Photoshop prices....

[NicolaiBrix]

I downloaded Adobe Photoshop CS2, a demo-trial-version and I am being happy for the program. Now I want to buy the right photoshop, but damn it is expensive. (Excuse my language.) So now my question is, is there a cheap photoshop you can use to draw maps with, or do you have to pay through the nose to - hopefully - paint good maps?

[Larb]

Photoshop Elements is the budget version as far as I know. You can even get it free when you buy a wacom intuos tablet! (I opted for sketchbook though, so I've not actually used elements, but I read it has lots of the features that Photoshop has and I imagine it will suit most of your cartographic purposes.)

Otherwise, yes, if you plan on buying CS4 or whatever, you'll be paying lots of money.

[mearrin69]

I don't know much about Elements but you could certainly try that. You might also try Paint Shop Pro from Corel. Gimp also has quite a following...and, best of all it's free! I could never get into it much but I've been using Photoshop for a while now (since version 5 or 6) so I had to bite the bullet and get CS4 (which is totally awesome but ungodly expensive). If you're in school definitely look at a student discount - which is quite reasonable and not restrictive.
M

[Coyotemax]

If you look around there are ways to get discounts on Photoshop (student discounts etc) but if you're looking for CS2 you may have to go through resellers - Adobe tends to only sell the latest versions of their software, at the moment photoshop is at CS4.

Another low cost (free) alternative is GIMP, there's a lot of people who love that program, and it's comparable to photoshop in most ways (better in some, in fact, but there are tradeoffs).

[NicolaiBrix]

Okay, thanks for the advices... there seems to be a way to paint maps then. )

[Rythal]

yes I'll vouch for corel Photo-paint; its much cheaper at any rate, doing almost the same things... (got a tutorial in my sig for it that doesn't get much use, so by all means!)

[tilt]

Photoshop Elements is the "normal" user version of photoshop - the BIG difference between the two programs is that Elements don't work with CMYK colors, which you use for professional printing. So, if you're just working at home and printing to your desktop printer - it should be sufficient.

[nolgroth]

Warning about Elements. It does not Select by Color (or Color Range whichever it is); a feature used a lot in the tutorials around here. Other than that, it is a fine program. I often pass an image back and forth between Elements and GIMP (GIMP can save PSD files). That method gives a pretty good hybrid of power (GIMP) and ease of use (Elements).