Photoshop

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Permalink Reply by Mike Mottram on January 30, 2011 at 12:07

 

I find that Windows 7 photo gallery edit mode has everything you need to get a photograph up to scratch. It all depends if you want to edit your photos to a higher quality with air brushing out minor imperfections or just alter the colour and shadow,  I have used photoshop and find that I did not need most of the features and I have not used for a few years so it was abit of a waste of money. I find that if you edit photos to much that it takes out all the minor detail that you captured when taking the photograph.

All the things I use are on the side except auto adjust which is a waste of time and I never use.

If you want the pro software I would try the trials first then buy which one suits your needs as they are abit pricey to buy and it might end up being one of those things you never really need to use.

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Permalink Reply by Brigitte Anne Barnes on January 30, 2011 at 12:34

I have Photoshop, the full pro version, but not a recent edition, mine dates back to 2003, but my advice is not to go for the 'lite' versions, because they will just have the basics on, plus a few of the bells and whistles of the full program.  I did intend getting the lite version but decided on the full as I bet there will be bits that I need not in the scaled down one. 

 

Similar to my reasons for spending nearly a grand on this laptop,  I got so fed up with deciding what I did and did not want on a computer, this one is a top end one, but I know that it will have what I need plus the extras may well come in handy.  Saved me buying a blu ray player too - lol!!

 

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Permalink Reply by Steve higgins on January 30, 2011 at 19:12

paintshoppro may also be worth a look im also new to editing and its got far more than i need at the present, but is there for when i improve and want more features and its a lot cheaper than photoshop.

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Permalink Reply by Brigitte Anne Barnes on January 30, 2011 at 20:13

True - Paintshop is a lot better than it used to be in my opinion, had it alongside Photoshop, had both, but was always told Paintshop was a poor version of Photoshop. but it has come a long way since then!  I used to do desktop publishing and mainly used Photoshop, it was the industry standard, but there are brilliant alternatives about now.   I used Quark, Illustrator, and Photoshop in my day, but only on Macs at work, when I managed to get my own copy for PC, excellent stuff, did some amazing stuff.

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Permalink Reply by Michelle Cole on January 31, 2011 at 21:43

Thanks Mike. I agree with you, I think the trial versions maybe the way to go to start with as I don't want lots of features I won't use :)

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Permalink Reply by Michelle Cole on January 31, 2011 at 21:49

Sounds like a good idea - I'll have a look in to Paintshop as well and compare. Thanks for your comments!

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Permalink Reply by Ed Phillips on February 1, 2011 at 13:44

I use Photoshop Elements 9. The latest version has some significant improvements and is comparatively inexpensive. Used in conjunction with Adobe Lightroom 3, I have all the features I need. I earn a significant proportion of my income from photography and Lightroom helps me process the very large numbers of images I have from some shoots (1000+) very quickly. Elements is used to make final adjustments and if I was processing more modest numbers, would provide all the functions I require.

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Permalink Reply by Paul A King on February 7, 2011 at 19:03

Hi there Michelle,

That is a toughie! as many people have there prefered fav's so here goes.

for pixel pushing at reasonable prices go with Photoshop the best yuo can afford at the time.

For the management of photos with good editing functionality try lightroom 3 a bit pricey and eats memory so need a real high spec machine both are good on Mac or PC.

 

If you can get the chance of a feeler go for it try demo's but beware you clear them properly after you do not want to lose disc space to something you are not going to use.

 

There my twopenneth for what it is worth..

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Permalink Reply by Michelle Cole on February 9, 2011 at 21:32

Thanks Paul, I'm looking in to the different programs - like you say I don't want one that is going to consume all the memory on my computer! I think I might try a demo at least then I can see what's what. Thanks.

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Permalink Reply by Villayat 'Wolf' Sunkmanitu on February 15, 2011 at 12:36

Hi Michelle

 

I strongly recomment the purchase.  I'm still using CS2 - it sees to my needs.  The browswer option slows things down too much on my system though - so I edit on 1 screen using photoshop CS2 and use ACDsee on my other screen to browse and catalogue etc.  Using 2 screens is a great time saver.

 

For editing I use a CRT screen (big old fashioned monitors) rather than a LCD screen.  The quality is far better.

 

If you have children at school or if you are a student yourself - or a teacher - check out 'Student Licensing' options at the following sites:  http://tryit.adobe.com/uk/cs5/student_teacher/?sdid=GUQIE& 

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=photoshop+student&a...

 

http://www.academicexpressware.co.uk/index.php?source=GoogleAE&...

 

Remember that a work based course could qualify you as a student - so check things out there too.  You need a student number.

 

You'll need a pretty beefy system to run multiple applications - but you can always upgrade the existing box with morre memory if you have slots.  Never use software to optimise your PC's running performance though.

 

All the best - Wolf

 

 

 

 

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Permalink Reply by Howard Kennedy on March 28, 2011 at 8:21

If you decide on Photoshop and don't have the option to purchase a student licence, the cheapest way to get the latest version legitimately is to buy an older version from a reputable Ebay seller and then buy an upgrade from Adobe.  You can get genuine unopened copies of CS3 on Ebay for about £50-£80 then you only pay for the upgrade to CS5.

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Permalink Reply by Gail Bailey on April 4, 2011 at 10:57

I'm with Paul on getting Lightroom 3. It is a good piece of software and I'm thinking about buying it for myself.

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