which program to use?

[ricktard]

Hello. I just recently got interested in photography and I was just wondering what program you guys think is best for someone who's new in image editing and stuff. I currently have Adobe Photoshop 6 Trial Version.. is this enough? I wanted to buy the Paint Shop Pro 8 because it looked like a really good program. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance :-D

[JimL]

I use PSP 8.1 and am reasonably good with it. It is not a program you can pick up and be an expert user in 10 easy lessons. If you take your time and learn not only the tools available (a considerable number) but the multiple uses of those tools you can do an amazing number of things to photographs, drawings, or combinations of photos and drawings. If you just want to make cards or newsletters there are many easier programs (PhotoSuite 6 (or what ever number they are up to) ) that fulfill that function. There are many places that are still offering rebates of 30 to 40 US dollars (Target for one) which make owning it pretty economical. It takes a minimum of 128 mb of ram in your computer and 3 times that if you work on pictures of any size (I use 512 mb DDR). It can produce CYMK color tiff images or separations which most printers will accept for 4 color printing. It can be made to accept Adobe color Space but it is highly recommended that you do not use them because of differences in the color conversion algorithms.
I will let one of the many fine PhotoShop users here speak for their product which I will say is a top notch program.
JimL

[grays]

I'll throw in my two cents worth:

I used Paint Shop Pro for several years and was very happy with it. It's much easier to pick up and use (in my opinion) than PhotoShop and has at least 90% of the features. It's an excellent program.

I now use Photoshop. Why? Because 1) I now use some of these features that Paint Shop Pro doesn't have e.g. 16-bit editing and 2) many tutorials written on the web or in books use exclusively Photoshop and it's not always possible to translate them directly to Paint Shop Pro. I'm now just as comfortable using Photoshop as I was using Paint Shop Pro but it took a while to get this way. I still think Paint Shop Pro is more user friendly.

So, you might find it easier (and cheaper) to start with Paint Shop Pro. Be prepared to be a little frustrated when people talk about techniques using Photoshop though.

If you can afford it and are prepared for a steep learning curve, Photoshop might be a better long term option. It is pretty much the industry standard.

[CathieT]

Hi Ricktard and welcome to Photozo....

My money's with Graham here.... I started off with Paint Shop Pro 5,6, 8 but once I started doing some serious photograph stuff - saturation, curves, layers etc etc I found Photoshop to be much better ... but it is a verrrry steep learning curve!! (my legs are aching already)... :shock:

I am STILL learning, but there are a lot of very knowledgeable, very nice and helpful people on this site - most using photoshop I think - but if you do end up with PSP8 JimL is definitely your man!!

Cheers,
Cathie

[jleighf]

Howdy:

I normally use CorelDraw Graphics Suite which includes PhotoPaint. It seems, so far, to be as good as Photoshop and costs hundreds of dollars less. Apparently the learning curve is not as steep as Photoshop.

As far as performance, PhotoPaint seems to be comparable to Photo Shop.

Photo Shop seems to take more memory to run than PhotoPaint, but that may be my computer setup.

I now have both programs and find PhotoPaint easier to use, but I haven't been using Photo Shop for very long. There are a lot of tutorials on the internet for Photo Shop. There are some for PhotoPaint, but harder to find.

A lot of Photo Shop plugins work with PhotoPaint.

If you can afford Photo Shop, I'd probably choose that because of tutorials available. It's not easy to learn. Make sure you have enough RAM and extra hard drive space. You need to set up something called a scratch disk. You should check these things before you buy Photo Shop.

If price makes a difference, get CorelDraw Suite. It's not easy either, but easier than Photoshop.

[jerryrock]

I have been using Photoshop since version 2.0 (now use Photoshop CS) and it is the industry standard. I have tried other programs but none compare to the versitility of Photoshop. If you are printing your photos then it is definately the way to go. If you are going to learn a program you might as well get Photoshop. (No I don't work for Adobe)

[ap.]

I too have been using Photoshop since it was invented, for over 10 years. Nothing else out there compairs, sorry. But the price, steep learning curve and hefty computer requirements makes it a diffucult program to recomend. If you can get it free through a job, or take a photo job just to pay for it then I say go for it!

[jleighf]

I'm not making any grandiose claims that the graphics program that I prefer is the best. My opinion is that it is at least comparable to Photo Shop. I do a lot of image editing and printing also. Just offering a suggestion that will save you some cash with no loss of productivity or versatility.

Enough from me.

Check these websites before you spend money.

http://www.visionary-voyager.com.au/corel/photopaint/index.htm#Intro
http://www.unleash.com/
http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=Corel/Home

[tspin818]

Just picked up a copy of Paint Shop Pro 8 for only $9.95us (with rebates), and so far I am very happy with it. I have been using a copy of PS7 that I got from a friend, and felt a little guilty about "pirating" it :twisted: . Now I am legal again, since I deleted the photoshop. :-D

Guess I need to settle for a few less features so I can sleep better with my conscience. Wish Adobe could be a little more reasonable with their pricing.

[ap.]

There are ways to get Photoshop cheaper. Find a copy that hasn't been used to upgrade and buy an upgrade (make SURE it hasn't been upgraded). If you (or someone you know) is in school you can get an educational discount. Still expensive, but closer to reality.

[TheDL]

Ha. I guess I'll be the lone wolf here...I'm running on Microsoft's Digital Image Pro 9. I'm failry new to the whole digital darkroom. I know Adobe is the standard but like many have voiced here the cost and learning curve were discouraging. An article I read when MS Digital Image Pro 9 came out said it had a comparable feature set w/ a much easier learning curve...so...I went for it. So far I've been happy. If you live in the U.S. you can get a good deal on it at Costco.

[tspin818]

You are not alone, sort of. I have been using MS Digital Image Pro 7 since it came out a couple of years ago. I like the simplicity of the program, and thought of upgrading to 9, but there are just too many plug-ins available for PSP8 that are not available for DIP9. I am struggling with the learning curve on PSP8, so you made a good choice if you are new to editing software. :-D

[TheDL]

You are not alone, sort of. I have been using MS Digital Image Pro 7 since it came out a couple of years ago. I like the simplicity of the program, and thought of upgrading to 9, but there are just too many plug-ins available for PSP8 that are not available for DIP9. I am struggling with the learning curve on PSP8, so you made a good choice if you are new to editing software. :-D

Where do you find plugins for DIP? I've been wondering. And hey tspin, we even use the same camera!

[tspin818]

You can find some plugins and how to use them at:

http://www.marysgraphics.com/picit/dip/plugins/plugins.html

There are all kinds of DIP tutorial sites if you just search Google for digital image pro 9 plug ins.

[JimL]

If you are interested in a good site which can answer most questions about PSP I would recommend the Paint Shop Pro Users Group (PSPUG). I have been using this site for a couple or three years and will soon have an administrative function there. It is heavily slanted towards new users but there are several people who make a living using PSP graphics that are regular participants.

http://www.enigmasource.com/cgi-bin/pspizbeta2/pspug1.cgi

JimL

[tspin818]

Thanks for the tip jim, I have been going there for tips. And I am definitely a newbie with this program.

[cityboy_ca]

I've been using Corel PhotoPaint since version 2 and never found a reason to switch to PhotoShop. I've used PhotoShop at work but I'm not terribly proficient with it - I can get the job done but I can do it much faster and easier with PhotoPaint.
There is no right or wrong photo editing software. There is no question that Adobe PhotoShop is the "industry standard", but aren't most people here just fixing up photos of Aunt Selma or trying to get our landscapes to pop? We're not IN the industry so we're not confined to using the standard.
Use whatever program works for you - if Microsoft Picture It does everything you want then use it. If you need the power of PhotoShop or PhotoPaint then you should use one of them.
Having said all that :-)... if I was new to photo editing, and wanted the most powerful program available, I would probably choose PhotoShop simply because of the vast number of tutorials and plugins freely available in the internet.