Author Topic: Photo Processing software (Read 5694 times)

This-is-damion · « **on:** September 16, 2015, 11:19:35 AM »

So, I think ihave changed computers twice since last using my trusty copy of CS3 (thanks LD!)

Whilst I still have the disk i cant find the serial number (and didnt register it.... )

I have a really old copy of Photoshop elements (V2 i think?) and I ave just d/l'd GIMP

What do people use at the moment and what cost is it?

And finally - if anyone has a spare copy of CS or Elements - please shout up!

jojonas~ · « **Reply #1 on:** September 16, 2015, 11:32:44 AM »

I actually just started using GIMP 2 when I needed something to edit curves on scans and I think it seems fine.
other than that, I use Irfan view or that online editor pixlr for simple stuff and Photoshop 7/Lightroom when I'm more serious.

Francois · « **Reply #2 on:** September 16, 2015, 02:31:33 PM »

I personally use Picasa for what seems like 90℅ of the stuff I do.

Terry · « **Reply #3 on:** September 16, 2015, 02:51:46 PM »

I like Gimp. I've got CS2 (which I keep reloading even though it's a legit copy because Adobe's actuation server is always down) solely because I like its clone stamp better. Apart from that I find Gimp friendlier and now that the learning curve is pretty much done I find its logic works for me.

jharr · « **Reply #4 on:** September 16, 2015, 04:06:20 PM »

I used GIMP for many years, then I bought my son CS5 for a birthday or something and decided to learn PS. They both are absolutely adequate for what I need to do. When the oldest moves out, he will take teh Adobe suite with him and I will return to GIMP with no problem or regrets. If you are looking for something that just works and you would rather spend $0 than $240/yr, go with GIMP.

Kayos · « **Reply #5 on:** September 16, 2015, 04:16:50 PM »

I use Lightroom and Photoshop

£8 a month and it just works and does what I need it to

02Pilot · « **Reply #6 on:** September 16, 2015, 04:27:36 PM »

GIMP is great - it's my preferred software for photo editing - but the learning curve is steep, and it's more of a graphics program than a photo editor. If you're doing color (or scan your B&W into RGB) Rawtherapee is a very good comprehensive photo editor, but with the limitation that it does not recognize greyscale images.

limr · « **Reply #7 on:** September 16, 2015, 04:59:43 PM »

Many moons ago, my brother-in-law gifted me with Corel PaintShop Pro and I've been using that. I upgraded a couple of years ago and there have been upgrades since then, but so far I haven't seen the need to keep getting the latest upgrades. It's not too bad as far as cost. The latest version is x8 and it goes for $100 on Amazon, but that means version x7 is now on sale for $50, and I can almost guarantee there are very few differences. If you were the type to do massive editing on photos, perhaps the differences would be more noticeable, but otherwise, meh.

I've downloaded Gimp but haven't really gotten the hang of it. To be fair, though, I haven't put in a lot of time trying to figure it out. If I become dissatisfied with Corel or if it crashes or something, I'd probably switch to Gimp as my primary editor.

Bryan · « **Reply #8 on:** September 16, 2015, 05:49:17 PM »

Limr, I used to have Corel PaintShop and for what I used it for I thought it was great. Right now I use Adobe Photoshop Express on my iPad and it does everything I need it to do. It was free but I upgraded it for a few dollars to get some features that didn't come with the free version. I can invert the negative, crop, level, adjust exposure, contrast, etc. It even has a blemish tool that works pretty good for removing dust. I am thinking about trying GIMP on my home computer.

imagesfrugales · « **Reply #9 on:** September 16, 2015, 07:28:02 PM »

I used Gimp for the more complex editing and still use it - sometimes. But only for composing now, since I have "FastStone Image Viewer" (freeware, commercial use 35 $) as the imo best and extremely comfortable picture browser, imageviewer and edit tool in one.Very easy to learn, most likely all you will ever need. Open a picture in full screen view, move the mouse pointer to the left, upper or right screen border and get the choices of what you can do with a mouse move. Fantastic. Rarely I miss a function, then Gimp comes into play. Since you are once used to the comfort of this prog, you will love it and will miss the comfort immediately when using something else. An absolute must for me now. Try it, it's free. Only drawback: needs a Windows OS.

Peter84 · « **Reply #10 on:** September 16, 2015, 08:15:06 PM »

GIMP user here as well. It's free and does all the important stuff as cropping, rotating, clone stamping, exposure adjustments etc and did I mention it's free?

Francois · « **Reply #11 on:** September 16, 2015, 08:30:43 PM »

There's also Photofiltre.com that is pretty nice.

For many of those programs, I just get them in portable version from portableapps.com
That way, if I ever need to change computers, I can carry the files over and they just run... no more installations.
Besides, I just hate installing and uninstalling programs...
Why can't the world be like on the old Mac System where you would just decompress the app and run it, and simply throw it in the bin when you were tired of it?

Kai-san · « **Reply #12 on:** September 16, 2015, 10:14:25 PM »

I use Lightroom for all editing and Irfanview to view and resize jpeg files. I see no need for Photoshop, the only thing I have not found in Lightroom is the possibility to convert positive to negative and vice versa (maybe I should read the user manual?). I'm still learning to use Lr properly to improve my workflow and to memorize all the shortcuts to get more efficient. Editing takes time!

scapevision · « **Reply #13 on:** September 17, 2015, 01:35:53 AM »

Quote from: Kai-san on September 16, 2015, 10:14:25 PM

I use Lightroom for all editing and Irfanview to view and resize jpeg files. I see no need for Photoshop, the only thing I have not found in Lightroom is the possibility to convert positive to negative and vice versa (maybe I should read the user manual?). I'm still learning to use Lr properly to improve my workflow and to memorize all the shortcuts to get more efficient. Editing takes time!

It's there. If you use the curve adjustment pannel, you can switch it to freehand points mode and just drag lower left corner up, and upper right corner down. Voila!

Bryan · « **Reply #14 on:** September 17, 2015, 03:41:25 AM »

I just downloaded a copy of GIMP and tested it on a scanned negative. It's not hard to use but will take some learning. I figured out how to invert the megative, crop and make some adjustments to brightness and contrast. Does anyone have any suggestions on dust removal or any other tips?

limr · « **Reply #15 on:** September 17, 2015, 03:42:17 AM »

Which one of you was raving about the graphics tablet? Was it jharr?

02Pilot · « **Reply #16 on:** September 17, 2015, 03:55:54 AM »

Quote from: Bryan on September 17, 2015, 03:41:25 AM

I just downloaded a copy of GIMP and tested it on a scanned negative. It's not hard to use but will take some learning. I figured out how to invert the megative, crop and make some adjustments to brightness and contrast. Does anyone have any suggestions on dust removal or any other tips?

Heal, soft brush, ~75% opacity for dust removal.

Indofunk · « **Reply #17 on:** September 17, 2015, 03:56:12 AM »

Another Lightroom user here. I just like the photo-friendly terms for the sliders like "exposure", "shadows", "highlights", etc. Though I think Photoshop works better for color adjustments ... maybe it's my version of LR (3.2), but I can't see a way to just adjust the color balance of the highlights or shadows....

Indofunk · « **Reply #18 on:** September 17, 2015, 03:57:53 AM »

Quote from: 02Pilot on September 17, 2015, 03:55:54 AM

Quote from: Bryan on September 17, 2015, 03:41:25 AM
I just downloaded a copy of GIMP and tested it on a scanned negative. It's not hard to use but will take some learning. I figured out how to invert the megative, crop and make some adjustments to brightness and contrast. Does anyone have any suggestions on dust removal or any other tips?

Heal, soft brush, ~75% opacity for dust removal.

I use 100% opacity (but definitely heal), and doubly love it when I'm healing water or clouds. I feel like I'm playing God in creating new ripple formations or cloud formations

jharr · « **Reply #19 on:** September 17, 2015, 04:28:20 AM »

Quote from: limr on September 17, 2015, 03:42:17 AM

Which one of you was raving about the graphics tablet? Was it jharr?

Yes, that would be me. The Huion tablet is my best friend when it comes time to remove dust from a 4x5 image scanned at 2400ppi.

Bryan · « **Reply #20 on:** September 17, 2015, 04:55:02 AM »

Quote from: Indofunk on September 17, 2015, 03:57:53 AM

Quote from: 02Pilot on September 17, 2015, 03:55:54 AM
Quote from: Bryan on September 17, 2015, 03:41:25 AM
I just downloaded a copy of GIMP and tested it on a scanned negative. It's not hard to use but will take some learning. I figured out how to invert the megative, crop and make some adjustments to brightness and contrast. Does anyone have any suggestions on dust removal or any other tips?

Heal, soft brush, ~75% opacity for dust removal.

I use 100% opacity (but definitely heal), and doubly love it when I'm healing water or clouds. I feel like I'm playing God in creating new ripple formations or cloud formations

Thanks Guys, I'll play "God" with it.

jojonas~ · « **Reply #21 on:** September 17, 2015, 06:56:03 AM »

anyone else here using a wacom pen or similar? I used to draw on the computer before so I got one then. for bigger dust spotting sessions or when I feel like getting creative with dodging and burning I take the pen out to play.

LT · « **Reply #22 on:** September 17, 2015, 11:24:07 AM »

I have Lightroom 5 (came free with y r3000) which covers most of my needs to be honest. If I have a particularly 'needy' scan, I'll use photoshop CS6. I'll see if I still have the printer paperwork Damion and will let you know if you I can get you a second download for Lightroom 5 - if I'm not in touch about it soon, email me to remind me.

Francois · « **Reply #23 on:** September 17, 2015, 02:16:33 PM »

Quote from: jojonas~ on September 17, 2015, 06:56:03 AM

anyone else here using a wacom pen or similar? I used to draw on the computer before so I got one then. for bigger dust spotting sessions or when I feel like getting creative with dodging and burning I take the pen out to play.

I have a wacom bamboo pen + touch tablet which I only use with the pen.
It's nice and it works well when dusting...

Kai-san · « **Reply #24 on:** September 17, 2015, 09:30:39 PM »

Quote

It's there. If you use the curve adjustment pannel, you can switch it to freehand points mode and just drag lower left corner up, and upper right corner down. Voila!

Thanks Scapevision! That's probably one of the last places I would have looked, but it works. I was a bit surprised when I found that I had to darken the exposure to get it brighter, but it's quite logical.

Volker · « **Reply #25 on:** September 17, 2015, 11:29:50 PM »

LR5@home, CS6@work
i'm a tablet user for over 20 years. First i had a wacom 10x10inch (maybe 12x12).It was too large.
Now i use an old Wacom Intuos (Din A5 21x15cm). Perfect size.

Bryan · « **Reply #26 on:** September 18, 2015, 05:00:46 PM »

I was editing some photos last night with GIMP. I do like it but it will take a little practice to get a good routine down. The heal tool works great for removing dust, much better than what I was using before. Thanks for the tip O2Pilot!

02Pilot · « **Reply #27 on:** September 18, 2015, 06:11:14 PM »

Glad to be of service. GIMP is really, really capable, but as you've discovered, it takes a while to get the hang of it. If you want to avoid feeling completely overwhelmed, don't open G'MIC yet - it's like a complete editing suite all by itself, and in some ways more configurable than GIMP, but when you're getting started it will stop you dead in your tracks.

Francois · « **Reply #28 on:** September 18, 2015, 08:46:40 PM »

and for the ultra hardcore, there's imagemagick. The only thing, it's got no interface! Command prompt only but super fast and powerful.
So far, I've only scratched the surface of what it can do.

jharr · « **Reply #29 on:** September 18, 2015, 08:54:33 PM »

Quote from: Francois on September 18, 2015, 08:46:40 PM

and for the ultra hardcore, there's imagemagick. The only thing, it's got no interface! Command prompt only but super fast and powerful.
So far, I've only scratched the surface of what it can do.

so for dust spotting, I suppose you need to know the coordinates of the pixels you want to change and those of the pixels you want to use to clone? That might slow me down a bit.

Francois · « **Reply #30 on:** September 18, 2015, 10:07:34 PM »

I think there might be a dist removal algorithm in it... or maybe not...
I did a few scripts for printing my contact sheets with it and let me tell you, it is a major pita to use. But when it works, the rewards are definitely there.

KevinAllan · « **Reply #31 on:** September 19, 2015, 10:24:11 AM »

For a long time I was using GIMP and pretty happy with it. But then I started using Lightroom 2 and it did 99% of what I wanted ... but eventually I wanted to upgrade to a later version of Lightroom to get the perspective adjustment tools, and at that point I jumped in and made the monthly payment (£8 I think) for Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC.

Mostly I just use Photoshop for dust spotting. The content-aware heal tool does a great job of this, really quickly. My son uses Photoshop for graphic art so we're getting our moneys worth.

Sandeha Lynch · « **Reply #32 on:** September 19, 2015, 07:09:49 PM »

CS2 suits me fine.

But ... if I'm ever forced to take on Windows 10 I may have to reconsider since I've heard CS2 won't run on that at all.

Incidentally my old Wacom tablet and pen was brilliant, so good in fact that I actually gave it away. Some years after I bought a Bamboo, but I cannot get the sensitivity I had with the old one. Big regret.

Jack Johnson · « **Reply #33 on:** September 20, 2015, 05:27:21 PM »

Quote from: Francois on September 16, 2015, 02:31:33 PM

I personally use Picasa for what seems like 90℅ of the stuff I do.

I used to use Picasa for 80% to 90%, but I've taken to using Pixlr Express. I use Pixlr on my phone for minor edits, and either the web version or the Mac desktop version (both free) are easy enough for minor things.

I keep GIMP around for the remainder, and if it needs more than that I start to question why I even own a camera.

Author Topic: Photo Processing software (Read 5694 times)

Terry