Adobe Photoshop Elements 11 or PaintShop Prox5

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Adobe Photoshop Elements 11 or PaintShop Prox5

Postby Rosemary » Tue Sep 25, 2012 10:38 am

There is a special offer on Photoshop Elements 11 today and as I already have PaintShop Pro X4 I am wondering if I should swap to Elements. I am finding that removing backgrounds in PSP is quite tricky (probably user's fault) but I am wondering if this task is any easier in Elements 11.
I would be grateful for any input.

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Re: Adobe Photoshop Elements 11 or PaintShop Prox5

Postby marjolijn1957 » Wed Sep 26, 2012 4:21 am

If we can believe the website it must be very easy to remove / change the background.

Isn't there a trial version?

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Re: Adobe Photoshop Elements 11 or PaintShop Prox5

Postby gpsmikey » Wed Sep 26, 2012 6:40 am

I can't compare the two, but be very careful believing the advertising :roll: Removing a blue ball from a red background is easy ... creating a good mask (which is how you remove things) of a person with hair in shadows and where there is no clear distinction between the subject and the background etc is a MUCH tougher process. I happen to like ReMask from TopazLabs for Photoshop, but some things are really tough to do. Hair is one of them, another example is a tree sitting out in the open where you can see lots of bits of sky behind the tree through the leaves (they have that as an example for a ReMask tutorial). Elements is a good program, don't get me wrong - just don't go into any of these with the idea that it is going to be click-click to remove someone from the background. If you have good contrast between the subject and the background, creating a mask is fairly easy (especially with something like Remask), but to do a really good job is how the pro's make the money - it takes time and skill ...

You might want to search for some tutorials (or videos) on how to do masking in the two programs - see how it is done and if that would work for you.

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Re: Adobe Photoshop Elements 11 or PaintShop Prox5

Postby jlwilm » Wed Sep 26, 2012 6:58 am

Yes, there is a trial version - fully functional for 30 days, then needs a licence number to keep on working. Trial version can be accessed here.
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Re: Adobe Photoshop Elements 11 or PaintShop Prox5

Postby debngar » Wed Sep 26, 2012 7:37 am

Mikey's points are spot on. I have Remask too. Tools like this are helpful but the task still requires work to get the desired results.
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Re: Adobe Photoshop Elements 11 or PaintShop Prox5

Postby Rosemary » Wed Sep 26, 2012 8:13 am

Thank you everyone.
I had downloaded the trial version of Elements and of course another learning curve is required. Mikey, I take your points to heart, thank you, and have decided just to practice more with the programme that I have. At least I know my way around PSP a little better than I would Elements :) I am going to take a look at "Remask" and see what that does.

Rosemary

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Re: Adobe Photoshop Elements 11 or PaintShop Prox5

Postby cherub » Wed Sep 26, 2012 10:25 am

Rosemary,
Remask is compatible also with PaintShop Pro. :D

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Re: Adobe Photoshop Elements 11 or PaintShop Prox5

Postby Oldguy » Wed Sep 26, 2012 12:35 pm

For what it is worth. When I am trying to erase the background
I enlarge my image to 300 to 400%. Then use the eraser tool
rather than the background eraser. The background Eraser
leaves tiny specks that you don't notice until they are in your
show. I am using PaintShop Pro 5. I have not had much luck
removing just one object from the picture and it look as
though it was never there.

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Re: Adobe Photoshop Elements 11 or PaintShop Prox5

Postby im42n8 » Wed Sep 26, 2012 7:42 pm

Removing a background by Erasing is not always an option. Color masking is not always an option either. Paintshop Pro can do some serious masking from within the program ... but, to do the really fine stuff you need a dedicated masking program. There are several of them out there that will work from within the program. Remask is one, Perfect Mask from OnOne, KnockOut 2 from Corel ... they work wonders on complex images (like lines, hair, leaves, etc). I'm using Knockout ... as I'm a Photo-Paint user (much more than Photoshop). Knockout will work within Paintshop Pro too.

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Re: Adobe Photoshop Elements 11 or PaintShop Prox5

Postby Rosemary » Wed Sep 26, 2012 8:15 pm

Dale, thank you for your suggestions. I have just been looking at some "Remask" tutorials and the latest version seems to do wonders. Now to have a look at "Knockout"

Thanks,

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Re: Adobe Photoshop Elements 11 or PaintShop Prox5

Postby DickK » Thu Sep 27, 2012 2:48 pm

Rosemary,

I was a Paint Shop user for a few years. My brother still uses Paint Shop but switched to PSE some years ago and never looked back. I'm still on PSE9 and will stay there for a bit yet by the way. Of the two, PSE is, I think, the better one for photo work. With Organizer bundled in it and a lot of compatibility with the full PhotoShop, Elements is what I recommend to anyone looking for an editor. There are things about PSE that drive me crazy but, overall, it's still the best editor for value on the market.

However, I strongly recommend you get at least one of the third party books for PSE. Skip the Adobe stuff and go for either the one in the "Missing Manual" series or Scott Kelby's "...for digital photographers" book. I especially like Kelby but his books are not tutorials on how to use the software. Instead of telling you what something does he tells you how to get something done--for example, instead of a discussion of what the Healing Brush does, there's a discussion titled "Using the healing brush to remove a distracting background." Both approaches are valid, I find his book much easier to make use of -- but on the other hand, it's harder if, in fact, you want to know what all the Healing Brush can do.

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Re: Adobe Photoshop Elements 11 or PaintShop Prox5

Postby Rosemary » Fri Sep 28, 2012 8:06 am

Hi Dick,
Thank you for your input and your recommendations. The Kelby book sounds very useful.
What I have done is downloaded the trial version of Topaz Remask and presently I am trying it out. Elements would be another learning curve for me so I decided to stick with PaintShop Pro and take one curve at a time :) The old brain is not as receptive as it used to be!

Rosemary

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Re: Adobe Photoshop Elements 11 or PaintShop Prox5

Postby gpsmikey » Fri Sep 28, 2012 9:22 am

Be sure and watch the tutorials for Remask - it it not intuitively obvious how you create the initial mask or how you can fairly easily "tweak" the mask for the best results. Once you understand the process, it works quite well though.
As far as "the old brain" goes, I find it is still receptive - it just doesn't seem to "stick" as easily :lol:

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Re: Adobe Photoshop Elements 11 or PaintShop Prox5

Postby Rosemary » Fri Sep 28, 2012 9:59 am

Mikey,
With Remask I have managed to get a very raggety mask done so need to watch a few of the tutorials.
Good point about the old brain. I tend to say that my memory is very good - just very short!

Rosemary

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