As a new digital camera user, I've gotten interested in editing software for rod pictures. I'm thinking about Photoshop Elements 3.0, but am also considering Paintshop products.

Can anyone offer suggestions?

Many thanks.

Stan

Elements 3.0 is quite good. It even has the same RAW image editor conversion that the larger PhotoShop CS does. If you shoot in RAW format, it's great.

Otherwise, you'll find Elements to be quick and easy for resizing and saving photos in proper web form (low resolution jpeg files).

Company-wise, I detest Adobe (try to get technical help if you can) but PhotoShop has become the standard in image editing and it's quite a good program. Elements 3.0 does most anything you would need to do to prepare photos for the web or home printing. For $100 it's very hard to go wrong with it.

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Haven't used all of them, but IMO JASC Paintshop Pro is my favorite! Very powerful at a good price and uses all of the Photoshop compatible plug-ins. A real bargain and great support. Just type in PSP or Paintshop Pro in Google and you will get 1,000's of user groups, forums, tutorial, etc

Mike

I haven't used Elements, but I'm a long time user of Photoshop and love it. I've used MS PictureIt, which is a really fun program but not something I thing is much of an editing program. Recently I've been turned on to Paintshop Pro by the aforementioned Mr. Barkley, and I gotta say that it is a very fun program and very similar to photoshop. If I had to pick one of the two as a beginner, I'd go with Paintshop. Much more user friendly. Photoshop is great, but as Tom mentioned, there isn't much in the way of tutorials.

I too use JASC Paintshop Pro... Like it very much... great value.

Erik

back when i was into computers, stripped down versions of image editing software (like photoshop LE) were bundled with flatbed scanners. pehaps this is the same for the latest generation of stripped down photoshop (elements)?

in my industry, photoshop is the de facto standard, i wouldn't use anything else but there are other options for PC users, options i recall others raving about.

when it comes to support from adobe, i can't imagine a company that huge could adequately support its user base. so just like the example by mike, turn to online user forums and tutorials, third party books available in any book store with computer stuff, even adobe's own version of a user forum (used to exist but like i said, i haven't had to refer to anything like that in years). photoshop, and perhaps elements, has a lot of options for users. if you go the photoshop route, don't be overwhelmed by the magnitude of the program (elements should be less overwhelming), look at it as something to grow into. just concentrate on the minimum to get started, inputting, cropping, sizing and basic toning.

eric
fresno, ca.

Elements is surprisingly powerful. It doesn't have all the features of the full PhotoShop version, but it's not exactly stripped down either. For $100 you won't buy a more powerful image editing program.

What they've done, is added some additional auto features (you don't have to use them, but you can). There is a "quick fix" button that auto sets the contrast, exposure, lighting, black and white points, etc., all in one click. If you don't like the auto set preferences, you can change them to your liking. It also has a "save for web" feature (something that most who post on the photo page here could really use). It auto converts photos to good web format (72dpi Jpeg file format) with a single click.

Corel PhotoPaint is another good image editing program. I haven't seen the latest version of it, but I have one from about 5 years ago that I still use.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/10/2005 10:39AM by Tom Kirkman.

If you want good freeware, and you are willing to accept something that isn't quite as intuitive as some of these other image editors, GIMP is a great option. It is very "Photoshopish" and allows you to do some very advanced things, but is not as intuitive as Jasc or PhotoShop, etc. I used it for years before I bought a new computer that came with JASC.

Erik

Thanks, guys, for your helpful input.

My new computer came bundled with JASC for 60 days, but I've decided to install Photoshop Elements 3.0 as well.

PE3.0 looks and acts very,very good for my intended use.

Looking forward to learning to use both sets of software.

Many thanks.

Stan