The Best Photoshop?

[BlinD]

This is somewhat a split from Esophagus's thread, it got me thinking about how much CS2 sucks ass. I've been trying to learn Photoshop, not for any reason in particular more just out of pure boredom and curiosity, trying my hand at making some scarey art mostly. I was wondering what you all think the best version of Photoshop is, and the learning curve for it.

Or, if you hate everything Adobe makes (like I do) what's a simple alternative that is just as good or better? For me aside from all the useless features and needless clutter in CS2, it's another bloated ram hog, just like Adobe's PDF reader.

[Stone]

Many professionals regard either 5 or 7 to be the best. Personally, I believe CS is the best. CS3 is something completely else though with the ability to handle video and 3D and it's integration with Flash and After Effects.

If you can't afford the full version and will not be using it for commercial use then you can buy the educational version. If you want free though, you could pirate it or use something such as the GIMP.

[Esophagus]

If you are using it generally for photo editting, or just the plain basics of it (none of the complex cs add ons, etc.) then I prefer elements. Any of them really, they are just a lot easier to use. I'm still in the process of finding a torrent that works for more than a few minutes. I think I'll just head out and part with the $100 for Elements 5.

[Nox (ADVANCED)]

PSP7

[Esophagus]

Paint Shop Pro? Never liked it.

[BlinD]

All I've ever used was CS2 at a friends house whenever I'm over there, I'm just trying to get a grip on what would be the best one for me to buy before I shell out the cash. It's pretty much just for regular pictures/paintings/drawings, I've always found that the best software is the older stuff so mabye I'll go with 5 or 7 but elements sounds nice, kind of like all the guts with none of the bloat... would that be an accurate description?

I figured that some members of the community here would be a better bet for information then some bloated 5 page review off of Adobe's site, or a tech review site... I actually haven't found a really good tech review website, so if anyone knows of one, give us a link?

[Nox (ADVANCED)]

Yer good ol Paint shop pro. I was a big excite VP(vitural places) chat with avatars and used to make them for other people occasionally.

[Esophagus]

I've always found that the best software is the older stuff so mabye I'll go with 5 or 7 but elements sounds nice, kind of like all the guts with none of the bloat... would that be an accurate description?Sounds accurate enough. If you are going to stick to just the plain photoshop then 5 or 7 would be your best bet, but from what you have said you want to use it for, elemtns woudl be a good bet. I've only ever used elements 2 and 5 but they both wrok great, and I'm assuming everything in between would to.

[DoctaD]

I'm far from a graphic designer;

I have CS2 on this machine, and 7 on my other machine, and I find myself going back to 7 on occasion rather than work out how to do the same thing on CS2 (which I have had since release)

[BlinD]

Thanks for the info everyone, guess I'll check out some articles for 5, 7, and elements before I decide. If anyone knows of a good review site let me know.

[Stone]

If you're a complete noob to it, I would definately recommend cutting your teeth in Elements first and then move onto one of the CS's.

[Mr.V]

I suggest that if you are new to Photoshop, Take version 7.0, i'ts not too hard to find,
plus it ain't to big in size too.

I personally use Adobe photoshop CS3,
I've been using CS2 before and CS2 is in some factors actually better then CS3,
Sometimes I experience some sort of lag with CS3.
But you might like CS3 more, as I said Personally.

As for Photoshop itself, I've been using it for 4 years and believe me, this is what you want if you want to make beautifull things,
It's like it became a body part of me.

I also find it easy to master,
when you get the hang of things in photoshop, it's like every single button and option just starts to make sense and in the end you will exactly know about what technique to use, to achieve "x" result.
Here's a complete database of photoshop tutorials, www.good-tutorials.com go to the photoshop section, there's more then 10.000 tutorials.

Good luck.

[Eulux]

I did this for about a year and a half for a college, but am still by no means an expert. any version of photoshop past 5 or 6 should do the trick. I personally use 7...but that's half because I don't feel the need to upgrade, and it has always been able to do what I've needed it to do.

[xx_hellraiser_xx]

I've been using Elements 8.0 and I find it lacking cool effects and tools. I guess it would be okay for a noob but I'm trying to move on to some really cool effects.

[Jinx]

I have the Micro Photoshop, downloaded it at something like 54.3 MB. It's okay but when I find someone's wireless near mine It'll be CS4 and/or up depending on when I find and what version will be the current one.

[Th0r]

I use CS5, CS4 and CS3. Personally I prefer CS5.

[Æhµ]

I'm using CS4 now, but it doesn't matter what version I use, they all exceed my capability to fully use! I've done a lot of photo-editing and graphic design in my time, I started out on PS3.

I think that I liked PS7 the most though, I also have that one as a mobile app on a USB drive.

I wouldn't sweat version difference, most incremental version upgrades by Adobe are designed to control piracy. The last big change was from 7 to CS.

[lcnostra]

I'm using CS4 now, but it doesn't matter what version I use, they all exceed my capability to fully use!

Same. Photoshop can do a lot more than I can.