Graphic Program?

[Keyona]

I am so new to photography that I didn't even know what post-production was before discovering this site, but I still know very little and wanted to ask about the photo program I have. I've read articles and forum posts but they're always about programs I have no knowledge about.

I have Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 and wanted to know if any of you have used this program. If so, can you tell me which tools you use particularly for photo post-production?

Any tips you could share would be greatly appreciated!

[Viking]

Hi I use this on one of my computers, it is not a bad program, for minor adjustment of images I use the level or the curve tools. this is on the adjust drop down menu under Brightness and Contrast.

For more detailed adjustments I use the adjustment layer function.
this is one of the best ways because you can delete and re adjust the layers until you are happy with the result. just remember to save the image as psp or tiff format.

Don't use the 'one step photo fix' it gives a rather unpleasant.

If you are only shooting jpg then it is a good idea to file and save the original image in a safe place, this should not be altered, save a copy of this in a folder used for the processing work.
that way you have the original to go back to if needed.

Hope this might be of some help.

Good luck with the photography.

Regards
EH

[Vagebond]

PSP has been called the poor man's Photoshop, or the smart man's Photoshop. From what I've heard it can do just about everything Photoshop can, and my experience here tells me it's probably true. Until now I haven't experienced much difficulty translating Photoshop explanations here to PSP.

White balance, saturation, curves, levels, layers, etc. etc. you name it, PSP has it too.

You're right that there are few tutorials out there for PSP. The Paint Shop Pro Users Group has some so it might be a good place to start. It isn't organised very well but heck, beggars can't be choosers.

Try these curves and levels tutorials by LeeR, written for Photoshop but usable in PSP too, just as an example.
Levels: Getting the Professional 'Pop'
Curves: Levels on steroids

Have fun.

[Keyona]

Thank you both so much! I will definitely try your suggestions and read those articles. I really appreciate your help!

[Photologyst]

If you really want to work fast and easy you will want to check out Adobe’s Lightroom. It works similarly and is integrated with Photoshop, however, it does not have such a steep learning curve and you can catalogue and batch process your photos.

You can try it out for a month, before purchase. There are tons of tutorial videos online.

The lower level of Photoshop is Elements and the free “version” is Gimp.

I recommend Lightroom and PS or Elements for the most professional results.

[Keyona]

I'll do that! Thanks again! I appreciate the information since I'm so new to this artform/hobby.

[oldwolf]

I've got PSP X2, PS CS4 and LR 3. I use PSP X2 more than I do PS. I use LR 3 about as much as PSP X2.

Yes, PSP can do as much as PS. You just need to have time and patience to translate the PS tutorials over to PSP. I posted a link on these boards once that had a PS - PSP dictionary. I thought it was helpful but your mileage may vary.

GIMP is a great program that can do about as much as PS but it's free. Some great books out there teaching you how to use it. I have a few of the GIMP books myself but haven't had time to go through them as much as I'd like.

You can get professional results from PSP X2. You can get professional results from GIMP. You can get professional results from PS and PS Elements. Do you see a trend here? hehe

The professionalism comes from how you process, how you deal with your clients and the end result. Learn to use the tools that you have and learn their limitations.

It bugs me that someone will tell another person that they need PS, some other program or some piece of equipment to get professional results. That's like telling someone they need a Hasselblad to get professional results. I can assure you that most people can't afford to purchase a nice Hasselblad kit without going into debt or selling a kidney.

Give a point and shoot or disposable camera to a pro and they'll get good results. Give a $40,000 camera to someone that doesn't know how to use it and I'll bet you're not going to get professional results.

Learn to use what you've got. When you come upon limitations that you can't overcome with your current equipment/software, then that's when you should look elsewhere for a solution.

[Vagebond]

I agree with oldwolf 100%. It bugs me too. You already have Paint Shop Pro and in your original post you asked for pointers on Paint Shop Pro, not advice for buying another program to get the same "professional results" you can get with Paint Shop Pro.

Thanks to oldwulf mention of a dictionary I found this: Photoshop to Paint Shop Pro Term Dictionary. The site has a few free video tutorials too but mostly as teasers to sell a complete book. It might be interesting though, to view the free things just to get an impression of Paint Shop Pro. Just click on the link on the top of the dictionary page to get to the main page.

If you're willing to spend a month's trial period exploring other programs, may I suggest spending the first month exploring PSP? Familiarize yourself with the interface so when you see a tutorial -for PSP or PS- you'll know where to find everything and more importantly, know what they mean when they mention things like saturation, colour balance etc. etc. This goes for any program you use, not only PSP.

Load a test image and explore all the menu options and tools. Slide the sliders to the extremes, fill in values, just get to know what the tools and options can do. Pay special attention to the options under the Adjust menu, because they are the steps you will use most when you see an image and ask yourself what's needed to improve it. Explore the palettes and toolbars you can find under the View menu. Hit the help button, try out the "learning center". Then try a little post processing.

The best way to get to know the program, any program, is hands-on. But I have one PSP tip to give you right now You'll probably be working with JPEG images at some time or other, so open one and go to "File > save as..." Click on the Options button and change the "compression factor" to 1 so you lose the least possible information, and save the file using another name. Save, Save as... and Save copy as... will use the 1 instead fo the default 15 (!!) until you change it again.

Whatever program you choose, have fun discovering the world of post processing. It can feel overwhelming in the beginning but in time it'll become second nature. And it's fun.

[Hayward Taylor]

HI there .... Google "video tutorials for Corel PSP x2" and you'll get tons of YouTube how-to video... I use this program too and that's how I learn itt...good luck

[Krusty79]

There are some cool PSP tutorials here:

Paint Shop Pro Tips and Tutorials [ Photo Manipulation ]

More on Corel's site:

Paint Shop Pro Tutorials

One of the site moderators, windrider, also uses PSP, so if you have any specific questions about it, she may be able to answer them.