Software

gofkid

OK, this might need to be moved to digital darkroom.

I have used Photoshop before and would like to get an Adobe package, but my budget rules out CS2 (unless I go the black-market route), so what would other people recommend. I have seen there is a new Elements coming out………any advice?

Thanks

digitalage

black-market route

Roen

Elements 5 is out now, it's about €100. More than you'd ever need (probably). CS2 is filled with stuff that will never be used.
Or you could go for The Gimp and skin it like Photoshop if you're used to using it. It's totally free by the way!

Fajitas!

Gimp, or 'find' a copy of CS2

gofkid

I need to "find" a copy of CS2. Any recommendations, I hear adobe.com might be the place

*edited to remove muppetry*

melekalikimaka

i think this will get pepps in trouble with the mods... so best stop

*edited to remove muppetry*

B0rG

here's the exempt from the Eismann book about elements:
what's missing:


* Only RGB and grayscale color modes are supported
* Curves, Color Balance, Channel Mixer and Photo Filters are missing from the adjustments menu
* No History snapshot filter
* No access to channels
* No access to paths
* Layer masking available only with adjustment layers

So it looks like rather castrated version of Photoshop.
If you have someone in academia it's possible to buy Photoshop at around 300 for educational purposes.

gofkid

It looks like I will have to buy elements on my budget or else become a teacher;)

Roen

Curves is in Elements 5, albeit a trimmed down version.

Don't forget The Gimp, it's totally free!

B0rG

Roen wrote:

Don't forget The Gimp, it's totally free!

don't forget it comes with detailed instructions on rebuilding lunix kernel...

melekalikimaka

gimp comes on pc too, gimpshop is prob a better choice

Roen

melekalikimaka wrote:

gimp comes on pc too, gimpshop is prob a better choice

Windows installer download here

sineadw

gofkid wrote:

It looks like I will have to buy elements on my budget or else become a teacher;)

I know you can legally get the educational versions of most software simply by having a student in the house (including a child at school). Not sure about photoshop though. I had to jump through some hoops getting Macromedia stuff for a school a while back and they're owned by Adobe now. I'd imagine its much the same with their educational packs too so.

Is Paintshop Pro still going? They used to do a fairly decent free version many moons ago. More for digital graphics maybe than photography stuff?

bp_me

The full version of paintshop pro is about 80 euro in your local shop (from what I can recall) and it does seem very powerful with some nice tricks.

rymus

melekalikimaka wrote:

i think this will get pepps in trouble with the mods... so best stop

Good idea... Any further discussion on pirate software will be met with unwelcome actions; by which I mean a jolly good slapping with a surgical 2x4.

Calina

bp_me wrote:

The full version of paintshop pro is about 80 euro in your local shop (from what I can recall) and it does seem very powerful with some nice tricks.

You can download a trial version for 30 or 60 days (can't remember which) AFAIK. I haven't done too much with it but the layout looks pretty okay.

Alternatively Adobe Lightroom is in beta for the moment.

Personally I use the GIMP for most of my work. It's free and the Windows installer works a treat. I do use Elements (still at vn 2.0 though) for some stuff and there are some nice tricks in Lightroom. It's heavy on memory though.

Realistically, you need to sit down and decide if you need all the bells and whistles with PS CS. If you don't, then Elements is probably a goer. If you do, then you'll have to look at alternatives. I don't need all the bells and whistles, althought there are one or two things I wouldn't mind. They're not worth 600E to me though.