GIMP 2.6

M

markewan

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Edit My Images
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Hiya to everyone on talkphotography!

I'd just like to ask everyone if the photo editing software called GIMP 2.6 is any good compared to PHOTOSHOP.
I'm a beginner in photography terms I've just bought a Nikon D3000 and work on a cruise ship so I'm going to some amazing places, i can really see the difference a digital SLR gives you!

Basically my question is do all photographers use these types of software to enhance there photos or is the quality of the camera it's self enuf?
 
You'll definitely need some kind of editing software. On here, the popular ones seem to be photoshop, Photoshop elements or lightroom. I also believe aperture for the mac is very good.

I've not actually used any if these and do use GIMP. I find it to be very good and quite easy to use. In my opinion, it's more than good enough for the majority of users, but I think I'm probably in the minority with that opinion and don't have the experience of the other packages to make a good evaluation.

If I was going to buy some software, I'd probably go for Photoshop elements because there are always lots of tutorials in the magazines that cover it. I'm sure there are lots of people on here that will be able to give you better reasons than that though.
 
Nothing wrong with The Gimp, in fact, for free software it is excellent! There are many, many developers for Gimp as it is freeware and a search will bring lots of plug-ins and add-ons.
I used it for about 2 years before I bought PhotoShop Elements, and still use it occasionally.
One of the best sites for Gimp tutorials is HERE it helped me out a lot.
Another site for Gimp tweaks is HERE.
Give it a try, what can you loose?
 
wontolla said:
Nothing wrong with The Gimp, in fact, for free software it is excellent! There are many, many developers for Gimp as it is freeware and a search will bring lots of plug-ins and add-ons.
I used it for about 2 years before I bought PhotoShop Elements, and still use it occasionally.
One of the best sites for Gimp tutorials is HERE it helped me out a lot.
Another site for Gimp tweaks is HERE.
Give it a try, what can you loose?
Click to expand...
Just a pedant moment, sos, it's open source which is technically not freeware, though as far as an end-user is concerned, much the same thing :)
I use it and as well as the great links above, take a look at:
'official' gimp tutorials A decent starter point.
G'Mic plugins, massive set!
Fx-Foundry, also decent set of useful plugins.
 
Carter64 said:
Just a pedant moment, sos, it's open source which is technically not freeware, though as far as an end-user is concerned, much the same thing :)
Click to expand...

Even the Gimp website describes it as freeware! Admmitedly, they are not the same, but it can be open source AND freeware!
Indeed, it has been voted as the best ever open source freeware.
I can split hairs too! :thumbs:
 
I've tried them all and stick with the Gimp from choice :shrug:

You can get a free Photoshop trial. Maybe get a photo that needs some tweaking and do it in both to see which you prefer.

For your question, if you shoot in JPEG then I don't think you need to improve the pictures by editing them as the camera will do sharpening and some image processing. IMO it's very handy to be able to rescue photos in an editor;fixing horizons, change colour balance, cropping out unwanted bits, tweak exposure, etc.
 
wontolla said:
Even the Gimp website describes it as freeware! Admmitedly, they are not the same, but it can be open source AND freeware!
Indeed, it has been voted as the best ever open source freeware.
I can split hairs too! :thumbs:
Click to expand...
Doesn't it say 'freely distributable'? That hair's getting thinner :)
I think the difference is generally freeware can still have the code closed/copyrighted, whereas open source can't be closed, (Though it's been a while since I read the GPL), so clever clogs can write plug-ins , skins and stuff, then bundle them and redistribute. Free, of course :)

Anyway, regardless, it doesn't cost anything :D
 
Another +1 for gimp here. And Gimp 2.8 shouldn't be too far away either. It takes a bit of leanring to get used to but once you get used to layers, masks and opacity etc then things are pretty straight forward.
 
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