Photoshop or other

[Turves]

I noticed a lot of people on this forum use software other than Photoshop too work on their images. Coming from a graphics and print background thats all ive used.

Is there an application that I should be using. Especially as I am restoring some old film images?

 

[sahe69]

If you're used to PS and have also restoration to do, I see no reason for going for another software.

 

[Jamie123]

I noticed a lot of people on this forum use software other than Photoshop too work on their images. Coming from a graphics and print background thats all ive used.

Is there an application that I should be using. Especially as I am restoring some old film images?

I think the reason people are using alternatives to Photoshop is because they can't or don't want to spend the money for it. I think it's safe to say that Photoshop is the most sophisticated image editing software around. If you have it and you know how to use it I can't think of a reason why you should use anything else.

For restoring old film images I think the 'content aware' healing brush in PS CS5 would be very useful. If you scan the image yourself then you might want to check what kind of automatic restoration function your scanner software has.

 

[daninjc]

PS seems to be as good as it can be, although I use Gimp.
Gimp is free, flexible, relatively easy to use and does everything I need to do - so no need for PS yet.

 

[Roger Hicks]

I think the reason people are using alternatives to Photoshop is because they can't or don't want to spend the money for it. I think it's safe to say that Photoshop is the most sophisticated image editing software around. If you have it and you know how to use it I can't think of a reason why you should use anything else.

For restoring old film images I think the 'content aware' healing brush in PS CS5 would be very useful. If you scan the image yourself then you might want to check what kind of automatic restoration function your scanner software has.

Probably not absolutely 100% true, but true enough to be a very fair summary.

Cheers,

T.

 

[Jamie123]

Probably not absolutely 100% true, but true enough to be a very fair summary.

Cheers,

T.

I did say can't or don't want to. Although, upon second reading I realize that it was an almost tautologic statement. 🙂

 

[johannielscom]

Scan from Minolta Scan Dual IV using manufacturer software, save as TIFF, import in Lightroom as if it where a native digital file. I can add meta-data whhen importing the TIFF's and it saves A LOT of work.

I only use PhotoShop if I have a lot of images that need 'personal' attention, all batch-handled stuff goes through Lightroom straight away. PS is very nice when it comes to applying filters etc because of the really precise level of tweaking but when not needed, it's slow. I never bothered setting up actions etc since Lightroom 2 arrived.

 

[willie_901]

I can afford Photoshop. I refuse to use PS because it is so user hostile. I have used computers in one form or another professionally and personally since 1975 and I refuse to use software that makes me miserable.

I use Lightroom, Photomatix, PtLens Edit and Photoshop Elements. For personal work I use LR and occasionally PtLens. I use Photomatix for exposure blending (not for tone mapping !) in real estate photography (mostly for exteriors). I use PSE to repair errors (shadows and reflections) in my interior photography. I only know how to use the clone stamp, healing brush, and spot healing brush in PSE. I ignore everything else.

My advice is to use Lightroom. LR is well-suited for scanned negatives and slides. If you want the ability to manipulate pixels without limitation, or prefer to spend less than $100 instead of $300, then you need to learn PSE 9 instead of LR. PSE 9 is a real game changer. With PSE 9 most photographers do not need to invest in Photoshop. From what I have seen and read, PSE 9 does 99% of what the current full Photoshop does for still photography.

 

[Roger Hicks]

It's not Photoshop that's user-hostile, it's bloody Adobe!

Though in all fairness, Phase 1 Capture 1 is even harder to use. I have Photoshop 4; Elements 4 and 9; Lightroom; and Capture 1. Maybe it's just because I've been using it for 15 years but I find that Photoshop 4 does almost all that I need; that Elements 9 is good for panoramas and contact sheets; and that I really like the fill light and gradient filter tools in LR.

I have to buy new software from time to time or magazine editors accuse me of being in the stone age. But no-one can actually tell what software I used for 99% or more of my scanned or digitally captured shots.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Matus]

Willie, I lack your experience with different softwares (and I was not even around at 1975) but what exactly it is that makes you call PS "user hostile" ? I use PS2 and while not perfect I have mostly the impression that it is lack of my knowledge how to use it properly than the hostility of it.

One question towards the PSE 9 - what are the features that are NOT included compared to PS ? One feature that I use extensively is batch processing to produce reasonable preview images of scanned negatives, or just to produce web versions of large amount of images.

 

[Jamie123]

I don't think the newer versions of PS are user-hostile at all. In fact, I find CS5 incredibly simple to use and it has some tools that are real time-savers. Spot healing, which was introduced in CS4 and especially content-aware spot healing, which was introduced in CS5 are incredibly useful for removing dust from scanned negs. Also, the quick selection tool and refine edge in CS5 have proven to be quite useful for me in a recent job I did. It was a small product shoot and I agreed to do the retouching (cutting products out from the background) myself for an additional couple hundred dollars as the budget was tight. That function alone saved me a lot of time and tedious manual labour.

That being said, for my personal work I hardly ever need to do much in PS as I can do most of what I want in Camera Raw, which, I suppose, has the same editing functions as Lightroom. I've tried Lightroom and Capture 1 but these programs get on my nerves with their file handling. Especially Capture 1 as it creates its own folders whenever I open a file with it.

 

[ludoo]

I don't like Photoshop at all, but quite like Silkypix, especially for raw development: intuitive and user-friendly interface, powerful tools, and great colours. It also costs much less than PS.

 

[wgerrard]

There's no instruction book, just some brain-dead twerp droning on in 'on-line instructional videos'.

That's been an unfortunate trend in commercial software for some time, apparently because it spares vendors the costs of writing and publishing paper manuals. It's not so quite bad when a PDF manual is offered, but that's also becoming increasingly rare.

In my opinion, too much software instruction amounts to a brief explanation of the product's menu system. Something like: "To use the Frisbit tool, click here. Notice how your image has changed." More important is knowing why you might select one tool rather than another. For example, PS CS4 offers multiple sharpening options. Those are useless, at best, to someone who does not know what sharpening does and the conditions that call for its use.

To be fair, Adobe does offer extensive documentation online, including the PS help system.

Nothing beats a book, though, at least for me. So, when I buy new software, I usually stop off at a bookstore and rummage through the inevitable aftermarket "How To..." books.

 

[Matus]

...
Nothing beats a book, though, at least for me. So, when I buy new software, I usually stop off at a bookstore and rummage through the inevitable aftermarket "How To..." books.

For whatever reason the "XXX for dummies books" work quite good for me ... 🙂

And yes - no documentation ever is going to get beyond the point of describing which button/function/setting does what. Good book which describes how to do the things you want to do is usually the best way to go.

 

[robert blu]

A couple of years ago I bought PS CS3, original license. Which for an amatuer with no economical return is a lot of money (almost as a second hand lens!). Most of amateur around here use no legal copy without any problem. I wanted to be on the correct side. But a few weeks ago because of an accident with my computer I had to restore everything (no problem, thanks time machine!) but when I tried to use PS CS3 I got a message "your license is no more valid". I sent e-mail to Adobe with all infos with no reply. I phone and the answer I got was that adobe does not support anymore CS3 !
After two years! That s the benefit I had to purchase the license! I solved the problem through a couple of user forums: Yes, I use CS3 and LR3 for my images but I'm not so happy to do it !
robert

 

[Ronald M]

PS is the industry standard.

Other software is gaining.

You will find the new PS5 Noise reduction greatly improves the film grain from quality scans. I settled for Nik Define2 because it can be applied to a layer and therefore a layer mask. An edge mask allos ou to keep the NR away from edges that need to remain sharp.

See a post in Leica forum, digital processing, few days ago.

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica...-forum/151849-nik-define-noise-reduction.html

 

[Turves]

Thanks guys

Thanks guys

I guess the message is if you have photoshop be happy that you have it.

Did some clean up on some old film on the weekend with photoshop CS4
very happy with the result will post soon.

 

[peterm1]

I have been using Corel Paintshop Pro Photo X2 for the past couple of years. Its about where, say, Photoshop 6 or 7 was a few years back, for about the price of Photoshop Elements. I like it as its easier to use that PS supported by some useful wizards, but can be used in complex mode if you wish to do so. I find it does 99% of what I will ever need it to do and given its a tiny fraction of the price of CS5 that makes it a bargain especially considering I probably don't have the skills for the other 1% anyway.

A lot of people use Lightroom for basic editing but I like to incorporate levels, selections and some plugins and find LR a bit limiting.