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Need Information on PHOTOSHOP

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F

FordStang

Member
I have been researching and asking sales reps, but no one knows what they are talking about. So i leave it to the people I trust. I am going to start getting into photography and I plan on getting a DSLR. I want to edit my photos and I know I probably should get photoshop. There's a certain photoshop that is priced at like $800. I don't have that budget, but I am willing to spend in the 100s. Here are my options I guess....


http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Adobe-Photoshop-Elements-7-883919167916/sem/rpsm/oid/224746/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do



http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Corel-Paint-Shop-Pro-Photo-X2/sem/rpsm/oid/206692/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do?cc_fm=Similar+Items+Mod



I want to be able to do all the edits and I also want to be able to watermark my pics. WOuld I be able to do that with elements 7? And does anyone have any experience with either of these products.
 
U

Unlimited4s

Member
You should really buy the real Photoshop, it's the standard in image editing for a reason.

Ps Elements and Paint Shop Pro lack a lot of features (like RAW editing iirc, that's REALLY important imo if you shoot pics with a dslr)
 
L

lil smoke

Banned
Why do you need Photoshop? Can't you just take pictures without editing? I'm just asking cuz photography existed before Photoshop.
 
U

Unlimited4s

Member
lil smoke said:
Why do you need Photoshop? Can't you just take pictures without editing? I'm just asking cuz photography existed before Photoshop.
Click to expand...
Most traditional photographers edited their pictures (in a way), just not with computers.
Although I agree that Photoshop does not fix bad pictures.
 
A

aku:jiki

Member
Unlimited4s said:
You should really buy the real Photoshop, it's the standard in image editing for a reason.
Click to expand...
It's the standard because it has industry-level features like support for massive printing, more advanced color management, wacky stuff like x-ray technology (kinda cool actually), mesh-drawing, etc. And it costs somewhere around a billion dollars. OP really doesn't need all that.

However, the limitation that may affect the OP is that Elements does not have as powerful adjustment options as either Photoshop or Lightroom. Which is something a photographer totally needs.

Unlimited4s said:
Ps Elements and Paint Shop Pro lack a lot of features (like RAW editing iirc, that's REALLY important imo if you shoot pics with a dslr)
Click to expand...
Elements has support for RAW. Not sure about PSP.

FordStang said:
I did a little research and i think I might get this for a nikon camera I'm going to get... anyone have any experiences with this nikon x2 program???

http://www.nikonusa.com/Find-Your-Nikon/Product/Imaging-Software/25385/Capture-NX-2.html
Click to expand...
I've never heard of that, but there's no way it's better than Photoshop or Paint Shop...

rex64 said:
get lightroom insted, great workflow
Click to expand...
This may be the best suggestion in this thread, as long as OP keeps aware that Lightroom doesn't actually have any "physical" editing, so to speak. It has all the possible adjustments (and more IIRC) of Photoshop, but you can't cut your buddy's head out and put it on your girlfriend or something like that. It's strictly for adjusting the levels in the image, as well as cataloging etc.

A combination of Lightroom and GIMP may suit the OP? (Since GIMP is free and LR is cheap.)

BTW, I'm kinda-sorta a sales rep for Adobe. How did I do? :D
 
L

lil smoke

Banned
Unlimited4s said:
Most traditional photographers edited their pictures (in a way), just not with computers.
Although I agree that Photoshop does not fix bad pictures.
Click to expand...
I'm from the school that you learn the craft 1st. Learn to shoot photos without needing to edit. You need to be a professional to even understand when and how to use darkroom editing. Why should Photoshop be any different?

Don't put the horse 1st. It will prevent you from learning how to take the photo in the conditions that you are given, rather than presuming a digital fix for less than desired conditions. You'll be a better artist for it.
 
G

Grimlock

Member
Well if it means anything, all of my shots in this post are converted from RAW using the Adobe Camera RAW 4.6 plugin and PS Elements Five. I did try the 30-day demo of Paint Shop Pro X2, and, while it does do some things that Elements can't (such as Channel Splitting), and it does work with RAW files, I didn't find a particular need to switch to it from Elements. (BTW, there's a new version of Paint Shop Pro X2 out that'll work with RAW files from the newest cameras, but doesn't add anything compelling otherwise.) Frankly, depending on how seriously you want to be about your work (are ya just doing snapshots, or are you wanting to go into like modeling shoots & the like?), Elements would cover almost all non-professional needs. Heck, freeware programs like Paint.NET & Raw-Therapee would cover a lot of ground. My suggestion is, in addition to downloading the trial versions and seeing how they work, is to also go to a bookstore or library and read up on what either programs can do before buying stuff blind-this isn't something you want to do impulsively.

For the record, I'm pondering upgrading to CS4. I've been perusing Skin by Lee Varis, and he details a lot of advanced PS techniques that are useful for high-quality portraiture.

Also, I concur with lil smoke's post-I started out with just a P&S and thinking "Taking pictures iz easy. I's can just fix my shots on teh computer! LOL" if I screw up. If I could time-travel, I'd go back to my younger self & punch him in the head for falling for all that marketing hype. I've been self-teaching myself for the past several years, perusing various photography books & buying better cameras & equipment only when I've ran into enough limitations to compel an upgrade, but only when I though I could handle the better equipment; if I handed my earlier self my current kit, he'd be completely lost about how to use it & would eventually just shelve it in frustration. Indeed, anyone can grab a camera and press the shutter button, and blind luck would produce a great picture, but consistently good results only come from knowing what the Hell you're doing in the first place-that's a lesson that took a while for me to learn.
 
T

tomjr

Member
I think it depends on how much you want to do with your photos. I think lightroom (I've never used) will give you enough control over the raw files if you just want to print them. Other commercially available packages (Elements, Paintshop, etc.) or even freeware (Paint.net, Gimp) will give you decent enough editing tools. Photoshop will give you a lot of control and CMYK capabilities. I think the learning curve for PS is steep and, as others have mentioned, might be a bit much for just cropping and tweaking.

Hmmm, maybe even think about just sticking with free or bundled raw processing for now, get a freeware editor and see if the hobby sticks.
 
Y

yuna55

Member
My husband won the chili cook-off at work, and Photoshop was the prize.

I used to have Nikon's old program that came with my camera, and I actually liked it. Not sure if that's the program you're talking about (this has been a few years ago), but I'm sure it'll get you by until you splurge for the Photoshop.
 
Rentahamster

Rentahamster

Rodent Whores
Spend your money on a decent body and good lenses. Taking pictures is the essence of photography, not wasting most of your time in front of a computer.

If you want to save money, just stick with GIMP since it's free. The next step would be Lightroom or Aperture (not as expensive as Photoshop and works very well at editing and organizing photos). After that if you still feel like spending money you could go all the way and buy Photoshop too.
 
Z

Zyzyxxz

Member
just buy a student version for like $50-60 though it will be a few versions behind you will have most of the basic tools you need
 
A

aku:jiki

Member
lil smoke said:
I'm from the school that you learn the craft 1st.
Click to expand...
Quoted for undeniable truth!

Zyzyxxz said:
just buy a student version for like $50-60 though it will be a few versions behind you will have most of the basic tools you need
Click to expand...
I'm not sure what company you're talking about, but not a single part of this post applies to Adobe.
 
6

65536

Banned
If you want to do photographic editing, you should look into Lightroom rather than Photoshop, which is more for image creation/manipulation.

It's not that Photoshop isn't capable of doing everything Lightroom can, Lightroom is just designed around photographers. It's also far superior to Aperture in my opinion. (I bought both and only upgraded Lightroom when the new versions came around)

The Luminous Landscape have an excellent video tutorial that is definitely worth purchasing if you do pick it up.

Since purchasing Lightroom, I very rarely ever use Photoshop when it comes to editing photos, and haven't bothered to upgrade the last two versions as a result. (even though CS2 is dog-slow on an Intel Mac)
 
Minsc

Minsc

Gold Member
Ferrio said:
Rare times when I actually hear of people buying photoshop.
Click to expand...

It's wrong to "steal" software, even if it's really expensive.

It's not as simple a UI, but just download and use The GIMP instead (for free). The newest versions have made drastic improvements in usability.
 
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