Gimp or photoshop what would you recommend?

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David
Edit My Images
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I use rawtherappee for editing raw files but I am wondering what I should use for other edits.
I am not planning to do anything fancy, but I want to a) remove dust b) change back grounds and cover some small annoying things.
In the past I have used GIMP, but I find really hard (probably I am the problem I am not that good with this sort of thing).

Should I a)try some more GIMP training or buy photoshop? (I am not very confident that I will be good with photoshop to be honest, I don't have very good control of a mouse or even a tablet).
 
You might find Lightroom easier than Photoshop and it has so many reasonably intuitive tools now you don't really need photoshop too.
I did use Gimp many years ago and there wasn't much at that time you couldn't do so I'd expect that's even more true now.
But the way they seemed to deliberately try to do things like photoshop in a slightly different way confuses a lot of people.
If you are reasonably familiar with it why not follow a few Youtube tutorials it can clearly do all you are wanting.
 
I would recommend Affinity Photo but there are other good editors out there. I would not recommend Photoshop - if you need to ask the question then Photoshop is overkill.
 
Photoshop - one hugely powerful computer with lots of memory (it ate a lot)
Elements (if it's still around) - cut down version
Gimp - free, a bit tricky to use initially, but can do a lot, just misses off the polished finish of photoshop (add ins - some are available, or you can write your own) -ve -> ufraw extra that doesn't always work with gimp...
Lightroom - I'm using this for 95% editting now with the leica files. Has a load of useful functions, quick and easy to pick up. Negatives are : monthly cost (10euros ish) sometimes the thumbnails don't show correctly, occassionally crashes or tools hang and requires a restart. I believe if you don't like it you can cancel the subscription though, so might be worth a try
 
Without being rude, it doesn't really sound like you know what you are doing, therefore for that reason given the cost of photoshop its overkill.

Removing a background successfully however is a pretty skilled job to do successfully, you ned a very steady hand, patience and skill.
 
I find Luminar 4 to be useful for all day to day tasks and the erase button cleans up dust, etc from my scans really well. You can remove backgrounds via layers though it isn't something I have tried. The new Luminar AI may automate stuff like that.
 
Removing dust and a bit of healing and cloning maybe an older version of Photoshop or Elements if it still exists.

For more complex background changes etc I think I'd be looking into Affinity now as a standalone program. Unless of course you want the Adobe subscription.

I remember trying Gimp many many years ago and just didn't get on with it at all.
 
In a word, Elements.
 
I use rawtherappee for editing raw files but I am wondering what I should use for other edits.
I am not planning to do anything fancy, but I want to a) remove dust b) change back grounds and cover some small annoying things.
In the past I have used GIMP, but I find really hard (probably I am the problem I am not that good with this sort of thing).

Should I a)try some more GIMP training or buy photoshop? (I am not very confident that I will be good with photoshop to be honest, I don't have very good control of a mouse or even a tablet).
Affinity Photo is half price at the moment and a very good choice for the cost of a couple of months of Adobe (or indeed at full price):
 
Gimp is fine but it is hard to find accurate up-to-date help and tutorials in my experience. As has been said above Affinity Photo is pretty much a no-brainer on the current half-price offer and there are good tutorials for most common things you want to do.
 
Everyone has their favourite software. I'd recommend On1 photoraw for its automated masking toolsools and all-round usability, but it's more expensive than Affinity.
 
Without being rude, it doesn't really sound like you know what you are doing, therefore for that reason given the cost of photoshop its overkill.

Removing a background successfully however is a pretty skilled job to do successfully, you ned a very steady hand, patience and skill.
Don't worry - I don't know what I am doing. I didn't know that changing a background is difficult that is annoying. I was hoping I could learn how to do that.

Affinity Photo is half price at the moment and a very good choice for the cost of a couple of months of Adobe (or indeed at full price):
Thank you and to who others who suggested this. I had not even thought about Affinity.
 
Elements is good and has a quick mode where the adjustments are limited but easy, it also has a dedicated background removal tool.
You can buy it outright so there are no ongoing charges. Most of the videos that you will see on youtube show the more complicated things but it does simple things quite - simply
 
Don't worry - I don't know what I am doing. I didn't know that changing a background is difficult that is annoying. I was hoping I could learn how to do that
Loads of people don't. Lots of people think it's easy. Click a couple of buttons. Done.

It's one of those internet myths and very wrong.

Basically if you have a very simple object. Very constrasty to the background, such as a black square in a white background then it's easy. The more you deviate from that the less and less likely any of the easy methods work.

None of the automatic solutions work anything beyond a basic have a bit of fun level. For anything proper your only choice is the pen tool, which is difficult to master.

Then you need to blend the background, not easy.

It's another example of shoot right in the first place takes a second. Swapping backgrounds can easily be 10 minutes plus. I spent 4 hours on one shot for a client recently swapping the background.
 
Loads of people don't. Lots of people think it's easy. Click a couple of buttons. Done.

It's one of those internet myths and very wrong.

Basically if you have a very simple object. Very constrasty to the background, such as a black square in a white background then it's easy. The more you deviate from that the less and less likely any of the easy methods work.

None of the automatic solutions work anything beyond a basic have a bit of fun level. For anything proper your only choice is the pen tool, which is difficult to master.

Then you need to blend the background, not easy.

It's another example of shoot right in the first place takes a second. Swapping backgrounds can easily be 10 minutes plus. I spent 4 hours on one shot for a client recently swapping the background.
In my defence I was talking to a friend about taking a profile photo for linkedin. I said remember to chose a good background and she said, "I will just change it in photoshop".
So either she is a genius at photoshop or doesn't know what she is doing.
 
In my defence I was talking to a friend about taking a profile photo for linkedin. I said remember to chose a good background and she said, "I will just change it in photoshop".
So either she is a genius at photoshop or doesn't know what she is doing.
It all depends on the result you want, for a fun edit it is quite easy and reasonably quick, for something to put on the wall it takes a bit/lot longer and for something that you wish to sell it can be very time consuming.
 
It all depends on the result you want, for a fun edit it is quite easy and reasonably quick,
Exactly this. there are free apps you can get for your phone for example that will change a background by pressing one button, and in all honesty they do an okish job.

And to use it on a little LinkedIn profile image is probably you know ok ish.

But this is absolutely worlds apart from doing it at a level where it looks seamless.
 
While I would certainly jump on Affinity at the current price, one (currently free) option you might want to play with is Luminar 3:


Since these are normally paid products the authors have had lot of stick for dropping support for earlier versions like 3 & 4 and leaving out features users had come to rely on in the next version (Luminar AI), so it may not be something you want to buy into or use as a key part of your workflow, but it might be fun to experiment with.
 
It all depends on the result you want, for a fun edit it is quite easy and reasonably quick, for something to put on the wall it takes a bit/lot longer and for something that you wish to sell it can be very time consuming.
Good point, seems that unless you are genius getting right in shot is so much easier (unless you can't for some reason).
 
Good point, seems that unless you are genius getting right in shot is so much easier (unless you can't for some reason).
Whilst it's not quick and easy to do a good cutout, with a bit of practice, it can soon become reasonably quick in Photoshop, I've done a few over the years, take a look at a few tutorials, loads on YouTube, but the likes of Aaron Nace, who has his own training website, with plenty of free content nothing he can't do in PS, another excellent tutor is Piximperfect, loads of content on YouTube, the key is don't be fazed by these things, just keep practicing.

View: https://youtu.be/2C9p23iffNA
 
Like all(?) Adobe products new versions appear every year...at a high cost.
Have used Elements since its inception and it is useful for basic manipulation and adjustments.
However the current version is 21 at a high cost...denoting the year. I have version 5 (2005) which copes adequately.
For a few pounds a boxed DVD of the product is available on EBay..... pick the price and the year that suits...£10...£20?

I use Capture One for the really up to date clever actions....The free 'Express' version is well on the way to the fully blown pro version and suits all my amateur needs.

adobe photoshop Elements | eBay
 
I have a question for all who suggested Affinity. I have downloaded a trial version and I currently am going through the training on linkedin.
However there is one question about editing raw files.
In rawtherapee, if I start editing a raw file, close it and then come back later all the changes are there.
However in Affinity they seem to have gone. This is annoying as in the course we spend 30 minutes going through changes and that is a bit long for me to do in one day as I have other things to do.
 
I have a question for all who suggested Affinity. I have downloaded a trial version and I currently am going through the training on linkedin.
However there is one question about editing raw files.
In rawtherapee, if I start editing a raw file, close it and then come back later all the changes are there.
However in Affinity they seem to have gone. This is annoying as in the course we spend 30 minutes going through changes and that is a bit long for me to do in one day as I have other things to do.

Affinity is a destructive editor - changes you make to the image are permanent and irreversible - to save the changes you must export the image at the end of the editing session. This is how Photoshop, Elements, GIMP etc work.

Rawtherapee is a non-destructive editor, using masks to apply the changes you make to an image. It remembers the changes but it does not changed the image underneath, so when you close and re-open the image, your changes are all there, but still fully editable. This is how Lightroom, Capture 1, DXO PL, On1 Photoraw etc work.
 
Affinity is a destructive editor - changes you make to the image are permanent and irreversible - to save the changes you must export the image at the end of the editing session. This is how Photoshop, Elements, GIMP etc work.

Rawtherapee is a non-destructive editor, using masks to apply the changes you make to an image. It remembers the changes but it does not changed the image underneath, so when you close and re-open the image, your changes are all there, but still fully editable. This is how Lightroom, Capture 1, DXO PL, On1 Photoraw etc work.
I don't think so, at least that's not how my copy works. There is a RAW converter and then you are into a layers based graphics editor, from there you Save/Save As and it saves a copy as *.afphoto, just like Photoshop saves a TIFF, it does not overwrite the raw file.

@davholla I imagine you are opening the RAW again, which will remain unchanged, you need to open the .afphoto file and then you can carry on editing.
 
I think Affinity Photo is complementary to something like Raw Therapee rather than a replacement for it. Affinity only has a very basic raw converter that doesn't store edits in sidecar files and doesn't have a 'light table' style image browser. I generally use Nikon Capture NX-D or another dedicated raw converter for the initial selection, culling and conversion to tiff. I then import this into Affinity (or PS CS6) for further editing if required.
 
I don't think so, at least that's not how my copy works. There is a RAW converter and then you are into a layers based graphics editor, from there you Save/Save As and it saves a copy as *.afphoto, just like Photoshop saves a TIFF, it does not overwrite the raw file.

@davholla I imagine you are opening the RAW again, which will remain unchanged, you need to open the .afphoto file and then you can carry on editing.
I think that's just a question of terminology. Affinity Photo leaves the raw file untouched, so you can always go back to it, but its raw conversion is 'destructive' in the sense that you can't re-use and selectively roll back the edits in the Develop persona, as you can with raw converters like Raw Therapee that save raw edits as sidecard files - you have to start from scratch if you change your mind about anything you did in Develop.
 
I think that's just a question of terminology. Affinity Photo leaves the raw file untouched, so you can always go back to it, but its raw conversion is 'destructive' in the sense that you can't re-use and selectively roll back the edits in the Develop persona, as you can with raw converters like Raw Therapee that save raw edits as sidecard files - you have to start from scratch if you change your mind about anything you did in Develop.

Yup. :)
 
With Affinity Photo, you can save as a .afphoto file which contains all the history which allows you to reconsider the conversion. You need to tell Affinity that you want to save history first in Preferences.
 
With Affinity Photo, you can save as a .afphoto file which contains all the history which allows you to reconsider the conversion. You need to tell Affinity that you want to save history first in Preferences.
This may just be me, as I don't use raw conversion much in AP, but I can't see an obvious way of reverting what I did before hitting 'Develop'. The 'Save History with Document' option becomes available only when development is complete and AP switches to the Photo persona. From then on, I can save save the edit steps and see them in the History panel when I re-open a file, but not the pre-Develop stuff - e.g., open a raw file, convert it to B&W, Develop it, save the file with history, and re-open it. Is it possible to revert the B&W conversion without starting from scratch?
 
I think that's just a question of terminology. Affinity Photo leaves the raw file untouched, so you can always go back to it, but its raw conversion is 'destructive' in the sense that you can't re-use and selectively roll back the edits in the Develop persona, as you can with raw converters like Raw Therapee that save raw edits as sidecard files - you have to start from scratch if you change your mind about anything you did in Develop.
Well your terminology is wrong :)
 
Well your terminology is wrong :)
I think we're stuck with it, probably because it suits the companies selling 'non-destructive' editors!

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