Photoshop

Thanks Dave. I downloaded this and tried it, but it appears to be just the same as the Gimp 2.8 I tried earlier!
 
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I just realised I should have put "haven't tried for a long time"
Apologies for that!
Last time I tried it, it looked like a pre CC version of PS.
Another "possible" would be "paint.net" http://www.getpaint.net/index.html
I've used that for some things in the past. It will edit 16bit tiffs which has it's uses for me occasionally.
Have you bitten the bullet yet and bought PS elements, or are you getting max use out of the trial first?
 
No worries.
Yes, I have downloaded and tried Paint.net, but that's not really suitable as I have a lot of Photoshop files (each with a number of layers) that it can't open.
I'm still using the trial version of Photoshop Elements. It's presently loaded on this new laptop which has been exhibiting some intermittent problems with the display drivers (I think) and, depending on how things go, I may be sending it back before the end of the month. John Lewis have been very good and have offered to replace it or offer a full refund. I'd prefer a replacement, but they no longer stock this model and I don't know if and when they might have it in again.
I did contact Toshiba initially for help and advice but, apart from sending me a software update (which didn't make any difference) they said they can't help because they only guarantee hardware. Any software issues have to be dealt with by their 'premium software associates', and I'm not paying for something to be put right on a three week old computer! Fortunately, John Lewis are light years more supportive than Toshiba.
 
I've heard some good things about John Lewis just lately. Hope you get sorted.
 
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I've heard some good things about John Lewis just lately. Hope you get sorted.
Yes, I definitely recomment John Lewis. We shop there quite often and, contrary to some people's expectations, they are not an 'expensive posh shop not for ordinary people'! They price match on all (I think) branded products and their own brand appliances are often cheaper than some other branded products (an electric hob, for example, that we bought a couple of years ago). The only things that are outrageously priced, in my experience, are some designer clothes, but I never buy such things anyway.
They usually also offer a two year warranty on appliances and electronics and their customer support (as I have shown) is excellent.
 
Thanks. I'll definitely bear them in mind the next time I'm shopping for appliances and so on. I'm not much for designer either.
 
I think you can get free versions of PS low number think it was CS3. That should allow you to open old files. To get latest features there are three products by adobe. One is Light Room not got it but very good reports, Second is Elements again my version has crashed so not used it in years, and third is CS cloud which is a monthly subscription. I am running an old version CS5 which runs no problem on windows 10. You can get pirate copies of CS6 but after CS6 it became the cloud.

Being a member of a photography club I tried Gimp, it is good but only 8 bit so needs something to convert the 12 and 14 bit images from the camera to something Gimp can read. I have two programs I use one is RAWtherapee the other is Photomatrix Essentials 4 which was a free down load with Digital Photography mag. There are others but I have not used them. So using Gimp as a demo I first use one of the other programs to convert to 8 bit some times a couple of times to get both high lights and shadows.

I have a problem printing from the windows 10 PC it does not matter which program I use. It will work one day and not the next, so I will place on the LAN hard drive then use the Vista PC to print. So can't help with printing.

I have used Photoshop 7 then moved to CS4 then CS5 the main reason for not using Photoshop 7 was it could not handle the files from my camera. I also know CS3 although it had a RAW converter would not handle files from my Pentax it may have worked if I had saved in photoshops own RAW which a Pentax can do but would have needed to have set it to do that before I took photos. CS4 worked with Pentax OK but would not work with Nikon hence moving to CS5.

At that time I did not know about RAWtherapee or I would have used that. The latest RAW converter in Light Room is really good but comparing the RAW converter in CS4 and CS5 then RAWtherapee is just as good if not in some ways better.

Again in early years I never even thought of using the camera to convert RAW files. But today I realise both my Pentax and Nikon DSLR will convert RAW to Jpeg in camera so can take in RAW then use camera to produce two images one for high lights other for shadows and then combine with Gimp.

I hear a lot about colour profile and calibrating ones PC with a colour monkey so that the colours on the prints are A1. To do this really one has to use just one PC for printing and one program on the PC which has the profile set. So I know many in the club have a PC solely used to print with. Have the same problem in the club with the projector the same PC has to be used with the projector in order to get the correct colours.

I have not as yet borrowed the colour monkey from the club and set up my PC so it is only what I hear others talk about. But most it seems what ever they use to develop the photo always use the same program to print.

Also got DxO Optics Pro 7 from mag which does basic the same as camera software and converts RAW to Jpeg.

A did "A" level digital photography about 5 years ago and at that time a lot was left to the teacher/lecturer to decide what was allowed. It stated you were to take an unaltered photo into the exam which really means RAW images, any Jpeg has been processed be it automatic in camera or in a program like photoshop, and even in camera there is a lot that can be done to the RAW image in camera when manually converting to Jpeg. So to call a Jpeg straight out of camera is not really meaning it is unaltered you just used camera software not computer software. So in theroy only RAW images should be taken into the exam. However that means either a top end compact or a DSLR camera is required and many students did not have one.
 
Sorry, I should have mentioned earlier, I did bite the bullet and shelled out just over £60 for Photoshop Elements 14.
I hesitated at first, but am glad I did now. Having tried Gimp, which at least would open .psd files, I found it too steep a learning curve and downloaded a trial version of PS (as I said above) which I found much easier to use and, of course, then paid for the boxed DVD set (Windows and Mac).

Incidentally, I see it's over £5 cheaper now!
 
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