PhotoShop CS5

[W3MIV]

Despite being a legendary cheapskate, a series of projects has forced my hand. Much as I admire The Gimp, it would not manage the work flow that I need. So, I masticated the minié and downloaded the latest issue of PhotoShop, CS5. I qualified for an upgrade price, thankfully.

Wow. This edition is astonishing. It even manages silhouetting around hair! The range of controls and the flexibility in the new Raw Process have been enhanced substantially, even for my ancient Canon.

There are a lot of image editors out there, but there is only one PhotoShop. CS5 earns a two tips of the Albi bowler.

[KG4CGC]

Congratulations! I was upset when I had to move to PS7 from PS5. Everyone I know out there is using CS3 and up. I'm still stuck in 1998. LOL! I've learned to adapt which is crucial when following tutorials.

[W4RLR]

Congratulations! I was upset when I had to move to PS7 from PS5. Everyone I know out there is using CS3 and up. I'm still stuck in 1998. LOL! I've learned to adapt which is crucial when following tutorials.I'm still using CS3. I got it when I was a student at Northwest Florida State at the education level price. Good thing, I can't afford the full retail for as little as I use it now.

[KG4CGC]

What kind of things have you used for, Richard?

[W3MIV]

Richard: I was using CS3 and just upgraded to CS5 for $199 --- a bitter pill, but one I really needed to take. It is downloadable from Adobe, but there downloading system is a bit strange and it may take some time after payment before you can actually download the file. You will need your former serial number as well as a newly issued serial number to install the program. The download is about 1 GB and the downloader you need to manage it is another few megabytes (two downloads). Both 64-bit and 32-bit programs are available; I downloaded the 64-bit flavor and both were downloaded and installed for some reason.

The new features are nothing short of astonishing, especially in refined abilities in outlining (vignetting to replace a background, for example) and the new "content-aware" setting for the "healing brush" is a major step forward. The menu structure is different from CS3, which is a PITA, but there is so much newly added that Adobe had to redistribute and reconfigure some of the menu items to adjust the new work flow. I went to Borders and shucked out another fifty bucks for "Adobe PhotoShop CS5 for Photographers," by Martin Evening (published by Focal Press) which contains a DVD that includes interactive help files and a series of Quick Time movies that, alone, were worth the fifty bucks. The book is very comprehensive and very heavy. ;)

Even though I no longer use other members of the Adobe Creative Suite, I find Bridge a very useful tool for managing images. Bridge has been improved substantially, and they have added a "Mini-Bridge" which is much smaller and more compact and can be kept attached to your various working palettes in the main window.

As I mentioned above, silhouetting hair is now not only possible, but it actually yields a good result. You can now take a model out of one background and put her over a different background and not have her head look like a football helmet. Masking tools now have a very strong "refine edge" tools that, while complex and a trial to learn to use effectively (the story of everything in PS, I think), is amazingly powerful.

The raw file processing module has been significantly improved as well. So well, in fact, it makes little sense to shoot in any other format (though the file sizes may be such that it limits burst shooting somewhat since it will take the camera longer to swallow each file). Raw also is both lossless -- a substantial advantage over jpeg -- and the original files from the camera are not permanently altered, so that you can go back again and again, making subtle changes to what you did earlier -- if you so choose.

Lotta money, but well worth the bite.

[WØTKX]

I have Photoshop 6.01 that was on a used PC, and I have been able to move/reinstall it on a newer on. I doubt I could upgrade it. Great program as it is, and I play with Gimp as well. But I was always more of a CAD/CAM guy, and loved doing 3D work.

I've been considering upgrading my free version of Sketchup from Google to the Pro version.

$495 for full blown 3D CAD is damn good.

[W1GUH]

I've been considering upgrading my free version of Sketchup from Google to the Pro version.



Just downloaded that, and was disappointed to see that rendering needs a plug-in. Can you recommend a renderer for it?

And re: Photoshop....

Have they yet realeased a version that only includes the image manipulation, and not all of the publishing stuff that I don't need? I'm thinking about getting Photoshop elements again...probably all the image processing I'll ever need.

[W3MIV]

PhotoShop Elements 9 should suit you.

[WØTKX]

I've only been doing wireframes in Sketchup, so far. And the lo res rendering such as it is.

Used to do 3DS Max, and Poser. They spoiled me.

[W1GUH]

I've only been doing wireframes in Sketchup, so far. And the lo res rendering such as it is.

Used to do 3DS Max, and Poser. They spoiled me.

My question may have been incomplete. I was talking about lighting.

Or, I may just find an old disk and use MaxEd -- the editor that came for free with the original Max Payne. Had lots of fun with that.

[n6hcm]

PhotoShop Elements 9 should suit you.

definitely. it took adobe entirely too long to figure this out, but photoshop elements is pretty awesome ... and unlike so many other "lite" versions this will read and write photoshop format image/workflow files.

[W1GUH]

How close is PS Elements 9 to its big brother in terms of image manipulation? Does it have those curves you can adjust? Does it have selective color? Will it do .CR2 files?

[W3MIV]

How close is PS Elements 9 to its big brother in terms of image manipulation? Does it have those curves you can adjust? Does it have selective color? Will it do .CR2 files?

I don't know what you mean by "selective color." Elements offers a good array of tools, but it is not PhotoShop and it lacks the sophistication that PS offers. I have a friend who shoots with a Pentax digital SLR and she loves Elements and does a lot of good work using it. You might also investigate The Gimp, which is open-source and available for Linux as well as Win.

I don't believe that Elements will manipulate raw files, but I am not sure. If you have a Canon camera, you should have the raw-file manipulation (DPP?) software that came with it.

[KG4CGC]

Usually you will need to use the software that came with the camera to convert the manufactures propriety raw format. It is different for each brand. Use the software to convert to .tif and then you can work it in PS and save it as whatever you want.

[W3MIV]

Usually you will need to use the software that came with the camera to convert the manufactures propriety raw format. It is different for each brand. Use the software to convert to .tif and then you can work it in PS and save it as whatever you want.

PhotoShop will handle just about any raw file out there, including the new open-source DNG raw files.. A much less expensive alternative for handling raw files is ACDSee Pro, which costs about a hundred bucks.

[W1GUH]

I don't know what you mean by "selective color." Elements offers a good array of tools, but it is not PhotoShop and it lacks the sophistication that PS offers. I have a friend who shoots with a Pentax digital SLR and she loves Elements and does a lot of good work using it. You might also investigate The Gimp, which is open-source and available for Linux as well as Win.

I don't believe that Elements will manipulate raw files, but I am not sure. If you have a Canon camera, you should have the raw-file manipulation (DPP?) software that came with it.

"...but it is not PhotoShop and it lacks the sophistication that PS offers. " That's what I remember from when I was using it. And, yes, the software that came with my G10 will convert .CR2 files to .TIF's. But what pain, it's an extra step, but at least you had the menu option of "Process in PhotoShop." IIRC, when I was investigating this there was a plug-in for PS for .CR2 files; bet that's NOT in Elements. Come to think of it, back when its price was "reasonable", I loved Paint Shop Pro. It had good image fix-up stuff and had great browsers for photos.

Had gimp for the "other" OS and I believe it's the one that DID have curves for manipulation. But it had a very strange UI that I'm not sure is worth the trouble of learning, at least for casual stuff.

[KG4CGC]

PhotoShop will handle just about any raw file out there, including the new open-source DNG raw files.. A much less expensive alternative for handling raw files is ACDSee Pro, which costs about a hundred bucks.
I guess the plug-ins are standard now?

[W1GUH]

PhotoShop will handle just about any raw file out there, including the new open-source DNG raw files.. A much less expensive alternative for handling raw files is ACDSee Pro, which costs about a hundred bucks.

But with a bad pun in the product name.....

But seriously, I just checked out the lasts PSP & it's price has come down and claims RAW capability. Gonna have to download the free trial (Ah, but gone are the days of "You are on day 279 of your 30 day free trial" :lol: I think).

[W3MIV]

Unless you plan to use your photos for publication, there is little to be gained for most people to take the added step of manipulating raw files. The advantages, however, far outweigh the inconvenience. A raw file can be manipulated to adjust every single creative aspect, and most of the photographic aspects. When shooting raw, all you need to worry about is your ISO setting and the basic exposure. Since there is no manipulation whatever taking place in the camera, nothing is lost in the image that was recorded by the sensor. When you shoot a JPEG file, the camera's processor makes the decisions about how to compress your image to make it fit an arbitrary size. Even though a TIFF is not compressed with a lossy algorithm, the camera is choosing what to keep and what to discard. With raw files, those decisions are left to you.

Read that line again. Color balance may be changed and reset anywhere along the spectrum of visible light. No worry about white point. No worry about fluorescent lighting or somebody's too-dim, too-red living room. The entire exposure range can be expanded or compressed as you wish. Best of all, once you have manipulated the frame and saved it as a TIFF or a JPEG file, the original raw file remains unchanged. It is a well you can go back to again and again, making subtler changes or more radical changes as you wish, all without touching the original. It is like having a film negative in the sleeve that you can put in your enlarger again and again and again.

The only drawback to raw is the size of the files. They are large, and they take a lot longer to move from the sensor through the digic to the storage medium. That limits the number of quick shots you can make.

[W1GUH]

Thanks, Albi. You nailed it about RAW files, and why I love them. Most of the time, the camera processing is OK -- but there are times when it's glaringly off. At those times I'm glad to have the RAW file to use.

And cheesh! The RAW files are BIG...but with an 8 GB card I can pretty much shoot all day in "Save RAW and JPG mode" and not come close to filling it. But you're right...it's time consuming to move them.

[w6tmi]

I don't believe that Elements will manipulate raw files, but I am not sure. If you have a Canon camera, you should have the raw-file manipulation (DPP?) software that came with it.

It does.. kinda. Been awhile, but seems like it would load it in, you can manipulate the chroma, color and all that, then save it in whatever (TIFF, PSD etc) and edit it.

This might have been using the Pentax raw format.

[kf0rt]

PhotoShop Elements 9 should suit you.

Been using Elements since Version 2. It's pretty sweet once you get the hang of it. Ran version 5 for a long time but now have version 9 (Costco: 50 bucks, who could resist?).

CS5? Well, if I was gettin' paid for this....

[W3MIV]

PhotoShop is definitely more than is needed for nearly any reasonable work on photographs. Most cameras come with software that permits manipulation that fits most people's needs; PhotoShop Elements brings together a lot of what PS offers the photographer in an easy and uniform workflow.

My need for PhotoShop is for managing graphics workflow more than photographic. The recent example of merging a series of shots (not properly shot by the photog for use as a panorama) to form a plausible background, then the silhouetting of twenty-one men and women, adjusting their color and lighting so that all of them are reasonably uniform (they were shot on different days in different locations) and making sure their "edges" were cleanly anti-aliased and did not show matting or color fringing from the original background from which each was lifted, then positioning them across the frame in a plausible pose so that the entire image would seem to have been a single shot from a super Widelux is an example of where PS shines. The new CS5 especially so.

It is a very expensive program, but when it comes to that sort of work there is nothing really comparable.