post production

[Poider]

Thanks for allof your advice, And no i don't think I will ever be a professional photographer.
If I ever do then I probably would understand the differences in price and performance, I suppose it was a silly question as I have alwaysthought "you get what you pay for"
Peter

[Krusty79]

GIMP is very powerful for free software. The only other free software I've seen that works with layers is paint.net, but GIMP looks a lot more powerful to my PP noob eyes.

I've read that one feature PS has that GIMP lacks is the ability to use an adjustment layer.

Does anyone actually pay full retail for PS? I've never heard of it. If you are looking for some lower priced alternatives, there is Photoshop Elements and Paint Shop Pro for under $100.

[teaking]

It really does depend on your needs, GIMP will do more than PS elements but GIMP does have more going on in the menus looks a bit more complicated and probably not as swish but in image processing power its pretty well stacked.

I do use GIMP but I wont lie that photoshop is a better designed product in terms of UI, and the tools available are ahead of GIMP due to more engeneers and generaly more time working the product but it does come at a cost and to some it far outweighs the price debate and rightly so... now can you be a professional designer and use GIMP, Inkscape and Blender yes you can and people do it out of choice to support opensource.... its like the Android O/S debate look at how many smart phones run android now and how each version improves and is arguable better in some aspects to Iphone O/S, an open source software can work.

GIMP is currently going through a lot of changes its movin to there GEGL core, a Single window mode and eventualy 16bit and its own version of adjustment layers its an interesting development and yes you will have to use workarounds to achieve the same thing you can in photoshop but its a free opensource project that is very powerful, it really is up to you to decide if its a workable solution. It may be overkill and PS elements may well suit your needs far better

... my very long point is that GIMP is not as far in photoshops shadow as some people will say so dont let that be the reason to put you off.

[Poider]

Just an update;
Awork colleague has given me CS3 and Photoshop Elements 8 as he has upgraded to CS5 and feel he has outgrown Elements
I have found that CS3 has more than Elements but elements is easier to use.
Oh and by the way gimp stopped working on my machine about a week after installing it
Thanks for all your advice
Peter