The Gimp

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Permalink Reply by Emily Fine on August 31, 2009 at 5:24pm

I used the gimp for some time when I was waiting to purchase Adobe's CS4. For most photographers needs, Gimp is just fantastic and is a very powerful program.

More of my photography depends on some of the advanced features of Photoshop that GIMP hasn't recreated as of yet. I also prefer Adobe's interface. However, I had a student discount for all of these purchases and I also have help from a few people.

The price of Photoshop is daunting and its quite an investment, so unless you have taken some courses in it then GIMP is a better bet, that way you don't waste money on something you won't use.

GIMP has been pretty successful when it comes to replicating Adobe but Adobe will still remain ahead of the curve with the more advanced things that those programs are meant for. For everything else, GIMP works perfectly fine.

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Permalink Reply by Jon Krombein on August 31, 2009 at 5:28pm

For an amateur, your best bet is iPhoto. If you shoot RAW, iPhoto will do "ok". But you're better off with Aperture or Lightroom or Photoshop. Lightroom is a stand alone app, but really it pairs with photoshop. There will be something you can't do in just Lightroom... though I guess you could use Lightroom and GiMP. As far as I'm aware GiMP does not do well with RAW (if at all). If you get photoshop, you can do everything you would need. Where aperture or lightroom really shines is the ability streamline tasks that would take quite a while in photoshop. I prefer Lightroom to Aperture. I haven't used GiMP in a few years but felt pretty limited by it. My current work flow requires Lightroom and Photoshot and at this point wouldn't consider changing.

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Permalink Reply by Emily Fine on August 31, 2009 at 7:09pm

iPhoto is the best bet for a mom taking pics of her kids, but not for someone really serious about it. GIMP is in a whole other class right there. Hell, even Photoshop Elements would be more worth your time. I have to say that as far as free programs go for this stuff, skip past picasa and iphoto and go right to the GIMP.

Btw Lightroom is better for people who shoot a lot and need to stay organised while processing raw files, its a workflow tool, not a photoshop replacement. Combining Lightroom with GIMP could work alright. I do most work in LR2 nowadays and save photoshop for the heavy stuff.

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Permalink Reply by Aaron Schaub on August 31, 2009 at 7:57pm

You're asking about software but there is really a more fundamental issue at hand. You're focusing on your tools and not on your skills. There are photographers out there who can make a remarkable image regardless of the tools available because they have developed their skill. You can do it too, but you need to master the tools you have.

You mention learning to live with crap photos. You can avoid this by spending some time understanding your camera. Learn about aperture, shutter speed, and ISO sensitivity. Understand what your camera is doing and how it does it. Then start learning about composition and story telling. Check out the podcasts for This Week in Photography, Photofocus, and The Candid Frame. If you don't learn something from those podcasts, you're not listening. Then start poking around some groups on Flickr like Strobist group and the Portrait group. Look me up on Flickr and check out my contacts and you'll find some remarkable photographers to learn from. My Flickr name is schauba.

I've seen some remarkable images made with a point and shoot camera and some absolutely horrible ones taken with a Canon 5D Mk II. Make a great image in the camera and you don't have to worry as much about the software.

OK, sorry for the rant. I'll step off my soapbox now.

To more directly answer your question, while The Gimp can do a lot of what Photoshop (PS) does, it does it differently. That is important because 90% of the books and howtos out there address PS and not The Gimp. Despite the price, I still recommend PS so you can take advantage of all the great resources out there.

Even though PS is expensive, you're not completely out of luck. There are some more affordable options. Here they are:

Option 1 - Photoshop Elements. It's probably about 80% of PS, but 100% of what you'll need in most situations and it comes in at about $100.

Option 2 - Adobe Lightroom 2. This is a photo catalog application with some photo editing capabilities. As long as you're taking good pictures in the camera, you don't need much else. (See rant above.) Apple's Aperture is similar but for MacOS only. Each is around $299.

Option 3 - Photoshop CS4. Expensive as all get out, but is the industry standard. Get the standard version and not the Extended. It's $699 to walk in the door.

I started with PS Elements and made the jump to PS CS3 via an upgrade deal from Adobe. I think I paid about $500 for both PS CS3 and Lightroom as a part of the Upgrade deal. Adobe makes these offers periodically so sign up for their news letter and keep your eyes open.

Let me know if you have other questions.

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Permalink Reply by Craig Lloyd on September 1, 2009 at 10:34am

Just a note that Aperture is about half the price of Lightroom. It is generally viewed to be as good, but different, suiting some people more than others. I got it as I am on a tight budget and am very happy with it.

Photoshop also does not work with RAW files (they need to be converted), so that's a consideration if it's important to you. Although, most cameras that produce RAW files come with software that can manipulate the RAW data and output a converted TIFF or JPG.

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Permalink Reply by R. J. Vincent on September 2, 2009 at 9:41am

I've been using Photoshop for nearly 20 years. It's a bit complicated and pricey, but it's the gold standard for photo editing. They make a less expensive version called "Photoshop Elements" that's less expensive and can do all the things most people need. I'm in the graphic design business so I need the full up version.

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Permalink Reply by Emily Fine on September 2, 2009 at 5:12pm

@Craig, Photoshop comes with Adobe Camera Raw for processing RAW files and Bridge for organisation and cataloguing. Let us not forget about ACR and Bridge.

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Permalink Reply by Michael J. Austin on September 29, 2009 at 2:55pm

I just recently started using PhotoScape and I'm very pleased with the results. You can find a free copy @ http://download.cnet.com/PhotoScape/3000-2192_4-10703122.html?part=...

Pretty easy to use and has a fair amount of options to choose from.

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Permalink Reply by Stephen on December 6, 2009 at 3:58pm

Part of the problem with the GIMP is that it's not Photoshop and I know that's obvious but Photoshop is what a lot of people know. Getting someone to learn the GIMP after they know how it's done in Photoshop is a really arduous task. It's like getting someone who is fluent in one language to drop everything and learn a different one. If you're coming to the GIMP without a Photoshop background you'll likely find it easier to pick up. I grew up using Photoshop and I now find the GIMP similar enough to be confusing but different enough to be frustrating.

If you're going to learn one suite you'll find the GIMP to be incredibly full featured, especially for retouching photos (a lot of the functionality that Photoshop has and GIMP lacks is for photo manipulation work) as long as you put the time into learning to use it. It's free and frankly this counts for a lot. It's worth taking the time to learn but be realistic and remember that it's a serious piece of software and you'll need to learn to use it quite well before you get amazing pictures out of it.

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