While Twittering (or Tweeting, or whatever the blasting thing is called), a few people were having discussions on photo editing software. I’m a big fan of the Paint Shop Pro series. I was unable to discuss it much on Twitter (I’m still struggling with that 140 character limit, sheesh), so I thought I’d post about it here. I own PSP 8, 9, and 10! I love Paint Shop Pro. Why, you ask?
IT’S CHEAPER THAN ADOBE PHOTOSHOP!!!!
There is NO WAY I’m going to shell out $300, 400, $600 for Adobe Photoshop, not unless it cooks my meals and vacuums my rooms, too. Wow. Maybe a big business could afford that price, but not little ol’ me! Paint Shop Pro is a “middle class” editing software. It does just about everything Adobe Photoshop does, just 75% less expensive.
I’ve seen Paint Shop Pro on sale at Buy.com lots of times, and they have some of the older (read: cheaper!) versions, too. I saw Paint Shop Pro Photo XI for under $20 brand new! They also have Paint Shop Pro X2 Ultimate for $65 (retail is $100). The Paint Shop Pro X version that I like is out of stock (they go fast at Buy.com) but they add to their inventory frequently. There are loads of various versions- you have to know what you want to use it for. I do a lot of graphic design with photo editing, so I like the “basic” Paint Shop Pro programs.
Someone asked me if Paint Shop Pro is hard to use. Well… at first, yes. There’s a definite learning curve. But I have one word for you newbies: LAYERS. Once you realize that everything revolves around layers, using the software is much, much easier. I’ve been using the various PSP programs for about 2 years now, and I’m still learning new stuff every day. One really great book series for PSP (and for everything) is the “For Dummies” books. I have one for PSP 8 (it’s a GREAT book), but I’m going to get one for PSP 10, too- Paint Shop Pro “X” For Dummies. Buy.com is selling this book for under $18 (that’s including the shipping). There are loads and LOADS of other book tutorials on PSP at Buy.com, too- do a search and you’ll see a whole bunch. The prices are good (discounted) and usually most have free shipping.
There are other free inage editing programs, like GIMP. I once tried GIMP but found it confusing (and because it was free, I had less incentive to push past the confusion). But PSP is a much better deal, I think, than paying $25 a year for online photo editing use (like Piknik which is through Flickr). I have experienced Piknik when it’s had hiccups, and haven’t been very impressed with it in general. Plus, I prefer to own my software myself, and not have to be online to use it.
So that’s my opinion. There was NO WAY I could get all that into Twitter!
16. July 2009 at 1:16 pm
Thanks for the information. I found it very interesting. I could really us some software for my pictures. I have many idea’s and just don’t know how to do it. I’m going over to Buy.com and check it out.
16. July 2009 at 2:24 pm
I have Paint Shop 9 and I love it… the parts I understand. I’m totally with you. I ain’t buying Photo Shop either!
23. July 2009 at 1:42 pm
I am definitely going to read more about PSP. Santa brought me Adobe Photoshop 7 for Xmas, and even the lil Dummies book to go with it. It’s so confusing. I recently tried to create a teeny lil Favicon - it’s still a work in progress! I can only do basic, basic photo editing after 7 months.
25. July 2009 at 11:08 am
Yes, Photoshop is SOOO overrated. If you have to take a college course to figure it out, it’s TOO much! Thanks for your comments!