Beginner!

Hey,

I want to get into editing photos and maybe working on some original digital artwork.
Is there a program you'd recommend I start out with - preferably a downloadable free version before I venture out and buy an expensive package?

Thanks

cheetahastra said:

Hey,

I want to get into editing photos and maybe working on some original digital artwork.
Is there a program you'd recommend I start out with - preferably a downloadable free version before I venture out and buy an expensive package?

Thanks

Click to expand...

Gimp is a free photo editor. There is also a free trial of Adobe Photoshop Elements. (http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshopelwin/)

I might have a look at both - thanks Eric.
Whats the limitations on the trial of CS3?

You can only use it for 30 days or so.

If you do go with Adobe, you'll probably want to get several books. Plus, you don't have to purchase the whole suite if you plan on using just Photoshop. Photoshop & Illustrator are probably the biggest two programs for editing digital photography and creating digital artwork.

i use ps 7 now and then. i like it for what i need to do.

GIMP is also good - as suggested above

I would recommend that you start a little smaller than Photoshop and work up to it. Photoshop itself is a big rambling package - very, very powerful, but daunting to use initially, and not the most user friendly in the world if you don't know how it approaches the topic.

A better start can be had with Photoshop Elements, which is meant for exactly this purpose. I would recommend it, plus a few good books. I strongly endorse the "Photoshop Elements Book for Digital Photographers" by Scott Kelby. There is a member of this series for each version of Photoshop Elements (and for Photoshop too). Packed full of great tips and recipes for doing specific things to digital photographs.

yeah I agree ... start small. I've been using photoshop since it's 2.5 version and honestly just can't use anything else because of the limitation of other programs. Start small first, work you're way up. I'm hopelessly stuck with photoshop now because I know it's capabilities.

Thanks all - I might be able to source a copy of CS2 for mac off a friend so I might get into that. But going to get Gimp too

Will definitely either buy a book on it or get some stuff out from the library

mac57 said:

A better start can be had with Photoshop Elements, which is meant for exactly this purpose.

Click to expand...

That's what I meant to suggest.

I ended up getting that copy of CS2 yipee