Photoshop vs. PaintShop Pro, etc.
melanie
Posts: 806
in The Commons
I've been using Photoshop Elements 13 for a while now, but I was wondering what others' opinions of photo editing software might be. How do programs such as Photoshop vs. PaintShop Pro or others compare? If I were to decide to buy something new, what would be the best option mainly for post work on my DAZ renders? I can't afford a fortune, so it would need to be affordable.
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Comments
I personally really like Affinity Photo. Has most of the functionality of Photoshop and a few things more. I only paid 50 bucks for mine.
Have a look at Affinity Photo: https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/photo/
It does everything I need it to do but I'm no professional. It seems to have most of the major features of Photoshop and is compatible with PSD files, layers, brushes, filters, etc. I prefer it to Gimp.
I use Gimp for all my editing needs, and up to now, I have not found anything I need to do that it can't handle. I can not compare to Photoshop however, since I have never used it.
I always use Paint-NET, which is free. There's an article about it here http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/using-paint-net-make-it-even-better-with-these-great-plugins/
They say that with plugins it becomes comparable to Photoshop. Myself I don't know so much about Photoshop.
I too.
I used PSP for ever.
OK, the DAZ renders are not much to be reworked. Only some noise reduction if iRay doesn't succeed to cover it on 100%.
But I use it to finalize my dayly photos. Gamma-, color-, Contrast corrections. Sometimes arrangements of panoramas.
I would be curious if it is possible to create DAZ usable HDRIs with it.
Is it available in German too?
I used Paint Shop Pro for a bit, but I always kept hitting a wall with basic features that were missing, but were there in Photoshop. And I recall for a long time new versions of PSP were mainly geared towards photo manipulation for "home" users, and not the more detailed image editing stuff. So I started using Photoshop. And I hate it. But it does just about everything I need, though I just dislike the way it's laid out. It's kinda like Blender...even I use it a lot, I'm always forgetting "okay, how do you do this??" and having to go back to video tutorials. IMO, the UI is pretty bad in Photoshop. Though I haven't upgraded since CS4, so maybe it's awesome now.
I think I also tried GIMP a bit, but remember being equally unimpressed like I was with PSP. But the memory is foggy on that.
Sounds like I need to take a look at Affinity Photo, and hope it has the features of Photoshop. But from the name I'm guessing it's more like PSP, geared towards home users doing fairly simple manipulations of their fotos and stuff?
I have Photoshop Elements 14, but I still use Paintshop Pro 7 for 90% of my image manipulation on my PC. I bought it back in '98 for $5 and it was bundled with a book that taught you how to use it. It was at a liquidation store in a bin of old computer books. By '98 the software was already ancient. It's pretty limited but damn if it hasn't gotten extremely comfy after all these years of using it. This was before Corel ended up buying it. I also have Photoshop CS2 which I was given in 2006 by a studio I briefly worked for.
For digital illustration I prefer to use Autodesk Sketchbook on my Samsung NotePro.
For free I liked GIMP been using it for years untill I bought manga studio/clipstudio paint last year (Ex version) and havent used gimp much since. downside is manga studio it dosen't use photoshop brushes like gimp does (well there are ways but not great ways) But then I'm also not that good either so my opinion probably should be taken with a grain of salt..
Topaz Labs, maker of many expensive Topaz filters for Photoshop, now has a free standalone filter app called Topaz Studio. There's addon purchases but they're a la carte and pretty cheap, and the basics are pretty good. Depending on what you do, it might be a useful accessory program or even cover your needs entirely.
I have elements 11 and 13 and just recently upgraded to the $10 a month Photoshop CC. I love it, it comes with lightroom and camera raw, and has really improved my workflow and options. But I know plenty of people who love Gimp and its free, and it does most of what Photoshop does. If you don't do a huge amount of postwork or photomanipulation elements 13 should plenty though. If you are planning to really ramp up your postwork you might consider upgrading.
The Nik Color Effects are free from Google now. They are very good photo editing filters. I have used version 3 in Nikon Capture NX2 for years now. Capture NX2 is still my editor of choice for post work. You can also try Krita, which is more designed for digital painting but its free.
I still have all my darkroom equipment in the basement. Every now and then I get an urge to set it up and go back to film. Then I just open a bottle of vinegar and take a sniff and it goes away.
I've used GIMP, Photoshop and Painter over the years. I find that Photoshop is the easiest to use. I find Painter is the most "inventive", that is, I can coax it into very creative images, effects, etc. But, depending on the version it can be a pain to use. And its expensive and has a lot of features I really don't use all that much. GIMP is free, can be difficult to use, is free, has 90% of the features of Photoshop (that I normally use anyway), and is free.
Currently I'm subscribing to Photoshop and use the Nik Color Effects filters that Mattymanx pointed out. I'd like to use Painter again but I'm on a Windows, instead of my usual Mac. I don't want to pay for it then get another Mac in a year or two. Or get tied down to a Windows machine if I can go back to Mac, which seems unlikely - but the world has tended to be unlikely lately, so I'll hold my bet for a bit.
Thanks for all the suggestions. Looks like I have a lot of options. I do like Photoshop Elements 13, but there are some limits. It doesn't hurt to have more than one program. Some time you can do something in one that one of the others doens't do. I'll have to explore these suggestions. Thanks!
The coolest graphic software is whatever you're comfortable with and lets you realize what you've imagined. I think the answer is going to be different for everyone whose job does not require them to swear an oath of loyalty to Adobe products.
All photo manipulation software are known for pretty steep learning curves. The advantages of Adobe Photoshop stem from it being the "industry standard," which means that it is integrated in many college programs, has a lot of high quality third-party tutorial support, and is what people within the world of professional publishing expect you to have in your toolkit. For these reasons, many people, "photoshopping" is synonymous with photo manipulation.
That said, I bit the bullet and started using GIMP around 7 years ago and haven't looked back. It's fiddly - but all graphics software is fiddly. While my first consideration was price (as a hobbyist I have to be realistic regarding spending), I was impressed with all of GIMP's features and that's why I'm still using it today. On the other hand, I will also say that virtually no one I have introduced to GIMP has stuck with it and they all ran screaming back to Photoshop Elements or whatever they were using before.
...I use a combination of Gimp and PSP 4. Never upgraded as Corel went to "download only" sales (I like having a hard backup just in case epscially since my work system no longer has a net connection.
I find GImp perfect for the effects I do in post (and it supports .abr brushes as well) but prefer PSP for working with text graphics and modifying/creating textures.
Never could afford PS before they went cloud and again, as the work system is offline, I cannot make use of subscription software even if I wanted to.
I've used PSP since it was in beta, and still use PSP 5, because I know it so well, BUT Gimp offers more (than PSP 5) and it's free, if a little fiddly. Get Gimp to start, then play with trial software, until you fin something you like.
It has limits because it is a stripped down, more specific version of photoshop. I have photoshop CS5, paintshop pro 7 and the latest GIMP installed. While they each pretty much have all the tools I need, there are a few minor specifics that I use which is why I have them all installed. I do find I use GIMP at least 80% of the time.