Info on photo editing

mubs

mubs

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I'm new to this. Need some guidance wrt 2 issues:

1) Which sw to use. I know Photoshop is the std., but it's out of reach price-wise. Even PS Elements is $100. Anything cheaper that works? Paint Shop Pro 8.0 seems to have very mixed reviews on Amazon. $40 after rebate at Costco.

2) Can somebody point me to some sort of "teach-yourself-photo-editing" info? For instance, I can't seem to tell the difference between adjusting "Brightness" and "Lightness".

Thanks.
 
The usual - brighten, darken, adjust contrast, red-eye removal, adjust color, hue, saturation, exposure. If I can fix different parts of a photo, that'll be really great - like overexposed sky with underexposed subject.

I don't think I'll ever be purposely blurring the photo or sticking alien skin on somebody.
 
Olympus ships their own sw - Camedia. It's able to do the bare basics, but can't properly do an absolute must - red-eye removal.
 
I hesitate to mention Gimp. It's free and does all those things. Its UI, however, was made by someone who either had too much or not enough crack.
 
Because of the aforementioned involvement of Crack?

Other than the confusing UI it's a great program, but even after using it for several years I still close important windows on accident.

Elements can be had cheaper, and you can't trip over a warez site that doesn't have Photoshop. I've heard Adobe likes it that way. Kids know Photoshop is a big name app, so they pirate it, learn it, and then when they're all grow'd up, they say "I know photoshop" when someone wants a picture edited, so that someone ends up buying a legal copy.
And as far as that goes, it worked for me.

On the other end of things, the absolute cheapest thing to do (after the Gimp, of course) would be to buy a 10-pack of Avery glossy inkjet paper. $10 gets you a legal copy of Microsoft Picture It in the package, which isn't bad if you don't mind the "being retarded and wizard-based" parts.
 
Mercutio said:
Its UI, however, was made by someone who either had too much or not enough crack.
Click to expand...
ROFL!

Will, you're right, I am going to have a learning curve. Admittedly, PS and its cheaper sibling are among the best at what they do, and I might as well t-r-y to go that route.

Anybody at all use Paint Shop Pro? CorelDraw 12?
 
Have you looked into Photoshop Album? It does basic stuff.

Since I get my Adobe software for cheap or free (legally), I use Photoshop for even the most mundane graphic editing tasks.
 
Photoshop is far too cumbersome to quickly and easily correct lots of photos. Paintshop is a little more focused and has reportedly the best red-eye removal in the business, but I've found purpose-built tools to have an edge for most people.

For an easy to use but effective package, I haven't seen anything hold a candle to TurboPhoto. It's a Chinese product and their website is like molasses, but at US$29.99 it's an absolute bargain. It also has plugins for photoshop, FWIW.
 
Mercutio said:
...buy a 10-pack of Avery glossy inkjet paper. $10 gets you a legal copy of Microsoft Picture It in the package...
Click to expand...
Thanks, Merc, great tip. Would be nice to use this as a stepping stone to upgrade to something better.

If you buy PS Elements,
Adobe said:
A US$30 Mail-In Coupon is included in the box for registered owners of Adobe Photoshop Elements 1.0, Adobe Photoshop LE, ArcSoft PhotoStudio, Corel Essentials, Jasc Paint Shop Pro, Microsoft PhotoDraw and PictureIt, Roxio PhotoSuite, Ulead PhotoImpact and Photo Express.
Click to expand...
But the Avery Digital Photo Paper
OfficeMax said:
Includes Microsoft PictureIt! Express software*.
Click to expand...
* see here.

Not sure if the Express version qualifies.
 
Adobe offers a free striped-down version of Photoshop Album. Might want to check it out, and see if that gets you where you want to go.
 
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