Adobe Photo Elements 4 the software of choice?

Is Photo Elements 4 the software of choice for the amateur dslr user? Or can
you recommend something better?

shipping wrote:
Is Photo Elements 4 the software of choice for the amateur dslr user? Or can
you recommend something better?

This is just my experience. YMMV...

There are a number of choices of software for photo editing, and
organizing depending on your budget.

For organizing, and basic photo editing I like PICASA2 from GOOGLE. It
is free for non-commercial use. It will also allow you to resize your
photos and export them fairly easy. It also works with your email
program to email photos.

If you have a limited budget, GIMP for Windows from
http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/ is GPL software. It works fairly
nice, but I have problems making it print on some printers in Windows.
I end up saving the corrected file and using PICASA2 to actually print
the file.

Adobe Photoshop Elements 2 came with my Canon Digital Rebel when I
purchased it. It works fine. It is a couple years old now.

I find I am doing more photo processing in Linux now, and using
FL-Photo and GIMP in Linux. They work fine there.

Cosmi has a $10 photo software that I don't recall the name of. It
is fairly okay. It also comes with a scrapbooking program for the
people that are into that. I actually picked it up for someone that
was looking for a scrapbooking program, because at the time it was the
only one I could find and it had a photo program with it. Office Depot
has that one.
It is a fairly good photo editor for the money. (Of course I had to
check out the photo editor!) This is in the rack of cheap software at
Office Depot in the CD size cases.
I think I have also seen this same program at CompUSA, but I am not
sure.

The people who have the Kodak cameras are not real happy with Kodak's
software.
Canon's own software for processing photos is pretty lame.
I had a Casio, and that software was fairly bad also.

To create DVD's that play on your DVD player, I am using Roxio Media
Creator. I have run into some problems with it. It has a 999 photo
limit. I do not care for Roxio as a photo editor. I am trying to
figure out QDVD author in Linux to accomplish this task, and having
some luck, but not as much as I would like. (I can only get one audio
file on a slide show right now, instead of an entire slide shows length
of audio, and I maxed out the memory that was allocated for the program
at around 700 photos. It doesn't have a limit set, just the amount
of memory that is allocated to the program, and it crashed around 700
photos.... I could most likely figure out some way to adjust the memory
so it would do more photos if I really needed it to.)

So there are a number of choices. You just have to find the one that
works for you. In Windows, I like PICASA2, and if it is more complex I
use GIMP. Beyond that I ask a Custom photo lab for help. I used to
use Adobe Photo Elements 2, however I don't even have that loaded on
my pc anymore. In Linux I use FL-Photo and GIMP, and beyond that ask a
Custom Photo Lab for help. (Normally, if I am asking them for help it
is something I am going to make a large print of ...something larger
then 13x19, as that is what my printer will do, or something that I am
entering into competition.)

roland

"shipping" writes:

Is Photo Elements 4 the software of choice for the amateur dslr user? Or can
you recommend something better?

Full PhotoShop. Or Picture Window Pro, maybe. Depends on the kind of
stuff you're trying to do and your personal style of working. I'm a
heavy user of adjustment layers with layer masks myself; PhotoShop CS
adding 16-bit adjustment layers is what finally moved me away from
Picture Window Pro for nearly everything (the one remaining problem is
how slowly Photoshop starts up).
--
David Dyer-Bennet, , http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/
RKBA: http://noguns-nomoney.com/ http://www.dd-b.net/carry/
Pics: http://dd-b.lighthunters.net/ http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/
Dragaera/Steven Brust: http://dragaera.info/

How about Corel Paint Shop Pro X? You can process RAW file format as
well, for a fraction of the cost of PS.

John A. Stovall wrote:
On Thu, 29 Dec 2005 08:21:24 -0500, "shipping"
wrote:

Is Photo Elements 4 the software of choice for the amateur dslr user? Or can
you recommend something better?


No, Adobe CS2 is the software of choice for serious amateur dSLR
users.


************************************************** **

"The booksellers are generous liberal-minded men."

Samuel Johnson
"Life of Johnson" (J. Boswell), Vol. I, 1756

"shipping" wrote in message
news:dpRsf.1607$CV.1112@dukeread03...
Is Photo Elements 4 the software of choice for the amateur dslr user? Or
can you recommend something better?

Elements 3 and 4 are so bloated it's not funny, like CS vs. CS2.

Elements 2 is pretty fast for making quick changes and I use it a lot for
quick stuff when loading CS or CS2 is overkill.

shipping wrote:
Is Photo Elements 4 the software of choice for the amateur dslr user? Or can
you recommend something better?



I don't use PE 4 but PE 4 appears to be a very good photo processing
program for amateur DSLR users who don't want to make a career of
processing their photos. But for just about the same amount of money, I
also think considering Corel's Paint Shop Pro X and Ulead's PhotoImpact
11 might well be worth looking at too. I don't think Paint Shop Pro X
(1) or PhotoImpact 11 (2) is as user friendly as Adobe's PE 4, but each
gives you a bit more program usage options than PE 4. That's important
to consider because your amateurish standing will change. The one big
advantage Adobe PE 4 will have over the other programs is availability
of third party filters. But now we're talking bigger bucks in spending.
I use Adobe CS and would upgrade to CS 2 but many of my third party
filters don't work in CS 2. Shame on Adobe, which may end up losing me
as a user.

(1) - Corel's Paint Shop Pro X appears to be a rehash of Jasc Paint Shop
Pro 9, before Corel bought the program from Jasc. Corel added a user
friendly palette to help amateurs understand the usefulness of the
tools. This is a very good feature and well worth considering but the
problem is the palette takes up a lot of area on the monitor.

(2) - Ulead's PhotoImpact 11 has a lot of "Goodies" which allows for
creative imaginations to cut loose. There's a lot of filter effects
that's built into the program that can be used to easily add pizazz to
photo's.

Each of these programs might be available on a trial basis and you might
well consider taking advantage of trying them out for about 30 days
before buying.

David Dyer-Bennet wrote:

Is Photo Elements 4 the software of choice for the amateur dslr user? Or can
you recommend something better?

Full PhotoShop. Or Picture Window Pro, maybe. Depends on the kind of
stuff you're trying to do and your personal style of working.

What I am missing in the PSE (and gimp which I quite like) is full color
management (including soft-proofing) and the lack of 16-bit editing.
For me these features are not worth the price difference, YMMV...

For printing I recommend the QImage - http://www.ddisoftware.com/qimage/
There is enough color-management for the serious amateur trying to print
on his photo-quality inkjet, including soft-proofing - it is just
not so practical as the 'live-view' in the full PS.

There is a promising open-source project too (a gimp fork)
where the beta is scheduled soon - might be an interesting alternative
for people wanting the color and 16-bits: http://cinepaint.movieeditor.com/

Regards
--
Stano