Caution: Silly Newby question.

[thequintessentialman]

My photo post processing has mainly consisted of resizing, sharpening, and a little brightness/contrast adjustment. I have GIMP, Irfanview, and a real old version of Corel (9) Mostly just use the Corel for occasional graphics stuff for the wife and her hobby. Wife surprised me tonight saying she wanted to get me Photo Shop for Christmas. A friend of hers has been learning it and is doing some neat things. I have also seen some of the magic worked here at TPS and a few other places using Photo Shop (and I know it ain't easy.) The reason I initially got Corel was that was what we used at work and there were several Gurus that could answer any questions (it had been a good skill to have at work, but we have since "restructured.")

I understand that PS is an immensely powerful software package as is also Corel. This will be for hobby use only but would use it more and more as I was "assigned more projects (Hey, anything not to have to cut the grass...)

(OK, finally the question) Is there anyone here that can tell me the pros and cons of Corel vs PS. I know in the "artistic" community PS more prevalent and there seems to be more resources available. I haven't checked price yet... Would I be better off to use GIMP until I out grow it or get the real one?

Thanks
John

[mmuhlenkamp]

It depends on what you want to do, are you feeling limited by using Gimp or Corel? (essentially less powerful versions of PS, though I've never used either) I learn how to do new things in PhotoShop all the time (and I use it daily for photography and graphics) so it's definitely a powerful tool if you're willing to learn.

If you're feeling limited I'd say go get PhotoShop, if you don't want to do much more than what you're already doing (brightness/contrast, sharpening, etc.) but are hindered by having to do it to every single image Lightroom would be the better investment (allows for batch processing and catalogs photos nicely so you can actually find them later).

It depends on what you want to do and what's holding you back. If you have more specifics it will help with more relevant advice. Hope this helps? I seem to be rambling...

[Kalrog]

John,

If you are not taking advantage of the things that GIMP offers, then you won't see any advantage of going to PS. Yes, more people use PS and that means that there are more tutorials and instruction out for it - and that might be a good reason to switch to it, but don't go because you can't do something in GIMP that you could do in PS. They are both able to do essentially identical things, and oh so much more than just resizing and sharpening.

I would suggest that you invest $40 in "Beginning GIMP 2nd edition" prior to investing hundreds in PS. And get G'MIC for GIMP as additional filters for GIMP (more free stuff).

[rbalcom]

While it really depends on what tools you are looking for, I would strongly consider Lightroom before I would get Photoshop. I was using Photoshop CS2 before Lightroom came out and was slow to start using Lightroom, but now it is my main digital "development" tool. Shoot in RAW and make most adjustments in Lightroom, only exporting to Photoshop for "manipulations", then printing from Lightroom. You can download a free trial copy at http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshoplightroom/.

[texkam]

I would tend to stay with and further learn the features of the GIMP. It's pretty powerful. Then you can spend that money on glass. :)

[thequintessentialman]

There is a lot of good advice here and I appreciate it immensely. Sounds like I need to get serious with GIMP before I wade out into deeper water. Didn't know about lightroom, but I will check it out. (Definitely the suggestion about getting more glass...)

Thanks to all.

[Dobick]

You can always try out Lightroom for free for 30 days and see if you can get used to it.

[TXhummer2]

I got Lightroom after Photoshop CS3, and now, I can't remember the last time I used CS3!

TXhummer2 added 40 Minutes and 32 Seconds later...Double Post Merged Below

Try Lightroom 3 beta free:

http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroom3/

[Kalrog]

If you are wanting a Lightroom type product, I would also suggest digiKam as the FOSS alternative. Especially if you are going to stick with GIMP. More free stuff is good.

[David Whatley]

I use Corel PSP X2 and like it. The only thing I miss is some of the plug ins that are avaliable with PS. You can get X2 for about 50 bucks, so it isnt bad at all.
My work flow with it is to Crop, Hue/Saturation, Curves, Skin Smoothing, and then the MAkeup tool. Works fairly fast and does whats needed. The thing about PS is that is has a LOT of actions and plug ins that are avaliable, if you need that sort of thing.

[L Stegall]

Originally Posted by TXhummer2

I got Lightroom after Photoshop CS3, and now, I can't remember the last time I used CS3!

TXhummer2 added 40 Minutes and 32 Seconds later...Double Post Merged Below

Try Lightroom 3 beta free:

http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroom3/

Even though I have CS3, I find I do 99.9999% of my work in LightRoom2, which is significantly less expensive than full blown PS. I find it very easy to work in. I don't know enough about Corel to comment on it, but all I can say is that I'm glad I bit the bullet and added LightRoom2 for my processing - I go for pretty minimal processing - and really like it. I will be looking at the LightRoom3 version soon.

[thequintessentialman]

How does Lightroom compare to PhotoShop? Are they complementary, or competing products?

John

[TXhummer2]

That is a big discussion around about:

http://www.scottkelby.com/blog/2008/archives/2033

[thequintessentialman]

Thanks
John

[DoublyDan]

Matt Kloskowski is a lightroom/photoshop fanatic and has a podcast for both softwares. He says some things he does is just easier in photoshop.
They do work hand in hand, so if you have both you may benefit from his tutorials...
Lightroom killer tips and Photoshop user tv are the names of these podcasts.

I currently don't use Lightroom much, but I am seeing the need to do so the more I learn about photography. I got into photography (that is to say really got serious) cause of my use of photoshop and retouching others images..