Photoshop vs gimp

photog4life · Dec 26, 2011

hey im just starting out with photography... just basic stuff... right now i have gimp and do you think it would be worth it for me too get photoshop? does photoshop need to be connected to the internet because my "editing" computer is NOT connected to the internet

im 14... my parents were worried i would look at porn haha

480sparky · Dec 26, 2011

If GIMP does what you need what an editing software to do, then you don't need PS. And no, PS is not web-based.

photog4life · Dec 26, 2011

well idk haha... is there any effects in photoshop that you use on a regular basis? and is photoshop pretty easy to figure out? i know the basics and some more advanced things.

480sparky · Dec 26, 2011

photog4life said:
... is there any effects in photoshop that you use on a regular basis? and is photoshop pretty easy to figure out?...

Beats me. I use GIMP, not PS.

photog4life · Dec 26, 2011

o ok then well hearing about someone else using it deffinitly makes me feel better about it....

has there been anything you wanted to do that you couldnt?

480sparky · Dec 26, 2011

photog4life said:
has there been anything you wanted to do that you couldnt?

Nope.

BuS_RiDeR · Dec 26, 2011

I am a huge Gimp fan. Been using it for years (2007 or earlier)... Does everything I need/want and more and the price is right.

photog4life · Dec 26, 2011

cool thanks for the help guys! i personally have not had any problems with it but i had some extra money from christmas so i figured i would ask and see if it was worth it but from the sounds of it isnt...

unpopular · Dec 26, 2011

I am very anti-gimp. LOL.

Gimp lacks many obvious features which it really should have. My biggest gripe is it lacks adjustment layers, which makes editing extremely inefficient. All edits are destructive, which means to get similar function you have to duplicate the layer, apply the adjustment and mask in/out the areas which you want the adjustment to affect. That means for every nondestructive adjustment, you must add a color version and to make it a local, a greyscale mask, whereas in applications that offer this feature a single greyscale layer is needed. This can start adding up - if GIMP allowed 16-bit images. Which it doesn't. Because GIMP only permits 8-bit editing, your files are much less flexible and will be more prone to banding and noise. If you plan on always shooting JPEG, then you won't need 16-bit support. If you shoot RAW and export a 16-bit tiff, you will.

Gimp also does not support CMYK, it will allow you to decompose CMYK channels - which seems like a good idea, but is really pretty worthless for prepress, something you prob. won't need. Gimp also has incomplete and awkward color management, though this has improved in recent versions. Gimp's Hue/Sat tool, which is one of my favorite tools is really pretty gimpy, and it's impossible to pinpoint an exact color, even photoshop's feathering in hue/sat I wish were a bit more robust.

Photoshop I do think is bloated and is missing some features I wish it had. It's overpriced and Adobe themselves are obnoxious and don't listen well to customer demands. For example, it took forever before they put a histogram in the curves window, something I remember people wishing they had back in version 5.5.

One less expensive alternative to Photoshop is Photoline32, which does most everything photoshop does (or at least that you'd need) and a few things it doesn't. I've found it's not the best for prepress, but since you're just starting out with photography then you prob. don't care about that. It has a full featured demo available for download.

Some of Photoline's handling of layers can be kind of strange, and it's UI takes some getting used to, but I have been pretty impressed by it and have been using it for a few years now.

480sparky · Dec 26, 2011

Well, there is no one-size-fits-all answer to this. PS aficionados may look down their noses at GIMP, but that's not because PS is 'better' than GIMP, it's because they think they're better because they use PS.

Josh66 · Dec 26, 2011

I've been using GIMP for a while and haven't had any issues I wasn't able to solve.

It might be a little harder to learn, and some options that should be on are off by default (GEGL for one - I haven't found a way to make that on by default...), but once you've used it for a while it's just like anything else.

Before GIMP I was using Lightroom and PS Elements. I don't miss either...

unpopular · Dec 26, 2011

480sparky said:
Well, there is no one-size-fits-all answer to this. PS aficionados may look down their noses at GIMP, but that's not because PS is 'better' than GIMP, it's because they think they're better because they use PS.

Without 16-bit support, I don't know how you could say this. I'm not saying that GIMP is incapable, but it's very far from equal.

PS Elements, though, is a complete waste of money, imo. And I am not even sure I'd go back to PS now that I am familiar with Photoline. Editing in HSL alone makes it worth it.

480sparky · Dec 26, 2011

unpopular said:
Without 16-bit support, I don't know how you could say this.

Here's how: Not everyone NEEDS PhotoShop. It's not that difficult a concept to understand. Why drive a Kenworth when a Kia will get you where you're going? If a $50 Vivitar P&S gets you the photos you want, why drop $25k on a top-of-the-line DSLR? By the same token, if GIMP does what you need it to do, why bother paying for PS?

unpopular said:
I'm not saying that GIMP is incapable, but it's very far from equal.

I never said they were equal.

unpopular said:
PS Elements, though, is a complete waste of money, imo.

I don't use it, so I can't speak to it. But I won't default to an "It's worthless" response simply because I don't use it.

Josh66 · Dec 26, 2011

480sparky said:
unpopular said:

PS Elements, though, is a complete waste of money, imo.

Click to expand...

I don't use it, so I can't speak to it. But I won't default to an "It's worthless" response simply because I don't use it.

To be fair, he didn't say it was worthless. He said it was a waste of money, and I agree. Elements is about the same as GIMP, just $100 or so more expensive...

photog4life · Dec 26, 2011

ok well ill check out photoline... i like gimp for what i use it for i just need to learn more of the tools but since photoline has a free demo ill check it out...

how much does it cost normally? and where would i get it? could i get it at like best buy or would i have to order it on line?