Looking for a certain feature in an image editor

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Hello, can anyone help?

I'm a newbie to macs and I'd really like a cheap and cheerful (or rather, value-for-money!) image editor that will allow me to do the following:

Scan in an image from a scanner and crop the 'Doctor Who' logo from it.

Use an image editor to cut away the background of the square logo so that it's just the actual shaped lettering, and be able to plonk the logo onto artwork or photos for use on DVD covers. (If you've seen a Doctor Who paperback or DVD/video then you'll know what I'm talking about).

I've just purchased the superb looking 'Disc Cover' but the image editor in that seems a bit limited.

Is it worth forking out for PS Elements? I couldn't afford PS proper as it's too expensive!

Many thanks!
 
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GIMP is a free download. You'll need to install X11 from your mac software CD to get it to work though. Not too much hassle. GIMP has most of the features of photoshop.

As for scanning, the software to scan that would depend on your scanner. Epson and Agfa are some of the best scanners out there. My Agfa is around 6 years old, and still gives perfect scans. Scanners should come with their own software.

Quick tip: for scanning images to print - scan at the size you want them at 300ppi (dpi). This will ensure the images are the correct res. Don't enlarge images because they will pixelate, and this looks dodgy when printed. Also, if your scanner has descreening, make sure you enable it. This will help lessen the rosette pattern created with most printed material. (Look at the printed logo with a magnifying glass, and you'll see the ink dots form a pattern - descreening helps eliminate this and smooth it over)

If you're not sure about how to use the image editing software, ask when you get to that stage. There is always more than one way to do something like that, so see when you get there.
 
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OK, thanks for that - I went to get the GIMP download, didn't really understand about X11 but installed it anyway from the OS X disc.

I ran gimp and it asked me if I wanted to move aside a X11 file and run the native one or something. I clicked no and it continued.

I now notice something odd when I'm running GIMP - the top bar is saying X11 rather than GIMP and when I click on the GIMP icon in the dock bar, the top bar changes to GIMP but there are no menu options.

Aaargh! Am I doing something wrong?!!!

How should the GIMP top bar look when I'm running it? Should X11 be in the dock? What's happening!!
 
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GIMP requires X11User.pkg to be installed. To install X11 follow the instructions in here.
 
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ourhero, that is normal behavior. The X11.app instance is the OS X 'application', and the Gimp runs within it. The Gimp icon that appears is just a friendly way to launch X11 and the Gimp at the same time. There isn't a properly native version of Gimp just yet.
 

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