What Image program... need advice asap

I just use Photoshop 7, brought it when it was released after using a copied version of PS6. I was going to upgrade to CS when it came out but basically all i could see different on it was that you can do 'text on a path' which although it's a cool tool, i couldn't justify the extra expense at the time.

Any version is going to be good though and more than capable of what you will probably need it for, making page layouts. PSP and the tablet is a good option but not one i'd take personally, PSP to me has always been a few steps behind. Saying that though, if you're only making web page designs on it, it'll also probably do that job no problem.

That's all i can say

Photoshop and Paint shop pro are very powerful tools in the right hands, I've seen some amazing 'works of art' done from both programs.
I personally have older versions of both programs but perfer PSP as I know it better (but my stick people look sick). learning both is hard as they do things differently. If you have used photo shop and like it, go for that, if you think it was a bit bulky try an old version of psp first (think you can get v3 or 4 free from their site jasc.com - very old and limited though).
I have psp 6 and 7 (both have vectors) but I never use half the stuff in them, then again I don't really do graphic intense sites, and sites done for others usually have logos and images supplied, so it's only the odd small thing to create.

IMO it all depends on what you want to do with the program at the end of the day, design templates, make banners and buttons, make flash movies ... If people ask me what the difference is, I find it easier to describe them as so:
Photoshop: made to design all day long
Paint Shop Pro: made to design now and then

Well you could always go open source and get the GIMP (windows binaries are available), that's an amazingly good program, especially when you consider it costs absolutely nothing!

Previously the windows releases haven't been very stable but the latest version is damn good, there are also parallels with PS so it's not as if your learning time would be wasted. If you find the GIMP is too limited (which I doubt) then my next choice would be Photoshop, but bear in mind it's a chunky program - I have 2GB of RAM on my system and CS2 can eat it quite easily when a couple of photos are open

or you could get Photoshop Elements which is fine for most tasks, and you could still afford the Wacom

Hmmm, I'm getting the impression we're creating more questions than we're answering here...

Best advice is to have a quick look at all of them, view the screenshots, have a quick read of the features and choose the one that feels right for what you need.

The other thing you might want to consider is the bundle packs that both Adobe and Macromedia offer. That way you can basically get 3 or 4 programs for the price of 2. You could get Macromedia's bundle pack with Dreamweaver, Fireworks, and Flash (Studio 8 is $999 - dreamweaver alone is $399 and flash is $699 so there's a lot of savings there) and then use the Gimp or Paint Shop Pro for anything Fireworks can't handle.

You could also look for a copy of Photoshop 6 or 7. I've found those to be perfectly suitable for my needs.

Honestly, for what you need to learn coming back after all these years the software isn't that key. CSS and xHTML don't require any expnesive software - just your brain! The trend now is towards more CSS- intense sites and away from graphic-intense designs. The graphics are simple so you won't necessarily need the latest and gratest graphic software.

For graphics, I use a combo of Fireworks and Paint Shop Pro. Since I use Fireworks for most stuff, I'm actually a couple of versions behind on Paint Shop Pro. But it's still greatly useful for stuff that it does better (saving in different formats, optimization, etc.)

Well In my experience, for fixing up some photos I like PaintshopPro(PSP) 9, why? because it has good one touch photo fix, also have chromatic abberation in one click as well as digital image cleanup... For general image stuff I use PSP 7, also when Im building templates, and other web images... the advantage is its way much lighter, and its packaged with animation shop pro, which is a good way to edit gifs and other transperency formats... For quite straight and clean images as well as drawing cartoons or smooth edges, I use Flash...

So generally, these are just TOOLS, what really matters is how you use it, and how adept you are with these tools... I can say you can make a site from ms paintbrush if you were extremely adept with it... (If you want a challenge on this one it would be great! LOL!)

I would say to go for Adobe Photoshop CS2, then you are futureproofed for some time to come. It has all the futures you need and is considered the industry standard (no flames, please ). Either that or get Illustrator CS2 which has several photoshop filters but also the bezier attraction which is useful. I personally only use Illustrator CS2 and GIMP and find that, combined, they more than suit my needs.

Ok, going to throw in my $.02 worth here:

I use three programs for graphics, depending on the needs. The main one I use is Ulead's PhotoImpact (note I use version 6, haven't found a need to upgrade yet) I use this just because I have gotten used to its features over the years, and it didn't take as long to open and do things as my old stand by.

That old stand by being Corel PhotoPaint (part of Corel Draw Suite). I currently run the latest, version 12 (they had an anniversary sale, whole Full boxed retail corel draw for under $200 for one week) I mainly used this for a long time as it was available, had come with my first (legal) copy of Corel Draw 7. Before that I used PaintShopPro version 3 or something (now also owned by Corel) TO be honest, I hardly use this except for things I know how to do in here that I don't know how to use in the other programs.

Lastly, I also have Macromedia Fireworks, which came with Studio MX 2004. I mainly use this if I want to create a webpage layout and then export it out. Also anytime I need to layer effects and objects.

I do have also installed on my work computer Photoshop, but mainly only use that to open our graphic designers files to export them to the format I need for what I'm doing.

You will find that although it takes a while to be able to afford it, it is a nice feeling to know you have all legal software on your computer. And you will probably find that your tolerance for people who ask for/ brag about how they got a "free download" will drop. (After all, it is no fun hearing Joe Shmoe tell how he just found on a warez site software you paid out a few to several hundred dollars for.)

-Greg

Greg, believe me I already don't like hearing people get "free" stuff online . Only reason my old mp3's aren't deleted yet are because I'm slowly (slooowly) buying the off itunes or from a local store. 1280 songs bought, only about 1200 more to go... lol.

As for the image program, wow! Lots of responces, thanks!
(sorry, not gonna reference who said what so....)
Someone mentioned Studio 8. I could, but flash is darn near useless in my hands. Why? I've never used it. I'm already planning on waiting awhile before I start relearning photoshop (or whatever image program I get), flash would have to wait a *very* long time. I do have some cool ideas I could do with it, simple things to dress up sites without being too... "flashy." I did a search for studio 8, unopened/new in box/unregistered, on ebay. Only one I could find that was not a student version was for 625... and it is Dreamweaver 2 with a Studio 8 Upgrade. Would this work? Only having dreamweaver 2 to get flash8/etc? I'd have thought you'd need dw2 and flash to ugprade both... If this would actually work I'd consider it. Otherwise, flash could wait till I get more money... and by the time I can use it, I'll have more money.

Also, I found photoshop cs1 on ebay for 200-300 bucks for an unregistered/new in box version. I believe I'll go with this... As someone else already mentioned, I already know how to use the basics of photoshop. And as someone else mentioned, cs2 takes a LOT of memory! I have 1 gig ram, and with how I like to operate I'd run out of cs2 a few seconds after I open it. From the reviews I've read, cs1 does not take near as much. On the magnitude of... if cs1 were to take 150mb, cs2 would take 500 mb. Something like that.

So if I stick with dreamweaver 8 / photoshop cs1(ebay), it's between 600-700 bucks. Not too bad considering photoshop cs2 retail is 600 bucks. So, I'm planning on this...

But I'm hoping my wife will get the wacom tablet also... since the grand total would be 1061.xx rather than almost 1400. Then again, I'm hoping she really does get two of the items on my wishlist... .

Anyway, I appreciate your feedback. I'm gonna go look at GIMP to see what it's all about... I keep hearing about it, but I've never seen anything on it in any way. Paint shop pro is pretty cool but I am an art nut... have to be able to get my fix somehow, and make sure I'm not limited. I think ps would be the way to go for this . Plus, a big thing on psp is that it can be used "out of the box" without much of a learning curve. I already know photoshop well enough that I won't have to deal with a huge learning curve... that defeats one of the biggest thigns psp has going for it. So, ...

note: I know business sites (and of course my future business site) need to be light on images (and apparently heavy on CS), but my personal site doesn't!

Tallon - are you really sure about the tablet? Honestly, I've barely used mine. It's sitting in a drawer right now. It was a cool thing to have at first, and might come in handy on occsasion but really, most of the time, it's a waste of money and desk space. (although you seem to be a lot more into complex graphics than I am...)

Heh... I've been drooling over having a drawing tablet for atleast 6 years.

Before that, I went out and I bought a 50 dollar drawing tablet from compUSA. It sucked. It crashed my computer within 5 minutes, no matter what. All the software was full of bugs and nothing worked right. But in those 5 minutes... I loved it, when it worked.

Besides using it to sketch out ideas for webpages (and drawing webgraphics by hand as well), I have other uses to put it to .

OMG I LOVE LOVE LOVE my Wacom!!! Haven't touched the mouse since I got it!!!

Mine's an Intuos3 4X5. LOVE IT!!!!

And if you're going to be getting serious into imagery, I'd suggest Photoshop. It can't be beat for power, but mainly it can't be beat for the ***quality*** of the final image.

Adobe has it all over anyone else in the imaging department. Period.

My partner and I both got Wacoms a few months back. They're fantastic! Plenty of times I'll sketch something in Fireworks with the Wacom, then go back in with the mouse and clean it up. I find that if I use them both at the appropriate times, it works out well. The pen is especially useful for touching up raster graphics, though.

For those who use the tablet, do you use one that has the different pressure levels or whatever? ie. you press harder, the it draws a "heavier" color? (sorry, I don't know all the terms LOL)

I have a cheapo KeyTronic 4x6 tablet with a wired pen, and the tip just has a simple on/off style button. It is nice for sketching, I have it hooked up to my desktop computer here at work, but hardly use the computer.

-Greg

Oh, just to let you guys know... I bought an unopened/unregistered Photoshop CS for 299 on ebay.

I chose against CS2 because of the HUGE lag that's associated with it, and I don't think I'll need the few features it added. But, I do want the true powerhouse that is Photoshop .

Thanks again for all the help...

Makes sense... A wise decision I would say

I made sure it was a full version, unregistered (unopened) copy.

Haven't recieved it yet, but I believe it's waiting at the post office for me. I believe my wife is getting me dreamweaver 8 and a drawing tablet for my bday, but she won't say . My bday is thursday, but if she *does* buy those items then I bet she'll just let me know, cuz they'll be getting shipped from amazon still.