Calling all Photo experts

[jbrat]

Hello,

Hope everyone had a good Holiday.

My husband has been off work due to surgery and he is coming up with crazy projects for me (like I don't have enough of my own) OH! . Anyway, my son dug out some old pictures the other day and Hubby wants me to make collage's for all the family ( I told him maybe if I start now I could do them by next christmas,HA)

I've tried to search around for best rated software but not getting enough details. I need some input from people who have done it and used the software.

What I need is:

1. Easy, easy, easy! I plan on making hubby help- it would be good for him to learn how to use the program.

2. An easy tool to remove unwanted things in a picture or to pull a object from a picture and put it on something else. ( for the collage)

I've used a free collage template thing but there is always a border around each pic. and we want to make a mass of different pictures w/o borders between the pics.

I was sent this really cute link on christmas www.elfyourself.com If anyone else used it - the way you crop the face out of a picture was soooo easy- is there a photo software that has a feature like that? (BUMMER - just tried the elf link and it is gone till next year, HOPE someone here used it)

I've played around in Paint (program that came with pc) not sure but it may be capable of doing collage's but it seems pretty tricky to use.

I also have Kodak editing software but haven't found where it has much more than basic editing.

A free program would be awesome, but maybe not available for what I need, So I would buy one if it comes Highly reccomended. I looked at GIMP but it kindda looks complicated. I started reading up on it then thought hummm, I'll come here and ask my favorite online friends.

Thanks,

Jayme

 

[maplegum]

I'll be watching this space too as I'm at my wits end trying to find a program that is user friendly and does all of the above. I've downloaded photofiltre but it does not seem easy to use.

 

[Elsa]

Photoshop will do mostly anything. With so many functions, however, it's not always user friendly. I think if you googled whatever you wanted to do with the picture, you could find a step by step tutorial to using photoshop. I tend to just experiment and do more retouching than actual collages and such, but it works great for both =)

 

[Lucky-C-Acres-Minis]

Photoshop right now is "best of the best", but it's pretty pricey and because it has so many options/tools may take a while to get the hang of.. I use Microsoft Picture It to do all the collages and logos I do and it's really easy to use and learn with, might try googling it to see if you can find it..

 

[jbrat]

Thanks for all the replies!

I've been googling and reading for hours. None seem very user friendly so far.

The elf thing I mentioned was so easy I'm going to try and explain it to see if any programs you all use work anything like it.

Once the picture was uploaded there was a place under the santa hat for the face you want to add you'd enlarger the pic till the face came close to fitting in the spot and then, - Here's the good part- there was a outline for the face and with this line(along with a series of dots) you could move the line and dots to form around the face. Piece of cake and easy to do a good job pulling just the face out of the pic.

I think there has to be a program where you can form a outline around the object in the picture you want rather than having to draw around it. My "mouse" just isn't steady enough to draw around the objects neatly. Nor do I have the patience to keep trying esp. in the paint program that came with my pc. There has to be a easier way.

I'm still reading tutorials on photoshop and ms picture it, GIMP and photoplus. Think I'm just making things hard, but they all seem to do the same thing but there a pretty big $ spread from free to hundreds of dollars.

I need to hear that they are alot easier than regular paint program!

I'm a novice and need good tutorials to say the least, paint doesn't have that googling I found some tips but still seems like a huge pain. this project is starting to look alot harder than I expected.

Anyone have any free program reccomendations or maybe a older version of a program (one I could pick up cheap on ebay or clearenced at the store) they would reccomend for me to try and experiment before I jump in and buy a program that I can't get the patience to figure out.

LUCKY C - Is picture it now a free download? I see they have discontinued it.

For good thread sake anyone who has pros and cons to list about any photo program please post your experiences here.

THANKS again!

 

[Jill]

I really like Roxio Photsuite (<---- link). I have used versions of it for years. It has every feature I can think of (has been compared to Photoshop), is easy to use, and is only $30. You can download the full version of the program online.

 

[maplegum]

Hey again..

I am on a mission to find something similar and came across this free trial program. It's called Photocollage.

It's REALLY easy to use but with the trial version, it leaves a watermark across the top of your collage! That sucks cause it's a very easy program to use, even for me!

I think it's only around $25 US to purchase if you decided it was what you were looking for.

 

[jbrat]

CHECK IT OUT I also found a good easy to use FREE collage site to make simple collages and edit your pictures. www.picture2life.com . I think it would be great for good centered pictures But for what hubby is wanting to me try to do I need something with more editing options, I think? There's a ton of ways to set up collage's here. And its free not just a trial.

Still on my quest for the perfect program I found this review http://www.photographyreview.com/cat/digit...26_3078crx.aspx

Has anyone here ever Tried this GIMP program? http://www.designyourownweb.com/gimp-tutorial.htm I've been watching these video tutorials they are good, I'm impressed so far. just thought I'd edit and let others who may be interested know about it. The page the link opens too Lessons 1 thru 11 are the gimp info. not the ad video that is on the opening link. (edited to add above info.)

Still hoping to hear from someone who has used it or I'll post back once I actually DL and try it, if there's anyone interested.

Don't mean to sound like a cheapskate but with hay prices and gas, I'll have to cut corners.

 

[Lucky-C-Acres-Minis]

I have no idea if you can get a download for Picture It, we got ours from a friend who no longer used it..

 

[sdmini]

Photoshop will do mostly anything. With so many functions, however, it's not always user friendly. I think if you googled whatever you wanted to do with the picture, you could find a step by step tutorial to using photoshop. I tend to just experiment and do more retouching than actual collages and such, but it works great for both =)

I played with my photoshop for almost a year before I found out the marvels of the online tutorials. I found Photoshop very friendly but it's a subject I was very intrested in and I'm a person that has no problems pushing a button to see what it does. Now I'm trying to read up on how to search optimize my website and that to me is very NOT user friendly. OH!