Digital Image Editing Software Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro Or Gimp?The best thing about digital images is that you can manipulate them and turn them into anything that your imagination can conjure up. However, there are some things that you need if you want to edit your photos. First and most important of all, you need a computer. You must also have digital image editing software. Currently, there are three programs that come to mind when talking about digital image editing and no, MS Paint isn't one of them. These three programs are Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, and Gimp. This article is a review of these digital image editing programs. I am currently using Adobe Photoshop CS2. They have already released a newer version, and that's Adobe Photoshop CS3. Most people consider Photoshop as the best image editing software around and I agree with them. It has powerful features that allow you to really draw out what's on your mind. You can take a single digital image and turn it into a million different things. You really can manipulate an image to your heart's content with Photoshop - there's little that you can't do with it. The main problem with it is that it takes a bit of time to get used to. Photoshop isn't exactly easy to use. I tried using it once when I was just starting out but I just couldn't figure out its interface so I had to go back to Paint Shop Pro before I tried Photoshop a second time. If you're not that serious about photo editing and are just looking for quick and easy fixes for your photos, then you should try Paint Shop Pro. Its interface is the most user-friendly I have ever used. It's absolutely perfect for making scrapbooks. Beginners would do well to start with this program. However, its features are not as powerful as Photoshop's. It can do most of the things that Photoshop can do but it wouldn't give you as much freedom in manipulating a digital image. However, it does have a lot of presets that make it more than enough for some people, specifically those who just want to tweak their photos a bit. It's better than GIMP, too. GIMP is a nice image editing tool but if truth be told, I only used it once or twice and that was during our computer class back in the university. The professor was babbling on about things and I was getting bored so I explored a bit and found GIMP. I wasn't too cool with its interface and I felt that both Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro were better when it came to handling colors. It has all the necessary features, though. One thing you really need to know before anything else, though, is the pricing. Photoshop's latest release, Photoshop CS3, costs roughly $650. Corel Paint shop Pro costs a decent $95.00. And GIMP is… well, it's free. There's no need to elaborate on this point. Just one tip though, a digital image editing software is only as good as its user. |