As a professional photographer for the past 31 years, I am acutely aware of the magnitude of the effect that the digital revolution has had on my profession. The vast majority of professional photographers who have kept up with the technology will agree that ‘digital’ is fantastic.

Of course, there are many professionals, while agreeing that digital is great, will moan that “digital has caused the loss of much business!” We’ll get back to that in Part Two, but first I’d like to say that the advent and development of computers and programs like Photoshop, in my humble opinion, is cause enough for celebration!

I probably should admit at this point that I am in no way a computer “Geek”, and that to me, Photoshop is magic! It amazes me every time I use it. I can’t praise the makers of Photoshop enough. But I digress…

I have used film in my business for a long time. And I used medium format film which gave me beautiful, crisp images I could enlarge to 30×40 very nicely. I was in no hurry to “go digital” until I saw with my own eyes, and my own images that digital could produce the same quality I had been used to. I had never seen a ‘digital’ print that could fool me into thinking it was from film.

That day came in 2002. I saw what was being done with 6-mega pixel capture, and Epson Stylus Pro printers and I became a “believer”.

ADVANTAGES OF DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY

The obvious advantages, just about everybody knows: No film cost, no processing and proof costs, no prints you don’t want, instant view-ability. Well, instant gratification and saving money. What’s not to love? For a pro, the savings in film, processing and proofs is substantial. Also as a pro, instant view-ability has a marked positive influence on sales.

Deeper advantages include having complete control of your images with imaging software. (It’s a given that you need to have a good computer and good imaging software..) With those tools you can correct color, add special effects, re-touch, crop, burn & dodge, sandwich images, all kinds of things! It’s as good or better than having a chemical darkroom.

We’ll take a look at the disadvantages in Part Two, and revisit the “loss of business” issue.

About the author: Stan P. Cox II runs a Portrait and Commercial photography studio in Honolulu, Hawaii, and has been a professional Hawaii photographer for 31 years. His web address is: http://www.ParamountPhotography.com. This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.

About the Author

About the author: Stan P. Cox II runs a Portrait and Commercial photography studio in Honolulu, Hawaii, and has been a professional Hawaii photographer for 31 years. His web address is: http://www.ParamountPhotography.com. –

Digital photography is such a promising hobby. You have the beautiful people and places to photograph already. You’ve found a digital camera that fits your lifestyle and budget. All is good.

But sometimes, the pictures aren’t quite perfect. Someone blinked, a random crow flew into your shot, your darling little one twitched at the last second and caused red eyes. The list of what can go wrong with your pictures is seemingly endless.

The key to all of these nagging little details is a piece of digital photography processing software that you understand and can use. As you probably already know, the two most popular pieces of software on the market today are Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro. Depending on what you are wanting to do and how much you’re wanting to spend, there are pro’s and con’s for each piece of software.

What Makes Paint Shop Pro Perfect for Beginners?

If you’re just starting out with digital photography and editing your own pictures, Paint Shop Pro may just be for you. The choice of many beginning photographers, Corel Paint Shop Pro is a great piece of software on which to learn the basics of digital image processing.

The number one reason most people choose Paint Shop Pro is cost. People who want to use the software of their choice for their personal photographs can find the cost of Adobe Photoshop much too high. Paint Shop Pro can be purchased for much less than Adobe Photoshop, which can be almost 5 times as expensive.

Paint Shop Pro is also an easier piece of software to learn than Photoshop. Using some of the tutorials available online or in books, you can learn the basics of Paint Shop Pro in just a few days and get much more in-depth within a few weeks. Photoshop, on the other hand, can take years to completely master.

Advantages of Photoshop

If, on the other hand, you want to delve further into digital image editing and actually possibly do work professionally, you need to purchase Photoshop. Adobe Photoshop is considered the gold standard in the digital photography processing industry. Most if not all professional photographers and photography editors use Photoshop.

Without a question, Photoshop is a much more powerful piece of software than Paint Shop Pro. Straight out of the box, Photoshop has many more bells and whistles than Paint Shop Pro. But on top of its basic strength, you can also purchase add-on’s from both Adobe and other companies. This can include filters, lightboxes, digital elements, and much more. These additions make your Photoshop suite even better for the professional-quality digital photography processor.

So if you’re in the market for a new piece of digital image editing software for your digital photography, be sure to choose the one that both suits your needs and budget. And don’t forget, your needs may change as you learn more about digital photography and become more skilled.

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