Railfan Technology > Any thoughts on GIMP Photo editing software?

Did a system reset on computer last week. Having all sorts of issues after doing so. Biggest issue is the Epson Perfection V550 Scanner that I purchased reecently. It runs real slow Have tried some of the solutions that I found on asking on the Windows site.  Biggest issue was the photo editing software. When I loaded the disc that came with the scanner it appaered that is was missing some programs/??? that I previously had before the reset. But one of the programs I looked at for Photo Editing is/was GIMP. How well does this work. Looks sorta like Photo Shop at first glance. Being on a fixed income sorta precludes me from getting PS, that's why I want to try GIMP. Still have Irfan View, which has always done me well. Just curious if anyone has used this program and what their thoughts are on it.  Thanks for any replies.  Ben

I guess the first question is why you did a reset or what that means, reinstall or going  to backup point.
If there was a prior problem could be some hardware problem or some virus or something.

The first thing would be to make sure you have all the updates for Windows you are using and  your system is working properly.
Then you can download the software for the scanner from  Epson online.
Whatever you had on your installation disc doesnot go away, there are options for installation or if the system is not corect things may not download.

I only say this because before you start adding software you want to get your system working correctly.
I Never used gimp, people say it is good but seems most I have heard using it are on Linux, not sure if that is correct.

bob jordan

 

Gimp works best on linux because that is the
development environment. Windows and Mac users
are a bit behind the curve because there is not
so much bug reporting for those platforms...

Gimp is free, but you'll have to learn more than
a little to get it up and running on a non-linux
platform if you really want to use it properly.

HTH just a bit.

John.

Couple of things:

1. I don't know anyone who's on an unlimited income. So when you say you're on a limited income - aren't we all? :D

2. Is the issue with the scanning software, or with your photo editing software? You mention problems reinstalling your scanner software, but this isn't anything that a graphics program like GIMP or Photoshop is going to fix. Take a look at Vuescan. IF that can't get your scanner back up and running, I would be very surprised.

3. I recently ditched Windows, so Photoshop is no longer an option for me. I'm a long-time Photoshop user (Continuously since CS, with some professional use for about 5 years). GIMP has some issues. Or maybe it's me. Let's begin with GIMP wanting to  change the colorspace to it's own unique color space, even opening images that are sRGB. The UI leaves something to be desired. Again, maybe it's just me. If you want a Photoshop-like image editor, take a look at PIXLR, and edit your images on their website. 

I hope this helps.

Arved Grass
Fleming Island, FL

Issues in gimp? Heh. Not really, I suspect
once you get used to the GUI interface between
you and the code. I switched to gimp back in
the very late 1990's or early 2000's. Once I
realized that resize was instead scale in gimp,
I was off and running.

What I've got going on now is getting the GPU
up and running. All things are now sorted,
so that when I want to open a 70 MB RAW file,
Darktable opens the RAW file and lets me do
some processing right there... taking care
of lens corrections with lensfun, tweaking the
tone curve, denoising the big image, and hitting
the chromatic aberrations. Without the GPU it
was taking upwards of 90 to 120 seconds, and
with it, maybe 10 or 12. OpenCL is coming to
gimp through gegl. I'm a bleeding edge type,
so I run the most recent code from the devel-
opers. It's not even beta or gamma code, but
it usually works fine, and problems are quickly
found and fixes made.

Setting up gimp and darktable in linux is easy,
only if one knows what one is doing. Otherwise
there is a long learning curve before before
the light begins to dawn. I'm sure a curious
and properly inclined grandchild could figure it
out ;-)

John.

You can get Photoshop Elements for $60, new out of the box up to date.  With some ingenuity you can probably get an older or used version cheaper, maybe for free.  If you enjoy fighting the system, making the difficult work, trying to outsmart Adobe (who doesn't) go for it.  But for $60 or less you can have a tried and true program that works out of the box.  I use both CS and Elements, and I can say from experience that Elements is a hell of a bargain, and does most of the things a normal photographer needs (except maybe CS's color correction tools are better, but that is mainly important if you are scanning old slides). 

JBWX

I agree Elements is a solid product. From a lot of the images I see on trainorders, though, the first thing a lot of photographers need to do is be willing to back off cartoonish over-saturation, no matter what software they use.

Plainsman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I agree Elements is a solid product. From a lot of
> the images I see on trainorders, though, the first
> thing a lot of photographers need to do is be
> willing to back off cartoonish over-saturation, no
> matter what software they use.

I think oversaturation has become a fade, made possible by the new technology.  Like most things in the art world, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And tastes change. 

JBWX

So I do have a question on oversaturation.  I have a multiple monitor setup and one pic will look good on one monitor and not the other as the settings seem to be slightly different I have tried to use some free software to help adjust the settings on the monitor to make them the same.  But never have been successful.  How do you all adjust your monitors to accurately render the colors and saturation of your picture files.  

Back in the day, I calibrated my monitors with
an Eye1, which reads the colors on the monitor
and compares them with a standard. I'm finding
these days that most monitors are pretty good
right out of the box.

Two monitors with different results? Are they
both putting out with the same candle power?
Are they both calibrated? At one time I had
two calibrated monitors on this computer, and the
screen results were different ;-) I'm guessing
the type of display is also important. These days
IPS (in-plane switching) monitors give the
better results... Heh! You can easily spend
1000 on a 'good' monitor, but unless your
livelihood depends on it, you don't need one.

The over/under saturation that we see on TO is
most likely a combination on what's on the
sending end and what's on the receiving end.

I'd start with a good calibration of your system.

John.

jbwest Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Plainsman Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I agree Elements is a solid product. From a lot of the images I see on trainorders, though, the first
> > thing a lot of photographers need to do is be willing to back off cartoonish over-saturation, no
> > matter what software they use.
>
> I think oversaturation has become a fade, made possible by the new technology.  Like most things in the art world, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And tastes change. 
>


Yup, There is Absolutely nothing new with this fad.

When 88 note player piano rolls came out in the early 1900's the first fad then was to play as many keys as possible all up and down the scale.  Sounded like a steamboat calliope.

Brian

jkh2cpu Wrote:

> I'd start with a good calibration of your system.
>
> John.

What tools do you suggest.  The free one online I found didn't really help me fix it.  Of course both of my monitors are different ages and are not new either, but still work well. 

 

I'd google for Eye 1 monitor, and you should
come up with a lot of hits. The calibration
tool is made by Xrite. I use it in linux, but
I'm fairly sure that it will come with
software for Mac and Win.

The two different monitors of different ages
and manufactures might throw a monkey wrench
into the works, but you'll be better off
than you are now.

I have two different IPS monitors made by Dell.
They look different to a degree, because one
seems to be a magnitude or two brighter than
the other.

HTH.

John.

Mine are 2 different manufactures, one ASUS and the other HP.  They are different brightness and I can't get them to the same level without creating other problems.  I will look. Thanks

Sounds like a plan. My Eye-1 cost around $100
10 to 12 years ago. You don't really need a
very fancy one to get the job done. It just
has to be accurate in what it reports to the
analysis software (my term.) My guess is that
the bundled software will know how to install
the results of the monitor scan.

Let us know how it goes :-)

John.

Regarding calibration equipment, I would also consider Datacolor products - works well for me with no fuss. Which ever company you consider, if your monitor is pretty old, I would query said company about compatibility before purchasing.

I don't want to sound like an Apple promoter, because Mac stuff is more expensive and in days past I was perfectly happy with PC's.  But perhaps one of the advantages of their controlling their own hardward is consistency.  Over the past ten years or so I used mutliple Mac monitors, iMacs, and laptops and never felt the need to calibrate a screen.  I have replaced smaller screens with bigger ones, but never because I had a color or resolution problem with the old screen.  I'm not a techno guru (techno dinosaur probably fits me), but I also wonder how quality varies among the various manufacturers.  I certainly see that in TV's, the cheaper TV's often have terrible color and I would think the mechanics of TV screens and monitors are similar.  I'm guessing that monitors are the weak link in the digital image chain, and perhaps the most deserving of extra quality and more frequent replacement. FWIW.

JBWX