new to this whole thing...

[Corsair5517]

Hiya gang; just looking to pick a few brains that are much more able than mine so please bear with me...

I've just bought a DSLR and am in the market for an aftermarket image processing program as I can't really follow the Nikon one - I'm a Luddite at heart! I've looked at PS Elements 6 but it seems to have mixed reviews so I'm not really any further ahead; I have Illustrator 10.0.3; is that a suitable program for a learner, and if not, well, I'm all ears - what do you guys recommend for a newbie??

 

[design-is]

Hi there

Illustrator isn't an image editor I'm afraid, it's a vector graphics tool. Photo's are bitmap graphics.

Photoshop, or Elements if you can't stretch the budget are probably the best options for you. However, if you want a free alternative, you can look at Gimp - though it isn't quite as intuitive to use I hear.

 

[UltraNEO*]

Hiya gang; just looking to pick a few brains that are much more able than mine so please bear with me...

I've just bought a DSLR and am in the market for an aftermarket image processing program as I can't really follow the Nikon one - I'm a Luddite at heart! I've looked at PS Elements 6 but it seems to have mixed reviews so I'm not really any further ahead; I have Illustrator 10.0.3; is that a suitable program for a learner, and if not, well, I'm all ears - what do you guys recommend for a newbie??

What is it your planning to do? Are you thinking more along the lines of development your images, a spot of colour correction etc or is it more of image manipulation, touch-ups etc?

 

[Corsair5517]

Thanks so far guys; I'm just looking at basic image correction, a bit of sharpening up; you know, the sort of thing that iPhoto doesn't quite do. I have Photoimpression too - don't know where that came from! - and I find it a bit 'clunky'; not at all intuitive!
The reason I looked at PS Elements was that, by and large, it seems well liked and very easy to use but the reviews I've read of V.6 aren't that encouraging; what do you guys reckon?
I have to say that, by and large, I'm as happy as a dog with 2 dicks with the Apple software and the APE 6 users indicate that the UI isn't that easy to negotiate , and I need a really simple UI - I'm a really simple chap!!

I've just had a crack at downloading Gimp, which has told me that I need X11 to run, which I dutifully installed off the disc but the program still won't run. It's sitting in mac/library/receipts atm; is that where it should be?

 

[ezekielrage_99]

If you're just going to do basic image/photo editing (levels, blur/sharpen, colour, tec...) then Pixelmator is probably going to be your best bet, I would recommend downloading a trial from the web site.

Pixelmator Web Site

 

[Corsair5517]

Hey, that's very cool; thank you very much for that!!