Photoshop vs. other photo editing programs.

[Linda and "Toby"]

Choosing photo editing software is a personal choice. Some (like me) want to have a LOT of creative control. Others just want something simple that lets them crop the image and get the red eye out. Personally, I enjoy using Photoshop. It enables you to take an ordinary photo and make it extraordinary by cropping it, adjusting the levels, contrast, color balance, color saturation, etc. There are a ton of "plugins" you can get to make it even more fun. Photoshop, however, can be expensive to dive into.

There are several other (FREE) photo editing programs that you can use. GimpShop and Sumo Paint were both designed to work very much like Photoshop:

GIMPShop: http://www.gimpshop.com/index.shtml

Sumo Paint 2.2. http://www.sumo.fi/flash/sumopaint/index.php This is a paint program AND photo editing program. You don't have to download it; you just use it online. Here are the instructions/Table of Contents: http://www.sumopaint.com/help/ For only $19/yr you can upgrade it to Sumo Pro: http://www.sumopaint.com/pro/

Here are some other popular (and free) web based alternatives to Photoshop that you can check out, along with some info about each: http://www.lifeclever.com/10-free-web-based-alternatives-to-photoshop/

[Eva]

Linda
Thank you a hundred times over. You read my mind and beat me to posting a question. Thank you for posting these links. It would be nice to try some of those programs and see which one suits our individual needs. You are a great help, Eva

[renae]

This is really great info Linda, thanks so much!
I have a mac and have tried many times over to adjust levels, contrast, color balance, etc but never can get it right. I'll look into these alternatives for sure. What are your thoughts on Photoshop Elements?
Thanks again!
Renae

[Penny, Comiskey & Beemer]

I personally love Photoshop Elements...I found it to have a very short learning curve and there are loads of free actions, brushes, styles, pattern...etc...you just have to look....

[Linda and "Toby"]

Hi Renae! Photoshop Elements is a great program for enhancing, sharing and organizing digital photos. Designed for beginners/hobbyists, the bright buttons, simple instructions and automated tools make it easy to select, touch up, and adjust your photos. It also has some basic filter and text capabilities. Runs about $99. FYI: PS Elements is not a scaled down version of CS4. It's a completely different program. Although they have similar features, each was made with a specific user in mind.

CS4 was designed for professional photographers and serious hobbyists. (Who knows, you might to go pro someday.) With a suggested retail price tag of $699 (ouch), it gives you much more creative control over each aspect of the image adjustments. It's a bit more complicated to use, but there are lots of forums and free tutorial videos available online.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you have a college student in the household, you can save a ton of money on CS4 by buying the STUDENT EDITION! It's the SAME program at a discounted price. You can even get the EXTENDED version for about $199! (Normally $1,000) See Amazon or Ebay: "Adobe Photoshop Extended CS4 Student Edition" (Some companies require that you to email proof of enrollment.) BTW, you must select Windows OR Mac - they only work on one platform.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Larry, If the student edition is $199 and the regular version is $1000 wouldn't you be better off just buying a totally new student edition every now and again or am i missing something?

[F, Calla & Luca]

I don't think the guilt was justified but we all have our own ethical barometers. You did have 2 kids in college who might have used it at some point : ) Any way right now I have bought myself enough and certainly will have enough to learn just with taking the pictures.

[Camilla and Darwin]

I first learned to edit photos using Photoshop. I love it, as there is so much you can do with a photo. Then My husband and I started running Linux on our computers, and you can't use Photoshop with it. Now we use Gimp image editor, and I have to say, it was an adjustment to learn it but I love it even more. It does basically anything Photoshop does, loads much faster, and is FREE.

[Linda and "Toby"]

I'm glad to hear that you're using Gimp and that you enjoy it. Maybe I'll try it out one of these days. Knowing that it loads faster is very appealing. :)

[F, Calla & Luca]

All I can say is Wow.

[Denice Caouette]

Hi..I have a "point and shoot" camera and use Picnik mostly. My question is ..does photoshop allow for a lot more alternatives for photo editing? I have found that Picnik does really well. This is all very interesting and makes me want to go get a new camera!!

[F, Calla & Luca]

I had been happily using a point and shoot myself for the last few years since my SLR malfunctioned. I blame this group and all the interesting points raised for buying a digital SLR yesterday.

[Linda and "Toby"]

hahaha! Looking forward to seeing your new pix. :D