Dumbest Photog Question...Ever!

[McTullis]

Do you know anyone in college? A lot of times you can purchase CS2 for a nice price with a student discount at a college bookstore. No way at all would our studio resort to a college intern purchasing the software for us this way, but I hear it's doable.  :shock:

If worse comes to worse, I could accidentally drop a copy of Photoshop 7 in an envelope and wonder where it went. Unfortunately my CS and CS2 can't be shared.

[01ACRViper]

there are plenty of ways to obtain PSCS3 :lol:

you can find a student to order it for you, their price is in the neighborhood of $250 for the Creative Suite 3 package. OR other means, which can't be uttered here :oops:

[tjavery]

Photoshop Elements should do most of what you need. You can crop, rotate, adjust exposure, adjust color shifts, enhance color, clone, save to different formats (PSD, TIF, GIF, JPG, etc.).

Elements lacks a very useful tool: Curves. You can add curves to Elements using this freeware:

http://www.earthboundlight.com/phototips/curves-photoshop-elements-4-5.html

Another useful tool is the Channel Mixer. I'm not sure if the current version of Elements has it or not (my old 2.0 version doesn't), but there may be some freeware here to add that feature:

http://www.earthboundlight.com/phototips/photoshop-elements-curves.html

[jamesb]

dpreview is on my short list of sites I use when deciding on photo-related stuff.  Another good site is:

http://www.dcresource.com/

Al

have you heard of

http://www.texasphotoforum.com

its a photo forum just for Texas Photographers. the talent ranges from total noobs to very seasond professonals and a whole lot of in between folks. not a lot of arguing and you dont get the everyone has a "chip" on their shoulder feeling like at dpreview.

if you sign up and in the referal section, put my username  JamesB

James

[Roy]

I finally gave in and bought Photoshop CS2 when it came out;  I'd used PSE and Paint Shop, etc.. because I didn't want to spend the extra money.  I probably don't use 10% of the capapbility of CS2 but it does the things I bought it for better than anything else I've tried.  
I have heard good things about Light Room;  if it had been available at the time, I'd have given it serious consideration.

[Al]

have you heard of

http://www.texasphotoforum.com

its a photo forum just for Texas Photographers. the talent ranges from total noobs to very seasond professonals and a whole lot of in between folks. not a lot of arguing and you dont get the everyone has a "chip" on their shoulder feeling like at dpreview.

if you sign up and in the referal section, put my username  JamesB

James

No I hadn't. Thanks!

Al

[RichardM]

Anybody here familiar with the free photo editor Photobie?  Like I have time to learn yet another tool. :roll:  However, if it's good maybe I'll have to give it a try.

Also, if I had more time I'd check out other free tools listed at http://www.photo-freeware.net/image-editing.php

[Al]

Being near Christmas, I would like to waken this thread particularly after seeing what real photographers can do to their photos with the right software.  I am going to ask for photo editing software for Christmas.

I have a version of Photoshop and I've played with it a little bit but I really don't want to learn how to use it if I don't have to. Looks a community college course is required to really understand it.

Is Photoshop Elements the way to go, PaintShop Pro or something else?  I am willing to spend a couple of hundred dollars, which these days will also buy an amazingly good camera. 

To the side, I just bought a friend who helped us with something and had never used a digital camera, a Canon Powershot 570. 7.1 MP, 4X, image stabilization, face recognition etc. for $150.  Great little camera although it doesn't support RAW.

Anyway back to software . . . any additional thoughts and advice will be very much appreciated.

Al

[Casa Grande]

Al,

The simple answer to your question is this:  If you want to be serious about processing your images, always go with Photoshop as it is much more powerful.  It has a multitude of abilities such as HDR processing, stitching, 32-bit image processing (useful for printing), RAW image conversion, etc.  Go ahead and spend the money if you really wanna be serious.  Currently, I use CS2 and about to upgrade to CS3, I think.

Having said that, I have also enjoyed using Paint Shop Pro and Photoimpact.  They are much cheaper than Photoshop, of course, but they are much easier to use. 

There is a reason why there is a huge price difference between Photoshop and all the others.

[Al]

David, thanks, how did you learn Photoshop?  Any recommendations for a learning site/software, etc?

Al

[Roy]

Adobe has several training manuals.  I have Adobe Photoshop CS2 "Classroom in a Book".  It's expensive, too, $50.00.  Once you get the hang of it, learning upgrades is relatively "easy".  That and a lot of playing around with various tools, sliders, etc.  I'm not really that good with it;  maybe use 15-20% of the capabilities, but it does the things I want it to do better than anhything else.

[SHANEA]

1.  I am not a user of Photoshop, ACDSEE, or any other photo manipulation software. 

2.  All I can tell you is that the engineers, metallurgists, and Six Sigma Black Belt quality people that I used to support in a prior life all wanted ACDSEE for it's ease of use, capability, price, etc. over Photoshop.  Some of these users needed the PRO version, but most only wanted the standard package.

Regards,

ShaneA

[Al]

I've use ACDSee for many years and have recommended it, I'm a little behind with V6.0, but it doesn't do what I've seen done to photos here.

Thank you for your support.
Al

[Casa Grande]

David, thanks, how did you learn Photoshop?  Any recommendations for a learning site/software, etc?

Al

I first learned Photoshop way back in early college when it first came out.   It was so new at the time and digital photography was in its infancy, that I stopped using it for years.   I have learned most of my Photoshop skills (which really isn't that much as I don't use it to its full potential) through trial and error.  When I first started using it, I used a realy great series of books by Peach Pit Press.  They are very easy to read how to books for a variety of software.  Here's a link to the how to book I recommend:

http://www.peachpit.com/store/product.aspx?isbn=0321502949

You can find this book at most any bookstores as well.

If you search the web, there are several places you can learn simple techniques and tutorials for doing what you want.  The trouble is, most of the time, you don't really know what you want to do

Here's a good place to start: http://www.askphotoshop.com/

[sleepy]

I am self taught and still learning Photoshop version 7.  most photographers I talk to don't use/unfamiliar with all of the tools it offers.  Still, like others have said, it is the most powerful photo editing software.  As for Elements vs. CS3, someone told me just yesterday you can download a 30 day trial of CS3.  I would assume you could do the same on Elements.  That may be helpful in your purchasing decision.  try them for free.  Also, i understand there are video tutorials on YouTube.  (i guess it has some value other than voyeurism.   I don't personally have the resources for an upgrade, as a new monitor, film scanner, and possibly camera are on my list.