Photoshop vs GIMP

Harlequin565

Harlequin565

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8,684
Name
Ian
Edit My Images
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Hi all,

I've just been getting my toes wet with running Linux as an OS instead of Windows on an old laptop. Basically want to see what it's capable of compared to what my Windows machine does.

I work with UNIX & LINUX machines at work, so I'm not a complete noob when it comes to command line stuff, and I have to say that as a desktop machine, I really really like it.

So, in terms of completely switching over, my only concerns are photographic at the moment.

I have CS3, LR2 and Photomatix as my digital darkroom workflow. I understand I have 2 options:

1. Run the existing software on WINE in the LINUX environment.
2. Ditch it all and move to GIMP.
3. Ditch LR & CS3 & keep Photomatix on WINE.

I've hear that GIMP is a powerful utility, and also that it is being revamped with a better, more intuitive UI, so I'm happy to start from scratch to learn something new, however, I want to be able to at least continue to do the things I can do in CS3 and LR2.

I'd like the following functionality:

Photoshop:
- Levels
- Curves
- Layers and masking
- Cropping
- B&W conversion with control (channel mixer or equivalent)
- Hue/Saturation
- Sharpening (high pass filter currently used in CS3)

As far as Lightroom goes, I generally use this as a cataloguing tool, of which there are plenty on LINUX. However the big thing LR has (for me) is the export facility. I have a preset for exporting for Web (convert .dng to .jpg, 72 ppi, 800px longest side and export to Web Folder) as well as Photobook (convert .dng to .tiff, 300dpi and export to Photobook folder) and Print (convert .dng to .tiff, 300dpi, 10" longest side and export to Print folder) and Photomatix (convert .dng to .tiff and export to Photomatix folder)

Anyone have any thoughts?

Thanks in advance,

Ian.
 
Why not just try Gimp anyway as it's free. They have a 64 bit version too. I use it mainly for the pre sorted scripts (make seamless as an example) for backgrounds. The text scripts are also very good. About 3 clicks instead of a bunch in photochop. I do mainly use CS3 for editing though.
 
Thanks for the replies guys.

Looks like I'll be taking a few tutorials to get my head round it. It's amazing how you get used to a particular UI, and then when you get another one, you're back to square one.

Ian.
 
Why not go completely Linux native and get Bibble 5 Pro? You can use this alongside GIMP.
 
IIRC there's a plugin, possibly called GIMPShop, that gives the GIMP a more PhotoShop like UI. That may help ease the pain of switching.
 
King_Boru said:
Why not go completely Linux native and get Bibble 5 Pro? You can use this alongside GIMP.
Click to expand...

Yep. For the cost of $200.... I already have Lightroom on Windows. The idea was to stick with something I didn't have to pay for, or pay to keep upgrading which is where my real bugbear lies. (and I know that there are development costs etc, but lets face it, CS4 is mildly overpriced to the average photographer)

Jim.R said:
IIRC there's a plugin, possibly called GIMPShop, that gives the GIMP a more PhotoShop like UI. That may help ease the pain of switching.
Click to expand...

That's really helpful. Just need to download it and trial it now :) Thanks!

Ian.
 
I use Linux as my day to day OS on my laptop and desktop but unfortunately I've found that UFRaw isn't really up to processing Canon's RAW files. It's slow, buggy and unintuitive. That and it doesn't read picture style settings means that it defaults all the sliders to zero which means you have to start all over again!

On a side not, Photomatix runs under WINE and so does DPP 3.4 but 3.8 will apparently also work with a bit of hacking about. Not got it working yet though! If you're used to using UNIX machines then I'd suggest getting a Mac. It's what I'm doing as soon as I can afford one :D
 
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