In my last article about Adobe's Photoshop Elements 4 I discussed the layer's of Photoshop that make it such a great image editing program. Layers are like pages that can be stacked on top of each other and can add to the overall picture your creating. Each layer can be seen as a part of the whole image and when you draw on one layer it's like drawing on a clear page of the stack of layers.
This becomes a great and easy way to edit parts of an image or adding things to an image without changing the original image. Other things that can be great additions and heps to your photography editing projects is the ability to edit pictures on a template so you can print out specific sized pictures according to the paper you can purchase.
For instance if you want to print wallet sized photos on Avery Wallet Sized photo paper 53283 you just download a template that has a gray square representing each of the nine photo spots that are on the actual sheet of photo paper. The template is a layer that you use while editing your pictures so that you align each wallet sized picture, 2 ¼ x 3 inch, on the sheet that you are going to print.
When you have edited and then positioned each picture on the page you then delete the layer with the template on it and then print the photos. You make sure of course that you use the correct settings for the paper, glossy and orientation is correct and that you put the page in correctly.
On my printer it prints with the page going down into the printer and the glossy side is facing you. Your printer may be different but by now a little trial and error on regular white paper would not hurt to make sure you are going to print correctly and that the settings are all correct. You can then hold the page you printed up over the blank wallet sized paper and get an idea if it is going to print correctly.
I have found some great add-ons and such for Photoshop Elements at About.com. Here is the main page of those add-ons and some others are accessible from that page.
Main Page for Add-ons and Templates:
http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/photoshopaddons/index.htm
At this site you can search for Avery Print Templates for specific Avery paper and you can search by the number Avery has for each paper it sells:
http://www.avery.com/us/Main?action=software.BlankTPLHierarchy&catalogcode=WEB01&node=0
Entering the number 53283 will take you to a menu with four pages of templates on it. Selecting the bottom one will take you to a description page and you then click on the download button. A pop up will come up telling you how to download templates. I have created a file on my drive called Adobe to save all related files and things I use for this program. I also use this for my working save area when editing images so I know where everything related to this program is and it is on a drive that I regularly backup so anything I am working on is saved in case of an accidents and I lose my drive.
I have many templates and plug-ins saved and use them regularly for editing and working on photos and such. Of course I am still learning how to use all the different features of this program and am still finding all kinds of useful and helpful things about it.
To use the plug-in template you simply open the standard editor in Adobe Photoshop Elements, then click on File, New and then Blank File. A pop-up will come up asking what size page you want to work on. Enter letter sized on the pull down menu for preset and make sure your image resolution is set at 300 PPI for better image quality. On a letter sized photo you will not be needing to go any higher but if your printing or working on images that are bigger, a larger pixel per inch would be necessary.
The pixels per inch is how many little boxes that are the smallest parts of an image are in a inch are of the picture. To make up your image each pixel is a color that makes up the whole picture. When you import a picture in and zoom in very close you can see what I mean.
Your project now has one layer called background, this you want to leave alone and always work on other layers so you can go back and edit on the different layers and work easily with your projects. To get your template onto your page you simply click on the Place command on the File pull down menu. Find your template from where you downloaded it to and click on the Place button. Your template will pop up on the blank page over the background and a new layer will show up on your working windows to the right of your image window. The background will be locked and you can just leave it like that. To work on other things in your project you will need to click on the check mark that pops up above your help and working windows. The template will have words on it to remind you to delete the template before printing.
Now you will want to have pictures to add in, you can open your organizer to find them or find them using the image editor. What I would suggest is editing the images you will be using for your pictures first and saving them in a working file for ease of finding them. And then using Place in the File menu to put the pictures onto your project. Each time you use Place it will add the photo as a new layer, it might get confusing or crowded but you can see that each layer will be able to be adjusted on it's own and can be edited or deleted without touching any of the others. This feature makes this program a great way to edit parts of your project and not have to mess with others.
When working with your pictures on the template page, if you want to move or resize the picture you place you must click on the picture of the one you want to edit or move. If this does not work and you move or make a mistake you can always undo things with the Undo command under the Edit pull down menu or use Control Z to undo the last thing you did. layer that picture is on and then Select All from the pull down menu's across the top.
Once you have your page filled with all your photos you can then save it, I recommend you do this so you will have a copy to use if anything happens during printing or if you want to go back later and print something again. To print you must delete the layer for the template, do this by simply right clicking on that layer in your Layers window. Then click on delete layer and verifying that you want to delete the layer.
Then using the settings for your printer and the type of paper you are using print the page. Like I said you can print a copy onto regular white paper to make sure it works the first time and that you get the paper oriented correctly. Better to waste some ink and one page of regular paper than good photo paper.
There are also many creative and fun Add-ins and templates that you can download and experiment with. One of these is the different templates that add textures or effects to your photos. These are also available for download from the About.com website and come in a wide variety of effects and neat add-ins. A great many different layers are available here: http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/photoshopstyles/
Many of these are add-ons for text, pictures and image fun and are easy to use. There are instructions to use them along with the downloads. Experiment and use the different layers, plug-ins and add-ons for some great and creative fun with your Photoshop Elements 4.0. Adobe has made the use of layers and these additional plug-ins easy and fun.
Most of us already know that Photoshop is the “industry standard” graphic design program. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s always the best option, and it certainly doesn’t mean that it’s the best value for money.
At its retail price of 699 USD / 470 EUR, Photoshop isn’t exactly cheap. And let’s face it, not everyone needs the all of Photoshop’s high-end features. For example, Photoshop has the ability to edit images in CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black) mode, a feature mainly needed by print designers. If you work exclusively with web design, you may not want to pay extra for this feature.
Fortunately, there are more affordable (and sometimes even free) alternatives to Photoshop, and I’ll take a look at some very competent ones in this article. I’ll also include information on whether each program supports CMYK and Photoshop Plugins. All of the included programs support Photoshop-style layers and alpha channel transparency.
Corel Draw Graphics Suite X4
Corel Draw is the most expensive of Photoshop’s competitors, priced at 399 USD / 270 EUR. Still, there’s a lot included for that price. The Corel Draw Graphics Suite actually contains two major programs: Corel Draw and Corel Photo-Paint. Corel Draw is a vector-based design program similar to Adobe Illustrator (which sells for 599 USD / 402 EUR). Corel Photo-Paint is a bitmap-based design program similar to Photoshop. Both Draw and Photo-Paint enable CMYK editing, so they can be used by print as well as web professionals.
When compared to Photoshop, one of the things that I really like about Photo-Paint is its completely customizable interface. Just about everything, including toolbar buttons and even toolbar icons, can be changed to your liking. The Dock, which contains information similar to that found in Photoshop’s various Rollups, can also be moved out of the way with a single click. Another nice feature is the ability to turn plugins on or off while using Photo-Paint. In Photoshop, doing this requires shutting down and restarting.
For those working with both print and web design, or who require both vector and bitmap editors, I feel that Corel Draw Graphics Suite is the best of the programs I examined.
Paint Shop Pro X2
Paint Shop Pro has been available since 1992. The original version was created by JASC Software and marketed only via the Internet as shareware. JASC was purchased by Corel in 2004, apparently with the main intention of marketing Paint Shop Pro as a low-cost alternative to the Corel Draw Graphics Suite. Paint Shop Pro X2 is priced at 39.99 USD / 27.00 EUR. There is also an “Ultimate” version priced at 69.99 USD / 47.00 EUR. The retail Ultimate package includes media recovery software, a content pack, a basic version of Corel Painter, and a 2 GB USB flash drive.
Much of Paint Shop Pro is oriented around single-click solutions for common photo editing problems. If you appreciate this type of approach, and you don’t need print design features, Paint Shop Pro may well fit your needs, and do so at a very reasonable price. Also, due to the program’s shareware roots, there are many Paint Shop Pro tutorials and discussion forums available on the Internet, so help is usually very easy to find. Paint Shop Pro has only limited CMYK support, but it does support most Photoshop plugins.
PhotoLine
PhotoLine is something of a “diamond in the rough” among Photoshop alternatives. Although you’ve probably never heard if it, PhotoLine is an impressive program with many features. My only real issue with PhotoLine is its interface, which is somewhat old school. In Windows, the toolbars have a Windows 95 look, and in OS X, there’s no full-screen mode available, making PhotoLine feel more like an OS 9 program. PhotoLine is priced at 87.50 USD / 59.00 EUR.
Despite the interface issues, PhotoLine is a powerful program at an affordable price. It operates in both 32-bit and 64-bit mode, which is unusual for a program in this price range. There are several features that will appeal specifically to web designers, such as the Button Creator (see below). The Button Creator includes presets for styles such as Apple’s “Aqua” color gradient, and all the presets are fully customizable. The Effects tools are designed to work well with text, and multiple effects can be applied from a single dialog, making it easy to create the graphical text that’s often needed on web pages.
PhotoLine enables full support for CMYK editing, and while Photoshop plugins are supported, you may find yourself having to search Google for some plugin-related files (such as plugin.dll for Windows).
Ulead PhotoImpact
You may remember Ulead PhotoImpact from its original name: Aldus PhotoStyler. While Adobe was busy trying to create a CMYK capable version of Photoshop for Windows, Aldus/Ulead had already done so with PhotoStyler. Adobe bought the source code from Ulead and created Photoshop for Windows, and Ulead began the PhotoImpact line, with limited CMYK support. Although Ulead’s non-compete agreement with Adobe has long since expired, Ulead never bothered to return full CMYK editing support to PhotoImpact. More recently, Corel purchased Ulead’s product line, and it remains unclear whether PhotoImpact will continue to be upgraded. PhotoImpact is priced at 69.99 USD / 47.00 EUR.
Bearing in mind that CMYK is only needed for print work, I feel that PhotoImpact is the best graphics editor available for web-only work. There are a wealth of tools included for web work, including: two button designers (rectangular and any shape), a seamless background designer, a type effect which applies special effects to graphical text, and a web component designer that can help you quickly create just about anything, including banners, bullets, and JavaScript Rollovers. Many of the effects in PhotoImpact (including Animation Studio, Creative Lighting, and Particle Effects) can either be used on a single frame image, or exported as a series of images for use in animation. PhotoImpact also includes support for most Photoshop plugins.
GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program)
GIMP is a free, open source graphics editor originally developed for Linux. The program has since been ported to both OS X and Windows. GIMP maintenance and development is handled by volunteers. Although GIMP’s developers state that it’s not meant to replicate Photoshop, there’s little doubt that the program was/is intended to bring Photoshop-style graphics power to Linux, and to the open source community.
GIMP is a solid editor that can perform functions such as designing web graphics and editing photos. Personally, I’ve found that the learning curve for GIMP is slightly higher than that for other editors. One issue here is the interface, which in Windows is somewhat difficult to manage. For example, it’s easy for windows to overlap each other, and for background windows or the windows desktop to appear. For those willing to take their time with GIMP, and who don’t find the interface distracting, it would likely prove to be a very useful graphics editor.
GIMP has limited support for CMYK (via plugins). Photoshop plugins are not supported by default, but a Google search can help you find libraries which enable Photoshop plugins.
Paint.NET
Paint.NET began as a semester-long programming project at Washington State University. The program was intended by students to be a replacement for the simple Microsoft Paint program, which has shipped with every version of Windows. Although Paint.NET never actually replaced Microsoft Paint, it has been moderately successful as a Windows-only freeware graphics editor. As you might suspect, Paint.NET was built using Microsoft’s .Net framework. Since the program relies so heavily on .Net, it requires less file space than other programs, the current size of the download is just 1.6 MB.
Paint.NET comes across as slightly less powerful than GIMP. However, the fact that it was designed for Windows from the start has allowed for an interface that Windows users may find more agreeable. Paint.NET does not support Photoshop plugins, but it does support its own proprietary plugin architecture, and many freeware plugins are available. Paint.NET has limited support for CMYK, via a plugin.
Conclusion
Photoshop will continue to be the first choice for those who don’t mind its rather high price tag, and for companies such as design houses. Still, as you can see there are plenty of alternatives out there for any kind of wallet (even for empty wallets, as both GIMP and Paint.NET are free). Depending on your needs, some may even be a better option for you regardless of cost, especially if you don’t need the most advanced features in Photoshop.
Was your favorite editor left out? Let us know in the comments.
About the author:
Anthony Celeste is a technical writer, multimedia developer, and Windows programmer. Anthony wrote about color theory and Web design in “Corel DRAW 10: The Official Guide”, and covered animation and special effects in “Ulead PhotoImpact 7: The Official Guide”.
Corel Photo House, you can edit as an image or clipart (. CCX). (Determined from the same sourse)
ClipArts can be opened in Corel Draw. The image, once you've selected, simply drag any application.
Title: Corel Gallery Magic 1.000.000 Images (15 CD)
Type: Cliparts
Size: 9.31 Gb
Contents:
800,000 images for the Internet (buttons, arrows)
140,000 vector images
60,000 photos
1000 fonts
530 sounds
125 videos
Summary of each disc:
01: Clipart, fonts, photos (nature), and photo frames.
02 – 06: arrows, buttons, animation, images, frames, sidebar, banners, textures, etc. for the WEB.
07 – 08: Photo (topics are very diverse. Format. Wi. (Corel Photo House and in Corel Photo Paint).
10: Clip Art and WEBART (animated figures, font and text)
09,11-14: Clip Art
P.S. Clip Art can be opened in Corel Photo House and in Corel Draw. From Corel Photo House image can be
exported to any application.
Tags: software
