I have CS5. Is it better to use the NIK suite in Photoshop, or in Lightroom? I assume you'd need to buy the suite twice to use it in both?
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In my opinion Nik is by far a more powerful instrument when used in Photoshop than LR.
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Interesting. Which version of photoshop are you using? I can use it, using version c6.
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PSP is more like Photoshop than Lightroom. It supports layers, which is the big divide. If you are interested in using layers, PSP would make sense unless you decided to do the subscription thing with Adobe. The raw converter from Adobe is better than PSP's raw converter, so you might want to do your initial editing in Lightroom and your more advanced editing, if necessary, in PSP. BTW, PSP supports most (but not all) Photoshop plugins. AIUI, the ones with the .8bf extension will work. I use the Topaz suite and Focus Magic with PSP. FWIW
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If your iMac will support it, I think you should upgrade to Mavericks. As to whether you need LR5, check this article for the new features in LR5. I never ran LR before V5 so I can't quantify how much better LR5 is than LR4. http://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom/help/whats-new.html
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It should be able to be used with any program. I have not personally used photoshop or lightroom, so can't say. For photoshop, if that is online (web-based app now, I think), the keystrokes may be messed up if you have specific strokes for your web browser, but not sure how photoshop works. It is a great keyboard supplement but not replacement. I use it synergistically--but it is a great add on.
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Sorry I work with Windows, Lightroom 4.4 and Photoshop CS6. With Lightroom it works perfect.
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I followed up on their site here is what is listed EZbackgrounds™ digital backgrounds can be used with most mid-level image editing programs. Compatible versions include all versions of Adobe Photoshop™, Photoshop Elements™ and all versions of Corel Paintshop Pro™. You can also use the free program GIMP™. Sounds like it won't work for Lightroom 5.
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Works for me [though W8 is a little strange from XP], I do a lot of foto editing almost daily. There are many tools that I haven't used [or used much] so glitches may still occur. I would say, if you have your computing power up, go with it.
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I use Photoshop 5.5 and its works great with my Canon raw files. I might buy a second one for a backup card reader.
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The plugin version of Portrait Professional runs within Photoshop so you can retouch an image while you're doing other kinds of editing. For a seamless workflow, this is the best option. There is also a standalone version, which runs as a separate software program. It works just as well as the plugin, but you have to open your image in Portrait Professional and then export it. I've used both methods and strongly recommend the plugin. By "three versions" maybe you mean the one that can handle raw files; I haven't tried it, but as long as it can work as a plugin it would be worth a try.
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Too many to address here. The short answer is that if you edit images one at a time and only need basic cataloguing capability, get Elements. It is very good image editor. On the other hand, if you need to be able to process, caption, keyword and catalogue large numbers of images simultaneously, get Lightroom. Lightroom handles 90% + of my processing needs, but lacks a few filters and layer features that Elements has that I find useful, so I use both. If I had to only own one, it would be Lightroom without question. Once you learn catalogue management it is a great program, and I really love that adjusted images don't have to be saved. Lightroom saves the adjustment recipe for each image, and these can be tweaked indefinitely without affecting the original image file or necessitating saving a copy of the adjusted image (this helps keep file management very clean and neat without multiple copies of images floating around). If you can only own one, best to download trial versions of both and try them before you buy. Most of the techniques you learn in one package will carry over fairly well to the other, so you won't be wasting much time if you decide against one on which you've invested time.
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To Pat and J.Crosby, In my opinion, do youself a favour and don't go anywhere near Photoshop Elements 6 (PSE6). I paid for an upgrade from an earlier version and have wasted my money. The program crashes continually to such an extent it is unusable. From my googling on the internet this is the experience of numerous other people. There are no solutions I can find on the Adobe site and although these complaints seem to have been posted since PSE6 was first brought out there are no upgrades or patches to fix what are a myriad of problems. A number of people have complained that the program worked initially and then started continually crashing and that has been my experience. I won't be buying more Adobe products until they show a bit of customer care and isuue fixes for this mess. I have downloaded and installed a trial version of Pro Photo X2 and so far it seems stable. PSE6 may have more bells and whistles but that is not much use if they are unusable due to continual program crashes.
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I use photoshop elements 12 for photographs. Premiere elements is mainly used for video I believe.
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No. You can only upgrade from CS5 to CS6. Your best bet is the Creative Cloud Photography Plan: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KNDCCE6/ref=cm_cd_asin_lnk (monthly) http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00O66FYRS/ (Yearly pre-paid) The old pricing model was $699 (Photoshop CS6) /$999 (Photoshop CS6 Extended). But consider this: at that price a customer can have the Creative Cloud Photography Plan @ $9.99/mo for close to 6/8.5 years respectively. The Creative Cloud Photography plan includes Photoshop CC, Lightroom & Lightroom mobile. Plus you get all the product updates/upgrades (e.g. Photoshop 2014, 2015, 2016, etc & Lightroom 6, LR7, LR8, LR9, etc) for OS compatibility and support during that time. With the old model, you'd have to pay extra for upgrades in that same time period. One of the reasons for moving to this model is to make sure customers can keep up with the fast changing technology landscape where Apple and Microsoft are updating OSes every 12 months and introducing new hardware and devices at a faster and faster rate. Hope that helps, Jeffrey Tranberry Digital Imaging Product Development Adobe Systems, Senior Product Manager, Chief Customer Advocate
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It's up to your imagination in what you can do by using layering to move objects from one photo to another, or just remove objects. It's by far the best bang for the buck, make sure you get the ultimate and when you load it, do both the 32 and 64 bit version as there are many existing tools that only run on 32 bits that you can import, you can even import Adobe images. I extracted a red rose from a bush, and filled the background in black after changing the rose to soft white, came out beautiful. Best of all, there are both text and video help for the tools even on youtube. It will take time to learn and I recommend taking notes when you do something, saves effort next time you try it. Enjoy
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Your question does not deserve an answer. Cs5 is a very expensive program. Buy The mac then Buy cs5 .
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I agree with Mariano, and there are many variations of "White Paper" with different brightness levels. The DGK is consistent. I personally use the neutral gray. The two ways I know to use it are to shoot ir close up and then use your camera's custom WB to set the WB, or shoot in RAW and put the DGK in a sample shot at the start and again any time your light changes and batch adjust your WB in a program like Lightroom or Aperture.