Paint Shop Pro vs Photoshop

[Alison]

I have never tried the free Serif software, but am told that it is pretty good for a free program.

http://www.freeserifsoftware.com/

I started out using PSP and switched to PS, I have never tried Elements.

[DannyRaphael]

Originally Posted by albatrosss

...I was considering Photoshop as a gift for my grandson who is fairly proficient using Photoshop on my computer.

Assuming your grandson is going to school, he should qualify for the 'educational/academic' versions of software, which are exactly same as 'standard' versions, only discounted ~ 50% or more. Proof of student eligibility required, e.g., faxing a student ID or the like Google: academic software

For ultimate savings, shop eBay for software. I just did a little price surfing and found PSP 9.0, X, XI can be had for $12-$40.

And before I get flamed for suggesting eBay...

I've shopped eBay for years for older editions of software (I'm thrifty, too) and have never had any problems with registration or authenticity. It does help to know what to watch for, that I'll give you.

Did somebody already ask, "Have you asked your grandson if he has a preference?"

If he's "really into" taking photos and image editing/manipulation, and you think there's a chance he might pursue that as a career, Photoshop would be my recommendation because of industry ubiquity. If it's for fun/a hobby/casual use, PSP should be fine. If he's handy with PS now, he probably won't have much difficultly figuring out how to get equivalant results with PSP.

[hkhailey]

There is an integration factor, too.

With Paint Shop Pro, you could use Corel Photo Album (or it's replacement,Snapfire, Paint Shop Pro version XI's browser may have the capability, I'm not sure) and Corel's Shutterfly Photo storage to turn it into an all around integrated system.

From Capture to Sharing, Albums and Collections, making sample VCD's And DVD's, making products with your images, handling client orders and many more things can be handled. And fairly gracefully, I might add.

I recently did a wedding shoot. Plugged in my camera and it started up Photo album 6, it downloaded the Images. I culled the bad shots and had about 350 left (I use multiple exposure mode, almost guarantee's at least one good shot in a series), Sorted into 5 collections (Samples, Rehearsal, the Wedding, Poses, The Reception) edited a few for the Sample Collection, then posted all 5 collections to Shutterfly and burned it to a CD Slideshow. Then sent a share invitation to the bride with instructions to email the numbers of the photo's that she would like Processed and any embellishments. The Sample Collection alone, mainly of the ceremony and a couple of poses were ready for her to print or share or make a wedding book with or coffee cups, pot holders mouse pads or whatever (she can order them from Shutterfly). The others photos are available for her to decide what she wants done with, which takes a lot of the burden off of me.

Im still refining my process and am thinking seriously getting a Shutterfly storefront.

But the way Paint Shop Pro integrates with the Album(and I'm sure Snapfire is better) and Shutterfly is simply Cool.

I'm sure that Photoshop has a system in place, too. But, for the money The Corel route "seems" to be the better value, at least for me.

Keith Hailey

[albatrosss]

I reviewed the PSP Dummies Book and if I didn't know better I would have thought that I was looking at a Photoshop discussion. Many things seem to be the same including the Icons. What came first, PSP or Photoshop? Have there every been any suits for copywrite problems? If not I wonder why.

Thanks for the long discussions and information. If I find a really cheap copy of PSP on ebay I just may buy it to see for myself how it compares with Photoshop.

Thanks again to all of you.

[hkhailey]

I don't know which one was first. But, I was using Jasc's Paintshop (DOS) in 1989 when you could download a free trial from BBS's. The first version of Paintshop Pro I used was the same way in 1990 or 91. It was version 3, I can't remember if it was DOS or Windows.

It was a cool and powerful program even back then. I used it for graphics in my lectures and overhead presentations when I taught in the Air Force from 1989 to 1992.

Keith

[Steve Conway]

Originally Posted by albatrosss

I reviewed the Paint Shop Pro Dummies Book and if I didn't know better I would have thought that I was looking at a Photoshop discussion. Many things seem to be the same including the Icons. What came first, Paint Shop Pro or Photoshop? Have there every been any suits for copywrite problems? If not I wonder why.

Thanks for the long discussions and information. If I find a really cheap copy of Paint Shop Pro on ebay I just may buy it to see for myself how it compares with Photoshop.

Thanks again to all of you.

Before you buy, check PSP price here.

http://www.clickcooldeals.com/contact_us.php

Steve C.

[GerryB]

As for having to purchace Photoshop for the Mac, I was a PC user until a year ago. I had CS2 on my PC. All I did was call Adobe. They had me fill out a "Letter of Destruction" for the PC copy and send it to them. They sent me a boxed copy of CS2 for free. That's all there was to it. So don't worry about having to buy another copy of Photoshop for a new Mac.

BTW, I've had my Mac for a year and a half now and I love it! I should have done this years ago.

[albatrosss]

GerryB,

Thanks for the info. Will strongly consider Mac when I finally buy a new computer especially since I had no idea that Adobe would be so cooperative.

[Kraellin]

adobe is remarkly friendly and generous. i've been quite pleased in all my phone dealings with them.

ok, folks; i think that about covers the major points of this. i'm moving this now to the software forum where you can continue to discuss it if you wish.