Maximum PC

Photoshop CS6 costs more than a car payment. I make a decent paycheck but I'd spend more on photoshop than I would on the DSLR I'm planning on buying.

I've heard that GIMP is very good and free. However, I'm worried that it won't have a lot of the cool features that photoshop has. I was looking at doing something like this:

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/howtos ... f?page=0,0

Cloning myself with different pictures superimposed onto each other. That's just one thing, plus general touch-up for different photography ideas. I need more hobbies and photography seems like a good one.

Does anyone know if GIMP is decent and can do these things or should I end up springing for photoshop?

You could always look for other alternatives. GIMP is usually on the recommended list, but that doesn't mean you have to use it.

http://sixrevisions.com/graphics-design ... photoshop/
http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/11-free-al ... photoshop/
http://www.thephotoargus.com/freebies/1 ... photoshop/

I've tried Gimp & just can't get used to it. I use Photoshop Elements 8 which has most of the Photoshop features & handles most of the Photoshop plug-ins. The most noticeable difference between the two is in the handling of RAW files, and the "For Dummies" feel of Elements.... Elements has extremely limited options for RAW files, basically, you can open them & import them for editing, but virtually all of the professional options are gone.

You can try most of the editing programs for free, so just look around & check out the different options, then choose the one that best suits you & your budget.

I like Paint Shop Pro. And the price is much better.

Thanks for all the links, I'll start reading up on them and see what works best.

I've heard other people mention they can't get used to GIMP. Maybe that's the price for them avoiding lawsuits by making things different enough from Photoshop.

As for the cheaper Photoshop bundles, can the professional things like cloning (from the original post with the maxpc link) still be done?

I'm planning on spending about 400-700 on some camera/lens equipment so it's nothing too crazy but I still want things to turn out well and use my creativity. I'm in the middle east right now and I'd like to gain new skills instead of wasting away into depression over here.

Speaking only for Adobe Photoshop Elements 8.0: Editing wise, I've not seen anything in Photoshop (CS5) that's not in Elements 8.0, outside of the previously mentioned RAW file handling capabilities. Functionally, it's a bit slower than Photoshop & doesn't handle large batches of photos (500MB+) as well as it's bigger brother.

Still, IMO, Elements will work for anyone who is not getting paid for their photographic works, especially when you can get it for $50 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6832505198 or bundled with Premiere Elements for $75 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6832505197 If you miss the current sale & decide it's the best one for what you want, don't worry, a birdy tells me that they'll be on sale again (at or near current price) before Christmas, & that birdy has been right about 85% of the time in the past.

I'm checking out the 30-day trail Photoshop Elements 11 / Premiere Elements 11 bundle now to see if there is a reason for me to upgrade, though I just downloaded it last night, so haven't done anything except install it & look at the interface.

EDIT: Here's my galleries http://chaosdsm.smugmug.com though most of my editing is just fixing my errors, the majority of any photo editing has been done with Photoshop Elements 2.0 & more recently with 8.0.

Here's one of the projects I worked on with Photoshop Elements 2.0

Before:


After:

Actually, that's my best friend's mom, aunts, uncle, & grandparents from about 52-53 years ago. It was the only known surviving copy of the photo, I fixed it as a favor to my friends mom for his grandparents 60th or 65th (don't remember exactly) wedding anniversary.