WANTED: advice/opinion on photo editing software.

[jkpadgett]

I hear a lot of good things about Photoshop - just wanted to get some other advice on editing software.


I use "free" software and was looking in to Photoshop. I have found a few sites that offer PS CS5 for $239.00 (is this for real)?


http://www.cs5software.com/


Thanks in advance!!!


JKP

[Carlos Lindado]

Hello, Photoshop is top notch software, obviously, but it doesn't come cheap (look at adobe site, it's about $700, so I think the sites that offer it for $239 could be just a scam). I think it's the only professional program for editing images (I used to use GIMP, but it's not as powerful as Photoshop)

[TucsonTRD]

I just started using Elements 8. It isn't nearly as powerful as cs5, but it's far more powerful than I am currently capable of. That is quite a leap from free software to cs5. You should look into elements 8 or lightroom unless you are a professional with PP experience.

[peety3]

Photoshop is extraordinarily powerful. If you need it, you need, and it will cost a pretty penny. You may find Photoshop Elements to be sufficient, at least in the interim.


I'd also suggest looking at Adobe Photoshop Lightroom or Apple Aperture, each in the $275-300 range. I use Lightroom and absolutely love it. It does my DNG conversions, my Color Checker profiling, my ranking/sorting, and excellent levels manipulation, along with cropping, dodging/burning, etc. I use Photoshop Elements on rare occasions to do panorama merges and HDRs, but otherwise I live in Lightroom.

[zacotton]

As others have said, Adobe Lightroom is a phenomenal program. 98% of the time it's what I use for editing purposes. Rarely do I find myself using Photoshop other than for minor touches that Lightroom isn't capable of.





If you were interested in Photoshop, I would say go for Elements 8 first rather than theimmediatejump into CS5. Elements will have more to offer than free software, and as you progress with that you can move into CS5. That's how I see it, anyway.


Zach

[clemmb]

I use PS Elements-5 in my business. It is rare that I run into an edit that I can not handle and find myself wanting CS5. Then I look at the price and remember why I am still using PSE-5.


Mark

[thekingb]

I use Apple Aperture for 99% of my editing. Photoshop can do almost anything, but it has a very steep learning curve. I'm pretty savvy when it comes to learning software, and PS is one of the few programs that I simply couldn't begin to teach myself and still haven't invested much time in. I would definitely start out with something "lighter" -- whether it's PS Elements, Lightroom or Aperture.

[Dave Johnston]

It is great software. Incidently, if you are a student... and this is just a wild guess as I don't know much about you, students can get a considerable discount on this software. Just an FYI. It is worth it I think.


Dave.

[Jon Ruyle]

Maybe it isn't still true, but I got an old version of elements way back when and it didn't even allow me to adjust tone curves, so I threw it in the garbage. Maybe newer versions are better. (Or maybe I was just too stupid to figure out how to make elements work?)


I use gimp now, even though it has the awesomely sucky limitation that it only handles 8 bit files. (I do initial processing in DPP)


I don't like to pay for software. (I used to be a software engineer. So maybe it's kind of like how people who used to work at McDonalds don't like to eat there)

[btaylor]

JKP,


that price might be for a student edition. In which case you'll have to email off a copy of a valid student ID card/ proof of enrolment and register it under that name.


Over here in Australia CS4 was going for $1400 when I bought it, lucky my girlfriend was still a student and we were able to register it under her name.


It's an amazing program - there really are no limits to what you can do with it. However it does take a lot of learning. I'm still figuring it out.


Cheers, Ben.