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/

[Nancie & Gracie Doodle]

What camera did you end up buying? And lens?

[F, Calla & Luca]

I ordered a Nikon D90 and a Nikkor 18-108 lens.

[Linda and "Toby"]

Nice! And what a sweet lens! I can hardly wait to see the pix you take with it! :)

[Linda and "Toby"]

Hi Denise,
Photoshop gives you an immense amount of control over your images. (More than you would ever use or need! ha!) Mastering photoshop involves mastering the use of layers. You can create numerous duplicate layers of your image and then run different filters or effects on them. You can also erase some areas of one layer to reveal something desireable from the layer beneath it, or change the opacity of your layer (which affects how solid or transparent it is) etc, and then blend them together to create a stunning final image. Photoshop is the industry standard for professionals. There are lots of tutorials online that can show you how to do things and inspire you to try new techniques.

[Mandy&Bailee]

Picasa from Google is great! Simple and easy to use if you want to be able to do the basics - and best of all, free!
I'm using Photoshop Elements - soooo much less $$$ than the full-blown Photoshop, and I can do almost everything that the full photoshop can. It just helps by simplifying things with the learning curve. I probably could step up to Photoshop but the price tag just stops me cold. I'd rather by another lens for my camera w/that kind of money :)

[F, Calla & Luca]

I like Picasa and have used, at Clark P's suggestion, FotoFlexer for collages, also free and simple once you play with it.

[Adrianne Matzkin]

I tried to download pimpshop.com. It took me to RapidShare where I get an error message:
'Unfortunately right now our servers are overloaded and we have no more download slots left for non-members. Of course you can also try again later.'

http://rs322.rapidshare.com/files/86290735/GIMPshop_0.1beta_Setup.exe

any ideas?

[Linda and "Toby"]

Hi Adrianne! Are you downloading the Windows version or the Mac version? I have both platforms, so I'll try to download the one you have and let you know if I get the same response.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Did you try pimpshop or gimpshop?

[F, Calla & Luca]

I did get gimp to download. It was through a site called uberdownloads or something like that.

[Jean, Rylee and Cooper]

How about using Aperture 3 for editing for your Mac?  Has anyone used this?  Is it easy to use?  I need something not too complicated if possible.

[Linda and "Toby"]

I'm a Photoshop CS5 user (on my Mac) and I tend to recommend Photoshop Elements to everyone because if you discover that you love what it can do, the transition to CS5 is less daunting. But, I've heard really good things about Aperture 3. In addition to having nice editing tools, it also helps you organize your images. :)