adobe photoshop or the gimp?

nisibdv

I am about to design some templates for a couple of sites and facing the time demanding task of learning to use some drawing-image editing program. To the best of knowledge the best programs are photoshop (windogs) and the Gimp (linux) but know both take some considerable time to learn to work with.

I am eager of people to tell me about their own experience in the learning process of both image editing programs, because I don't have much time and, having the possibility to use both windows or linux, one to learn how to use only one of them.

csoftdev

gimp is free software, photoshop is a paid one, so it depends on what you want and how much you are willing to spend as photoshop is quite an expensive software. for me and if you are familiar enough with gimp, you can achieve most of the things in gimp wihtout the use of photoshop.

Phil · Last edited by Phil on Tue Apr 01, 2008 9:16 pm; edited 1 time in total

I'm hardly a professional designer, so I tend to use simpler graphics for my sites. Lots of text for headings and photo resizing.
I've used GIMP for years and never had much trouble. A friend gave me and older copy of Photoshop a while back and all I can say is I’m finding it difficult to get into. I know what I do can be done in Photoshop, but I actually find it a pain to do even simple things with it, so I keep going back to GIMP.
The Windows version of GIMP, I think it's like 2.4. Something, actually works very well compared to early versions. Very stable. And another pleasant development is the number of resources for GIMP that is now available on the web. A few years ago it was very hard to find any up to date resources. Now there are at least a handful of informative sites and forums.
My biggest complaint about GIMP has got to be its interface. The windows are all......"separate and indivual" -- for lack of a better description. Any clicking outside any of the active GIMP windows will send them all to minimize land at the bottom of the screen. There are steps you can take to work with this, but it's a pain never the less.
It's funny. When you ask a question like "GIMP or Photoshop".
Hardcore Adobe fans will claim there is no alternative -- I think they're sub-consciously justifying paying that outrageous price.
Hardcore GIMP fans will claim they can do everything that Photoshop users can do -- I think many of these tend to be against-the-grain, anti-establishment types. Or maybe their just cheap and don't want to admit it. (Although for the average guy, it's hard to find a good reason to pay $800-$1000 to "try out" a single program)
My advice to you would be try GIMP out. If it does what you want, great. If not, cough up the bucks and buy Photoshop -- You can probably find some good deals on Ebay.

Shewolf

I have to agree with Phil here: try GIMP first, and if you do have a lot of money you want to spend, then buy Photoshop.
Personally I used Photoshop for ages, but due to some computer change and lack of money I am now trying to get used to GIMP. Compared to Phil I got the same, yet opposite problems. - as I know Photoshop inside out and am pretty new to GIMP.
For basic use I suppose none of them are better than the other. It's just a different piece of software, that's all Smile

Phil

Shewolf,
There is a program called GIMPShop. It supposedly makes GIMP more like Photoshop.
I've never really tried it, though I plan on it in the near future.
Maybe it will make your transistion a little smoother.

snowboardalliance

I use both.
I'd say go with GIMP, it's free to get into and I had no problem learning it. If you do switch to photoshop though, you may have some trouble at first. I found that a lot of things are different, but now I can use either.

bulek

I'm far away from professional designer but I have worked in both programs. In my opinion, user interface in Photoshop is much better and clear. It also has more functions, filters, tools, etc. You will find much more tutorials for Photoshop as well, even whole DVD's.
But on the other side, GIMP is totally free and if you are planning to make business with designing, you will either have to buy Photoshop our just you it's open-source alternative GIMP.

deadbeat136

ive used gimp and photoshop i prefer gimp its alot easier to learn

catscratches

I prefer GIMP to Photoshop since it's a lot more customizable and the interface is wonderful once you learn to use it. Photoshop's interface is more like Paint, easy to learn, but such a pain in the ass.

Studio Madcrow

I happen to like GIMP for a lot of stuff, but it has one big problem, namely the fact that it doesn't support color depths deeper than 8 bits per pixel (24 bit RGB or 32 bit RGBA) If they ever get it working with 16 bits per pixel, I'll be happy...

I love the new healing brush tool, though.

Da Rossa

Photoshop.

welshsteve

I cannot stand The Gimp. It's interface is horrible to use. Give me Photoshop any day

I've tried Paint Shop Pro in the past, but prefer Photoshop.

However, for people on a budget I can understand them using The Gimp, although a far better alternative for me is Paint.NET (www.getpaint.net). For a free program it's very powerful. It requires the .NET framework, which you should have installed anyway.

HamsterMan

b4r4t

If You starting with this then first try GIMP ... because if You learn on photoshop You will stuck with it because GIMP isn't as good as Adobe software.
But when You try GIMP on first, You may see that maybe You don't need nothing else.
You may check GimpShop as well - one window, photoshop-like interface - It will be easier to switch to photoshop when You will feel that You need something more then GIMP.

One more software, between GIMP and Photoshop is PaintShop Pro ... I worked on it few months, and I must say that I liked it Smile

welshsteve · Last edited by welshsteve on Sat Apr 26, 2008 12:08 pm; edited 1 time in total

Bones

I've never tried Gimp, but I've used photoshop and really like it. There is a fairly steep learning curve at first, but there are tons of tutorials at http://www.good-tutorials.com/

Arno v. Lumig

Photoshop is definately better if you want to do some complex image editing, but it's hardly worth the price if you are just a regular user. You can try Photoshop for free for 21 (?) days, so you can decide for yourself if you like it enough to buy it. If you're a student you might be able to get it cheaper for non-professional use. I recommend against Photoshop Elements (which is the cheaper variant of Photoshop).

DjMilez

I prefer Paint.NET because it doesn't use tons of system resources.

LostOverThere

welshsteve

Studio Madcrow

Kelcey

well gimp is free... photoshop isn't. But I do prefer photoshop much more.

CruceFx

PHOTOSHOP FTW lol if it was more processor friendly at times would be GREAT...

kansloos

I have worked with Photoshop before and now mainly use the Gimp, which works out for me just fine. I tend to only pirate stuff from the internet when there is no open alternative. I must admit that I rarely buy software, but I do prefer open over pirated stuff.

orcaz

I like photoshop, and itz considered the industry standard for image editing. however, gimp is a good alternative if u dun wan to pay so much for photoshop

webmaster_cuernavaca