Which Image Editing Software Do You Use?

[Peggy]

Graphics creators, tell us what you use and why do you prefer that program over others.

[FLMom]

I use elements and photoimpact because those are the only ones I have LOL

[Shelley]

I use photoshop cs2 for all my online work because I found it to be a versatile image editor. I like to use the pen tool and photoshop certainly has what I need to accomplish the designs I am aiming for. I tried ulead products and paintshop in the past but I found them to be limited in what I wanted to accomplish (not saying they are bad) just that I find them redundant in what I want to design.

That said, I use Illustrator cs at work on designs/presentations/Illustrations and work that goes to print and is of high resolution. :)

[Peggy]

I use elements and photoimpact because those are the only ones I have LOL

Cori, did you fine Elements hard to learn? I am finding it quite difficult to learn for some odd reason.

[Peggy]

I use photoshop cs2 for all my online work because I found it to be a versatile image editor. I like to use the pen tool and photoshop certainly has what I need to accomplish the designs I am aiming for. I tried ulead products and paintshop in the past but I found them to be limited in what I wanted to accomplish (not saying they are bad) just that I find them redundant in what I want to design.

That said, I use Illustrator cs at work on designs/presentations/Illustrations and work that goes to print and is of high resolution. :)

I've been looking into PS CS2 on eBay. I could have purchased it for under $50 last night if I'd had the $ to spend. Normally it sells for well over $300

[KW802]

I've been looking into PS CS2 on eBay. I could have purchased it for under $50 last night if I'd had the $ to spend. Normally it sells for well over $300$50 for PS CS2? I'd be a little leary of that deal.


For people on a budget, check out Paint.Net (http://www.eecs.wsu.edu/paint.net/) -- It's a project that started at Washington State University and blossomed into a nifty little editor for quick stuff. Another alternative is GIMP (http://www.gimp.org/). It started life as a Linux only open source alternative to PhotoShop (since none of the Adobe apps are on Linux yet) and has grown into a pretty powerful tool. In the commercial arena I'd recommend PS Elements yet.


.... in answer to the poll question, though... PS CS2. :)

[Shelley]

The gimp is a very nice package. Another excellent package while the subject is hot is Inkscape (http://www.inkscape.org/). It's a vector based utility and many designers are converting over to this than the other excellent software Illustrator cs.

[Elsie]

i use PSP, Paint and UleadPhotoExpress (which came with my old scanner). i use each one for slightly different things, and by no means know any of them well! lol

[FLMom]

Cori, did you fine Elements hard to learn? I am finding it quite difficult to learn for some odd reason.


Very much so and from what I heard it is very limited...so I am saving for Photoshop lol

[Peggy]

$50 for PS CS2? I'd be a little leary of that deal.


For people on a budget, check out Paint.Net (http://www.eecs.wsu.edu/paint.net/) -- It's a project that started at Washington State University and blossomed into a nifty little editor for quick stuff. Another alternative is GIMP (http://www.gimp.org/). It started life as a Linux only open source alternative to PhotoShop (since none of the Adobe apps are on Linux yet) and has grown into a pretty powerful tool. In the commercial arena I'd recommend PS Elements yet.


.... in answer to the poll question, though... PS CS2. :)
Kevin, actually it's not just one deal. There are several auctions going on right now for PS CS2. Some of them up to $200 - $300, but a couple have yet to go over the $50 mark. The higher priced ones are a complete set with instructions book, etc. The lower priced ones are for the cd only, still in original wrapper, never been opened, but no manual. That's ok with me though, because there are alot of tutorials online for PS CS2.

I bought my Paintshop Pro 7 and 8, and PS Elements off of eBay. Lower price because of no manual. Paintshop was a breeze to learn. I started out with PSP 5 years ago, when I began making webpage graphics, sigtags, logos, etc. I purchased PS Elements stictly for my photography. But for making graphics and images, it's been a real PITA to learn. I hate it. From what I've heard from everyone who has PS Elements, they much prefer PS CS and find it much easier to learn. So I just make take the leap if I can get it cheap enough.

[Shelley]

I haven't tried photoshop elements. All I know it's a cut down version of photoshop. Exactly what's missing from elements that's in photoshop?

[Peggy]

I haven't tried photoshop elements. All I know it's a cut down version of photoshop. Exactly what's missing from elements that's in photoshop?

I have no idea as I've never had Photoshop. I'm just going by what I've heard from others who have both.

[Elpie]

I use Photoshop CS2 and Macromedia Fireworks, latest.
Most of my work is done with Photoshop, however Fireworks has better vector graphics. It can be tricky switching the poor ole brain between one and the other at times though as they are used quite differently!

[kusanagi]

I use PhotoshopCS .It's a best choice for designer . Ps2 very heavy T_T It's make my computer slow ...very slow .... (PIV 2.8ghz 512Mb DDram)

[dakar]

the GIMP all the way :) Aside from the price (free), the scripts are excellent for rendering things like text with special effects and the like.

[Caddyman]

for me, Photoshop CS, im pretty good at it. and like above, CS2 is a resource HOG. I am also getting into using illustrator for vector graphics.

[Peggy]

Ok so if I'm ever able to get CS 2, am I going to need to add a HD and upgrade my memory again?

[Caddyman]

quite possibly, i have a small hdd 80gb, and am running a P4 with 768 mb ram, and i cant really run PS CS2

[Peggy]

wow

[semann]

i use photoshop, fireworks(sometimes) and imageready i tried THE GIMP but is kinda confussing

[Hell³]

1GB RAM would be pretty much minimum standard need for CS2, less than that and you need to start fiddle with the scratch disk options. If you plan to create and use big resolution files would be a major factor too.

Whatever you end up saving in the PSCS2 price tag invest it in more RAM for your system. Your hard drive and general sanity will appreciate it.

[Peggy]

LOL... my sanity is already in question around here ;)

thanks sweetie.... and welcome to vb-FAQ! Good to see you here.

[Hell³]

Thanks, nice place you all people have here, lots of good learning stuff :)

[Peggy]

glad you like it, I hope you visit often

[Big Dan]

I run Linux on my home PC so I pretty much use only FOSS (Free & Open Source Software) Gimp came preinstalled with my OS, and works great. I'm not huge on image editing mostly just resizing but yesterday I learned a little about layers and how to rotate and move individual ones. :)

On Winblows, I used many programs a decent freeware one is PhotoFiltere its ported over from French and was good enough for simple resizing and edits.

[GrendelKhan{TSU}]

Photoshop for heavy fancy stuff.

Macromedia (now adobe) Firefox 8 for most common and web graphics

[semann]

???? i didnt know such a thing existed Firefox...? i think you misspelled it i think its fireworks

[onehost]

wow

you may not have to add another drive. 80g hard drive is a lot. I would
say most do not even use near that amount, unless you are in the work
of doing alot...how much do you have left is the question? you surely
would have to upgrade memory, otherwise, you may face turmoil, freezes,
lockups, etc..you may want to get a high performance grahpics card also.
if your into that kind of thing :)

[Peggy]

you may not have to add another drive. 80g hard drive is a lot. I would
say most do not even use near that amount, unless you are in the work
of doing alot...how much do you have left is the question? you surely
would have to upgrade memory, otherwise, you may face turmoil, freezes,
lockups, etc..you may want to get a high performance grahpics card also.
if your into that kind of thing :)


Thanks for the input. My computer came with 256 mb of RAM. I just added 512 mb yesterday. When I can afford it, I'm going to switch out the 256 for another 512.
I'm not going to worry about the harddrive right now. I'm just going to transfer all my finished stuff to cd's. I already have a high performance graphics card, so I don't have to worry about that either. Not that I would, because I'm not into animations (yet).

[Chrissie]

The programme of my first choice is Photoshop Elements - as the name suggests the essential elements of Photoshop. I use an old version Photoshop 6 for animations and image mapping. Paint Shop Pro for odd bits too.

Think with all image editing software there are bits in each programme that you like to use for different tasks.

[b2w]

PSP 9 and Paint.

[sensimilla]

http://www.photofiltre.com/

Why ? Beacuse its free! I recommand it to all of you.

[LiftNw8]

I use Photoshop CS2 primarily, but also have Illustrator CS2, though I primarily use Illustrator at work, for my online graphics work I use Photoshop. Peggy, what you are likely getting online is bootleg stuff, possibly from China or the likes, as for retail cost for Photoshop, its actually around $599, maybe its $499 stand alone, you are better off investing some extra bucks and getting Adobe Creative Suite Standard, which includes Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign and some other minor stuff for $899. I have the Creative Suite Pro, which also includes GoLive and Adobe PDF Pro, that runs about $1200.

[Peggy]

Lift, I don't have a "bootleg" edition of PS CS2. What I purchased it legit, I checked them out.
I'm selling it tho. I have no use for Photoshop. The learning curve is very steep, and I don't have time to sit down with it and learn it. WAY too busy!

My graphics software of choice is still Paint Shop Pro 7, and recently I added The Logo Creator (TLC) and Xara Xtreme (still have to learn this one).

[Caddyman]

you pay for your software? are we still on the interneT?


hahahah...joking guys, nice work...

and im on PS CS3 now, LEAPS and BOUNDS better than CS2 loads in ½ the time and imageready is integrated now, it does animation all in 1 programs.......really love it!

[Peggy]

:eek: you better be careful how loud you type that Caddy! lol

[BlackScorpion3]

I am learning Photoshop CS2. My wife uses PSP, and I think Photoshop CS2 is much more versital.

[Chris]

I have a paper and pencil. Where are you guys finding stuff for computers?









j/k
I mainly use Xara Xtreme PRO and Illustrator. I also own TLC. Hey caddy how much is the new CS3 for PS?

[Peggy]

... TOO much!

[Shazz]

BASIC paint that comes with ever windows PC LOL

[Caddyman]

I have a paper and pencil. Where are you guys finding stuff for computers?









j/k
I mainly use Xara Xtreme PRO and Illustrator. I also own TLC. Hey caddy how much is the new CS3 for PS?


i dont know, i use the tryout version, not sure its even for sale yet, they still call it CS3 beta....

[LiftNw8]

Lift, I don't have a "bootleg" edition of PS CS2. What I purchased it legit, I checked them out.
I'm selling it tho. I have no use for Photoshop. The learning curve is very steep, and I don't have time to sit down with it and learn it. WAY too busy!

My graphics software of choice is still Paint Shop Pro 7, and recently I added The Logo Creator (TLC) and Xara Xtreme (still have to learn this one).

Never said it was bootleg, said to watch for bootleg, lots of it gets sold on eBay, so long as you checked them out, I wouldn't want to see anyone getting pinched for something like that and all. I don't think there is much of a learning curve for Photoshop, I taught myself how to use it and there are some great books that give you the low down on how to get the most out of it, that is how I learned it. I will likely be moving up to PS CS3 as soon as I can get it, I know right now its only in beta but I can get the beta and likely will.

[Peggy]

PS has the steepest learning curve of any image editing software I've ever used... and I've used quite a few. Yes there are books you can purchase, tutorials to read... hundreds of them, in fact.
But that's my point, and why I say it has a steep learning curve. You need just about every book and/or tutorial you can get ahold of, to learn how to use it, unless, of course, you're a near-genius.

Oh, I acquired a new software last night... Web Graphics Creator (http://www.webgraphicscreator.com/) from Laughingbird Software. Nice!

[LiftNw8]

PS has the steepest learning curve of any image editing software I've ever used... and I've used quite a few. Yes there are books you can purchase, tutorials to read... hundreds of them, in fact.
But that's my point, and why I say it has a steep learning curve. You need just about every book and/or tutorial you can get ahold of, to learn how to use it, unless, of course, you're a near-genius.

Oh, I acquired a new software last night... Web Graphics Creator (http://www.webgraphicscreator.com/) from Laughingbird Software. Nice!

I guess I have a different view of learning it, I have a couple of books, but in the end taught myself pretty much everything I know, I have the books now primarily because I want to know more and cover more of its capabilities so I can become an Adobe Certified Expert in PS. Quite funny to me how you mention have to be a near genius, well I actually am, according to my IQ.

[Shax]

I love PS! :)

[keisuke takahashi]

I use Photoshop CS.

For me this is the best!!!

[beller]

For me it has to be Photoshop CS

[mrsmac1974]

Hubby has PS, I use PS Elements.

Also use Graphic Converter.

[UKFG]

Paint Shop Pro, bought 7 5 years ago and have upgraded every time, love it!

[Peggy]

Well hallelujah!!

I use PSP 7. I had upgraded from 5, to 6, to 7, to 8, to 9 - then went back to 7. I don't much like any version that came after 7.

[UKFG]

ooh i hate 7 now!!! XI is fantastic!! the only thing is they take so long to open!! Someone borrowed my 7 and moved without giving it me back so dont even have that any longer!

[Peggy]

We're just opposite, lol. I like 7 even more after trying 8,9 & 10.

[UKFG]

have you tried 11?

[Peggy]

Nope - I quit at 10.