GIMP vs Photoshop...

[Mechoption]

I've started playing around using GIMP to edit my pictures (does layers, cloning...), which is great as it's legally free But most people on here seem to use Photoshop or CS (not sure what this is), which appears (from my limited experience) to have basically the same features, but costs serious $$. Is GIMP a solid photoediting software or is it worh the $ to upgrade to photoshop? (or something else). Any comments welcome.

[W.Smith]

Originally Posted by Mechoption

I've started playing around using GIMP to edit my pictures (does layers, cloning...), which is great as it's legally free But most people on here seem to use Photoshop or CS (not sure what this is), which appears (from my limited experience) to have basically the same features, but costs serious $$. Is GIMP a solid photoediting software or is it worh the $ to upgrade to photoshop? (or something else). Any comments welcome.

Hi Mech,

I don't know the GIMP, so can't compare its functionality to CS/PS'. However, I bet that in real life CS/PS's posted price is payed by less than 10% of its users. In my 20 year experience with it most users use (educationally) discounted versions, special offers, or pirated copies.
Maybe you can use the same m.o.
Know a college student that could get a copy at educational discount for you?

Or, if you run a Mac, let me know by PM. I may be able to help you.

[brian.austin]

Originally Posted by W.Smith

Hi Mech,

I don't know the GIMP, so can't compare its functionality to CS/PS'. However, I bet that in real life CS/PS's posted price is payed by less than 10% of its users. In my 20 year experience with it most users use (educationally) discounted versions, special offers, or pirated copies.
Maybe you can use the same m.o.
Know a college student that could get a copy at educational discount for you?

Or, if you run a Mac, let me know by PM. I may be able to help you.

Wow. If I ever saw a public endorsement for stealing...this is it.

Count me as one of the 10%, I guess. I used an upgrade offer from Adobe to move from Elements to CS2...then paid the upgrade price to move to CS3.

[zero rc]

ive heard of GIMP and recently saw an article for a book on maximising its potential. i think the book is like $30 and comes with a version of the app on cd.i hear its quite capable, but nowhere near as robust as photoshop. from what i heard, its basically equvelent to elements, with a different UI (user interface). like brian said, i bought photoshop through an academic discount and its IMO the way to go. you get access to all the updates and are entilted to upgrades at a much cheaper price. there is a free download from the adobe website, if you want to try it out before you buy it, but i would recomend not using pirated copies.

[W.Smith]

Originally Posted by brian.austin

Wow. If I ever saw a public endorsement for stealing...this is it.

Friendly advice: don't apply for law school, Brian!

[Rense]

The quality of the programs is not in the $$$.
Industry standards is someting that accounts for the $$$.

I use several editors, but most notably: Paintshop Pro: I can't really get accustomed to the workings of the GIMP.

[carlalex]

I found a nice book called Gimp 2 for Photographers, I understand that the gimp isn't far behind PS on features and there's even a version called gimpshop that makes the gimp very PS like in behavior.
Carl

[Thunderhawk]

Originally Posted by W.Smith

Hi Mech,
In my 20 year experience with it most users use (educationally) discounted versions, special offers, or pirated copies.

This is from Computer Arts - The history of Photoshop

"It was 15 years ago in February that Adobe shipped version 1.0 of Photoshop".

I would have thought that you were a lot younger than you must be if you were using it back then.

[yuzuha]

I have GIMP, Corel Draw X3 suite, and CS3. All 3 will do most things equally well though each has its strong points. PS has the largest set of plugins, actions and user support as well as some of the better algorithms.

Draw, being a vector program does better at drawing, lettering and such and seamlessly integrates with the included PhotoPaint raster program, which is very similar to PS, though I think PS has a few more tools that are more useful to photographers like the HDRI merge and pretty decent auto corrections.

If you are making ad posters, greeting cards, printing scrapbook photo album pages, photo frames etc. then Draw seems best. PS seems best for touching up photos. For checking out microscope photos, I find myself using Gimp, combineZM (stacks images for greater depth of field) and Image-J.

The biggest advantage to PS is that you can say, "how do I do this?" and someone will likely pop up and say "Oh, here's an action to do that", while you are more likely to have to figure it out yourself with Corel Draw+PhotoPaint or Gimp.

Then there is PaintShopPro, which Corel took over from JASC. That seems more like Photoshop lite than it does PS Elements. It seems geared more towards photographers and has built-in red-eye and purple fringe filters etc. to simplify typical photo manipulations (I also like it for quick touch ups). Think some of the algorithms in PP and PS are a bit better though (for example... jpg compression and adaptive sharpen seem to produce slightly better results than PSP). PSP seems ideal for people who want a low cost way to touch up snapshots from super-zoom P&S cameras and need simple tools for purple fringe etc., though it also has enough power to do some serious pixel poking.

[Mechoption]

Thanks for this input, seems I have lots of options. Also, it seems inconspicious in its absence, but I've also found Google's Picasa very capable when it comes to simple edits: Cropping, straightening, colour balance, automatic red-eye removal, sepai, soft-focus, sharpening, noise reduction... It also has an excellent in built-photo library viewer (and of course search feature).

And it comes at the right price - free (legally).

[Zach]

Helpful thread! So which photoshop application is best for photography...I went out to their site and there are several options. Is it PS CS3 or the Design premium?

Photoshop

CS3 Extended

Z

[brian.austin]

Originally Posted by Zach

Helpful thread! So which photoshop application is best for photography...I went out to their site and there are several options. Is it PS CS3 or the Design premium?

Photoshop

CS3 Extended

Z

Check the features on them and decide what you want to do with it. For most 2D work, CS3 Standard will suit just fine. But Design Premium is a larger collection of apps, not just Photoshop.

[Zach]

I really am not sure which one I would need. I definately want to do HDR. Currently I am working with CaptureNX soley so I need some else.

Z

[jfrancho]

Originally Posted by Thunderhawk

This is from Computer Arts - The history of Photoshop

"It was 15 years ago in February that Adobe shipped version 1.0 of Photoshop".

I would have thought that you were a lot younger than you must be if you were using it back then.

1.0 launched in 1990, or 18 years ago. I started using at v.4.0. I have used the Gimp. Its a great app, but it ain't no Photoshop. Not even close. The fact that it cannot handle bit depths greater than 8 bits/channel make it useless for me.

[jfrancho]

Originally Posted by Zach

I really am not sure which one I would need. I definately want to do HDR. Currently I am working with CaptureNX soley so I need some else.

Z

Photoshop Elements, Lightroom or CS3 will work fine for you. If you are interested in HDR, this was added to Photoshop in CS2 and continues. A better app is Dynamic Photo HDR, and the best is Photomatix.

[t_sly]

Hey Mechoption,
I'm new around here and just read this thread. Don't give up on the Gimp. It's an awesome program! Been using it for about a year now. Not much choice, I'm running linux. I did have windows and mac versions of Elements before that though for years. Basically, just got tired of paying for updates (os and apps) and not seeing any real gain. Yeah, maybe it is a little quirky, but have patience with it and you can do just about anything you want with it. Really though, how many people want to play with layers and masking and all that crap? It's more fun to compose and shoot. Do it right and you just have to correct a little color here and there, maybe a little cropping, if that. Just my thoughts.

t

[jfrancho]

I guess you don't shoot raw too much. If you're using a compact camera, the benefits may be minimal, but if you're using a DSLR, you pretty much need at least Lightroom or Elements.

[t_sly]

And I thought this was a nice neighborhood Yep, I got one of them DSLR's. Ever heard of UFRaw? I didn't think so.

t

[jfrancho]

Yes, and it sucked.

[yaksha]

Dear Mechoption
I have tried various Photoediting softwares which are now avialable. Each one has its plus points.
Photoshop is industry standard but it also takes lot of your resources (money for the package, a better Pc with lots of memory and a bigger harddisk and lot of time to learn the things).
In choosing anything the first question one has to answer is "is it really necessary?". so if you are having lot of time and energy then go in for CS3 with Lightroom. Otherwise you can do the same things with GiMP.

Yaksha