DPChallenge: A Digital Photography Contest You are not logged in. (log in or register
 

DPChallenge Forums >> Hardware and Software >> photo editing programs
Pages:  
Showing posts 1 - 10 of 10, (reverse)
AuthorThread
01/21/2006 03:12:14 PM · #1
hey im looking to get a photo editing program. I dont want anything too complicated but i still want to be able to do more than the editors that came with my computer can anyone point me in the rite direction?
01/21/2006 03:14:24 PM · #2
What platform, OS, and budget are you working with?
01/21/2006 03:14:27 PM · #3
The Gimp

Free and good. And it's as complicated as you want it to be. They offer some good tutorials on the site.
01/21/2006 03:44:10 PM · #4
For some basic stuff for free, get Picasa2

I also like Photoshop Elements

But yea, Gimp will do some good stuff for ya.
01/21/2006 04:00:16 PM · #5
i have a pc and im runing windows xp and i dont really have a budget but i dont want to spend a pile since ill probably upgrade eventually. is elements complicated?
01/21/2006 04:00:50 PM · #6
are there any sites that review these programs?
01/21/2006 04:04:10 PM · #7
Originally posted by chris_23:

i have a pc and im runing windows xp and i dont really have a budget but i dont want to spend a pile since ill probably upgrade eventually. is elements complicated?


I don't find it complicated, but my wife did a little. The help sections are handy, but you can always ask questions of people on here.

One tip, I hate the Elements organizer and file download utils, I use Picasa for all the, though PSE-4 is supposed to have an upgraded organizer... Apparently it also has face recognition software, and can add all the pictures that contain that face to a certain tag for convenience.

Message edited by author 2006-01-21 16:04:23.
01/21/2006 04:07:22 PM · #8
Originally posted by chris_23:

are there any sites that review these programs?

Try cNet or PC Magazine
01/21/2006 05:48:26 PM · #9
Originally posted by chris_23:

i have a pc and im runing windows xp and i dont really have a budget but i dont want to spend a pile since ill probably upgrade eventually. is elements complicated?


The nice thing about Elements is that it has a big percentage of the functionality of CS, in a more streamlined package. In fact, back in the Elements 2 days, when I bought it, the Maximum PC reviewers said it was 90% of the functionality of PS at 10% of the price.

I had used a number of serious editing packages before that, including Paint Shop Pro 4, and several versions of PhotoImpact. But I didn't find any that made it so easy to work with layers. I didn't really understand layers until I started using PSE, despite similar capabilities existing in PhotoImpact. I think it made it pretty easy.

It also automates some of the things you do in CS/CS2 using "general" tools, like red-eye reduction, and masking.

I eventually moved up to CS, mainly because 1) I understood layers enough to want to use more than just adjustment layers, 2) to have full 16 bit support, and 3) to have the "Fade" effect command and the history brush. But you can do some pretty nice things even without these. Elements is a bargain.

That being said, I haven't used Elements 4, and Elements 3 had one new feature (from 2) that really ticked me off. Hopefully they've fixed it. That is, when you were using the mouse to paint or select, and you approached a margin, the canvas would quickly autoscroll for you, so much that you'd mess up what you were painting and selecting. There was a workaround for this, which was basically stupid: don't work with a maximized child window. It was stupid, and I am betting they fixed it.

I think Elements is a bargain, high quality editor. It might be good for you forever, or if not, it's a good first step to learning CS/CS2/CS3.

Of course GIMP is free, and has a lot of the same features, though not the same polished interface.

01/21/2006 05:58:52 PM · #10
I'm in total agreement with nshapiro. PS Elements is a bargain, and learning it will make a later transition to the full version of PS easier, when and if you feel that you need the additional functionality.
GIMP is a good editor, and free is a good price. There is also a version of GIMP that acts almost exactly like Photoshop so if you do want to learn the PS interface, you could get a head start that way. All in all, though, I still think PS Elements would be a great choice.
Pages:  
Current Server Time: 03/29/2024 09:00:00 AM

Please log in or register to post to the forums.


Home - Challenges - Community - League - Photos - Cameras - Lenses - Learn - Prints! - Help - Terms of Use - Privacy - Top ^
DPChallenge, and website content and design, Copyright © 2001-2024 Challenging Technologies, LLC.
All digital photo copyrights belong to the photographers and may not be used without permission.
Current Server Time: 03/29/2024 09:00:00 AM EDT.