n00b questions

sirsteezo · Dec 4, 2007

I'm new to the photography world and I have a couple of questions..

1)Is photoshop the best program (for beginners) to use to edit pictures?
2)Can I d/l photoshop from somewhere or do I have to buy?
3)what other programs out there, can you use for editing etc etc..?

-Steven

Big Mike · Dec 4, 2007

1)Is photoshop the best program (for beginners) to use to edit pictures?

Photoshop is probably the best software for editing images...but there are other programs that do other things better. Adobe Lightroom, for example, is better for working with a large number of digital photos.
The full version of Photoshop is a very heavy program and not all that user friendly for beginners. Photoshop Elements is like 'Photoshop Lite'...and might be better for beginners.

2)Can I d/l photoshop from somewhere or do I have to buy?

It's certainly not free to download (although there should be a trial version avaliable from Adobe). The full version is quite expensive, Elements is much cheaper. If you are a student, you can get a student version for a good price. You can also find discounts when you purchase cameras or other accesories.

3)what other programs out there, can you use for editing etc etc..?

There is GIMP, which is a free image edit program. Google's Picasa is also something that people use, which is free.
Most cameras will come with some sort of image editing software...some of them OK...some of then no so much.

sirsteezo · Dec 4, 2007

thanks for the feedback. I just received my canon 350D today.

stubbsk · Dec 4, 2007

Can't beat Photoshop CS3 but after the 30 day trial runs out it's at least $300 for a student copy more like $1000 dollars for the actual thing. You'll be straight in at the deep end which is good for some people. Gimp is free but not quite as good.

Garbz · Dec 5, 2007

stubbsk said:
Can't beat Photoshop CS3

Only if you like editing images one at a time. As Mike said there are much friendlier and significantly easier to use programs out there. I wouldn't recommend photoshop to anyone who has to edit more than 20 photos in one sitting.

stubbsk · Dec 5, 2007

I use Photoshop and can edit hundreds of pictures at a time if I like because I shoot raw.

Camera raw 4 with bridge works very much like lightroom.

LaFoto · Dec 5, 2007

Garbz said:
I wouldn't recommend photoshop to anyone who has to edit more than 20 photos in one sitting.

Eh? :scratch:
NOT???

I must be doing something fundamentally wrong then ...

... I always edit my photos one by one, and each of them individually. You can do BATCH editing??? How do you do the individual photo justice then?

patrickt · Dec 5, 2007

Next time you're in a camera store or a book store, check out all the books on Photoshop. That should give you a clue. It's a difficult program that does a ton of things you don't need and some of the simple things you do need aren't easy to do.

Lightroom is much easier, in my opinion, and does the simple tasks quickly and easily. I'm considering Photoshop Elements 6.0 but it's about as obtuse as Photoshop. I want the healing brush, though.

Most of the editing programs give you a free thirty day trial. Try them and see which works best for you.

Garbz · Dec 6, 2007

LaFoto said:
I must be doing something fundamentally wrong then ... ... I always edit my photos one by one, and each of them individually. You can do BATCH editing??? How do you do the individual photo justice then?

It just wasn't built for it. If you import 100 photos to your computer and edit them in photoshop / bridge, and compare this to how Lightroom or similar workflow oriented post production programs work you will find your entire life is much easier.

Basically a decent program should have some of the features of photoshop, all of the features of camera RAW, all of the features of bridge, along with a sorting system, and extended rating system allowing photos to be grouped, flagged to be culled etc, all on the same screen. A tick in every box for lightroom.

Don't get me wrong photoshop is wonderfully powerful, but I only touch it when I can't do something in the far more accessible lightroom. Photoshop really was built for graphic artists, and lightroom as the name suggests for the photographers, and this is why I would recomend lightroom over photoshop to beginners and lightroom combined with photoshop for anyone more serious about photo editing.