Imaging software

[britonk]

Hi all,

Is Photoshop the best imaging software? Are there any other major contenders?

Cheers,

 

[rmh159]

Photoshop is popular enough to say it's the standard but I don't know if that makes it the "best". In my opinion it is but I've used Gimp and felt it was a pretty solid program as well. Plus... Gimp is free so maybe to some it's not worth the money to get Photoshop.

From a photography standpoint though you'd probably want Curves, Levels and Cropping for the majority of shots which I believe most programs would have (could be wrong though).

 

[djtyrrell]

i have got paint shop pro 7 and have never had any problems with it really. I downloaded photoshop's new one c2 i think its called and i actually prefered paint shop pro. just my opinion but also i dont have £500 or what ever it is to spend on a photography program!!

Cheers

Stu

 

[Groupcaptainbonzo]

PhotoShop is the industry standard. That means very powerful, well supported available on Macs and P.Cs. hugely versatile and with loads of third party plugins available.
It is not the only good software though ,and according to your budget there may be progs better tailored to your wallet...

 

[rmh159]

Speaking of Photoshop... if anyone digs podcasts here check out www.photoshoptv.com . They do weekly video podcasts (you can still get the shows from the site but they're a week old... the podcasts you get the shows immediately) that show Photoshop tips and techniques. Maybe 60% are photography related but they're very useful.

 

[Philly]

I have photoshop but personally find it "too big" a programme for most of my needs. As a mac user I use iPhoto which as well as a vehicle for storing photos and running slideshows etc also has a good set of editing tools which are quick and easy to use. I find this a lot easier and quicker at processing photos than using Photoshop. iPhoto also handlles RAW for most of the popular cameras.

 

[Big Mike]

'Photoshop Elements'...is basically Photoshop Light. It isn't as big and intimidating as the full version...but has most everything that a photographer needs.

 

[CMan]

Photoshop is popular enough to say it's the standard but I don't know if that makes it the "best". In my opinion it is but I've used Gimp and felt it was a pretty solid program as well. Plus... Gimp is free so maybe to some it's not worth the money to get Photoshop.

From a photography standpoint though you'd probably want Curves, Levels and Cropping for the majority of shots which I believe most programs would have (could be wrong though).

I used GIMP for about a period of three months, and then I got Photoshop Elements 4.0. I can assure you that Photoshop is way, far, beyond, above, upside down, and in every other way superior to GIMP.

I would agree with the others that PS is the industry standard; even though I don't have CS2, I feel like Elements gives me everything I need.