Picture Editing Software Idea's

[JDobbsy1987]

Hi,

Can someone please advise what software would be good to use to do the following (I would like to avoid PhotoShop for this - Explanation below):

• Re-Size Image
• Increase/Decrease Lighting
• Cut Parts of Images

The reason i ask is some people in our company are after 3 PhotoShop licenses to do the above but the cost seems a little excessive for what i believe to be small changes to an image. Fair enough if they are designing all day but they just want to edit a few images.

Something free or of a lower cost than PhotoShop.
Any ideas?

Regards,
JDobbsy1987

 

[mickey megabyte]

paint.net

cost? £0.00

it can

• resize
• adjust brightness/contrast
• crop
• ...and loads more

i would use it all the time if i wasn't lucky enough to use photoshop.

 

[4Gig]

I know some people don't like it, but the GIMP works just great for those types of things.

GIMP - The GNU Image Manipulation Program

 

[noyb]

The new Adobe Photoshop Elements version 9 has all the image editing tools of the new CS5 .. for about 1/10th the price of CS5.

See Here about 2:30 into the movie for the new Content aware feature ..
now in Elements 9 ...
and later for the swim suit repair tool :roflmao:

Once you get started into editing .. You may want the better tools

 

[mickey megabyte]

content aware is great - does it have the spot-healing brush too?

this took me about ten minutes...

 

[xarden]

We've replace Gimp with Paint.net for preference of the latter.
Either one are possibly the best alternative. It'll do anything you want, except make your coffee.

Mickey and 4Gig have the links.

Edit: Good work there, Mickey

 

[noyb]

content aware is great - does it have the spot-healing brush too?

Yes .. Content Aware Spot healing is in the New Elements also.
One tool I seem to use a lot is the Shadow/Highlight to fix minor Over/Under exposure problems due to lighting.
Not sure if the freebees has this tool

 

[PooMan UK]

FastStone Image Viewer will cover all your concerns and more + it's free, lightweight & easy to use

 

[noyb]

this took me about ten minutes...

What took you so long ??
A click .. then a Shift+Click will join the clicks in a Straight (clothes) line.
This should cut the time down to about 30 seconds using content Aware Spot Healing.

 

[mickey megabyte]

taking out the pole, and getting the decking slats to align was the tricky bit...it's still not perfect, if i spent more time i could do better...

 

[noyb]

• Re-Size Image
• Increase/Decrease Lighting
• Cut Parts of Images

I have Irfanview installed as my System Default Image Viewer and Editor ..
And Jump to Photoshop when I need "More Power" .. (as Tim the Toolman would say)
Irfanvew can quickly Crop, Resize, Convert and adjust lighting ..
But there can be more to the subject of Lighting and Color adjusting than the simple Editors are equipped for.
These problems are usually a one click fix in Elements.

 

[The Howling Wolves]

Picasa is another free software to consider...
Free picasa.com Download - picasa.com Files

 

[PooMan UK]

Irfanvew can quickly Crop, Resize, Convert and adjust lighting ..
But there can be more to the subject of Lighting and Color adjusting than the simple Editors are equipped for.
These problems are usually a one click fix in Elements.

I think it's more of a brightness/contrast thing that they maybe looking for so Infranview or FastStone should be good enough, but like you say if more precision is needed then a more powerful prog may be required.

 

[brady]

paint.net

 

[noyb]

Here's some recommended Freeware Image Editors ... and Viewers

To show one of Elements Features, The Shadow/Highlight tool ... I tried to find a photo with Problems.
Elements knows what is Light and Dark .. And I told it to bring up the dark's about 50% .
about a 10 second adjustment while I decided what I wanted
The Panorama was made in Irfanview Quickly .. Then it was resized to 800 pixels wide.

I'm not sure if any of the freeware editors can do this lighting adjust.
After >> Before

 

[JDobbsy1987]

Thank you for all these ideas and tips, this will help a lot!!

i will over the next week or 2 give them all a go and see what i think of them

 

[noyb]

The more Editing Power a program has ....
The longer it takes to load before you can use it .. and the more complicated it becomes.

My criteria is to do ~90% of my everyday work in something that's fast and relatively simple ..
Then, When I need More Power .. use the Best.
Good luck on your decision.

Elements has a full trial version .. I think it's good for 30 days