Photoshop (1 Viewer)

ShiftZZ

LIFE MEMBER
Feb 19, 2008
21,379
84,117
Dark Side of the Moon
Funster No
1,546
MH
A class
Exp
Since 2007
I have Photoshop elements and I was wondering if anyone on here has used:

Photoshop Lightroom
or
Photoshop CS5 ..

Just wondering
 

scotjimland

LIFE MEMBER
Jul 25, 2007
2,090
9,060
Suffolk Coastal District, UK
Funster No
15
MH
Timberland
I have PS CS4 Dave .. but I haven't used a fraction of it's capabilities..

PS Elements does most of the things I want to do..

download a trial version from Adobe and try it, it is fully functional and you have 30 days to figure out how to stop it calling home to the mother ship :winky:

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Aug 29, 2010
842
1,234
Nuneaton. Only when I have to.
Funster No
13,456
MH
Hymer Exsis t564
Exp
Since Sept 2010
I am currently using Elements 8 on Mac and PC which seems to do pretty much everything I want without breaking into a sweat. In fact it could do lots more if my mental powers hadn't gone seriously into reverse in recent times.
I have Lightroom 2.0, as well, courtesy of one of my sons. It seems excellent when he drives it, especially for RAW handling but I haven't mastered it yet.
Think I'll be sticking with Elements 8.
 

Jim

Ringleader
Jul 19, 2007
36,197
128,643
Sutton on Sea, UK
Funster No
1
MH
Adria Panel Van.
Exp
Since 1988
I use both. PS CS5.5 and Lightroom3 which is a fantastic cataloguing system that also excels at batch processing, if you use it you will never lose another photo There are also lots of plug ins for it that give it very similar capabilities to photoshop, infact many pros do all but the most advanced work all within lightroom. Among the hundreds of useful things it can do I like the way you can just ask with a couple of clicks to import a load of photos from a card, only if taken on a specific date or range, resize all of them too xx by xx rotate those in vertical mode, sharpen for the screen, watermark them and output to your desktop all in a folder called Malvern Show.

In ten seconds I have all those photos ready to be uploaded to the site and my originals are all untouched. :thumb:
 

beachcaster

Free Member
Dec 18, 2010
3,044
3,161
east sussex
Funster No
14,709
MH
C Class
Exp
a few years
I am an illustrator and cartoonist...and have always got on well with photoshop and use it with a wacom tablet every day. Also I am a keen photographer and have spent much of my working life as an art director working with top photographers. So I use it in different ways.

I currently use CS4 extended. Its far more complex than my needs... much of the programme is now geared to pre production... printing and internet preparation which I rarely use.

Lightroom I found just too complex.....life is too short.I didnt find it very friendly at all and swiftly abandoned it .

Lighter versions of photoshop are superb the current Elements giving what was almost full photoshop
professional functions of few years ago. So you need very good reasons to upgrade and full photoshop is hardly cheap!

So it really depends on what you are going to do.
For me Photoshop used with a prog like Picasa does the job.......and Im only using 30% of what photoshop is capable of. No one I have met uses it all or has claimed to understand all the capabilities of this amazing programme...
just the bits they need.

barry

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 

dylan

Free Member
Aug 31, 2007
4,110
566
sw wales
Funster No
201
MH
none
Exp
n/a
Love photoshop but only have version 7 (very old now) and can't afford to upgrade but I love it and play around with it for hours. Never used any other programme so can't comment on them.
 

wivvy's dad

Free Member
Jun 22, 2010
3,205
1,795
48.066895,12.862673
Funster No
12,229
MH
Transit LWB Hi-Top PVC
Exp
On and Off since '98
I have the CS4 Master Collection, and don't use Photoshop as much as I used to. I use After Effects a lot these days, along with Encore and Audition - both at work and at home.

As others have said, barely 15% of Photoshop gets used by me. So if Elements is as good as - say - Photoshop 7 was a few years ago, stay with that.
 

moandick

Free Member
Jul 28, 2007
1,312
112
Landrake, Cornwall
Funster No
24
MH
Euro-shed
Exp
40 +
I use Photoshop CS5 for the Big Pitch guide - combined with Adobe Indesign CS3 for the print program.

It does everything that I want of it and probably thousands of other things as well - my one complaint is that in Indesign I can distort text boxes to fit around photographs etc by combining various text box shapes and then flowing text through those shapes.

I don't know if that is possible in P'Shop CS5 - or if it is possible to combine text boxes on the same page at all - I simply do not know so I get around the problem other ways - but it would make life a lot easier if I could join text boxes on the same page.

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 

JeanLuc

Free Member
Nov 17, 2008
3,304
2,199
Warwickshire
Funster No
4,952
MH
Hymer B630 Star-Line
Exp
Since 2007
I use Element 8 on a Mac. I also have an old version of the full Photoshop on a desktop PC but that has been out of commission for a few months now. Elements does all I need (and more). The only irritating thing I find with it is the presumption that I want to edit and print a load of pictures at once. Rather than offering to print the active file, it presents all the open files in the print queue and I have to delete the ones I don't want. That's a bit clumsy of you are using several images to create a finished product. Not the end of the world though! Generally Elements is a bit too user-friendly if you want to get down and do it from first principles - but then most of the "novice guided options" can be switched off.

I also use Adobe Bridge to import and manage image files. That came bundled with Elements but I think it was with Mac version only. I think even that option has now gone but it's a nice product.
 
Feb 27, 2011
14,671
74,888
UK
Funster No
15,452
MH
Self Build
Exp
Since 2005
I know the Adobe stuff is what all the pro's use. However I haven't got that sort of money for something I don't use that often. I use InkScape for vector and Gimp (wish they would change the name) for bitmap stuff. I find them more than capable for everything I do.

I would be interested if there are any professionals out there that use these in anger and how they find them in comparison.

I hear a lot of people on the forums/groups that slag them off but most if not all of them haven't used them in anger and have only fiddled, found they don't work the same way and given up without learning the way they work.

Anyone use them in anger and can give a decent view on the differences and if it is worth the extra £1,000 or so?
 

beachcaster

Free Member
Dec 18, 2010
3,044
3,161
east sussex
Funster No
14,709
MH
C Class
Exp
a few years
I know the Adobe stuff is what all the pro's use. However I haven't got that sort of money for something I don't use that often. I use InkScape for vector and Gimp (wish they would change the name) for bitmap stuff. I find them more than capable for everything I do.

I would be interested if there are any professionals out there that use these in anger and how they find them in comparison.

I hear a lot of people on the forums/groups that slag them off but most if not all of them haven't used them in anger and have only fiddled, found they don't work the same way and given up without learning the way they work.

Anyone use them in anger and can give a decent view on the differences and if it is worth the extra £1,000 or so?

If you take cameras a lot of pros use £10000 cameras and a bag on lenses
that is worth many times more.
All this gear alone will not make them a better photographer...just like a more expensive set of golf clubs will make anyone a better golfer.

Hardly any pro shot goes to print without retouching.......and this tends to be done with programmes like photoshop..and post photography tweeking is now the norm.

In many ways you answer your own question when you say of progs like Inkscape and Gimp "I find them more than capable for everything I do "

So why do you need anything else.. If you get the job done ?

I use photoshop CS4 but I could do just about everything I do with the latest version of Elements....I am a "pro" and my work published all the time.

But I use picasa ( a free prog ) as my library.......I just like it .

All progs need some effort....Ive been using photoshop for decades
and theres more I dont know about it than I do and there are many different ways of working withing the prog..no two people work quite the same way.

There are always software snobs as well as hardware and camera snobs and .and as you say half the time they dont know what they are on about..nor does their gear make for a better end product.

The progs I use do what I want...and that's the key thing.
And by the sound of it the progs you use work for you too.

Back to those pro photographers...most I know have a little pocket camera they use for all the stuff you and I might take day to day and on holiday ....."who wants to lug around all that heavy gear...."

barry

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 

artona

Free Member
Jul 31, 2007
1,511
817
Funster No
43
MH
self build
Exp
40 yrs and still not got a release date
If you take cameras a lot of pros use £10000 cameras and a bag on lenses
that is worth many times more.
All this gear alone will not make them a better photographer...just like a more expensive set of golf clubs will make anyone a better golfer.

Hardly any pro shot goes to print without retouching.......and this tends to be done with programmes like photoshop..and post photography tweeking is now the norm.

In many ways you answer your own question when you say of progs like Inkscape and Gimp "I find them more than capable for everything I do "

So why do you need anything else.. If you get the job done ?

I use photoshop CS4 but I could do just about everything I do with the latest version of Elements....I am a "pro" and my work published all the time.

But I use picasa ( a free prog ) as my library.......I just like it .

All progs need some effort....Ive been using photoshop for decades
and theres more I dont know about it than I do and there are many different ways of working withing the prog..no two people work quite the same way.

There are always software snobs as well as hardware and camera snobs and .and as you say half the time they dont know what they are on about..nor does their gear make for a better end product.

The progs I use do what I want...and that's the key thing.
And by the sound of it the progs you use work for you too.

Back to those pro photographers...most I know have a little pocket camera they use for all the stuff you and I might take day to day and on holiday ....."who wants to lug around all that heavy gear...."

barry

You are totally right Barry. I shoot portraits and use top end Nikon cameras but for me Photoshop is now as important as the camera. Using raw I can process images as fast as lightroom and have more control over them.

Photoshop I think is 21 years old and I have been using it for over half that time. Its moved on a lot but the early versions were based on darkroom practises. Prior to moving over to digital in around the year 2000AD I used to lock myself in a purpose built cellar we had under the studio for hours mixing high contrast developer and then using bits of card etc to hold back areas on the print etc. Its great not having red blotches on the skin from the bleach when printing colour but I do miss seeing the print appear in a dish. Digital printers will never replace that experience........
 

wivvy's dad

Free Member
Jun 22, 2010
3,205
1,795
48.066895,12.862673
Funster No
12,229
MH
Transit LWB Hi-Top PVC
Exp
On and Off since '98
This has just got me thinking.....

What was the first version of Photoshop you ever used?

I started with Version 2.5 on three floppy discs, and one floppy disc of Kai's Power Tools.
 
Feb 27, 2011
14,671
74,888
UK
Funster No
15,452
MH
Self Build
Exp
Since 2005
Thanks...

What I am looking for is an honest evaluation. Is photoshop et al worth spending an extra £1,000 on? I know it does CMYK which if you are sending to the printers is necessary.

I used to use photoshop and illustrator for doing adverts but I used the bare number of features and never got any good at it. I now use gimp and inkscape for a lot more and have not found it's limitations.

I am just curious. Is it that people are used to photoshop etc or is it really so much better it is worth spending the £1,000?

I have yet to meet anyone who has been a pro using photoshop for years then moved across to Gimp.

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 

DBSilverfox

Free Member
May 13, 2010
583
97
Nottingham
Funster No
11,570
MH
coachbuilt
Exp
Since May 2010
Honest evaluation? No it is not worth it. Elements, photo plus from Serif will do everything you need at a fraction of the price. I have lightroom 3 and now use nothing else, but if you get along with elements even lightroom is not worth the extra.
It is like choosing a motorhome, you have to choose the layout and size that meets your needs, there is no other right or wrong.
 

artona

Free Member
Jul 31, 2007
1,511
817
Funster No
43
MH
self build
Exp
40 yrs and still not got a release date
Thanks...

What I am looking for is an honest evaluation. Is photoshop et al worth spending an extra £1,000 on? I know it does CMYK which if you are sending to the printers is necessary.

I used to use photoshop and illustrator for doing adverts but I used the bare number of features and never got any good at it. I now use gimp and inkscape for a lot more and have not found it's limitations.

I am just curious. Is it that people are used to photoshop etc or is it really so much better it is worth spending the £1,000?

I have yet to meet anyone who has been a pro using photoshop for years then moved across to Gimp.

You won't Karl. I could shoot 95% of my portraits on a lumix compact costing £400 so why do I use a Nikon costing £4000? I know I can rely on my Nikon in all cases. I know it looks more professional and ultimately it provides better quality.

When I looked at Gimp it appeared cumbersome but for someone who is only doing home printing or even someone who is a keen hobby photographer or semi pro they will get away with it and save a lot of money.

stew
 
Feb 27, 2011
14,671
74,888
UK
Funster No
15,452
MH
Self Build
Exp
Since 2005
I know you tried to use Gimp, I was there :)

You say Gimp as cumbersome but that is only because you are used to doing things a certain way. There is bound to be period of adjustment where you are not as slick as you were with your original tool.

You are one of the examples of people who haven't used it in anger and got used to a different way of doing things :Doh::roflmto:

I know that a £1,000 Nikon SLR is better than any budget Compact and there is definately a difference that makes the money worth spending. I have gone from one to the other.

However Gimp is supposed to have all the features of photoshop. So it's not an accurate analogy.

An example of someone who moved across would be someone who used to work for a company where the software was used but is no longer there. They don't have the budget to buy the photoshop package so uses Gimp now. I really do want to hear a proper comparison from someone who has used it in anger.

Guess I won't find it on here either by the looks of things ::bigsmile:

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 

DBSilverfox

Free Member
May 13, 2010
583
97
Nottingham
Funster No
11,570
MH
coachbuilt
Exp
Since May 2010
Gromett why do you want someone else's comparison? It is bound to be subjective. Download the Gimp and use it. If it works and does what you want then it is the right one. End of. At the end of the day it is just a tool and you want one that does what you need it to.
People get too hung up - life is tricky enough without trying to make it more so

David
 

artona

Free Member
Jul 31, 2007
1,511
817
Funster No
43
MH
self build
Exp
40 yrs and still not got a release date
I know you tried to use Gimp, I was there :)

You say Gimp as cumbersome but that is only because you are used to doing things a certain way. There is bound to be period of adjustment where you are not as slick as you were with your original tool.

You are one of the examples of people who haven't used it in anger and got used to a different way of doing things :Doh::roflmto:

I know that a £1,000 Nikon SLR is better than any budget Compact and there is definately a difference that makes the money worth spending. I have gone from one to the other.

However Gimp is supposed to have all the features of photoshop. So it's not an accurate analogy.

An example of someone who moved across would be someone who used to work for a company where the software was used but is no longer there. They don't have the budget to buy the photoshop package so uses Gimp now. I really do want to hear a proper comparison from someone who has used it in anger.

Guess I won't find it on here either by the looks of things ::bigsmile:

lol you were there once mate when I looked at. I have looked at it many times over the years.
 
Feb 27, 2011
14,671
74,888
UK
Funster No
15,452
MH
Self Build
Exp
Since 2005
Gromett why do you want someone else's comparison? It is bound to be subjective. Download the Gimp and use it. If it works and does what you want then it is the right one. End of. At the end of the day it is just a tool and you want one that does what you need it to.
People get too hung up - life is tricky enough without trying to make it more so

David

I am not hung up on it merely curious as to the differences. I am happy with The Gimp and Inkscape and couldn't afford the Adobe lot even if I wasn't. Curiosity isn't a hangup in my view :winky:

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 

Join us or log in to post a reply.

To join in you must be a member of MotorhomeFun

Join MotorhomeFun

Join us, it quick and easy!

Log in

Already a member? Log in here.

Latest journal entries

Funsters who are viewing this thread

Back
Top