More PS Advice

I have finally decided I want to become a Photoshop Ace. I have always been a fairly week post processor and because of my unfamiliarity and intimidation with PS have actually gotten most of my work accepted using Jasc Paint Shop Pro which I have felt comfortable with. Anyway when I do use PS I just have the basic original PS Elements version and so here is my question ?

Which is the best current version to purchase or download ?
The adobe website shows CS2 and PS Elements 4.0 , yet I keep hearing CS7 mentioned a lot, but don't see it. I have found multiple workflow guides on this site and elsewhere I want to try but need an updated version first. Which one do you recommend ?

Another question I have is 1024-683 ? I always thought 1024-768 was the preferred standard and always tried to size my photos as close as possible to that after cropping. But again I see many photoags I respect using the 1024-683 standard, could I get some feedback on this please ? Have I been wrong all along ?

Thanks in advance for your help guys and gals !

Cheers

Ron Peel

There's no CS7, it's just Photoshop 7. After Photoshop 7 they changed their naming convention... Version 8 was called CS, and the latest version is CS2. Adobe probably doesn't sell 7 directly anymore but I'm sure you can find it somewhere for a good price (or free :twisted:). There aren't many differences between versions. As for PS Elements it is definitely a step up from Paint Shop Pro, but it doesn't have as much functionality as full Photoshop...important features missing include the curves adjustment, and you can't create macros.

Now, I'm not one to condone or encourage "illegal" behavior, but I know for a fact that you can get PS7 on Limewire. I use 7, and I've used CS over at Phil's and there are only minor differences between the 2. The biggest difference, which I am not sure if you are concerned about, is the ability to convert RAW files to JPG in CS. You can not do that is 7.

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Originally Posted by LGA777

Which is the best current version to purchase or download ?
The adobe website shows CS2 and PS Elements 4.0 , yet I keep hearing CS7 mentioned a lot, but don't see it. I have found multiple workflow guides on this site and elsewhere I want to try but need an updated version first. Which one do you recommend ?

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Others have given you a rundown of what versions are available. As to which is best, it really depends on what you need. If you plan to shoot RAW and you have a recent Canon camera, for example, you may *need* CS2.

CS2 has some really useful features, IMO. The one that I use a *lot*, just generally, is the lens distortion filter. Who the heck needs TS-E lenses?? Just use this filter. Seriously; it does have its limits (no, it's not *really* as good as a TS-E lens), but it can really make a big difference. And it doesn't just cure perspective issues, but also stuff like barrel and pincushion distortion.

You just gotta decide first if you really need CS2 (because of its camera support) and if not, whether you can live without its features. 7 and CS are not hugely different (I think CS did add the "shadows/highlights" feature that I also use a lot), but CS feels faster to me. CS2 is slower than CS, and more bloated. They also ditched the file browser for CS2 and started using this horrible thing called Adobe Bridge instead. I use CS2 for three reasons: a) I have to for my camera, b) lens distortion filter, and c) channel mixer (which I don't remember CS having, though maybe it did). But CS is better if you don't need or want those features.

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Another question I have is 1024-683 ? I always thought 1024-768 was the preferred standard and always tried to size my photos as close as possible to that after cropping.

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1024x768 is 4:3. 1024x683 is 3:2, which is a standard camera aspect ratio. Though if you were using a four thirds camera (like the Olympus cameras), you'd probably want to resize to 1024x768 unless you cropped to 3:2 for compositional reasons.

I'm still not sure why people even crop to 1024x683, though, because that's gonna make a scrollbar in a browser on a 1024x768 screen. It would be better to resize to 1000xsomething if you're sizing for people that have 1024x768 screens. If you're sizing for screens above that size, you may as well do 1200x800 or something like that.

So maybe someone can edumacate me on why they do 1024x683 (but for different reasons than why you're asking). I might be missing something.

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Originally Posted by spacecadet

So maybe someone can edumacate me on why they do 1024x683

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Quite simple really. I print 4x6 photos, as I suspect many people do.

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Originally Posted by jakbar

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Originally Posted by spacecadet

So maybe someone can edumacate me on why they do 1024x683

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Quite simple really. I print 4x6 photos, as I suspect many people do.

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Then why are you resizing at all?