Recommend a photo editing suite (I AM prepared to pay for it)

RikkiGTR

RikkiGTR

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Rikki
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I'm not really interested in freeware, unless there is one used a lot by the members here.
I seem to have a very basic one that came with the A500 I bought recently, but I'd rather something a little more bulky with more possibilities.

Obviously PhotoShop, but are there any others? I could Google and read reviews, but which review do I trust?

EDIT - I just did a Google search there before posting this and see that PhotoShop Elements 5.0 is like $80 or $90; is this a full program? I thought it would be much more expensive.
 
photoshop elements, can get it in pc world for i think it was £70 in pc world.
 
RikkiGTR said:
I'm not really interested in freeware, unless there is one used a lot by the members here.
I seem to have a very basic one that came with the A500 I bought recently, but I'd rather something a little more bulky with more possibilities.

Obviously PhotoShop, but are there any others? I could Google and read reviews, but which review do I trust?

EDIT - I just did a Google search there before posting this and see that PhotoShop Elements 5.0 is like $80 or $90; is this a full program? I thought it would be much more expensive.
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Elements 5 is a full elements program - but the reason its cheap is it isnt the current eddition - we are up to Elements 9 now.

that said i've got PSE 5 and it does everything i need - we've got 9 at work and it doesnt seem much of a step forward.

BTW in the Uk we can get elements 9 from amazon for a lot less than it is in PC world
 
big soft moose said:
Elements 5 is a full elements program - but the reason its cheap is it isnt the current eddition - we are up to Elements 9 now.

that said i've got PSE 5 and it does everything i need - we've got 9 at work and it doesnt seem much of a step forward.

BTW in the Uk we can get elements 9 from amazon for a lot less than it is in PC world
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Ok, so I searched and yeah it's down from £120 to £66 (approx) here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Adobe-Photo...1_3?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1313523880&sr=1-3
That's the bundle. Even if it isn't much of a step forward, I might as well get it at that price if it's the most recent? Was genuinely expecting it to be much more expensive.
 
the ghost said:
if you a student or a teacher get yourself over to http://www.software4students.co.uk/
some reallllll bargins to be had cs5 £160, Adobe Lightroom 3 £69-95
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I'm neither :(

What is CS5 anyway? I mean, if all I'm wanting to do is 'breath' on my photos a little, surely I wouldn't need something so advanced? I'm assuming it's advanced going by some of the prices I'm seeing for it :eek:
 
Before you buy anything....Try GIMP, its freeware.

I use it in conjunction with the camera software (Canon DPP for the raw processing) but any masking, layering, cloning etc GIMP handles not too badly at all.

A lot of people say its complicated to use, but its not too dissimilar from Photoshop for what I need.

http://download.cnet.com/GIMP/3000-2192_4-10073935.html
 
RikkiGTR said:
Ok, so I searched and yeah it's down from £120 to £66 (approx) here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Adobe-Photo...1_3?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1313523880&sr=1-3
That's the bundle. Even if it isn't much of a step forward, I might as well get it at that price if it's the most recent? Was genuinely expecting it to be much more expensive.
Click to expand...

Link above is for elements for photos AND video editing, if you do not want the video editing its £53
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Adobe-Photo...1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1313524853&sr=1-1
 
AndyB1976 said:
Before you buy anything....Try GIMP, its freeware.

I use it in conjunction with the camera software (Canon DPP for the raw processing) but any masking, layering, cloning etc GIMP handles not too badly at all.

A lot of people say its complicated to use, but its not too dissimilar from Photoshop for what I need.

http://download.cnet.com/GIMP/3000-2192_4-10073935.html
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I'm sorry, but I really have to disagree on that one. Gimp is abysmal.

:-/
 
RikkiGTR said:
I'm neither :(

What is CS5 anyway? I mean, if all I'm wanting to do is 'breath' on my photos a little, surely I wouldn't need something so advanced? I'm assuming it's advanced going by some of the prices I'm seeing for it :eek:
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Photoshop comes in two flavours

there is Photoshop CS 5 (now there was also CS4 and CS3 before that) which is the full blown proffesional suite and costs hundreds of pounds

then you have Photoshop Elements 9 (or earlier editions) which is a cut down version aimed at the consumer but powerful enough to do everything the average tog needs and which costs about 50 quid

Other options include Serif PhotoplusX3 and Paintshop pro for arround the same price

If you want freebies there is GIMP (Gnu soft Image Manipulation Programe), Irfanview, and also out of date versions of serif photo plus - All will do most of what most people need

However if you've got the cash my recomendation is to lay out £50 on PSE 9
 
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nog said:
Link above is for elements for photos AND video editing, if you do not want the video editing its £53
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Adobe-Photo...1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1313524853&sr=1-1
Click to expand...

Yeah I was actually quite surprised how inexpensive the bundle was, so I've ordered that just now. When I look for something to buy on Google, I always list it "price: high to low" so I know the bad news from the start. I did that with PhotoShop and just assumed it was extortionately priced for the full program :D
The video editing will come in handy anyway seeing as I own a Full HD Panasonic Camcorder, but never really use it properly or create decent videos. I'll have a reason to do so now.

Thanks for the eye-opener guys.
 
onona said:
I'm sorry, but I really have to disagree on that one. Gimp is abysmal.

:-/
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Be interesting to hear why? :)

I tried it myself and I couldn't get on with it purely because I'm used to photoshop, and not being able to find the stuff I wanted right away frustrated the hell out of me. But from what I can see it's a very powerful program, and obviously inspired by photoshop. And being free makes it about £500 cheaper!

The price of photoshop is definitely a deciding factor. Which is why they introduced Elements to the consumer market. One of the things about adobe software, is you'll find umpteen tutorials online, in magazines, books, etc. For both Elements and Photoshop.
 
Gimp has rather poor colour handling, for a start. Which is a problem for an image manipulation package. I also find its pseudo-Photoshop UI infuriating; it's like it tried so hard to copy it that it lost sight of what makes an intuitive UI. Everything just feels poorly cobbled together.

Yeah, it's free. But that doesn't necessarily make it a good choice in my view. Funnily enough, I was at a party the other night and met someone who I ended up talking about this kind of stuff too, and we both went on such a rant about how terrible we think Gimp is :P
 
Urban Grimshaw said:
Be interesting to hear why? :)

I tried it myself and I couldn't get on with it purely because I'm used to photoshop, and not being able to find the stuff I wanted right away frustrated the hell out of me. But from what I can see it's a very powerful program, and obviously inspired by photoshop. And being free makes it about £500 cheaper!

.
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I dont get on with GIMP either for the same reason, ie that its not laid out like photoshop - I do hear that theres a photoshop emulator plug in for gimp which changes the view to more photoshopalike - but ive not tried it myself.

Thing is with PSE so cheap i dont see the point in struggling to learn a different software interface ( I didnt get on with serif photoplus either for the same reason - I tried it to see if it was more compatiblewith the other serif suites like page plus and web plus, but theres no real benefit so i uninstalled it again)
 
OK fair points. Can't say I've noticed any colour problems but then I am not on a calibrated monitor anyway, maybe I'm not looking hard enough.

Of course free doesn't automatically equal best, but speaking as someone who doesn't do much editing I feel its better than abysmal :lol:

Elements is usually cheap enough to buy but I understand it doesn't do layers. (**correction - it does do layers, no layer masks)

Also because things are laid out differently and not where you expect them, doesn't make it a bad product. I'm sure I'd struggle around PS, but if I laid 500bucks down for it I'd soon learn it :lol:
 
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AndyB1976 said:
Elements is usually cheap enough to buy but I understand it doesn't do layers.
:
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dunno who told you that mate - it definitely does do layers - it has a whole menu tab for layers

what it doesnt do (at least in my PSE5) is layer masks - i think PSE9 might do but as i'm not at work i cant check

there are however work arrounds and in any case i've never actually needed a layer mask
 
If you're prepared to pay, Lightroom 3. Most people who try it never go back.

Designed specifically for photographers, immensely powerful (it's an adapation of Adobe Photoshop), does everything you need and is dead easy to use. About £200. Download a 28 days free trial :thumbs:

Review here http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/adobelightroom3/
 
I use cs 5 but it is a massive program and find that i am lost in what it can do and end up going back and forth for you tube to learn stuff
 
big soft moose said:
Thing is with PSE so cheap i dont see the point in struggling to learn a different software interface ( I didnt get on with serif photoplus either for the same reason - I tried it to see if it was more compatiblewith the other serif suites like page plus and web plus, but theres no real benefit so i uninstalled it again)
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I've used Serif PhotoPlus programs since I got a free edition of PhotoPlus 5 on the front of a magazine years ago and found them so easy to use I've stuck with them and have used PhotoPlus X2 for about the last 2 years (as a loyal customer I was offered it at £12.00 once new versions superceded it) and have just ordered PhotoPlus X3 for the same price.

For the kind of photos I take I find they do everything I need.

I've also used Photscape as well and for a free program that one is also excellent.

.
 
big soft moose said:
dunno who told you that mate - it definitely does do layers - it has a whole menu tab for layers

what it doesnt do (at least in my PSE5) is layer masks - i think PSE9 might do but as i'm not at work i cant check

there are however work arrounds and in any case i've never actually needed a layer mask
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OK Pete, I must have confused layers and layer masks thanks for the correction:thumbs:

Similarly I've never needed, or a least I am not aware of anything beyond the functionality of GIMP.

I'm not suggesting the experts move to it, just newcomers can try it out and if it falls short, then simply get rid :thumbs:
 
AndyB1976 said:
OK Pete, I must have confused layers and layer masks thanks for the correction:thumbs:

Similarly I've never needed, or a least I am not aware of anything beyond the functionality of GIMP.

I'm not suggesting the experts move to it, just newcomers can try it out and if it falls short, then simply get rid :thumbs:
Click to expand...

yep its just a case of different strokes for different folks - I've been using PSE ever since i got a free disc of PSE2 with my first DSLR (canon 300d) so ive never really had any inclination to change to a different UI

I'm sure if i'd started with GIMP, or Irfanveiw or Serif or whatever i'd be equally dedicated to staying with that system

The best advice for newbies is to try a few different things and see what works best for you, but once you've found a system you like stay with it and learn as much as possible about using it.
 
If you're on a mac it's worth considering Aperture. It's a fraction of the cost of Lightroom and probably just as good for most users. It's about £40 in the app store off the top of my head.

If I wasn't already using LR I'd probably go for it on cost alone. You can get a trial on apple.com but buy it through the app store as its £173 if you want a CD and a box!
 
Lightroom for me.

User-friendly, great file management, intuitive editing, superb NR tool, the list goes on.

Software4Students (if you're eligible) is the pace to by it, less than £70 for a fully-functioned version.
 
I agree with liightroom and, if you have a mac, aperture 3 . But as a photoshop alternative that iss,ight,y better than elements IMHO, pixelmator....i use it and i fell in love with the ui and the ease of use...
 
Try out the free ones first.

Photoscape is very easy to use, but fairly simple, though I find most of what I want to do I do with Photoscape.

GIMP is more complicated and can do a lot of what paid for editors will do, but as you have seen in some of the posts, some folks don't like it.

Others to try are Paint.net and Irfanview.

As they are all free they are definitely worth looking at.

Dave
 
Lightroom and CS5 Photoshopfor me.

Can do most in LR but when I need to play with an image more can send it to CS% from LR edit and return seamlessly.
 
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