Photoshop? Elements?
Discussion
Myself and MrsHJ are considering the purchase of some editing software. We're both total newbies when it comes to software editing and would probably teach ourselves via magazine how-to articles and tutorial books from the library.
What would be the best software to start and develop with? What are the main differences between say CS4 and Elements? We couldn't afford CS4 anyway by the look of it...
What would be the best software to start and develop with? What are the main differences between say CS4 and Elements? We couldn't afford CS4 anyway by the look of it...
Depends on what you do with it. May be worth looking at the Adobe website to see the differences. I use Photoshop CS (version 1) which is great for what I want: adjust brightness / contrast, highlight & shadow, resize for web, crop to a certain size for web and add a little sharpening.
I doubt if I use a fraction of what CS can offer. From what I recall I could do most of that in Elements except the highlight / shadow control that I find useful sometimes.
CS4 is truly a ton of money. I'd recommend looking on Adobe's website to see what you may require and which version will suit you. Malc
I doubt if I use a fraction of what CS can offer. From what I recall I could do most of that in Elements except the highlight / shadow control that I find useful sometimes.
CS4 is truly a ton of money. I'd recommend looking on Adobe's website to see what you may require and which version will suit you. Malc
If you can afford it, Lightroom. Mainly geared towards RAW, but handles JPEG and TIFF quite happily. Steepish learning curve (as with Photoshop), but well worth it. I very rarely need to use anything else now. Add on Paint Shop Pro (better than Elements at about the same cost) later for those little extras if you feel you want them.
I've gone through a raft of editing software trials recently, and I think it comes down to what you're happy using traded off against what you want to do to photos
I always seem to take slighly under exposed/dark pictures and add more lightness in once I've downloaded them, but as I generally take them in RAW/NEF it's not such an issue. I dont mind spending a bit of time jiggling them around a bit with highlights, and the odd crop but your needs might be different
I've always used Elements 6. I downloaded Elements 7 the other day on trial and couldnt find enough new stuff to make it a worthwhile purchase. Given the price between the two, I'd suggest having a look yourself
You might be happy enough with Irfanview, it'll edit and change light/colour no problem at all, and it's free. As is Faststone Image Viewer. So is Gimp.
There's often free software bundled with cameras, so with Nikon it's Picture Project and in some cases Capture NX (although mine was a 60 day trial)
I like Lightroom, but not enough to pay a couple of hundred quid for it, and I'm not into cracked software. I'd never ever pay the amounts asked for CS3/4 and I'd probably never use more than a fifth of what it can do.
I've still ended up back at Elements 6
I always seem to take slighly under exposed/dark pictures and add more lightness in once I've downloaded them, but as I generally take them in RAW/NEF it's not such an issue. I dont mind spending a bit of time jiggling them around a bit with highlights, and the odd crop but your needs might be different
I've always used Elements 6. I downloaded Elements 7 the other day on trial and couldnt find enough new stuff to make it a worthwhile purchase. Given the price between the two, I'd suggest having a look yourself
You might be happy enough with Irfanview, it'll edit and change light/colour no problem at all, and it's free. As is Faststone Image Viewer. So is Gimp.
There's often free software bundled with cameras, so with Nikon it's Picture Project and in some cases Capture NX (although mine was a 60 day trial)
I like Lightroom, but not enough to pay a couple of hundred quid for it, and I'm not into cracked software. I'd never ever pay the amounts asked for CS3/4 and I'd probably never use more than a fifth of what it can do.
I've still ended up back at Elements 6
The easiest software out there is Paint Shop Pro photo X2. It'll do 99.9% of Photoshop, at a fraction of the cost and it's a LOT easier to use. (It has lots of 'one button fixes', for noise, red eye, exposure, highlights and shadows. etc etc). It also does some fancy HDR work in case you ever want to go there.
Only downside - It's not very good with RAW files (If you want to shoot RAW, adjustments need to be made in Nikon softweare provided with camera) Don't know about Canon.
I also use Photoshop, and as has been said - it's very expensive and has a learning curve similar to the north face of Everest.
TBH I hardly ever open Photoshop these days as it's so much more faff to use... but If you are designing a magazine cover - it's the only thing you should use.
Only downside - It's not very good with RAW files (If you want to shoot RAW, adjustments need to be made in Nikon softweare provided with camera) Don't know about Canon.
I also use Photoshop, and as has been said - it's very expensive and has a learning curve similar to the north face of Everest.
TBH I hardly ever open Photoshop these days as it's so much more faff to use... but If you are designing a magazine cover - it's the only thing you should use.
Without blowing my cover, Elements is probably sufficient. It will do all fo the things that you will probably need and is considerably cheaper than Photoshop CS4 etc.
CS4 undoubtedly has loads of new features that allow considerably more 1 click or 2 click functions and increased productivity, but in reality it is a Professional tool and would probably be overkill for most.
Lightroom is fantastic, but Picasa from Google is free and does much of the basics relatively well.
CS4 undoubtedly has loads of new features that allow considerably more 1 click or 2 click functions and increased productivity, but in reality it is a Professional tool and would probably be overkill for most.
Lightroom is fantastic, but Picasa from Google is free and does much of the basics relatively well.
JulianHJ said:
Fair enough, I think Elements may be the way forward...
It may or may not allegedly be available via Torrent. Get this book with it:
http://www.amazon.com/Photoshop-Elements-7-Missing...
JulianHJ said:
Major Bloodnok said:
Seriously, for the money, Paint Shop Pro is miles better than Elements.
Ahh. OK. Bugger.I'll be buying a genuine copy, whatever I get.
I would download a few of these and see which ones you prefer...
A plus point will be not spending any money on software for a few months when using the trial versions.
I use photoshop CS3 and its not all that difficult to figure out the basics, there are also some good online tutorials if you need some help.
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