Photoshop users - in here!

benjo

benjo

benjo

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I'm looking for expert users to give their reasons as to why they use Photoshop over other applications to achieve a similar job.

This is just a HCI investigation, and i'm gathering peoples thoughts on this program, from novice users to expert users. What makes photoshop better for you?

Thanks :)
 
Started using photoshop as wanted to learn to make sigs and graphics and all the guides are for photoshop so went down that road plus it's what all the pro use

It was a bit like having a shed full of tools and not knowing what to do with them but after a few years i got to learn the basics
 
it's so much easier and more intuitive to use than most other graphics software. I know diddly squat about photoshop, mostly use it for cloning things out of images (I'm not even any good at that, really) but I use it more because I know where everything is.

There's an app for OSX in beta at the moment called Pixelmator - seems like a nice lightweight (and cheaper!) alternative to photoshop for lower-footprint users.
 
Photoshop is very easy to use, even for a beginner. The hard bit is learning how to use the software to achieve the results you want. When you first look at it you think "oh...my...god". However, just after a few hours of messing about you get a pretty good idea of what most of the stuff does.

Not only is the software very good it has a huge community behind it providing anything from tutorials to plugins.

From a HCI perspective, the software is quite intuitively laid out even right out the box. The interface is also highly customizable, so you can get everything where you need/want it to be. Photoshop also supports more advanced design tools like graphics tablets.

I could use the GIMP on linux, but I find it to be absolutely god awful. Even simple things are a chore to do.
 
Well... Back in the old days, I would chuck some pictures together, and stick a border around it in paint and call it a sig. There then became a time where this just wasn't want I needed, I needed more powerful tools.

As luck would have it, I just so happened to have a copy of Photoshop Elements around from a new PC buy, so I gave it a bash and I started to get a hang of what some of the tools did, then I went tutorial hunting. I soon discovered that Elements wasn't as powerful as it could be. This persuaded me to go out and buy PS 7 back in the day.

I still use Photoshop, because, I believe it is the best program around for Digital Graphics, and, of course, I know what the majority of the features do now.

Although the interface may put off the beginner, there really is a great community behind it, making tutorials, podcasts, etc.

And, as already stated, it is easy to use and a very powerful program.


(The best way to learn is to play.)
 
SiriusB said:
I could use the GIMP on linux, but I find it to be absolutely god awful. Even simple things are a chore to do.
Click to expand...

I agree - it seems to have been designed with the sole intention of getting on my nerves! I wish there were something better :/
 
Sic said:
I agree - it seems to have been designed with the sole intention of getting on my nerves! I wish there were something better :/
Click to expand...

I have been told the GIMP can do almost anything PS can... but until someone actually creates an interface that works I am disinclined to agree.

It feels like they concentrated far too much on getting it working and sort of stuck the interface on at the end.
 
What would people use if Photoshop wasn't widely available for free at file sharing sites?

I doubt it would be used as widely.

You'll find the only people who have problems with Gimp are the people who are used to Photoshop and the problem becomes not that Gimp is 'too hard' but that it's too 'unlike' Photoshop (i.e hat people are used to)

The same is said when people move from GIMP to 'shop , It's a learning curve.

Yes there are lots of things the Gimp can't do that PS can, but there have been tests in the past where 2 graphics have been been created identically, one in GIMP and the other in PS and telling the difference was nigh on impossible.

I use gimp at work when I need something a bit more than a straight crop or something.

I use photshop at home, cos I have been using it since 3. and I know it.

If your'e only experiecne of Gimp is on Windows then that can explain problems as windows is not really designed for a mulitple windoe interface to an app. There is no concept of applications vs windows.

Try it on a proper linux box with virtual desktop.


Oh there's always GIMPSHOP I have never used though.


I do think somethign will come alon that will replace Gimp, or they will need to do a major reqrite, to add things like 48bit, CMYK, etc.
 
I have used GIMP a lot and I use it on Linux. I still don't like it.

My laptop still runs Windows so I use Photoshop on there, and only use GIMP for basic stuff when I cba getting my laptop.
 
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