Photoshop vs. MS Digital Image, which is best?

Joss

Joss

Joined
Nov 20, 2001
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Question for photographers: which is best between Photoshop and Microsoft's Digital Image, and where are the main points of difference? Also, how material is the difference to you (e.g., if you could have one at a significant discount, would that change your mind?).

Thanks,

JD
 
Hi JD I would say Photoshop all the way....I work in the printing industry and thats the standard. Its that way for a reason.....Its just a better program.
 
Photoshop has way more features for editing and compositing, more than most people will ever need. It also costs 5x - 6x as much as the MS product, but if you need the features, its well worth it. For photo editing and retouching, you cant even compare the two.
 
I've used a handful of photo altering programs and have found Photoshop to be absolutely the best...by far. Also, I have a fascination with software which have the reputation as "the best."
 
I havent used that other product, but Adobe Photoshop easily the best photo editing software. Every other program I have tried tries to emulate Photoshop but falls short.
 
AFAIK, if you can find an old version (like 5.0) of Photoshop to buy, then you can upgrade directly to the newest version for a substantial savings compared to buying the latest version outright.
 
I use Photoshop and I've never heard of the other program. Photoshop is more than almost anyone needs. I'd like to suggest something like this deal here, Photoshop Elements FREE with a Wacom tablet.

http://www.wacom.com/graphire/index.cfm

You sure don't want to be doing any kind of graphics with a mouse.
Trust me I know. ;)
 
Photoshop is the industry standard and always has been. Several advantages are: There are a zillion "plug-ins" (plug-ins are programs that are specialized program enhancements) for photoshop available. Its the most versatile and is the leader in cutting edge development. Photoshop is also the gateway program for many top end graphic and video programs such as After Effects, Illustrator, In Design, Flash, Dreamweaver etc.
 
Joss,

That's like asking "Which tastes better, strawberry or sawdust?"

Photoshop wins by a wide margin over Microsoft Digital Image in literally every single category I can think of. And, yes, it really is the best currently available.

However... please don't take this as rude... but for you to ask this question makes me pretty confident that Photoshop is a lot more than you need, and that it would take you a long time to get to where you could understand, appreciate, and fully utilize its features. If you are certain that you are going to get serious about digital image editing, then you might as well begin with PS now. But if you're not, then you might want to consider some of the lesser... but also lower priced and easier to learn... alternatives, such as Photoshop Elements or Jasc Paintshop Pro. Even GIMP, iPhoto, and GraphicConverter... all of which are free... might be worth your consideration.

By the way, I photograph for a living, and have to use Photoshop on a a daily basis. Here's a gratuitously thrown-in example of my photography:

2607899-lg.jpg



Mike
 
Great photo, Mike!

I have used Photoshop for many years and still don't have a good understanding of its capabilities. I really should take a class in it. I usually just grab tutorials as I need them. That's another great thing about it being the industry standard: there are free tutorials all over the web that cover not only features within the program but little projects on how to add certain effects to your images.
 
Evolute said:
Photoshop is a lot more than you need, and that it would take you a long time to get to where you could understand, appreciate, and fully utilize its features. If you are certain that you are going to get serious about digital image editing, then you might as well begin with PS now. But if you're not, than you might want to consider some of the lesser... but also lower priced and easier to learn... alternatives, such as Photoshop Elements or Jasc Paintshop Pro.
Click to expand...

I do a lot of photography - and I'd agree for most non-professional and even some professionals PhotoShop is gross over-kill and the learning curve can be steep.

One would think I'd use PhotoShop but I don't mainly because for me it is gross overkill (and it costs a lot too). For most of my work I need something that is fast and does things by visual comparion - and I am not claiming for a moment it's the "best" - but from the sheer evidence I use it means it's "best" for my purposes - I use an older version of PhotoImpact by Ulead.

However getting back on track - I would second the recommendation of PhotoShop Elements - current version is 4.0 - but any version above 2.0 is going to fine. It contains just about all the essentials of PhotoShop - but with a much easier usage interface - it is one of "best" out there.

Take a look at this review at designer-info.com - they are a fine resource with reviews of lots of versions for most of the major photo editing software.
QUOTE: "Ultimately Photoshop Elements 4 demands more from its users than alternatives such as Corel Photo Album (see page ), but it gives a lot more in return. By focusing on what users want to do with their photos and working out how best to help them do it, Adobe has come up with a near-perfect partner for your digital camera. "

--
Vincent
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I only do simple basic stuff, I use PhotoFiltre which is free for private, non commercial or educational use.

I'd say that maybe you can download it and try it out, even if it is not enough for your needs it will give you a good idea of what this kind of products do.

Luis
 
when you start hearing people say from the other room "be right with you, I just have to MS Digital Image this" you'll have your answer. Until then most serious work is gonna get Photoshoped. If it's creative work there's a very good chance it will be worked on in "Live Picture" or on a very high end proprietary machine.
 
I also recommend Photoshop Elements for the average digital amateur photographer.
Is it relatively easy to use after some practice, and does 99% of things that you are likely to want to do with your "happy snaps".
Full version Photoshop is a superb program, but has a very steep learning curve. My local computer bookshop has something like 40+ books just on Photoshop alone!
For all the usual stuff like cropping, resizing, redeye reduction, cloning, colouring, colour enhancing and similar image manipulation, Elements is the way to go.
After you get the bug and want to go further, then invest in full version Photoshop.
Forget the MS programs.
 
Somebody mentioned Photoshop tutorials and someone else the number of books, nobody will ever learn all the things Photoshop can do.

This is another important consideration when you're thinking about getting a new program, how much help or support can you get with the program? Adobe is great for support, plus a quick Google search for Elements tutorials resulted in this...
http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=Adobe+Elements+tutorials&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

Did I mention before if you're going to be doing any kind of graphics or photo editing you want a Wacom tablet? :rolleyes:
 
Photoshop outstrips MS. Firstly invest on hardware that can make use of the difference. Decent camera/scanner and good printer.
 
There's a reason Microsoft, which has a reputation for being very predatory (look what they did to Netscape), hasn't really done much with DI. They realize that Photoshop is the entrenched industry gold standard so far ahead of everything else that there's just no hope for them to ever catch up.

And as long as we're posting examples, here's one I finished in Photoshop recently. Darrel and Zaza... it's hard to miss when you've got great material.

ddrzr21S.jpg



Click HERE for the high-res version.
 
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