What Price Image Processing? From Free To Expensive

Tuesday, October 14, 2008 | Mac Software | Read or Post a Comment

Photos My Mac has over 10,000 photos in iPhoto. That’s 10,000 as in ten thousand. I collected that many photos in barely five years of using iPhoto.

My biggest problem is the photo enhancement tools in iPhoto. They’re good for many Mac users, probably good for new Windows switchers to the Mac, but lacking for my tastes.

What else is available to enhance your photos? Oddly enough, there are plenty of applications with are expensive and yet easy to use, and others that are.... (excerpted).

7 Reader Comments

DocJim said:

Aperture 2.0 came out in the spring. I did the 30-day demo trial and was convinced. It has some similar things to iPhoto and works as easily, but it just does sooooo much more and easily.

My digital camera like most others tends to squash the ends of light and dark. Those can be corrected easily in Aperture 2.

I had a very interesting time printing a photo with a complicated stair and pedestrian bridge scene in Quebec City. I found it was better to let that stairway recede into the shades. It was just a much better picture. Aperture is fun and an excellent program.

PSD Guru said:

The problem with Photoshop Elements is simple. It’s still Photoshop. You cannot do in Photoshop what you can do much easier in LightZone. There needs to be an understanding that Photoshop, in whatever version, or GIMP, and, to a certain extent, Pixelmator, requires going through a steep learning curve. There is not much of a learning curve in LightZone. Having a good eye for composition and color and a willingness to experiment is all that’s need to get started. Yes, Photoshop is a big bear. Photoshop Elements is a medium sized bear. Both are bears.

Dave Barnes said:

What about Photoshop Elements? $90 USD. Almost as much horsepower as Photoshop.

Jan Carlson said:

I think some readers are missing the point. Graphic Converter, while a very good utility, is totally clumsy and devoid of a GUI for the inexperienced. GIMP is even worse. Both are soooooo 1999.

These three applications represent a new generation of Mac apps which are highly complex and capable, but very easy to use. Well, Pixelmator is more difficult, but much easier than Photoshop. You just can’t do the same things in Graphic Converter or GIMP that you can do in Funtastic Photos or LightZone as easily.

iggy pence said:

Please, GIMP sucks, free or otherwise. It’s just not in the same league as any of those apps mentioned above, in quality or ease of use, let alone usable features. Try using GIMP to do what you can do in LightZone with a few clicks. Get a new Mac user in front of Fantastic Photos them have them try to do the same things in GIMP. Laughable. Besides, I’ve seen GIMP and Elements reviews on Mac 360 recently, and their conclusion is the same as mine. Spend a little money, save a lot of time, grief, heartache by not venturing into the silly world of GIMP. It’s for geeks who don’t know any better.

zenism said:

Huh?

What about Gimp or Gimp.app or even Seahorse for free apps? Additionally, what about Photoshop Elements? Which is available for less than $80.00

d said:

gotta add graphic converter to this!

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