Photo Editing Software

by **Bill McMahon** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 12:24 pm

I am a novice looking for a good photo editor that is reasonably priced, easy to learn to use and does more than just red eye redcution and cropping. I would like to create transparencies and masks as a starting point. Any suggestions are much appreciated. A friend gave me an "older" version of Adobe Photoshop 5.0 LE and it was just a nightmare ......
Any and all suggestions are welcome. Thanks....

by **MarkBUK** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 1:11 pm

You could give GIMP a try as it's 100% free and has a lot of the features available in the top notch graphics programs like PhotoShop.

You have nothing to loose in giving it a try since it is free!

http://www.gimp.org/

Mark

by **DickK** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 8:31 pm

Bill McMahon wrote:... A friend gave me an "older" version of Adobe Photoshop 5.0 LE and it was just a nightmare ......
Any and all suggestions are welcome. Thanks....

It might help if we knew what you didn't like about Photoshop LE. Personally, my recommendation would be PhotoShop Elements but depending on why you didn't like that package the same issues may be there--or not.

Another freebie to try is Picasa which is a Google download.

Here's a recent comparison of packages that might help as well:

http://photo-editing-software-review.toptenreviews.com/

Dick

by **Bill McMahon** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 8:08 am

Thanks for the feedback, I guess I'll start with GIMP and also try Photoshop Elements.

To clarify my statement that Photoshop 5.0 LE was a "nightmare" it is not the program I am referring to, per se, but is was the "sample program" on the LE disk I was working with. A co-worker gave me the Phototshop LE and when I was trying to do some editing with layers the help menu told me to view the "layer pallete", which I could not find.

I went on line and got a screen shot of what the layer pallette looked like, and where it would be on the screen, but my version of Elements 5.0 LE was really limited, it wasn't there at all.

I understand that Photoshop has a steep learning curve, so I just need to be patient and to persevering.

by **nannybear** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 1:20 pm

Hi Bill,

I have Photoshop CS2 but also the Photoshop Elements. I have the ability to record avi "Screen Tutorials", so if there is any help you need just give me a holler.....cheers Jan

by **DickK** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 6:22 pm

Bill McMahon wrote:I understand that Photoshop has a steep learning curve, so I just need to be patient and to persevering.

PhotoShop Elements isn't too bad once you get a few basics down and get used to the "mindset" of the folks that designed and implemented it. The good thing with PSE is that there are a lot tutorials online that are available to you and lots of addons are available thanks to the partial compatability with PhotoShop.
Dick

by **Bill McMahon** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 4:43 am

DickK and nannybear- Thanks for your input and offers to help, I will continue to plod along, nannybear I'll ask for some specific help when I can get specific (lol) ...Bill

by **Inspeqtor** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 5:09 am

I would also recommend Photoshop Elements. I have been using it for a couple of years now. Yes there is a learning curve, but you can get some help if you go to www.photoshopelementsuser.com/forum
Registering to use the forum is free. You will find many knowledgeable people there willing to help, same as this forum.

by **pilotdan63** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 5:05 pm

I can recommend a "dandy" and best of all . . . it's free.

The program is called Paint.Net and was developed by graduate students at Washington State University in collaboration with some Microsoft Software Engineers. Paint.Net features an intuitive and innovative user interface with support for layers, unlimited undo, special effects, and a wide variety of useful and powerful tools like transparencies, etc.

Here's the link where you can get your copy:

http://www.getpaint.net/index2.html

You won't be sorry, trust me

Dan

by **alcain** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 9:25 pm

I would also recommend Photoshop Elements. When I switched to Vista, my Photoshop 7 did not work well, so I bought the latest Elements. I absolutely love it. It does all that I want it to... ~al

by **Mike S.** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 11:26 am

alcain wrote:When I switched to Vista, my Photoshop 7 did not work well, so I bought the latest Elements.

That's something I never thought of. Since I'm still on PS7 I'll delay getting Vista as long as possible. BTW, are you on 32 or 64 bit Vista?
Thanks,
Mike S.

by **alcain** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 12:37 pm

Mike, I have Vista Home Premium 32. I absolutely hated it at first. I had to spend lots of money upgrading a lot of my favorite programs (Nero isn't cheap either... and I had to buy a new scanner, Wacom tablet, etc.) But now that all of that is behind me, I prefer Vista. It is much more solid than XP and as far as surfing the web - it is fantastically bullet proof. Corel applications do not like Vista as I have learned. But the new Elements works really wonderfully. My biggest hunch was right... The new Elements (since it is years newer) is more advanced in almost every way to PS7 - so you may want to download thier eval version - I think you will like it. Blessings, ~al

by **Mike S.** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 1:36 pm

alcain wrote:Mike, I have Vista Home Premium 32. I absolutely hated it at first. I had to spend lots of money upgrading a lot of my favorite programs (Nero isn't cheap either... and I had to buy a new scanner, Wacom tablet, etc.) But now that all of that is behind me, I prefer Vista. It is much more solid than XP and as far as surfing the web - it is fantastically bullet proof. Corel applications do not like Vista as I have learned. But the new Elements works really wonderfully. My biggest hunch was right... The new Elements (since it is years newer) is more advanced in almost every way to PS7 - so you may want to download thier eval version - I think you will like it. Blessings, ~al

Al,

Thanks for letting us all know some things to expect when moving to 32bit Vista. Unless Elements has changed in the latest version, the one thing it's missing that is essential for me are actions. I make actions for a large part of my photo retouching which reduces multiple things to single clicks.

Mike S.

by **alcain** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 3:51 pm

Thanks for letting us all know some things to expect when moving to 32bit Vista. Unless Elements has changed in the latest version, the one thing it's missing that is essential for me are actions. I make actions for a large part of my photo retouching which reduces multiple things to single clicks.

Sorry to say, actions are not currently supported in the latest Elements. ~al

by **Bill McMahon** » Wed Aug 08, 2007 9:49 am

DickK wrote:
Bill McMahon wrote:... A friend gave me an "older" version of Adobe Photoshop 5.0 LE and it was just a nightmare ......
Any and all suggestions are welcome. Thanks....

It might help if we knew what you didn't like about Photoshop LE. Personally, my recommendation would be PhotoShop Elements but depending on why you didn't like that package the same issues may be there--or not.

Another freebie to try is Picasa which is a Google download.

Here's a recent comparison of packages that might help as well:

http://photo-editing-software-review.toptenreviews.com/

Dick

Dick, In your estimation is the lack of a "Layer Masks" feature in Elements a consideration? In other words, what capabilities are you losing without this feature?
Bill

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