How much does photoshop cost and is it worth it? 1

[fishin4snook]

We are new to graphics design and were wondering how much does photoshop cost and is it worth it? Post some of your work in photoshop so that we can see if it is worth it for the designing that we are doing.

Fishin4snook. [sig][/sig]

 

[surfchik]

I think Photoshop is one of the BEST graphics applications ever created. I would be lost without it. I am a graphic designer and I produce everything from Web graphics, animated GIFs, print images, multimedia, logo design, illustration etc. I find Photoshop to be a valuable tool. It gets better with every upgrade. For pricing, I would check out the Adobe website since my company pays for my applications, I'm not sure on the pricing. All the Adobe products are great. You may check out some of my samples that have been created utilizing Photoshop at this URL:

http://pages.prodigy.net/celestial1.

[sig][/sig]

 

[fishin4snook]

How hard was it to make the logo design? [sig][/sig]

 

[surfchik]

It took some time and patience. For that particular logo, I created some initial parts in CorelDraw v9 and exported those images into Photoshop for some emhancements. I use Photoshop for the digital photography I do and for fixing bad photographs and compositing several photographic images into one. Photoshop is also excellent for created images for the web. It will take time for you to learn everything, I have been using Photoshop for about 10 years.

 

[tanderso]

For most of the same tools and features as Photoshop, you can get linux and GIMP for free. I think there is a TT thread for GIMP.

If you prefer Windows, buy Photoshop. Nothing else compares.
Sincerely,

Tom Anderson
CEO, Order amid Chaos, Inc.

http://www.oac-design.com

 

[GeorgeMack]

Photoshop is a great "Swiss Army Knife" for bitmapped graphic files. Very few graphic professionals are without it, and increasing numbers of video and still photographers have it as well. It can do tons of things by itself, from color correction to special eftects, and with optional $$ plugins, you can generate whole worlds. Some artists generate entire paintings inside the program, and others use it alongside other software such as Painter, Illustrator, Bryce, or Strata3D.

Photoshop requires a substantially well-equipped computer -- speed, RAM, and disk space --to operate at its best. If you have those available, then you can dive right in. Otherwise, you may need to compromise.

No one I know of uses every function. You could possibly be intimidated by the enormous number of features and options; if your needs are very modest, there are a few scaled down programs that might meet your needs, some for graphics conversion, some for color correction, some for minor retouching.

In short , it's a great tool that I definitely need for my professional work. If your situation is demanding, you won't regret it. But there are some intermediate options if you only want to acheive smaller goals.

 

[tanderso]

Don't let GeorgeMack scare you too much with the hardware demands. I run Photoshop just fine on a Pentium 200 with 64M of RAM. Sure, it will render faster and use the scratch disk less if you have a faster processor and more RAM, but I think anything down to the level of system that I use is adequate. It actually runs fine on my Pentium 100, 32M system too, but it is pretty slow. Considering you can get a PIII 866, 128M system for about $600, the hardware isn't something you should worry about too much.
Sincerely,

Tom Anderson
CEO, Order amid Chaos, Inc.

http://www.oac-design.com