Photoshop Elements or Paint Shop Pro?

[Talamasca]

Hi, I'm looking for a good yet fairly intuitive photo editing program. From what I've read so far, Elements and Paint Shop Pro seem to be pretty good. Which of these would you recommend? Or is there another program that's better? I'm looking for moderately advanced features so as colour correction using a histogram and things like that. Thanks.

[Jon Lai]

AFAIK Photoshop Elements is a stripped down version of Photoshop.. why not Photoshop?

[thedarkhorse]

AFAIK Photoshop Elements is a stripped down version of Photoshop.. why not Photoshop?
I'm gonna take a wild stab at this one and say price.

[Amourek]

Elements

[Talamasca]

I'm gonna take a wild stab at this one and say price.

Correct! I don't want to spend too much. Paint Shop Pro is about $20 less than Elements. I've downloaded trial versions of both to see first-hand which one is better. It would really help to explain your choice. Saying "Elements" doesn't really mean much.

[CameraBill]

I use Nikon Capture 4 which has been replaced with Capture NX. It does photos exclusively where as Paint Shop/Elements do photo editing and digital painting.

[board123]

Elements doesn't have some of the most fundamental features of Photoshop like masks...

Photoshop CS/CS2/CS3 or nothing.

[Cyber6]

Elements doesn't have some of the most fundamental features of Photoshop like masks...

Photoshop CS/CS2/CS3 or nothing.

CS3 is already out??? :eek:

[Emancipated]

I'm gonna take a wild stab at this one and say price.

In Jon Lai's world, every one can afford 2 Ferraris in every drive ways and $500+ photo editing software. This guy is completely in his own fantasy world.

If you haven't heard of [url=http://www.gimp.org/downloads/GIMP[/url], check it out. It's free and works very well. Has a pretty standard, run of the mill interface. Layers and History palettes look similar to Photoshop so the learning curve may not be that high for past users of PS.


CS3 is already out??? :eek:

Beta has been floating around for a few months now.

[board123]

When I said CS3, I meant if he's going to go for the full-fledged Photoshop, he might as well wait for CS3 to come out in a month or so and get that instead of getting CS2 right now only to have it rendered obsolete in a month.

[Cyber6]

Beta has been floating around for a few months now.

Oh Beta... I don't do Beta. ;)


When I said CS3, I meant if he's going to go for the full-fledged Photoshop, he might as well wait for CS3 to come out in a month or so and get that instead of getting CS2 right now only to have it rendered obsolete in a month.

C'mon, CS2 can never be call 'obsolete'. Not everyone has $800 to drop on a graphic image software. ;)

If anything, when CS3 comes out .. more people will be able to get CS2 at a reduced price. :cheesygri


EDIT: Just found out that Adobe will not support CS2 under Vista, thus CS3 is the Vista compatible version. That's a pile of dung if you ask me.


C.

[tmash]

Oh Beta... I don't do Beta. ;)


EDIT: Just found out that Adobe will not support CS2 under Vista, thus CS3 is the Vista compatible version. That's a pile of dung if you ask me.


C.


Can you clarify this? I'm running CS2 on Vista Ultimate right now without any problems....

[LeeBear]

Can you clarify this? I'm running CS2 on Vista Ultimate right now without any problems....

Support doesn't mean it won't run under Vista. It just means they won't provide any official technical support for the program or fix bugs that may occur with Vista. Since the majority of users probably didn't pay for it anyways I don't think it's much of an issue.

-LeeBear

[deep]

I will also chime in on GIMP. If price is an issue, but you want to have great results, it's a winner. The interface is close enough to Photoshop that switching should be no problem for someone willing to play for a few hours.

[Jon Lai]

In Jon Lai's world, every one can afford 2 Ferraris in every drive ways and $500+ photo editing software. This guy is completely in his own fantasy world.

No, in my world, nobody pays for software, everybody downloads ;)

[board123]

No, in my world, nobody pays for software, everybody downloads ;)
YOUR world? psht

[NiMSo]

I still use Paint Shop Pro to do most of my graphics work, and have no regrets. It's a great piece of software that's easy to learn.

[Tennoh]

For Windows, how about Paint.Net? That's free and looks decent. Then again I don't do much photo editing.

[Jon Lai]

YOUR world? psht

Well, not exactly MY world, but I was just stating that money won't be a factor to the OP if it wasn't purchased, hense why I suggested "why not just get Photoshop" in my first reply.

Of course, I'm not promoting piracy, I'm just saying, money isn't always the issue.

[board123]

Of course, I'm not promoting piracy, I'm just saying, money isn't always the issue.
For some, it is. For others, well....:twisted:

[tmash]

People pay for software?!?!

[CameraBill]

If you can find a used copy Photoshop 7 is a still a very competent program