# What is a good photoshop program?



## cshaw118 (Jan 1, 2011)

I'm a newbie to DSLR photography and I'm looking to find a good photoshop program. Someone told me about Photoshop Essentials, is that a good program to use for beginners? Wanting to get some input before I go spend the money. Thanks


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## adversus (Jan 1, 2011)

A good photoshop program is Photoshop.

photo editing programs, photo editing software | Adobe


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## sobolik (Jan 1, 2011)

Photoshop Elements 5.0 is all I need. I have seen it on eBay for 10 (ten) dollars with free shipping.  I have the full Photoshop but I never even reinstalled it after my computer died.


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## Wesche (Jan 1, 2011)

Gimp for mac is kinda the same


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## KmH (Jan 2, 2011)

cshaw118 said:


> Someone told me about Photoshop Essentials, is that a good program to use for beginners?


Close but no cigar - Photoshop Elements. Yes, it's good for beginners.


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## swedberg311 (Jan 2, 2011)

Photoshop Elements is great however Corel Paintshop Pro is more user friendly it you have never used a phoshop program before.


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## table1349 (Jan 2, 2011)

adversus said:


> *A good photoshop program is Photoshop.*
> 
> photo editing programs, photo editing software | Adobe




 :lmao:  :lmao:  :lmao: :lmao: :lmao: :lmao: :lmao:


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## cshaw118 (Jan 2, 2011)

Ok great thanks for all the input, I'll will look into these.


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## MichiganFarts (Jan 2, 2011)

Due to my work, I have only ever used adobe PS cs- cs5.  I can tell you they are very good.


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## BuS_RiDeR (Jan 2, 2011)

cshaw118 said:


> a good photoshop program.



Sorry to "Pick Nits"....  But this is a pet peeve of mine...

Photoshop is a photo/graphics editing program that is made by Adobe. There are other companies that make photo/graphics editing software...  But it is NOT Photoshop.

Gimp = Open Source and free photo/graphics editing software.
Paintshop Pro = Corel's version of photo/graphics editing software.
Photoshop Elements = Adobe's version of photo/graphics editing software.
Photoshop CSx = Adobe's more advanced photo/graphics editing software.
iPhoto = Apple's version of photo/graphics editing software.
and so on... There are many.

Sorry if I rant. But it is relevant.


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## DxAxN (Jan 3, 2011)

I also use Photoshop Elements 5.0, It was given to me by the last company I worked for and until I feel it no longer fits my needs I will stick with it. And since I havent even figured out what most of it does I dont see that happening for awhile.


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## Tarnished (Jan 3, 2011)

Someone had mentioned GIMP, I used it once, couldn't stand it but that is just me  I use ArtWeaver, it's just a simple program you can download or purchase ArtWeaver Plus. It is meant to be a painting program but I can't paint on a computer for the life of me and I discovered if you learn how to use the details to your advantage your set. On my Mac I have IPhoto which I use when I'm not on the desktop and it does it's job. I would say ArtWeaver isn't exactly beginner friendly (it took me forever to utilize it to it's full potential) especially for photo editing. I started using it for manipulations as it's very useful for that.


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## MidnightGrimm (Jan 3, 2011)

I'm currently using Photoshop CS3. It's a bit outdated, but it does exactly what I need it to. I mostly do touch ups on images, B+W conversions, and watermarking. I've used GIMP before as well, but I like the quality of CS3 much more!


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## FletchX (Jan 3, 2011)

I'll 2nd Corel Paintshop Pro. Very user friendly and affordable. Upgrade offers are excellent too. I've used quite a few versions of Photoshop and of course they're great. There's a reason it's the industry standard but for my money I'm sticking with Corel.


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## HikinMike (Jan 3, 2011)

MidnightGrimm said:


> *I'm currently using Photoshop CS3. It's a bit outdated, but it does exactly what I need it to*. I mostly do touch ups on images, B+W conversions, and watermarking. I've used GIMP before as well, but I like the quality of CS3 much more!



Heck, I'm still using CS2...LOL!!


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## MichiganFarts (Jan 3, 2011)

HikinMike said:


> Heck, I'm still using CS2...LOL!!



I use CS2 at home, and CS5 at work...I've used CS - CS5 as my company has upgraded over the last 7 years.

I can't think of anything significant that I can't do on CS2, that I can on CS5.

But I hardly ever use it at home for anything major anyway...so there might be something I'm missing.


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## Syco (Jan 3, 2011)

In my opinion, Photoshop Elements 9 is all a digital photographer needs and much more that he or she will ever use.  It's what Photoshop used to be back around version 6 or 7, but with added features.  However, learning to use it properly is no small feat.


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## KmH (Jan 3, 2011)

MichiganFarts said:


> HikinMike said:
> 
> 
> > Heck, I'm still using CS2...LOL!!
> ...


When you get a chance play with the content-aware feature of CS5. 

Many of the tools have been greatly improved since CS2. Camera Raw has also seen some amazing improvements since CS2.


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## Destin (Jan 3, 2011)

Syco said:


> In my opinion, Photoshop Elements 9 is all a digital photographer needs and much more that he or she will ever use.  It's what Photoshop used to be back around version 6 or 7, but with added features.  However, learning to use it properly is no small feat.



I'll second that. Learning to use photoshop is extremely hard. I've been trying for like a year now and I'm just starting to get comfortable with it. And I can still only do the basic stuff. Anything advanced is over my head


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## Syco (Jan 3, 2011)

Destin said:


> Syco said:
> 
> 
> > In my opinion, Photoshop Elements 9 is all a digital photographer needs and much more that he or she will ever use.  It's what Photoshop used to be back around version 6 or 7, but with added features.  However, learning to use it properly is no small feat.
> ...



Yeah, I don't want to hijack this thread, but Photoshop (Elements or CS) has a zillion commands and tools, of which less than a dozen are essential.  It's all technique after that.  For just regular photographs with no additional trickery, you've got to know to 1) adjust rotation and perspective, 2) crop, 3) optimize size and resolution, 4) adjust dynamic range, 5) correct hue and saturation (globally and locally) 6) sharpen and 7) produce an output.  Hardly anyone teaches the essentials, because they want to rush to all the goofy things.


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## JDRoth (Jan 3, 2011)

Has anyone ever used Apples Aperture? If so what did you think of it?


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## KmH (Jan 3, 2011)

Destin said:


> Learning to use photoshop is extremely hard. I've been trying for like a year now and I'm just starting to get comfortable with it. And I can still only do the basic stuff. Anything advanced is over my head


 Most complex things are that way.

Education and books can really accelerate the pace of learning.

Photoshop is so versatile and complex, it gets used in ways it's designers never envisioned or intended.

I just counted, I have 14 books that deal with various aspects of Photoshop and image editing.

The single most complete Photoshop book for image editing I have is Martin Evening's professional image editors guide to creative use of Photoshop:
Adobe Photoshop CS5 for Photographers: A professional image editor's guide to the creative use of Photoshop for the Macintosh and PC


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## peke (Jan 3, 2011)

I was told that Nikon Capture NX2 was easier to use than some. I got it for Christmas and to me its easier to use than others. 

Peke


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## Joshua_Lee (Jan 3, 2011)

If you or someone you know is in the education field, you can get Adobe Photoshop Extended CS5 Student & Teacher Edition suite for $200 . My wife is a teacher and I am about to jump on this. Adobe told me that all I need is a copy of her teacher badge. FYI, it's a $1000 value, so it's kind of a good deal!


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## AprilEye (Jan 3, 2011)

Photoshop Elements 8.0 here. Also a web-based program that you pay $29/year for and get full editing capabilities. Its good for beginners and the most comprehensivie web-based editing program that I have come across. it is www.picnik.com They also have a flickr group if you want to see samples of edited photos. http://www.flickr.com/groups/picnikers/ A good and affordable place to "practice" editing. Just a thought.


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## adversus (Jan 3, 2011)

JDRoth said:


> Has anyone ever used Apples Aperture? If so what did you think of it?



I use Aperture for 99.9% of my editing.  The only time I've used Photoshop if I need to do some heavy editing like removing entire objects/backgrounds.  I do not do a lot of heavy editing though, or HDR or things of that nature, at which Photoshop does have more plugins for.

You can download a 30 day trial thats fully functional if you want to give it a try.  But if you want to try it, I recommend using the Referenced Library feature when importing rather than the Managed Library, so your images don't get shuffled around by Aperture.


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## syphlix (Jan 3, 2011)

i use lightroom 3 for 98% of my edits... really depends what kind of editing you need to do though...


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## KDPhotography (Jan 4, 2011)

I am just starting out and I use the old PS cs2-- outdated, but it is my first program and I find it great to get started out with.


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## SimpleFoto (Mar 1, 2011)

I make a vote for Adobe's software.  If you want to do pixel editing I'd go with Photoshop Elements to start with or the full Photoshop if you want to get serious.  If you want to just do minor edits then go with Adobe Lightroom - very cheap and still powerful.


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## ghaith.salih (Mar 1, 2011)

for Photography

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3
The best


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## superfly (Mar 1, 2011)

Any suggestions for editing product images?  Is there certain software that is better than the other for this kind of job?  I basically crop the pic to get rid of some the background and would like to be able to take the picture and set it on a new white background so that all of my backgrounds are exactly the same.  I keep running into different shades of gray and different shades of white when taking the actual pic.  Would like to be able to take the product image and place it on a new white background.  Is this possible with any of the softwares mentioned in this thread?


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## PASM (Mar 1, 2011)

************************************//





adversus said:


> A good photoshop program is Photoshop.
> 
> photo editing programs, photo editing software | Adobe


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## mhk1058 (Mar 1, 2011)

adversus said:


> A good photoshop program is Photoshop.
> 
> photo editing programs, photo editing software | Adobe


 Photoshop is now obviuosly formally recognised as a verb in its own right


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## wafflyn (Jun 2, 2011)

If you happen to be a student you can get Photoshop for a decent price from academicsuperstore.com or from your local university software store.


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## KmH (Jun 2, 2011)

In fact, if you are a qualifying student you can bypass Academic Super Store and buy direct from Adobe in their Educational Store. Adobe.com Site Requirements


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## EPPhoto (Jun 2, 2011)

I also use Lightroom 3 for 99% of my work.  I own the entire CS4 collection, but LR3 is the sh!t

Sent from Erics iPhone    www.ericporado.com


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## metro2 (Jun 2, 2011)

What do you use for the other 1%?



EPPhoto said:


> I also use Lightroom 3 for 99% of my work.  I own the entire CS4 collection, but LR3 is the sh!t
> 
> Sent from Erics iPhone    Pittsburgh Wedding Photographers - Eric Porado Photography


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## EPPhoto (Jun 2, 2011)

metro2 said:
			
		

> What do you use for the other 1%?



Photoshop CS4

Sent from Erics iPhone    www.ericporado.com


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## metro2 (Jun 2, 2011)

Yea..Lightroom and CS are the tools. End of discussion really i'd say. If you're broke - GIMP.


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## EPPhoto (Jun 3, 2011)

Even if you're broke, Adobe offers up to 80% off for students!  All you gotta do is photocopy a current students ID and you're good!

Sent from Erics iPhone    www.ericporado.com


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## Tneuville (Jun 3, 2011)

I have adobe elements 9 and it is very good. I would like to upgrade to Adobe Lightroom eventually. Photoshop Cs5 is way to extensive and over my head...
I would suggest elements 9


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