Shootist Loc: Wyoming

Call me cheap but does anyone else on this site use GIMP? I use almost exclusively Photoninja (especially for noise reduction) for raw and GIMP for just about everything else. I do find NIK, ICE and Fusion helpful on occasion (Did I mention that I am CHEAP?). Looking at the paid programs I am currently convinced that the extra cost of Lightroom etc would be better put into good lenses. Being cheap but ready to learn could anyone give opinions to what I may be missing out on?

rjaywallace Loc: Wisconsin

Quite few UHH members are adherents of GIMP despite it's goofy name

Flyerace Loc: Mt Pleasant, WI

Whatever works for you is the right way to go. No one is judged here by the expense they incur to complete a beautiful photo. If your photos only need a little work, then you have learned all the tricks of your camera.

Don't worry about being called cheap. I would spend the money on another good lens, too. I sometimes purchase a new camera body or lens rather than spend it on software. It depends on what I want to accomplish. Recently, another member shared a great idea to make a mini-studio using a white plastic trash bucket, a reflector light and a piece of glass. Total cost $3.00 all items available from the Dollar Store.

The most important part of photography is to enjoy what you have created. Have fun.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

I used to, and still do just a few things with GIMP. I think the only draw back is the less than standard menu structure that causes most to choose other editing software.
--Bob

Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

Photoshop and Lightroom are fantastic programs and are probably a must for professional photographers, but not everybody really needs that much post processing power. I have an iMac and use Photos for OS, which started out pretty mediocre but has transformed in to a really good PP program. I also use Macphun Luminar.

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

I've used GIMP (and UFRAW) for years.

The one thing that I could not give up is the exceedingly good histogram presentation that GIMP provides. Being able to read the edges of an histogram to within 1 value is essential to good image production. Programs with a dark blue graph on a black background, as an example, are unreadable!

GIMP provides the basic tools so that if you know what you want to do to an image it is easy. It doesn't provide 5000 different "shortcuts" to try while looking for a way to find a nice picture.

G Brown Loc: Sunny Bognor Regis West Sussex UK

I have moved from Widows to Linux (Zorin and Ubuntu) so am starting anew with Gimp, Darktable, Ufraw, delaboratory.

Having used Gimp way back (Win3.1) it has come on leaps and bounds - now 16bit, layers, just about every tool from PSE. and accepting plug-ins. Gimp also still keeps its graphic roots so line redrawing your images is a click away (if you like sketches)

Darktable is an LR equivalent organiser and Delaboratory is a non destructive and 'go backable' image manipulation tool that far exceeds what I thought I knew of curves and colour gamuts.

I have LR5 and PSE 11from disk (on the computer that my wife now uses) Both probably would work in WINE if ever I figure it out. But not in a hurry so far. I have more than I need at present.

Finding the transition slow - but then I am lazy. Font size, especially in Darktable is much smaller than windows - should be a fix for that ....(contl+ works on lots of things but not all)

My wife is really struggling with an upgraded WIN10. It is acting quite weird at times....not letting her log out of email, not recognising printer some days, It likes neither my Chip nor my Graphics drivers etc. (but nor does the new Ubuntu) so in no hurry to nor need to go back to Mr Gates. (I use very few apps)

From an objective point of view, you are not missing much - if anything, by using free-ware - from what I have seen. You may have to use one or two programmes to 'do' what others do....But isn't that the fun of trying different programmes.

In another forum, the need to learn 'code' was pretty much confined to those that 'liked the idea' rather than as a necessity. (those adept at keyboard shortcuts etc) The GUI (Graphic User Interface) is now considered equal to all tasks (like modern Windows) and to be honest I prefer to be able to download what I fancy trying rather than buy at silly prices and not use. Plus UN-install is a simple click.

If I could get rid of Google and its constant need to 'Help me' and 'improve my experience' I could go back to happily struggling.

Have fun

pixbyjnjphotos Loc: Apache Junction,AZ

I too am transitioning from Windows to Linux with Linux Mint. I love it and do most everything with Linux. I am beginning to learn Gimp. Just getting into it but, I like what I see. I have been a fan of Paintshop Pro for years, but Windows is getting to be too automatic, doing things I don't like. I am looking forward to getting into Gimp.

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

You are not alone, but in a minority. I have GIMP, but I have other tools that I prefer for various reasons, which is not meant to be a negative comment about GIMP.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

When I first started to learn postprocessing I was cheap thrifty. So I used GIMP. I was able to do what I needed eventually but it took some effort to learn it, mainly because I had never done layers and masks before. Once I got the concept beaten into my skull I was able to do a lot with GIMP.

But eventually I wanted to do more, and couldn't find ways to make GIMP do it. So I got into PS (I think it was CS3). I knew how to use layers and masks but the UI on PS was much different than on GIMP. So I did some dual processing for a while while I learned PS. The differences were enough that it took me a while to get comfortable with PS (or maybe it was just me).

Once I got comfortable with PS I found that PS does a lot more than GIMP and there were more resources for learning about it. I still have GIMP on my computer but it rarely gets used.

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

That seems to be a fair and objective assessment.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

I am in the middle of a project to convert all of my old film media into digital. My best scanner for most cases is an old LS-2000 made by Nikon, but even that scanner leaves behind artifacts resulting from issues with the medium, scratches or fungus spots for example. I use gimp to clean up these artifacts and get me the final project.

gimp is programmable, which means a knowledgeable person could extend it to do almost anything s/he wanted, but that might require a serious effort. Although I was a professional software developer, I've never tried it myself.

tresap23 Loc: Texas

I use my Windows 10 Photo editing program. It is free and they have updated it. It offers filters now that are fun. Of course you can't edit "raw" images. That is a drawback. I subscribe to LR and PS on a monthly basis. $9.99 and I can cancel it at anytime. I get really frustrated with it though. It is hard to understand. If you want to go beyond, "color, saturation, brightness, cropping, etc. anyway. I am learning though. I hope to get into a class soon, to help me. Good luck and let us know if you find an easier and better one out there!

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

Adobe CC is very powerful but does have a steep learning curve. Many argue that it is the best available package. It always takes time to learn to use good tools. Persist!

blackest Loc: Ireland

I was looking at a couple of ls2000 scanners yesterday, they are in the affordable price range these days. The best software i've found for working with negatives seems to be vuescan which can scan as dmg. Color negatives seem to be compressed across the tonal range and vuescan seems to do a good job of expanding that range. Personally i've found the most satisfactory scanning to be using a macro lens with a rig I made my k5 makes a raw file and the negative just fits on to the sensor (35mm film). Color negatives are hard to get right. Yesterday I bought my first 2 rolls of HP5. I met the man who will be developing my film in cork yesterday. So now I need to find some interesting subjects and choose a camera, I have an eos600 , a k1000 a yashica and a Zenit E. The k1000 is my first choice, although I think the EOS600 might be the best choice :)