BetterPhoto Q&A
Category: Photo Editing Software

Photography Question 

Pat Worster
 

Photoshop: What to Get?


I have a birthday coming up and have requested Photoshop. I do not know what one to get. I have about $300.00 to spend. Would someone please tell me which one I should get so I do not have to upgrade six months from now? My next course is going to be Photoshop. Thanks.


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July 27, 2004

 

Vince Broesch
  If you are a student, you can by the Adobe student versions. Student versions are fully functional like the retail. You will need to prove that you are a student. Check out www.studica.com The Adobe pack with Photoshop CS, Illustrator CS, GoLive, and Acrobat is about $380. You will want CS, it is the new one.

Vince
www.photoago.com


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July 27, 2004

 

Damian P. Gadal
  Newest isn't always best - I picked up a copy of PS 5.5 (along with the license) on eBay for less than $100.00 and am perfectly happy with it ...


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July 27, 2004

 

Terry L. Long
  I concur with Damian that "newest isn't always best." I have v7.0 and won't upgrade to CS ... yet. There are a lot of problems with "plug-in's" and CS. I've got too much money invested in plug-in's to not be able to use them. I'll wait until they overcome the bugs in CS before I upgrade.


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July 27, 2004

 

John Wright
  Personally, I haven't seen a problem with Photoshop CS or plug-in's, and I use it daily. PhotoshopCS is far superior to previous versions (and I've been using it for years - including v5.5). If you can get a copy that is within your budget, I'd recommend it. There are other alternatives out there (that are cheaper), but I have no experience with them.

Good luck!


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July 28, 2004

 

Pat Worster
  Thanks for the info now a question about cameras. I am looking for a new camera. I would like at least 6 megapixels and inter changeable lenses. I do not want an SLR. Since going digital I have absolutely no interest in dealing with film again. There are a lot of experienced photographers out there I wouldlike some feed back on the best for about $800.00. Thanks Pat Worster


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July 28, 2004

 

Colette M. LaCasse
  Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0 is another option. It runs less than $100, and you can do a lot with it, especially if you're just starting out. I have Photoshop 6, and it a little overwhelming. I received the Photoshop Elements 2.0 as part of the package when I bought my Canon Digital Rebel. I like it much better than Photoshop 6 (at least for now)! Just a thought ! :)


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August 03, 2004

 

Randy Kinney
  Unless you are just "dead-set" upon purchasing PhotoShop, I would suggest looking at Paint Shop Pro 8 by Jasc. It is feature-rich, with very extensive functions. Also, many, many of the plug-ins for PhotoShop will also work with PSP 8. You can pick up a new copy of PSP for as little as $60-$70 (on sale). You can also download a trial version (30 days) directly from www.jasc.com to check it out. If you are an eBayer, you may find a deal there also.


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August 03, 2004

 

Diane Dupuis
  I used to use Photodraw, and although Photoshop was way, way out of my budget (it is $800 Canadian here!) I recently bought Photoshop Elements 2.0, which I'm very happy with. I'm not a pro, but am very computer savvy and learn things quickly. I guess it all depends on what you plan on doing with it, how much time you have to devote to it, and how good you are with a computer. My understanding is that PS Elements is more for the everyday users (rather than professional graphic artists), and it has many of the same features as PS but in a more user-friendly and easier to use program.


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August 03, 2004

 

Damian P. Gadal
  You ever wonder, "If Photoshop is so good, why is there the need for so many plug-ins"?


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August 03, 2004

 

BetterPhoto Member
  I am fairly new to image editing programs. I've used Paint Shop Pro 8, Photoshop elements, Photoshop 7, and Photoshop CS. From a beginner's point of view, CS is so much easier to use. It's my fav so far. Go to www.adobe.com and download some trials, decide for yourself.


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August 04, 2004

 

Karma Wilson
  Well, for 85% of my photo editing I use Picture It 7, which is a lot more powerful than people think when you know some tricks and--it's so easy to use I can edit in half the time there. But it is limited. So recently I downloaded a free program called The Gimp. It's great--and people are creating plug ins all the time for it. It has a lot of the capabilities of photoshop and it's FREE! Plus, I was able to use some of the features immediatly whereas with Photoshop Elements (I tried the trial) I could not. I also found elements completely misrepresented my colors. I would open a file in it and the colors would be much more saturated looking--only to open it elsewhere and have the photo look totally different! I can't work that way. I strongly recommend the Gimp so far. My one caveat--it's hard to download. It was created for Linux, so for the windows version you have to download an auto exe. file thingy to get it to automatically download. But if I can figure it out anyone can. There are lots of pages that give you great tips on using it...whole tutorials that are free online.

Good luck,

Karma


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August 10, 2004

 

Leah Marshall
  I use photoshop elements 2.0. I advise sticking with adobe because it is industry standard. Very cheap and has everything you need to clean up images.


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August 10, 2004

 

Karma Wilson
  Popping in again. The more and more I use the gimp the more I'm impressed. I find it much more true to color than Elements was (on my computer at least) and I also find it more powerful and user intuitive. There are some drawbacks, but no more than I encountered on Elements (which seemed to require about 5 steps for every one task!)

If you're on a tight budget it's free! And yes, photoshop is the industry standard, but many of the photoshop plugins also work in Gimp. They are that close in capability.

Up to this point I've used Photoshop Elelemnts, PhotoImpact XL, JASC, Picture It 7 and Gimp. Picture It is by far the most user friendly for most fixes (scratches, cropping, softening edges, adding transparent fade, framing) and Gimp is great for more complex elements like Selective Gaussian Blur, Layers, Coloring Black and White photos, and Cloning. I combine both programs for power and ease of use. I didn't like Jasc so much (the quality of the pics wasn't good after editing). I loved XL--but I was using the trial. The full version is $85. I've already spent close to $400 on camera and accessories and I have two more filters I really want to save my money for. Not to mention I'd someday like the Nikon D70--software is the least of my priorities!

Good luck...and remember industry standards are often just other words for monopoly. If a program like Gimp can be offered for free and has so many capabilities of full photoshop at $600 something is WRONG! Elements is still around $80. Yikes. Here's a good link for the Gimp.
http://www.mozillaquest.com/Linux03/Gimp-Overview_Story01.html

It's a tutorial and will give you an idea of capabilities. From what I've read of full photoshop the programs are very comparable in ease of use (as in they are not easy to use...ha ha). But once you learn you've got some real photo editing power in both programs.

You can check my pictures and my latest entry was edited (Oh Give Me a Home) in the Gimp. I forgot to mention on that photo that I cloned out an ugly red coleman cooler that annoyed me. Once I figured it out it was a great clone tool.

Karma


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August 12, 2004

 

Diane Dupuis
  Hi - time for my 2 cents again...
I tried GIMP, which is free! And is supposed to do everything Photoshop does! WOW - my husband had me convinced.
I downloaded it, and printed 1/2 the manual - there were several hundreds of pages!!! I tried playing around in it and I found it very difficult to get started - I'm not computer illiterate but I couldn't seem to get the basics going... so I wound up giving up in the end.
Bought Photoshop Elements and a book to go with and am really enjoying it...
Have a great weekend!


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August 12, 2004

 

Karma Wilson
  Hi Diane, how are you?

You're right--its complicated software because of the capabilities (though for the life of me I couldn't get elements to make a colored background layer and a B/W layer to erase through and I tried for hours--in Gimp it happened instantly first time I tried). In three days I haven't figured out 95% of it and have lots to learn. But it's the same level of complication as the full version of Photoshop from everything I've heard, and it's about the same as JASC from my personal experience (except easier for me). I have figured out cropping, cloning, color curve manipulation, softening, hue, saturation, brightness, borders, and lots of other stuff just by trial and error.


However, Pat is doing this for a course and Jim might not want Gimp--I don't know. But it is free, more comprehensive in capability than Elements, and anybody short on cash can always try it and delete it if they hate it. There's a fairly new version--2.0--that I'm told is much more user friendly than past versions.

I'm fairly software incompetent. I just use the try try again method. I use lots of complicated software and never read a manual--I just keep fiddling and reading turtorials for each task till I figure it out. Gimp has mose of the same tools as Photoshop (curves, blur tools, clone tools, perspective, intelligent shears, many filters, etc...) so maybe it could be used in a photoshop course, but then again maybe not.

Personally I find that Picture It is the most overlooked software on earth. I can do more in it more easily (including manual stitching of photos!) than most software--it just stops shy of the total package which is heartbreaking for me. Do you know how many steps elements, photoshop, jasc and gimp require for a simple eliptical cut! It's ridiculous. More intuitive user friendly tools would help these programs immensely! For now I do my base fixes in Picture It, save the file, then open it in other programs for more extensive edits.

Have you noticed color changes in elements to other programs? Maybe it's my moniter but the colors always looked much more saturated in Elements making it impossible to edit colors there! I would do all my fixes, open in another program only to have the picture look washed out! In elements I'd toned down the colors because of how it looked. Frustrating! I liked certain abilities in Elements but that was the last straw.

Take care,

Karma


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August 12, 2004

 

Leonid Strizhevskiy
  I second John Wright's opinion.
CS is far superior compaired to previous vesions. Especialy file browser,raw feature, hihglight/shadows
command and many mre. It is the last in Photoshop series. Adobe is to announce what will the next.
certainly if you are doing only light editing you can get Elements for a song.
Leonid Strizhevskiy


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October 28, 2004

 

Michael E. Johnson
  I have just upgraded my photoshop elements 2 to 3. I must say it does have some nice new features. The adjust smart fix is real nice. They have really made it better. I do not know if all plugins work with it yet. Has anyone else used this program yet.


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November 07, 2004

 

Pat Worster
  I finall bought Photoshop Elements and I have been having quite a time using it. I have found that the Microshft Digital Image that I had does nearly all that Photoshop does but is much user friendly. I really appreciate all of the input from everyone. Thanks Pat Worster


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November 07, 2004

 

Richard Lynch
  Most people will never use all the stuff that Photoshop has in it, and you can likely get away (easily) with using Photoshop Elements and the proper techniques. My book and tools can help ramp up the power of Elements so that it virtually matches Photoshop -- in fact I use both programs the same way since developing my tools (http://hiddenelements.com). If you have Elements and you are looking for a little more, check it out before dropping 10xs the cost on Photoshop!


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March 02, 2006

 
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