Photo editing software

[tuscnick]

Just got my new laptop etc heading out to get external harddrive (seagate 400gb for £89)

But what should I do about photo editing software

Paint shop pro 11 for £50 ? any good?

if not which is the one to have and what price should I expect to pay

Thanks

Nick

[megy]

tuscnick said:

Just got my new laptop etc heading out to get external harddrive (seagate 400gb for £89)

But what should I do about photo editing software

Photoshop is the one I would recomend, or if you are new to photo editing then go for Photoshop Elements.

Where did you get the external hardrive for that price from? are they net based?

[GetCarter]

I use Paint Shop Pro and Photoshop. The former does 95% of the latter (and is a lot easier to use).

But if you end up buying Photoshop in 3 years, moving from Elements will be easier.

[dogsey]

Download The Gimp ... also does 95% of what PS does but is totally free!

[pilot_ian]

megy said:

tuscnick said:

Just got my new laptop etc heading out to get external harddrive (seagate 400gb for £89)

But what should I do about photo editing software

Photoshop is the one I would recomend, or if you are new to photo editing then go for Photoshop Elements.

Where did you get the external hardrive for that price from? are they net based?

Maplin - shops or online - offering the Seagate drive for £89.

[V6GTO]

I've got one...it does what it says on the tin

Martin.

[chris.mapey]

GetCarter said:

I use Paint Shop Pro and Photoshop. The former does 95% of the latter (and is a lot easier to use).

But if you end up buying Photoshop in 3 years, moving from Elements will be easier.

What he said. I find myself using Paint Shop Pro for nearly all my work.

I got it very cheaply by downloading the trial version from their site, then I was invited to upgrade to PSP X for only £29 IIRC. So I did...

Chris

[DJ_AS]

I recently plumped for Photoshop Elements after trialling both that Photoimpact by Ulead.

I chose mainly cos I just 'get on' with Photoshop's way of doing things plus most of the books and magazines out there run tutorials specifically for Photoshop.

I strongly recommend downloading the 30 day trial version of whatever software you are interested in and give it a go. Like a camera - its quite a personal thing.

[Zad]

pilot_ian said:

megy said:

tuscnick said:

Just got my new laptop etc heading out to get external harddrive (seagate 400gb for £89)

But what should I do about photo editing software

Photoshop is the one I would recomend, or if you are new to photo editing then go for Photoshop Elements.

Where did you get the external hardrive for that price from? are they net based?

Maplin - shops or online - offering the Seagate drive for £89.

Or this 500GB Iomega for £99:99 with free shipping

[Bodo]

dogsey said:

Download The Gimp ... also does 95% of what PS does but is totally free!

Seconded.

[likesbikes]

Bodo said:

dogsey said:

Download The Gimp ... also does 95% of what PS does but is totally free!

Seconded.

Convinced me. But where will I find it?

[Bodo]

Here's how to download the Gimp: www.gimp.org/windows/
and here's a manual: http://docs.gimp.org/en/
and here are some tutorials: www.gimp.org/tutorials/

[Tuna]

I find the Gimp to be very powerful, but a bit of a pig to use. Like a lot of Linux apps, it's technically very clever, but the user interface has grown out of control. Download and try it, but you might feel a little lost.

Paint Shop Pro only costs 50 quid and has quite a few digital photography oriented functions, auto fixes and things like skin blemish removal tools that are handy when you're fixing your photos.

[tuscnick]

Thanks to all.

It looks like I have a few options some are even free (GIMP), I tink I shall give Photoshop elements a try (if I can find a reasonably priced one) If not its seems that Paint Shop Pro is readily available.

Cheers

Nick

[jamieboy]

What do people use in OSX? I know there's a version of GIMP, but it needs X11 installed and I'm told that's a bad thing. I've also heard of SeaShore - anyone here use that?

[likesbikes]

Bodo said:

Here's how to download the Gimp: www.gimp.org/windows/
and here's a manual: http://docs.gimp.org/en/
and here are some tutorials: www.gimp.org/tutorials/

Got it, cheers.

Tuna said:

I find the Gimp to be very powerful, but a bit of a pig to use. Like a lot of Linux apps, it's technically very clever, but the user interface has grown out of control. Download and try it, but you might feel a little lost.

Blimey, you're not kidding are you!

[jonathanp]

I'm a fan of Open Source software, I even get paid to develop applications running on Linux at work and at home used the Gimp on Linux for several years for quick photo editing.

But I've had to switch my home desktop back to Windows because I needed an ICC colour managed workflow in order to get satisfactory results - unfortunately the Gimp doesn't support colour management which is a bit of a snag for a photo editor!

I'd echo the recommendation for Photoshop Elements, you can download the latest Adobe Camera Raw plugin for it and it'll do most of what you need. The user interface is the same as Photoshop itself, so if that's where you want to end up its a good choice. Paint Shop Pro gets you much closer to Photoshop in terms of features and for a lot less, but I'm not sure what its raw support is like.

Jonathan

Edited by jonathanp on Saturday 17th February 09:12

[chris.mapey]

jonathanp said:

Paint Shop Pro gets you much closer to Photoshop in terms of features and for a lot less, but I'm not sure what its raw support is like.

I use PSP & shoot RAW (well, the proper NEF files ) and PSP handles them really well.

I have a version of CS2 as well, and I use PSP far more, as it seems quicker on my machine.

Chris

[jonathanp]

Thanks Chris, that's useful to know. Will give it a go sometime.

Jonathan