Photo editing software
Dec 12, 2011 11:25:18 #
Hi group:
I need some opinions on:
1) the best "paid-for" photo editing software (I assume Photoshop)
2) the best free editing software
Thanks so much
Mike
I need some opinions on:
1) the best "paid-for" photo editing software (I assume Photoshop)
2) the best free editing software
Thanks so much
Mike
Dec 12, 2011 11:42:08 #
iresq
Loc: Annapolis MD
What is best? Most featured, easiest to use, some other qualifier?
PS is considered by most to be the industry standard.
Gimp is free and is arguable the most feature rich for a free app.
Picaso is free and easy but limited in capability.
PS is considered by most to be the industry standard.
Gimp is free and is arguable the most feature rich for a free app.
Picaso is free and easy but limited in capability.
Dec 12, 2011 12:09:34 #
Dec 12, 2011 14:24:37 #
Dec 12, 2011 21:06:18 #
What made me bring this up is the recent discussion on taking pictures in RAW mode. I need software that can edit a RAW image
Dec 12, 2011 21:12:16 #
Dec 12, 2011 21:14:11 #
I am quite pleased with my RAW editing via (free) Picasa 3 with built-in Picnic. View my two website below my signature.
Dec 12, 2011 21:30:57 #
Dec 12, 2011 21:36:25 #
According to the on line reviews on your camera, it came bundled with editing software...that includes converting RAW files.
Dec 12, 2011 22:29:55 #
Also, what kind of editing? Touching up for sharpness & color balance (I would vote for Lightroom) or altering the reality of the photo - changing the background, moving a head to another photo, etc then Photoshop or Gimp or whatever would be the direction to go
Dec 13, 2011 01:17:38 #
Photoshop cs5 would be the best one ..... however.....
gimp does nearly everything that photoshop can do ...it's a free download, so if you get frustrated and don't use it you aren't out anything but space on your computer.
I've had Photoshop for years so naturally I swear by it, but if I were starting over today .... There isn't much difference really.
I have cs5, elements 10, pre-release of cs6, lightroom 3, gimp, perfect photo suite 6, and picasa.
Even with everything I know about all these programs.... today I would still start with gimp. And maybe Elements if I just felt the need to pay for an application. I'd wait until I got comfortable with those to even think about Photoshop.
gimp does nearly everything that photoshop can do ...it's a free download, so if you get frustrated and don't use it you aren't out anything but space on your computer.
I've had Photoshop for years so naturally I swear by it, but if I were starting over today .... There isn't much difference really.
I have cs5, elements 10, pre-release of cs6, lightroom 3, gimp, perfect photo suite 6, and picasa.
Even with everything I know about all these programs.... today I would still start with gimp. And maybe Elements if I just felt the need to pay for an application. I'd wait until I got comfortable with those to even think about Photoshop.
Dec 13, 2011 08:07:46 #
Dec 13, 2011 08:32:25 #
Dec 13, 2011 10:23:13 #
PhotoShop (PS) is considered by Adobe to be the industry standard and many professionals us it. However, it depends on what you are planning to do as a photographer. Shelling out $600+ for an editor that you only use a portion of its capabilities does not make good business sense.
Corel's Paint Shop Pro x4 (PSP) is a very powerful editing software used by many professional photographers as well. It will not break the bank, especially if you are on a tight budget. The results are comparable to PS and include in it's own software many of the techniques that you have to buy plugins for in PS. You can find it for around $60 and with certain specials, less.
Gimp is a good freeware photo editing software. But you have to understand its limitations and know where you want to take your photography.
Corel's Paint Shop Pro x4 (PSP) is a very powerful editing software used by many professional photographers as well. It will not break the bank, especially if you are on a tight budget. The results are comparable to PS and include in it's own software many of the techniques that you have to buy plugins for in PS. You can find it for around $60 and with certain specials, less.
Gimp is a good freeware photo editing software. But you have to understand its limitations and know where you want to take your photography.
Dec 13, 2011 10:27:08 #
I'm really not trying to start a flame, but I see Picasa recommended regularly, and I feel it is important that new users "just looking for some editing software" should know that there are a couple of reasons you may not want to use it.
The first thing you're gonna notice when you install it is that it wants to search the nether regions of your computer for images. Even those that get installed with other software you may use. It doesn't give you the option to "Don't search now!!" So, the end result is that it will find and catalog all those images, many of which weren't taken by you. This isn't a killer, but you'll spend significant time, in a program that you don't yet understand, trying to get all those unwanted photos out of your library.
Secondly, while the facial recognition software works really, really well, you must realize that the ONLY place it works is in Picasa. So, if you spend a lot of time "teaching" Picasa which name goes on a face, the moment you share the photo, or move it to another machine, all that info is forgotten. Said another way, it doesn't include those names in the metadata (keywords) of the photo.
Lastly, any color class assigned to an image will be different in Picasa than in industry standard software. For example, if I assign 'red' to a photo in Photo Mechanic, when I open the image in Capture NX2, it's still 'red'. In Picasa, it might be yellow.
So, while I truly believe that Google has done some really nice stuff with Picasa, I abandoned it after just a couple weeks. I was genuinely disappointed, for I liked the way it did some things.
The first thing you're gonna notice when you install it is that it wants to search the nether regions of your computer for images. Even those that get installed with other software you may use. It doesn't give you the option to "Don't search now!!" So, the end result is that it will find and catalog all those images, many of which weren't taken by you. This isn't a killer, but you'll spend significant time, in a program that you don't yet understand, trying to get all those unwanted photos out of your library.
Secondly, while the facial recognition software works really, really well, you must realize that the ONLY place it works is in Picasa. So, if you spend a lot of time "teaching" Picasa which name goes on a face, the moment you share the photo, or move it to another machine, all that info is forgotten. Said another way, it doesn't include those names in the metadata (keywords) of the photo.
Lastly, any color class assigned to an image will be different in Picasa than in industry standard software. For example, if I assign 'red' to a photo in Photo Mechanic, when I open the image in Capture NX2, it's still 'red'. In Picasa, it might be yellow.
So, while I truly believe that Google has done some really nice stuff with Picasa, I abandoned it after just a couple weeks. I was genuinely disappointed, for I liked the way it did some things.
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