Photo Editing

[Lynchee]

Hi guys,

Just wondering what you would recommend for editing photos/screenies. I don't wish to go and spend the money on photo-shop, but would spend up to a couple a hundred on a decent progy. I haven't gotten into aircraft painting yet but would like to, so if I could get the one program to do the lot, what would that be. I would really like to here what you have to say. Am I barking up the wrong tree looking for one program? Anyway tell me what you think please.

Thanks,

Lynchie

[JP]

Hey Lynchie, you can allways use Free Software like GIMP, The Best of The Best.

GIMP is an acronym for GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a freely distributed program for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring.

It has many capabilities. It can be used as a simple paint program, an expert quality photo retouching program, an online batch processing system, a mass production image renderer, an image format converter, etc.

GIMP is expandable and extensible. It is designed to be augmented with plug-ins and extensions to do just about anything. The advanced scripting interface allows everything from the simplest task to the most complex image manipulation procedures to be easily scripted.

GIMP is written and developed under X11 on UNIX platforms. But basically the same code also runs on MS Windows and Mac OS X.

http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/

Cheers...

[Bell417]

www.getpaint.net

[Maurice_King]

Depending on what you need Photoshop elements is  a cheap alternative, you could download either the Photoshop CS4 or Elements in trial version form to have a look see and play.

[John Dow]

Yeah I second Mozza's opinion.  I have GIMP here at work because I don't have a licence for photoshop and while it is a good program it doesn't have the speed nor efficiency of PS, and its interface is clunky by comparison.

You certainly don't need to get the latest photoshop, so perhaps you could find an older version of the program or photoshop elements on ebay for just a few dollars.

My all time favourite for quick editing is Paint Shop Pro 7.  It has a toolbar along the top you load icons into for preferred actions such as brightness/contrast, colour, selection, layers etc.  It's also small in memory and loads in an instant.  Probably hard to find though if you PM me I might have a solution for you.  )

Cheers

John

[HercFan]

Well, I am spoiled since I have the full PhotoShop CS4 Suite, but like Maurice said, Elements is a nice tool also. And does'nt Adobe also have a web service where you can host AND do some minor editing? Can't remember.

I don't really go indeed yet in CS4 for editing my fs screenies and mostly do some basic stuff. But we need it at home for other professional reasons, so that's why I have it.

[Blitzer]

I have also been using Photoshop Elements for a number of years. In fact I have a copy of version 8 sitting here waiting to be installed. Elements is a pretty well rounded product and is more than adequate for processing screen-shots and photo's etc. without the expense or complexity of Photoshop.

[Lynchee]

Thanks for replys guys.  Sounds like PS Eliments is the way to go.

Can this program also be used for Aircraft repaints?

Lynchie

[Matt Tomkins]

Get Paintshop Pro or do a google search for 'photoshop oem'. You'll save yourself a few bob. Both are full versions.

[Blitzer]

Thanks for replys guys.  Sounds like PS Eliments is the way to go.

Can this program also be used for Aircraft repaints?

My previous version fo PE was version 2 and that did not support all features of the .PSD format, so depending on the paint-kit being used you may find it's not suitable. Although I have not done many re-paints I tend to use a combination of Xara Xtreme Pro5 which is a vector based graphics package that seems to have better support for .PSD files, but still has limitations. So far using a combination of PE2 and Xtreme I've been able to achieve what I want. I've yet to install my copy of PE8.