first post

[garry35]

hello everybody my name is Garry and i live in the UK, i have been dabbling with various photo packages and normally end up coming back to painshop pro. i have attempted to restore scanned photos and digital images, with mixed results and nowhere as good as the pro's or veteran users. now i have found this forum i look forward to learning new techniques and making new friends.

i have limited funds so photoshop is out of reach for me, and use paintshop pro for most needs but i am pretty sure i havent scratched the surface of its capabilities. my question is how does it compare to photoshop in general usage for somebody of my very limited knowledge. can i use the techniques and tutorials here in PSP ?

thanks in advance

Garry.

[Tony W]

Re: first post

Welcome Garry to RetouchPro. I am sure you will enjoy yourself and learn a lot.

I haven't used PSP for many years but I am sure it is a very capable program and as you have noticed takes a lot of effort to scratch the surface like many comparable programs. I guess that it compares quite well to Photoshop and you should be able to use/adapt the techniques shown here. There are I believe a number of forum users that prefer PSP so you may get advice on how to tackle a particular aspect/technique that is shown in Photoshop.

You may also want to consider investing some time and looking at The Gimp - which is freeware/shareware? Complicated - yes, but maybe worthwhile.

Comparison of features Here

[Craig Walters]

Re: first post

i use psp almost exclusively. i have x3. you can do most anything you need to do in restorations with psp, most older versions included. it's generally easier to learn, but not quite the power of photoshop. it's true power is in handling existing images, not so much in making new ones. but for restorations is does just fine. you will have to contend with the fact that most tutorials for graphic editors are fo ps and not psp, but there's a sufficient number for psp to make out just fine.

but, the real trick with learning psp doesnt lie with tutorials. it lies in learning the tools themselves. learn the tools and know them well and you'll find yourself making your own tutorials.

i shld also point out that that comparison of features that tony posted isnt quite right or at least just a bit deceptive. for instance, you can open psd files in psp. not sure you can save them that way, but you can open them. and the list is mostly right.

and my welcome to RP, also