Quote:
Originally Posted by ELAY
I am an enthusiastic amateur on a PC platform, too cheap to buy Photoshop CS3 (and I suppose too timid or upstanding or something to pirate it). I have been using The GIMP, which most of the forum readers probably know is an open source image editing platform which works in Linux and Windows environments (maybe Mac too?).
The big advantage is of course that it is absolutely free to use. The main drawbacks are probably that the Windows interface is a bit unusual, in that everything sort of has its own window, which can mean lots of time on the Task Bar finding/opening Windows (I gather there is something of a fix for this in a program called GIMPShop); there is only support for 8-bit colour at the moment; there really isn't native support for adjustment layers per se (you can still do the adjustments, but you either have to do them on your background copy, or do them on separate duplicate layers); and there are fewer third party resources available (though there is a reasonably big library of "script-fus" which are very similar to PS plug-ins, and there are lots of GIMP photo tutorials out there).
I know there is something of a philosophical/political debate between the GIMP nation and the PS nation, but I am not really trying to ignite that feud in this forum. If I had the dough, I would probably spring for CS3 myself. I don't though, and even with its drawbacks it is a great resource which allows me to do things with my photos that I would otherwise be unable to do.
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Humm dumb computer did a windows thing and locked up so here we go again. I also use GIMP, I am teaching photography to some Junior girls and gave them a CD of tools to inspire their imagination. Yes I gave them Picasa, but also the Gimp and a new one called XnView which is also free for the download, and works in Linux, (Mac?) and M$. When you have a number of girls burning digital and mega rolls of home dev film. Which I scan for them, the files add up fast. A group of young girls can out shoot most studios in short order, so to handle the load I am using Deep tanks for film processing and doing 10 to 20 rolls a week which are then scanned to file, to add to their digital images. Picasa is a bit awkward if you are using multi drives, camera cards, thumb drives etc and don't want to load up your personal computer with all those images. That's where XnView comes in. It will view, copy Paste, rotate and sort all the pix you can throw at it, individually or in batch process. It will print proof sheets, and It handles most all formats including video. It builds thumb nail images fast regardless of whether the images are on the home drive, a flash drive, external hard drive or CD/DVD. It also allows large image viewing and has an easy zoom, and full screen viewing. email export etc. You can also view a description, exif, and Pictographs.
I do have one purchased program however that a dearly love called Qimage which is the greatest for quality above and beyond printing. But other than it, all the others are free and will give you as much image power as you want. If you are into panoramic, there are also programs out of the GNU Linux world for Linux, Mac and M$ to do RAW as well I will look them up if wanted too. There is a website and I couldn't find it for this entry might be on another machine, but it is a whole site of download free or open source software for photographers. I'll try and find it too... Hope this helps Mtn...