GIMP

mintwin101 · Jun 10, 2008

I personally can not afford to buy editing software and considering I am still shooting with a p&s

I wouldn't waste my money anyways. So I downloaded GIMP. I am knew to editing photos so I am just randomly expirementing at the moment. Does anybody know if this is program is any good or if there is one out there that I should look at. Thanks in advance

Mav · Jun 10, 2008

I use it and it works great! You can't beat free! The next best photo editing program that doesn't cost a lot is either Photoshop Elements or Paint Shop Pro. Both are around or a little less than $100, and both support Photoshop plug-ins.

JimmyO · Jun 10, 2008

Great Program!

Really nice for things like cropping, color adjustments, sharpening, contrast/brightness, saturation and also has many cool filters and tools similar to 1000 dollar programs

Chewbecca · Jun 11, 2008

I use gimp.

And I've always wanted to know who here uses it. Because I'm still learning it.
Are you all pretty good with gimp?

Alfred D. · Jun 11, 2008

Have a look at the graphics/photo freeware, shareware, and open source software on this list, min.

Chewbecca · Jun 11, 2008

I could probably check this out myself, but I wonder how many of those are compatible with Linux. I would imagine most of them, since they're free, but I might be amazed...

Is Picasa any good? It's compatible with Linux.

elemental · Jun 11, 2008

Chewbecca said:
I use gimp.

And I've always wanted to know who here uses it. Because I'm still learning it.
Are you all pretty good with gimp?

I use GIMP. It is Linux compatible, and is completely different from iPhoto (it has no library or organizational tools, but very heavy editing capabilities).

GIMP is excellent software. It is my editor of choice when it comes to things that are too heavy for Lightroom (lots of cloning, anything with layers, etc.). Many will tell you that GIMP is lacking features, is too complicated, or is simply not "professional quality" (whatever that means- defining "professional" in the photography world is hard enough as is).

In short, GIMP is excellent software. It should be powerful enough to handle all of your editing needs now and into the future. There are those who will tell you it's a waste of time and that spending $600 on Photoshop is the only way to edit photos, but they're sadly (and expensively) mistaken.

Chewbecca · Jun 11, 2008

elemental said:
I use GIMP. It is Linux compatible, and is completely different from iPhoto (it has no library or organizational tools, but very heavy editing capabilities).

GIMP is excellent software. It is my editor of choice when it comes to things that are too heavy for Lightroom (lots of cloning, anything with layers, etc.). Many will tell you that GIMP is lacking features, is too complicated, or is simply not "professional quality" (whatever that means- defining "professional" in the photography world is hard enough as is).

In short, GIMP is excellent software. It should be powerful enough to handle all of your editing needs now and into the future. There are those who will tell you it's a waste of time and that spending $600 on Photoshop is the only way to edit photos, but they're sadly (and expensively) mistaken.

Yeah, I use GIMP because it was in my OS directory and I just had to install it. I also use Bibble (as of right now, don't know if I'll pay for it once the trial runs out) because I LOVELOVELOVE the "Fill Flash" feature and the noise ninja on it. But I still prefer to resize, crop, and sharpen in GIMP. I did a "fill flash" tutorial for GIMP, but it didn't give me the results I was really looking for.

Our computers run strictly on Linux, no Windows machines in my house (my husband despises Windows):lmao:.

Elemental, do you have any idea if I can get camera filter effects for GIMP?
I've installed all the plug-ins I can from my directory, and I've searched "Filters" on GIMP, but I cannot seem to find any.
I found a site offering plug-ins, but the links were bunk.
I haven't had much time to go in and mess with the different, basic tools in GIMP, though, I have made friends with the dodge/burn tool and the blur/sharpen tool.

elemental · Jun 11, 2008

Chewbecca said:
Yeah, I use GIMP because it was in my OS directory and I just had to install it. I also use Bibble (as of right now, don't know if I'll pay for it once the trial runs out) because I LOVELOVELOVE the "Fill Flash" feature and the noise ninja on it. But I still prefer to resize, crop, and sharpen in GIMP. I did a "fill flash" tutorial for GIMP, but it didn't give me the results I was really looking for.

Our computers run strictly on Linux, no Windows machines in my house (my husband despises Windows):lmao:.

Elemental, do you have any idea if I can get camera filter effects for GIMP?
I've installed all the plug-ins I can from my directory, and I've searched "Filters" on GIMP, but I cannot seem to find any.
I found a site offering plug-ins, but the links were bunk.
I haven't had much time to go in and mess with the different, basic tools in GIMP, though, I have made friends with the dodge/burn tool and the blur/sharpen tool.

Do you mean like a red filter or yellow filter, or more advanced filters that work as add-ons? The only color filter I really find myself using is red (for black and white landscape) and this can be done using the channel mixer. I don't remember exactly how (I use Lightroom for that now just because it's easier), but if you google "gimp red filter" you'll find plenty of results (that's what I did).

Chewbecca · Jun 11, 2008

Thank you!:mrgreen:

Garbz · Jun 11, 2008

GIMP is great for a free program if you can get past it's non-intuitive (my opinion) user interface. It has a couple of major omissions such as 16bit support, but this is something that really concerns professionals and hardcore enthusiasts more.

I have seen people do wonders with it, I just can't coming from a photoshop background I can't figure out how to even do basic editing in GIMP :S

reg · Jun 11, 2008

I like Gimpshop
it's basically Gimp in a somewhat PS-induced layout. And still free!

Rhys · Jun 11, 2008

I tried Gimp and Gimpshop. Couldn't stand either of them and the lack of RAW support sucked too.

reg · Jun 11, 2008

There's a reason why it's free, babe.

TamiyaGuy · Jun 11, 2008

Once you've got used to it, the Gimp is really good. I use it all the time for basic editing and while it isn't quite as good as Photoshop or Corel Paint Shop, it's certainly a rival to them. The recent B&W converter in 2.4 is a wonder as well.