Editing Software

[Lunatick]

Just looking for some advice on editing software. I don't have anything for post production (well nothing I would want to mention) and I have a large number of photos backed up for when I get something to edit them with. I've been looking at the different versions of photoshop and i would like to get cs2 but that is way out of my price range, being a college student living on his own I'm quite straped for cash. Is photoshop elements even worth the time to get? You can get it pretty cheap for $40, but I've read some reviews and they are not always the best. I've been doing photography for a few years now but never seriously, I've gotten to the point now that I do want to get a bit more serious (but how much more serious is yet to be seen). The most I'm willing to spend on software at this point is no more then $200, anyone have any experience/ideas/suggestions?

 

[Big Mike]

Welcome to the forum.

Elements is pretty good. It's obviously not as fully functional as Photoshop, but for editing photos, it's more than adequate.

 

[Oldfireguy]

If you are a starving college student elements is a fine choice.

 

[D-50]

I do not condone illegal downloading, BUT if your at college I am sure there is someone who can hook you up with a copy of CS2 or at least CS which will do everything you need and more. Just go find a friend or classmate who is into cmoputers and ask them for some help, not a problem.

 

[Wally]

BTW did you know that students can get the full version of CS2 for $299? And you can also get the entire Creative Suite for $399?

http://www.adobe.com/education/purchasing/education_pricing.html

Having said that Elements 4 is also a great program, many people (including me) feel that it is the exact same program as CS2 only with a different GUI that has some features like curves and actions turned off.

BTW you can also download a free 30 day trial version of both CS2 and Elements 4

 

[Arch]

yea i agree with wally, if you cant afford cs2, then elements 4 is a good buy, its come a long way since the first elements :thumbup:

 

[Lunatick]

Thanks for the advice and welcome! when I was in highschool, for my two years of photography, I used photoshop 6. How similiar is elements/cs2 to this program? Of course since that was so long ago, I've forgotten a lot of the techniques, actually almost all the techniques so theres going to be a sharp learning curve so maybe it doesn't even make a difference how similiar it is! I'm glad you can find elements 4 for so cheap, I don't mind spending $40 on a program even if I need to upgrade in the future.

 

[JamesD]

If you're willing to break ranks with the masses, give The Gimp a try. I've never used Photoshop or any version or derivative of it, but from what I understand, Gimp offers a lot, probably most, and some claim almost all of the features of Photoshop. It's described as a "Photoshop Replacement." It's all I use.

Did I mention that it's FREE? No, not shareware, not trialware, but FREE. There are versions for Windows, Mac OSX, and GNU/Linux. And it's a really good program.

Seriously, try it. The URI again is http://www.gimp.org/.

And no, I'm not affiliated with the project, nor do I get paid a commission. I'm merely a very satisfied user.