guess that it would take a bit of getting used to, as does crossing over from one program to another..... (obviously i don't mean notepad to word, or any crap like that! lol)

[...Mole...]

you could try Gimpshop (Gimp with an interface similar to photoshop)
http://www.gimpshop.com/
cant say i have used it much myself though.

[jon-]

...Mole... said:

you could try Gimpshop (Gimp with an interface similar to photoshop)
http://www.gimpshop.com/
cant say i have used it much myself though.

As much as I love gimp it's not photoshop and if you get serious, it's miles behind. The Gimpshop fork is a few releases behind regular Gimp too.

Photoshop is industry leading for a reason, it has no competition. I agree with Simpo Two, Photoshop elements is the best place to cut your teeth if your long term plan is to get serious.

Edited by jon- on Wednesday 5th August 15:56

[Rob13]

Which photoshop? Ive got CS2 but it looks like CS4 is out now! Cant keep up! Should I look to get something else or is CS2 ok to run with??

[Davi]

that's a shame. I do love my Photoshop but really can't justify yet another copy.

[cs02rm0]

jon- said:

...Mole... said:

you could try Gimpshop (Gimp with an interface similar to photoshop)
http://www.gimpshop.com/
cant say i have used it much myself though.

As much as I love gimp it's not photoshop and if you get serious, it's miles behind. The Gimpshop fork is a few releases behind regular Gimp too.

Photoshop is industry leading for a reason, it has no competition. I agree with Simpo Two, Photoshop elements is the best place to cut your teeth if your long term plan is to get serious.

Windows is industry leading for a reason too.

There aren't many things I'd want Photoshop for that GIMP can't do, and if I found one I really wanted I'd probably write a plugin. I wouldn't bother with the Gimpshop fork though either.

[andy-xr]

I've never tried GIMP for anything other than playing around with JPEGs I'd already processed, but from looking at it I couldnt find a RAW converter such as ACR, and guidance suggests using UFRaw. I suppose something like Rawmagik is the same, but to me they're not a Capture One, Lightroom or a PSE/PS CS

And again, I dont know what NEF files the D5000 is going to spew out, my guess is it's going to be the same issues as the D90/D300 when they came out - everyone had to update their support for them.

[toasty]

FWIW I use Adobe Lightroom for 99% of stuff.

[Major Bloodnok]

toasty said:

FWIW I use Adobe Lightroom for 99% of stuff.

Ditto. Best piece of software on my desktop. Virtually all of the pictures I've posted have been processed exclusively in Lightroom - its B&W conversion and split toning functions are superb.

I used to use Paint Shop pro for years, but, just recently, one niggling little "feature" has really started to irritate me: the way it completely fails to handle embedded ICC profiles sensibly. Basically, you can tell it to use a profile, and it will convert everything you open to use it. It's a bit of a bugger when you want to work in AdobeRGB most of the time, but occasionally need to edit something in sRGB. Even worse, it has a habit of stripping the profile out of the file when you save it. I couldn't understand why so many of my images had bleached colours after editing in PSP, until I realised that it stripped the AdobeRGB profile out of the file when it saved it, so everything else was assuming that the profile was sRGB. At least Elements (when I use it) respects profiles and even lets you change them.

[Dave^]

photoshop cs4 is over £600..... which is more than the d5000 body.....

if you can justify the cost, then go for it.....

personally, for what i use it, i couldn't.... (cropping/resizing/etc....) so i'll stick to the free stuff....

i did use Photoshop 7 for a few years at work, and playing with that in my lunch hour following tutorials etc, i got quit acustom to it.....

what's the saying about old dogs and new tricks? haha!

[Simpo Two]

Dave^ said:

photoshop cs4 is over £600..... which is more than the d5000 body.....

Agreed, a non-starter for amateur use. But Elements is (IIRC) about £80 and there must be copies of CS or CS2 on eBay for reasonable money.