Layer by Layer: Photo Manipulation Programs

[Monday Morning]

I wanted to start this thread because I've noticed that most of us Sims-bloggers manipulate our photos (even if subtly). I know I do: All of my images get a brightening and a diffuse glow. Flashbacks get deluded, and dreams get a little bit of both worlds.

I use the following:

The Gimp: For being a free manipulation program, Gimp offers many interfaces and interactions like those of Adobe Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro. The program is able to accept any Photoshop brush, pallette, etc. (for versions 2.6+).

My only gripe with this program is that the docks (menus) get in the way, and it gets confusing trying to flip through layers--especially when pasting one image onto another. If a new layer is not first created, the new image is pasted right onto the background is then unmoveable.

The "undo" button is my friend.
You can find free photoshop brushes and more at DeviantArt. As a general rule of thumb, I try to link back to the creator of the brushes I use, per their terms of use.

Photoscape--This is also a free program and has become my program of choice at the moment. The interface is simple and the cascading folders keep things organized and crisp.

This program offers text, borders, filters--you name it. It gives you three options when saving, and will even create an "Originals" folder if you decided to save the newly edited picture in the folder it came from.

I'm impressed overall with Photoscape. So much so, that I recommended it to my manager and she's loving it.

If you use different programs, or know of any others that we could take advantage of, post it here!

[raquelaroden]

I do ridiculously little with most of my images. I have one of the versions of Adobe Photoshop, but I'm such a novice that I have no idea what I'm doing most of the time. I have played around with some of the filters, but I have no idea what to do with layers. I hope to get better at such things, because I'm jealous of the beautiful images others are using in their stories.

[girlyesterday]

I use Photoshop CS. I've never ever used anything else to be honest. Maybe Painter but that's more for digital painting than photo manipulation.

[Monday Morning]

Just wanted to let you all know that I was told by my boss (of all people!) that there is an awesome photo editing program online that is free to use. It's called Picnik.com, and there is no registration required. You're able to take advantage of most of the features, but if you'd like to sign up and subscribe, more features become available to you.

Picnik is a really nice tool, and I tried it out on some of my photography from my recent trip to Sedona. They came out great just using the non-registered features. I really like it, though I'll still be using my Photoscape for some things.

[lhasa]

I use Photoshop 7 and Photoshop CS3 (when I need it) for most of my image-editing. I create actions and just batch edit all of my images.

The only time when I don't do this is when I have to add something special to a particular image (Like this one). I just 'hand-edit' that one and batch the rest.

[rad]

I don't have time to faff about editing sims photos though I might in the future if I had a story I was doing very slowly.

I quite like GIMP - I'd agree about the menus and floating taskbars being annoying though. I love Photoshop but I've never owned it myself as it's far too expensive!! PhotoPlus is also OK for a very simple program that's easy to use, though its features are limited.

[heredoncove]

I use Gimp. I always sharpen, crop and resize my photos.

I do have future plans to do more though

[meowzbark]

The most extensive editing I've done is with Photo bucket. I feel so outdated.

I downloaded Gimp a while ago and then gave up after seeing all the buttons. Oh well. CAW and I didn't get along either.