Photoshop is of course the gold standard, but even the “home” version (Photoshop Elements) is a tad pricey - It lists for 140 dollars, though I’ve seen it for as little as 80 dollars at Amazon. This is for an 11 year old who is very interested in being able to play with photos, so I don’t know that it’s worth the price to us right now.
Any lower-priced software recommendations? Freeware is OK too though I’m assuming it won’t be as robust or have as many features as something we’d purchase.
Has a lot of Photoshop-type functions, totally free but poor help files. You’ll need to do a lot of searching online for more complicated manipulations. Basic photo editing is easy, though.
Picasa just updated to version 3. Here’s an overview of the new features. I like that you can change text orientation and size at the same time, and the new collage tool gives you manual control over photo placement, rotation, etc.
I have used both GIMP and Photoshop. There is no comparison. Adobe charges an arm and a leg, but maybe you could get him a student version? People with good Photoshop skills are in demand and make a decent living. In a few years, he will have an employable skill. Factor that into your price calculations.
Is he the kind of kid who sticks with things? That would be my only question before making an investment like that.
If the GIMP interface is a bit too confusing for you, there is a free product called GIMPShop. It is basically GIMP but with a more user friendly interface.
Yes, GIMP’S user interface is horrible, but it also lacks a lot of the features and well, quality of PS. It can’t even do a simple gradient fill without noticeable banding. It is basically crapware.
Haven’t used GIMP in quite a while, but it was horrible when I used it. It may be a powerful tool, but I wouldn’t punish a beginner with it.
Go for Elements. Buy it from Amazon (or anyone cheaper). I have it and it does pretty much everything a budding amateur could ever want. You use it in the same way as full Photoshop, however it has some of the professional stuff missing (e.g. fancy printshop color management), and it has some extra wizard-style features (e.g. the ability to auto-split a flatbed-scanned group of photos and straighten them).
[gripe]One minor pet peeve I have is that software companies sell their products at full list price on their web sites and then I can find the same darned thing on Amazon for a lot less. I prefer to buy from the vendor, but this drives me away.
Just recently I needed software to write to NTFS from Mac and went to Paragon to buy their software: $40—Amazon had it for $26 and I got the shrinkwrapped package. Why do I even bother trying to buy from the vendor?[/gripe]
Heck, I think Adobe must really NOT want people to buy it from them - the Amazon webpage lists it at 140.00, and one third party vendor (Academic Superstore) claims the list is 99.00 and they have it for only 65 (best price I’ve found so far). At 65, I might go for it - we have the free trial going right now and my daughter is having fun with it, so I told her that maybe we could work something out.
For an 11 year old. Unless he is a very accomplished computer freak, Irfanview does plenty and it is free. If they get that mastered, then go for the more powerful stuff. Spending other peoples $$$ is real easy don’t ya know.
Good point - she might be able to use this in a lot of stuff down the line. She’s very interested in any sort of art-y thing and has done some decent drawings using just the paint software that came with the OS. So I think it’s quite possible she’d use it a lot.
We’re looking into whether there’s a student discount version through the schools (have just found we could get Microsoft software very cheap through the school, for example).