New Here with a software question! :)

Discussion in 'The Welcome Pad' started by Arlyn, May 14, 2016.

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  1. Arlyn

    Arlyn New Member

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    Hello! I'm an inconsistent scrapper with a lot of kids and no time for anything else! I do love to whip up something on my computer though, so when I got a new computer and found that I can't get my vintage Photoshop 7 to play nicely with Windows 10 on a 2TB hard drive, I started to get cold sweats.

    I am looking for suggestions on what Photoshop software I can use to maintain my hobby status as a part-time digital scrapper. I also have to feed all my kids, so I don't want to buy something built for professional use if something else will suffice.

    (I was led here from Scrap Orchard and before that, Sunshine Studio Scraps! I've been dabbling for a while.)
     
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  2. Kate W

    Kate W And justice for all ...

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    I love Craftartist, if you just want to scrap and nothing else. All the LOs in my Gallery are made with Craftartist. It costs about $20 to download, but has been on offer recently for $5. It has lots of features for scrapping, and is very easy to pick up if you're used to Photoshop.

    @MrsPeel uses Craftartist (not sure if she uses other software too) and her gallery is amazing!!
    Welcome to the lilypad, hope you get the answers you need :)
     
  3. AnneofAlamo

    AnneofAlamo Slippers IN sunshine? Even better!

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    Arlyn! hello and I remember the sunshine studio too!!! I am also a MOM to many (7kids and homeschooling) 1 and almost 2 are out of the house...l.ol...
    but................I am a PS user, I moved into CS5 with homeschool discount for family. but...........I think it is all cloud now...and you can get a 30 day free of the new PS elements 14.
    but the elements 12 is $60 thru amazon, and 14 is $70 so you can still play.
    I did a few searches....and this came up
    https://forums.adobe.com/message/7866339#7866339
    but our in house guru (in my mind) @lorryfach may have the official smart answer
     
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  4. klee73010

    klee73010 I might have a thing for drummers

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    Welcome, hello....
    Have you tried GIMP? My understanding is that it's free for Windows use, but I haven't used it with Windows. I was using that with my Linux laptop before it died last summer. Many of my layouts last year were GIMP.
     
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  5. MrsPeel

    MrsPeel LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!

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    hello!!!!!

    I ll look it up where you are, but Craft Artist Professional by Serif was on offer for only £5 for a week a couple of days ago here in the UK, the normal price I think is USA $40 I think £30 in the UK....
    Is dead easy to use, does everything PSE does and much more, and we can help you with managing it at any time, if you can get it, just pm me when you need help!!! :)
     
  6. MrsPeel

    MrsPeel LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!

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  7. gonewiththewind

    gonewiththewind I choose joy.

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    I'd recommend Photoshop Elements if you are only going to be doing part time scrapping. There are tons of free videos and tutorials if you need a refresher on how to do something . . . and most scrappers and designers use Photoshop products.

    You can subscribe to the Photoshop CC and Lightroom CC photography package for $9.99 per month. You can see the other plans as well. https://creative.adobe.com/plans

    If you want a free program, there's GIMP, and there are people who use it quite successfully.

    Good luck finding the perfect product for you . . . and so glad to see you came over from Scrap Orchard and will be scrapping again!!!!
     
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  8. StarryEyedDesigns

    StarryEyedDesigns My goal, is to make a goal

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    One issue could be the amount of RAM in the computer. If it's not at full capacity, I would upgrade it.
     
  9. bestcee

    bestcee In love with places I've never been to

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    Welcome to the Pad!
    I have been a Photoshop Elements user for a few years. I just upgraded to the Photoshop Creative Cloud, the monthly payment option. For me, since I have to pay, I better be playing with it! Plus, I love Lightroom.

    Photoshop Elements is great, I would avoid 12, as it's a little trickier for digi scrapping. It is sometimes on sale on Amazon for $40-$50, and of course there's usually a great price on it in the fall when a new version is released.

    The only thing I would suggest is if you use a lot of templates, you will want to make sure your program is compatible with the template files you have. I know that @MrsPeel occasionally has issues with certain templates and her programs.
    I hope you find time to delve into some scrapping again!
     
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  10. Arlyn

    Arlyn New Member

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    Oh MY! I had no idea there were so many other options. While I am not solidly against learning other programs, I really have gotten familiar with PS7 and feel more comfortable building on what I know with a newer version. I might be persuaded, but I feel such safety with PS. I have also had to wrap my brain around the Silhouette Cameo software and I sometimes get confused between the programs! :)

    I have 6 children, ages (nearly)16 to 6...NOT homeschooled, but we are often asked! :)

    It's not the ram. Brand new computer with well over 1.5 TB remaining. I read somewhere that PS7 isn't compatible with anything over 1TB. Putting a partition in the hard drive might help, but that's a bit beyond my skill set. :/

    Thank you. Those are things helpful to know. If anyone has some specific PS or PSE suggestions, I would be happy to hear them. I have a tiny bit of experience with PSE, but I found I liked PS better.

    I don't just scrap, but I don't do anything professionally. I often use it for whipping up handouts for church, birthday invites, school projects, hobby photo editing, crafting, etc. Would Craft Artist cover all of that? (I'm still struggling with leaving Photoshop even with that question!)

    I am in sunny, humid, sandy Central Florida (Disney World and rocket launches). Not a native and hoping to move to cooler latitudes someday. :)

    Thanks everyone for your help! I am checking all of this out and trying to choose something soon.
     
  11. michelepixels

    michelepixels A pun is not fully matured until it is full groan.

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    I don't know about any of the digiscrap-specific software. I tried one when I was starting out around 2006 and then quickly decided I wanted Photoshop Elements. I used PSE (upgrading 2 or 3 times) until exactly a year ago; now I use Photoshop CC, the photographer's bundle that includes Lightroom. I'm a photographer too. For you, I bet Photoshop Elements or one of the digiscrap-specific software would be best. I think it's around $75 and pretty easy to figure out out if you're willing to explore. Plus there are all the tutorials, video and text, available out there, as mentioned already. I learned a lot just by fumbling around in the software, trying things out though, and asking in an online forum like this one.

    Welcome to TLP! This is one of the friendliest forums I've ever seen, so I'm sure you can post many questions here and be an expert digiscrapper in no time. :wave
     
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  12. michelepixels

    michelepixels A pun is not fully matured until it is full groan.

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    We were typing at the same time :)

    Hearing that you are experienced with PS and really prefer it, I do encourage you to go with Photoshop CC. Lightroom is useful for any level of photographer, so it's worth having. But even if you don't use Lightroom, getting full Photoshop for $10/month is a great deal. Look for a deal too. I'm only paying $8/month because I found a special offer via my Clickinmoms (photography forum) membership.

    p.s. I think you'll be impressed by how much PS has developed since your version. I have a tiny bit of experience with an old version of PS my husband uses.
     
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  13. Arlyn

    Arlyn New Member

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    Thank you! I will check into it! I'm not sure I use it enough for $10 a month, but perhaps it will give me incentive if I discover all of the possibilities!
     
  14. michelepixels

    michelepixels A pun is not fully matured until it is full groan.

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    I felt similarly while I was still content with PSE and hadn't yet heard Lightroom might be moved to cloud only. But last May, when I read they're considering making LR only available via cloud, I thought about it again. One of the things I came to realize is that paying $10/month for PS CC, which updates automatically everyone once in a while, is much more valuable than the one time purchase of a program that costs hundreds of dollars. I mean, I've been using full Photoshop for an entire year now and have paid much, much less than if I'd bought it the old way, yet I have the newest, most updated version.

    Having said that, if you really don't want to take on that monthly payment, since you already know how to use PS, switching to PSE should be pretty easy. Some of the keyboard shortcuts will be different. There's not really a lot you can do in PS that you can't do in PSE. In fact, since you'd be moving from an old version of PS, I bet you might be able to do MORE in the last few versions of PSE!
     
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  15. cookingmylife

    cookingmylife Pizza would be my last meal, except ...

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    I'd suggest doing the trial of PS CC and then you can see if you want to spend the ~$10 a month. If not Costco almost always has the newest PSE on sale at Thanksgiving for about $50. I have PSE13 but if my hard copy Lightroom ever goes south I suspect I'll be on the cloud too. (It's memories of trying to learn what you have - the very old PS7 - that had me in tears way back when... that put me off it.)

    Knowing there is a good body of reference on line and in most store forums for the Adobe products is another reason I stick with their products even if at times they seem like cranky playmates with Apple.
     
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  16. MrsPeel

    MrsPeel LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!

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    regarding the Craft Artist... I don't have "problems" as such , just need separate PNGS for the templates, like many other programs that are not Photoshop related do... I can't use styles, which is not hugely important to me ... in my opinion, the difference between Craft Artist and PSE is that Craft Artist is install and start playing....
    I have PSE and had scrappers friends trying to help me , teach me to scrap on it... I was so frustrated I gave up.... but this is the same as Windows vs Apple, we love what we love and will advocate for it LOL

    I'm glad you are here Arylin!
    Look forward to seeing more of you and... would you like to swap with me? I live in 90% of the year cool London (England!) but will gladly switch with you to be in sunny Florida!!!!!! :)
     
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  17. bestcee

    bestcee In love with places I've never been to

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    What specific suggestions are you looking for? I know @gonewiththewind scraps in Pse11, then uses PSCC (creative cloud) to adjust her shadows.
    I have had a few things that were different for my going from PSE to PSCC, but it hasn't been bad. I don't mind the monthly payment as much as I thought I would because it's the same as Netflix at my house.
    Either program will let you make the same type of things- invitations, scrap stuff, basic photo editing. I use Lightroom for photo editing now, because I find it easier, and I like the non destructive editing. Based on your familiarity with adobe, I would stick to it. I found pse really easy to use, shortcuts are different from Photoshop.
     
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  18. Arlyn

    Arlyn New Member

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    Thank you to all the suggestions! I might try a PSCC trial and see how it goes.
    Um. YES! ;)

    Does this mean that shadows are difficult in PSE? I am a little addicted to shadows. :)

    I have one more question. (Sorry to keep this going so much, but the question has come up.) What are the big draws of Lightroom? I've never used it.
     
  19. Kate W

    Kate W And justice for all ...

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    Craftartist wiil do all of this. It doesn't have a fine blur or smudge tool or dodge/burn, so if you use those for photo editing you may want to get some thing else. I have PSE, but always use Craftartist for all of the above. The only downside for me is not being able to warp shadows. There may be a way to do it, but I haven't found it.

    The biggest draw for me is the price. I just checked and you can download here for $7. :clapBARGAIN:clap

    It's awesome for organising all your TLP stash!!
     
  20. Arlyn

    Arlyn New Member

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    WOW! I will try it for that price. Thanks for the link!
     

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