Photoshop vs ?

firststring74

What else is out there that is equivalent to Photoshop CS3 to do photo editing? I am choking a bit on the $650 price tag for CS3 so I wanted to know if there were other options out there.

I have Lightroom and love it, it seems that Aperture is similar to that product. I want to start playing with layers and doing black and whites with color added etc. I can't do that in lightroom (or if I can I don't know how yet!).

If that is my only option, would you buy it on ebay for less money? And I might be able to get the student version less expensive (is it basically the same product?).

I know lots of questions, but I really want to set up my newish business with the right stuff.

Thanks everyone for putting up with me!

Scott_Quier

You can try the gimp for free and see if that fills you need.

The educational version of PC CS3 comes in only the "Extended" version and, aside from whatever makes it "extended", is the same product. The possible down-side of the educational version, so I've recently heard, is that Adobe won't allow you to upgrade it. I don't know that to be true - that's just what I've heard and I'm sure someone else here can fill in the details with a more authoritative answer.

Buy from EBay - I not sure that's a good option. I would be afraid that I would get a copy of the software that has already been registered to someone else. That would preclude me (you?) from getting in registered. In which case, it would run on your computer for about 30 days. Of course, that's all assuming that you've run into the scam described.

colourbox

firststring74 wrote:

I have Lightroom and love it, it seems that Aperture is similar to that product. I want to start playing with layers and doing black and whites with color added etc. I can't do that in lightroom (or if I can I don't know how yet!).

Do you have the recently released Lightroom 2? A LOT of the effects that are normally constructed with Photoshop layers can now be done with the Local Adjustment brush in Lightroom 2, without having to make layers.

darkdragon

Photoshop is very powerful and great to have. I hate paying full price for anything, there are legal ways around it.

If you qualify for student discounts head on over to CampusTech and order from them. For less than the retail cost of PS you can get a studio package (PS + a bunch of other adobe apps) or you can get just Photoshop for I think around $250-300, something like that. I order most of my software through that site.

You can also purchase used on Amazon.com Marketplace and that will save you some money. If what you get is bootleg or unregisterable, you will be able to get your money back from Amazon (they deal with getting their money back from the seller) - but look into the A to Z Guarantee before purchasing.

I don't beleive in bootleg/pirating software, but I do beleive in legal discounts

Ric Grupe

Look at Corel!

Photo-Paint is a part of the suite and does most everything that PS can do. Bear in mind, it's part of a suite that you may have no use for...if you do...it can't be beat afaik.

MarkR

Have you tried the trial versions of Photoshop Elements, or Paint Shop Pro, to see if they will do what you need?

luc

PhotoLine is extremely powerful and affordable and runs on Windows, Macintosh, and Linux (under Wine).
Does everything in 16-bit modes, many tools work also in LAB and HSV colorspaces (without the need to convert layers), it even does sharpening as adjustment layers. One drawback is the somewhat German-English used.

www.pl32.com

jfriend

firststring74 wrote:

What else is out there that is equivalent to Photoshop CS3 to do photo editing? I am choking a bit on the $650 price tag for CS3 so I wanted to know if there were other options out there.

I have Lightroom and love it, it seems that Aperture is similar to that product. I want to start playing with layers and doing black and whites with color added etc. I can't do that in lightroom (or if I can I don't know how yet!).

If that is my only option, would you buy it on ebay for less money? And I might be able to get the student version less expensive (is it basically the same product?).

I know lots of questions, but I really want to set up my newish business with the right stuff.

Thanks everyone for putting up with me!

If Lightroom is your main app and you just want to be able to do occasional layers and pixel editing, then Photoshop Elements is probably a great choice. It's pixel editor is suprisingly capable with a lot of layers support. GIMP and Paint Shop Pro are also a full featured choices that don't break the bank, but Lightroom will probably enjoy a few integration advantages with Elements.

arodney

jfriend wrote:

If Lightroom is your main app and you just want to be able to do occasional layers and pixel editing, then Photoshop Elements is probably a great choice. It's pixel editor is suprisingly capable with a lot of layers support.

I agree. There's some seriously cool stuff in Elements and as a long time, hard core Photoshop user, I recognize some might look down on it. There's so much in Photoshop most of us don't use. And I don't see LR competing with Photoshop, the two applications are really quite different toolsets.

luc

OTOH, the only real pluspoint of Elements over its competitors is the RAW development (and of course marketing power). If the OP already uses Lightroom the plus has no importance and what remains are the considerable advantages of PSP, PhotoLine, PhotoImpact, etc. - as their tools are not intentionally crippled (like in Elements).

arodney wrote:

I agree. There's some seriously cool stuff in Elements and as a long time, hard core Photoshop user, I recognize some might look down on it. There's so much in Photoshop most of us don't use. And I don't see LR competing with Photoshop, the two applications are really quite different toolsets.

BinaryFx

Some PC users swear by this instead of using Photoshop:

http://www.dl-c.com/ (Picture Window Pro)


Regards,

Stephen Marsh

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~binaryfx/
http://prepression.blogspot.com/

pathfinder

Norman Koren swears by it.

J.T.

graphic converter for mac?
In a pinch, for a small fee on the mac side try graphic converter.

They offer a free download to test if interested.

Good luck!

firststring74 wrote:

What else is out there that is equivalent to Photoshop CS3 to do photo editing? I am choking a bit on the $650 price tag for CS3 so I wanted to know if there were other options out there.

I have Lightroom and love it, it seems that Aperture is similar to that product. I want to start playing with layers and doing black and whites with color added etc. I can't do that in lightroom (or if I can I don't know how yet!).

If that is my only option, would you buy it on ebay for less money? And I might be able to get the student version less expensive (is it basically the same product?).

I know lots of questions, but I really want to set up my newish business with the right stuff.

Thanks everyone for putting up with me!

Anthony

firststring74 wrote:

[..]

I want to start playing with layers and doing black and whites with color added etc. I can't do that in lightroom (or if I can I don't know how yet!).

[..]

And I might be able to get the student version less expensive (is it basically the same product?).

I know lots of questions, but I really want to set up my newish business with the right stuff...

Try this link for a start in getting selective colour in a B+W image...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mark_sirota/291703370/

Also, if you are thinking of getting a student version of PS be aware that AFAIK one of the conditions of use is that you cannot use it for commercial work and as you note that you are setting up a business, this might preclude it's use for you.

If it was me, I would get Elements (wait for version 7 which is currently in beta maybe?).

Anthony.

firststring74

Thanks everyone. I have a mac so I am not sure all the software you have mentioned are compatable, but I am off to find out! I have an older version of elements that I run on a PC laptop and I really don't like it (maybe it is just the older version I have). So time to do download some free software trials and see if it will work for what I want. Thanks again!

firststring74

Scott_Quier wrote:

You can try the gimp for free and see if that fills you need.

I will look at the gimp- I know that many of you use it

Buy from EBay - I not sure that's a good option. I would be afraid that I would get a copy of the software that has already been registered to someone else. That would preclude me (you?) from getting in registered. In which case, it would run on your computer for about 30 days. Of course, that's all assuming that you've run into the scam described.

I agree with you on this, that is why I asked (hoping for a positive response!)

firststring74

So after some searching for the past few minutes, I think GIMP will do what I want..............stay tuned. Also, anymore input is always appreciated because I am a neophyte and I love more information!

Jet Jaguar

firststring74 wrote:

So after some searching for the past few minutes, I think GIMP will do what I want..............stay tuned. Also, anymore input is always appreciated because I am a neophyte and I love more information!

Gimp seems to be a pretty powerful tool. I've played around with it a bit, it looks like it can handle most any basic photo finishing task. I'm not terribly familiar with it though because the layout is completely different to what I'm used to and since I already have other tools at my disposal there wasn't much point in learning another one. But it's free and the learning curve doesn't matter so much if you don't have anything else because you'd have to learn to use whatever you end up getting anyway.

I have Paint Shop Pro (an older version - 9.01) at home. I work in the modeling and simulation industry and have used Photoshop at work. PSP is 95% of what Photoshop is for a tenth of the price. For the sort of photo finishing/editing stuff I do, there isn't really anything PS can do that I can't duplicate in PSP. For the most part, both contain the same basic functionality. Unfortunately, I believe it's only available for the PC.

Really the main thing PS has over PSP (and most any graphics editor for that matter) is the huge user community. That means there are far more resources available to Photoshop users. However, PSP can use Photoshop plugins, and you can often still follow examples and tutorials written for PS users in PSP. The techniques are usually the same, they just require some translation because things aren't always in the same place or labeled the same way. For example, setting black and white points is done in the curves tool in PS, but it has it's own separate tool in PSP.

Tom

Very interesting thread.

I sometimes use a free program called Paint.NET (http://www.getpaint.net/index.html ). It has a very clean interface and lots of features: layers, curves & levels, undo history, special effects, RAW support (via a plug-in). There is a fairly active user forum and it is continually under development.

While I mostly use Photoshop Elements, Paint.NET is quicker and easier to use for many common tasks. It is not a Photoshop replacement but it is well worth a look and you can't beat the price!

A good tool to have, right next to Irfanview (http://www.irfanview.com).

slpollett

I've been using Paint Shop Pro for a number of years and I love it. (I have v.11.) I also have Photoshop CS3 Extended. PSP can do about 90% of anything I want to do to a photo. It is easy to use and is great for what I would call 'basic' or 'every day' editing. I use it much for frequently than I use Photoshop. As was previously stated, Photoshop has a great deal more tutorials and user information available. I use it when I want to be more creative or if I want to try different techniques. Both programs have a lot to offer and both programs function very well. PSP is much cheaper though and well worth the money.

Sherry

BinaryFx

firststring74 wrote:

Thanks everyone. I have a mac so I am not sure all the software you have mentioned are compatable, but I am off to find out! I have an older version of elements that I run on a PC laptop and I really don't like it (maybe it is just the older version I have). So time to do download some free software trials and see if it will work for what I want. Thanks again!

Mentioning that you are Mac based is a big help!

OK, well if you have an intel Mac and Leopard, you can use Bootcamp or other software to dual or multi boot into the Mac or Windows OS or other OS any time you like, or you can run Windows or other OS's at the same time inside the Mac OS with third party software. With MS Remote Desktop Connection for OS X one can control a networked PC directly from the Mac.

Obviously, Photoshop is the primary choice for many, although it is surprising what you can do with the native abilities of the Mac OS and many other less expensive applications (one does not even need Photoshop to create quality CMYK images, one can do that for free with the Mac)!

One does not need Apple or Adobe for quality raw camera file processing (although they have great workflow and are commercial quality):

http://www.raw-photo-processor.com/RPP/Overview.html (commercial quality output, freeware, make a donation if you wish)
http://raifra.fh-friedberg.de/Mac/index-en.html
http://www.frostyplace.com/dcraw/

Apple iPhoto can perform basic operations on supported raw camera files too.


To process regular image files:

Don't forget that your OS installed image applications Preview and iPhoto have some basic editing options! The native OS also has many colour and graphics capabilities built into it which can be accessed with the right tools (many of the shareware imaging apps that you can buy for OS X leverage the graphics technology of OS X rather than the software author coming up with their own image editing operations)

MacGIMP or GIMP.org have also been mentioned, which runs on many different OS's.

Google is working on Picasa for the Mac (although iPhoto has this pretty much covered)

In no particular order, other options include (freeware, shareware, commercial):

http://www.chocoflop.com/home_en.html
http://www.pixelmator.com/
http://seashore.sourceforge.net/
http://flyingmeat.com/acorn/
http://nolobe.com/iris/
http://www.naked.la/ (under development, I would wait and see, too much hype at this time)
http://www.kanzelsberger.com/pixel/?page_id=12 (Pixel Image Editor is available for multiple platforms, not only OS X)
http://www.photonator.com/
http://www.rhapsoft.com/?menu=livequartz&lng=en
http://www.myosxfreeware.com/giffun-42/ (GIF animation)


Regards,

Stephen Marsh

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~binaryfx/
http://prepression.blogspot.com/

ziggy53

When I'm away from my own Windows machine I generally use:

RAW Therapee (freeware), an excellent RAW converter and equally capable raster image processor. (JPG, 16 or 8 bit TIFF, 16 or 8 bit PNG)

IrfanView (freeware), a viewer and organizer with some special features hard to find anywhere else.

Picasa (freeware), viewer, organizer and simple image editor/processor. Very fast and can be non-destructive. I often use this for first-pass work. Good redeye removal tool and great for "straightening" an image.

The GIMP (freeware), it's only 8 bit and doesn't have very good color space control, but otherwise this image processor is very complete. It has layers and masks which most other freeware packages lack.

http://www.rawtherapee.com/
http://www.irfanview.com/
http://picasa.google.com/
http://www.gimp.org/

Miguel Delinquento

I would focus my energy on learning the tool you have. Lightroom can certainly achive specific color saturation/desaturation, easier than anything else I've used.
Upgrade to version 2 and you can do a lof of local area fixes and have many mask layers as well. I was dipping into CS2 maybe 15% prior to LR2; now maybe 2-3%.

M