# photo imaging programs????



## sthemens (Mar 14, 2006)

ok, right now im using iphoto and its ok, but it does have many limitations. Ive been looking for a for advanced program but i dont want to pay 100's of $ for it. So i was hoping that someone might now what i should do? or if u know of a program feel free to sujest it.


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## eric2006 (Mar 14, 2006)

GIMP is a free solution, and it's a pretty powerfull program.


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## Qion (Mar 14, 2006)

I second that. I think I saw somewhere on G4 TV that it was ranked up there with Photoshop a couple months ago.


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## fryke (Mar 14, 2006)

well... that certainly depends on what you want to achieve. for highend print jobs, GIMP is nowhere yet, Photoshop's the way to go there. But: What do you intend to do? Where is iPhoto limited in what you want to achieve? From those features that you want, maybe we can look at what you need. GIMP is great for some things, GraphicConverter (shareware) for others, and then there's Adobe Photoshop Elements and others...


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Mar 14, 2006)

The Gimp is nowhere near PhotoShop, in any stretch of comparison.  Sure, they do similar things.  Portions of The Gimp even resemble PhotoShop very closely.

Whomever on G4 TV insinuated that it was even close to PhotoShop in any way, shape, or form has absolutely _no_ idea of what they're talking about.

That's like saying that a VW Beetle is comparable to a Ferrari.  Perhaps they're in the same _solar system_ if you use them for going back and forth from work, but if you use the cars for what they're really intended, the VW hardly looks anything like a car when compared to a Ferrari.

Anyone who uses PhotoShop in it's intended, professional, productive environment would know this.  Those who only know PhotoShop superficially may be tricked into thinking that The Gimp and PhotoShop are on basically the same level, but that is simply because they either have not learned PhotoShop in-depth, or have no idea of how much more powerful PhotoShop is.

Don't be fooled into thinking this way -- it's poisonous.

With that being said, I can attest to the fact that The Gimp is an extremely powerful, semi-easy to use, free image editing program.


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## Qion (Mar 14, 2006)

ElDiabloConCaca said:
			
		

> The Gimp is nowhere near PhotoShop, in any stretch of comparison.  Sure, they do similar things.  Portions of The Gimp even resemble PhotoShop very closely.
> 
> Whomever on G4 TV insinuated that it was even close to PhotoShop in any way, shape, or form has absolutely _no_ idea of what they're talking about.
> 
> ...



I'm well aware of Photoshop's abilities... I've been using it since version 3.0... the guy on G4 was probably speaking to a general audience, as I was. Like you said, GIMP is a powerful program, and being free, I think that the price to features ratio puts GIMP and Photoshop as two programs to be compared. 

-That is, _compared_, not rivaled-


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## fryke (Mar 14, 2006)

For me it's the other way 'round. I haven't looked into Gimp that much to see what it can't do.  Since I've got my Adobe CS license through work, I'm not really in the market for something cheaper which can do less... But I hear good things about Adobe Photoshop Elements 4, for those who need a cheaper replacement. (Doesn't do CMYK, but handles RGB 8-bit well.)


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## Natobasso (Mar 15, 2006)

Photoshop Elements 4.0 might fit your needs, though it doesn't have all the regular Photoshop app features, it does have the price you're looking for.

http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshopelmac/main.html

It's about $80 and it's downloadable from this web site (hit "order" button). To be honest, I haven't compared features between iPhoto and Photoshop Elements.


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## sthemens (Mar 15, 2006)

wow Im amazed at the resposnse to my question. 
Thanks to all who tried to help me. I would like to find a program that alows for more creativity. Right now i have liveQuartz image editor, it lets me merge photos and ad effects, but it gets really slow sometimes. So i'll try Gimp and see if its any better.
Thanks all!!!!!!


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## fryke (Mar 15, 2006)

Hm. Then I guess Adobe Photoshop Elements would be for you. It'll also teach you some nice things that will later help you if you switch to Photoshop one day.  (General usage is similar to the full Photoshop version, some things are in the same places etc.)


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## texanpenguin (Mar 16, 2006)

If you're going to use any sort of GIMP, you really, really, *really* should use SeaShore. It's the GIMP in Cocoa (so it runs in Aqua, not in X11), and organised a little like Photoshop (it doesn't look like its interface was designed by an engineer, for example).


It's also worth noting that the download is under four megs, and uncompressed, it's under six.


It's not Photoshop or even GIMP good, but for most people, it's a happy medium between Photoshop and iPhoto, and I find it serves well as a "Paint" replacement for PC users.


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## Lt Major Burns (Mar 16, 2006)

I would second the Photoshop Elements suggestion.  it sound like the exact midpoint between high end industry level photo production and iPhoto, both in features and ease of use, and alos in price.


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