other digital camera accessories

I've been a long-time user of PSP going back to the shareware days. Over the years, and with the purchase of a digital camera about three years ago, I've slowly learned how such programs really work and what is possible. (Hint for newbies: a big key is layers!)

PSP 8 is a great improvement with a lot more info shown on the screen now and within easy reach. The tool controls are always available. The scripts are great. JASC has terrific service and they send the only e-mail newsletter I actually read (you can opt out, but it's actually useful).

To put this in perspective: I shot a wedding recently on film and had film-transport problems causing creases and scratches on many photos. I had the negatives digitized at high resolution, and was able to repair or rebuild all the important photos and fix up most others. We're talking >200 photos. Every problem I faced, PSP had the tools to solve.

If you're new to photo editing, there are the simple operations like one step photo fix, and easy contrast and saturation adjustments. But when you need something more, or are ready to expand your artistic reach, Paint Shop Pro will be ready to unleash all its power for you.

When I was younger and had more time on my hands I was a very serious amateur complete with his own film darkroom (you remember those, don't you.) The advent of the digital camera and imaging software has actually allowed me to get back into the "digital darkroom" at a lot less expense and time commitment, and with a quantum leap (maybe even two or three leaps) in creativity opportunities. Also, I have a technical background and am very comfortable with software. My first experience has been with software that came with my digital camera, namely Photo Impressions 4, and with my computer, namely Dell Imager. I found both of these to be really good and user friendly for a beginner. These programs got me hooked on digital imaging. Once hooked, I wanted to move on to software with more capability, but didn't want to go the full Pro route. After researching the subject, I decided to download free trials of Adobe Photo Shop Elements 2 and Jasc Paint Shop Pro 8. I made the assumption, well supported by other reviews, that either program would have more than enough capability for my needs. I focused on user friendliness, ease of learning, and how likely I would remember how to use the software after a period of a month or so of not using it (probably typical for most beginners/amateurs). This last point is important, because it could become a barrier to continued use. Without going into all the gory details (see the other reviews - they make excellent points on technical details), here's how I reacted. After using the Adobe product for a few hours, I decided that it isn't particularly user friendly and would take quite a bit of effort on my part to learn how to use it with confidence. Also, I was convinced that after a month or so of non-use, I would have to retrain. I decided not to purchase the Adobe product. After using the Jasc product for about 15 minutes, I got hooked. It's user friendly, intuitive, fairly easy to learn, and I am sure that I'll be able to get back up-to-speed quickly after a few months of not using it. This is a no-brainer, I'm going to purchase Paint Shop Pro 8.

I purchased this program mainly to edit photos as I had heard it was pretty good at it. The first photo I edited on it was a slide I scanned in that my daughter had picked up at auction and we had no idea what it was. The one-step photo cleaned it up in virtually no time - it was a picture of Paris! After that, I wondered what else I could do with it, since it looked like it could do more. I ended up having to take online classes - and they are readily available all over the net - and am now making graphics I could have never done before. I don't consider myself particularly artistic, and I had never used graphics programs before other than to edit photos. Now, I am making animated graphics (Animation Shop is included), and am making some totally awesome graphics.