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Photoshop vs PaintShopPro, which one to get??
Posted: Sun May 14, 2006 9:45 pm
by ablaye
Hello,
I need a good graphic software and I have been contemplating buying either JASC Paint Shop Pro or Adobe Photoshop.
Has anyone tried both softwares and can recommend which one to get??
Posted: Sun May 14, 2006 10:08 pm
by feyd
Photoshop, the only professional tool as far as I'm concerned.
Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 3:47 am
by JayBird
Agree with feyd 100%
Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 4:34 am
by jayshields
Entirely depends upon budget. If you've got enough money to blow, Photoshop. If not, PSP.
Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 5:23 am
by matthijs
Agree with the others.
PS has more advanced features and might be better at some tasks. However, that'll cost some..
PSP has less features, but is a lot cheaper.
So in the end it depends on how much money you want to spend and, more importantly, what you need the software for. I use both, and must say both have their pro's and con's, considering usability and features.
Actually I find psp a bit easier to work with. I don't like reading long and boring manuals, so I found psp more intuitive to work with. And for basic graphic work (as I do for websites) it's good enough. Let's say I get 90% of the features for 10% of the price.
However, I can imagine if you're going to work with high-quality photos, advanced graphic tasks, ps is more powerfull. So a professional graphic designer wont agree with the previous paragraph

Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 5:39 pm
by Jade
If you're an artist, or want professional style graphics then photoshop is the way to go. Photoshop has a pretty steep learning curve but for professional graphics its THE hottest editing program on the market. It gives you the ability to do what most photo programs only dream of.
However, if you're just looking for a graphics program that will let you edit photos or design simple things, then there's nothing wrong with PSP.
Another solution is going for the Photoshop Elements, thats much more affordable and lets you basically do all the most essential things in photoshop without all the more difficult "high end" graphic features that quite frankly aren't used as often anyways.
Good luck with your decision!
Jade
Posted: Tue May 16, 2006 2:51 am
by Oren
Jade wrote:If you're an artist, or want professional style graphics then photoshop is the way to go. Photoshop has a pretty steep learning curve but for professional graphics its THE hottest editing program on the market. It gives you the ability to do what most photo programs only dream of.
However, if you're just looking for a graphics program that will let you edit photos or design simple things, then there's nothing wrong with PSP.
This is so true.
Posted: Tue May 16, 2006 6:17 am
by Benjamin
Gimp works great in some situations, and is free. Take a look at it.
http://www.gimp.org/
Posted: Mon Jun 19, 2006 9:46 am
by Bryan
I'd recommend Photoshop Elements.
The Gimp is a great starter tool. I used it for about 6 months before I finally downloaded a demo of Photoshop CS. Once I tried CS, I never went back to Gimp. I could accomplish so much more with CS in the same amount of time. However, once my little demo expired, I was faced with a dilema. I had to either bite the bullet and buy CS (way beyond my budget) or go back to Gimp. But then I heard about Photoshop Elements 2.0, I picked up a copy for about $75, and found that it contained 80% of the features included with CS. Now it wasn't as easy as CS, but after a couple hours of messing around, I acclimated, and was able to design almost as quickly as I had in CS.
Since then, I have aquired Photoshop CS and I use it for about 95% fo all design work. I have used PSP 8 and 9 here and there, but I find Photosshop (Either CS or Elements) to be a much more powerful tool.

Posted: Thu Aug 31, 2006 5:36 am
by Case-
feyd wrote:Photoshop, the only professional tool as far as I'm concerned.
Agree.
Posted: Thu Aug 31, 2006 11:18 am
by matthijs
Do not forget FireWorks. For webdesign it is maybe even better then Photoshop. Photoshop might be better for professional photographers or graphic designers.
I'm planning on downloading photoshop elements as well to see how it compares to ps itself. It's supposed to have 80-90% of the features of ps, for 15% of the price. Well, since I and probably most webdesigners/developers hardly use 10% of the features of ps, Elements might be a very good option.
Posted: Thu Aug 31, 2006 11:23 am
by Luke
Haven't heard of elements... I'll have to take a look at that. As for fireworks... I have been using Photoshop since 1998, so it's hard to get used to fireworks. I just started using it this year because it is what my boss uses for image slicing, gif animation, etc. So I kinda need to know it. I don't much like it yet

Posted: Thu Aug 31, 2006 12:13 pm
by RobertGonzalez
Photoshop. It has a bit of a learning curve, but it is a great app.
Posted: Thu Aug 31, 2006 12:48 pm
by painperdu
I'd reccomend Paint Shop Pro over Photoshop because it allows you to do everything that you can do in Photoshop but at a much more reasonable price. The only thing that Photoshop has over Paint Shop pro is hype (and a better marketing campaigne).
Posted: Thu Aug 31, 2006 11:31 pm
by RobertGonzalez
I have not used PaintShopPro, so I cannot speak for it in this regard, but there are a heck of a lot of plugins for Photoshop and a ton of support with the app for alternative formats. That is one of the things I like about. I also like the development community behind it. I have found a ton of help for Photoshop related issues and it appears there are more books on the subject.
It just appears to me that this level of availability is generated by a quality product, not just a killer marketing strategy (which is odd, seeing as I have seen like all of two ads for Photshop).