An amateur photographer's comparisons

[wulfowitz]

I take RAW images with my Canon 20D and have an ongoing search for the best RAW conversion and image editing program(s). While many of the features of Paint.Net are impressive, I have made numerous comparisons and have found nothing better than Breezebrowser for RAW conversion and Paintshop Pro 11 for editing and printing (this is not a commercial, merely my opinion based on my side-by-side tests). My only wish is that someone would develop an image editor that allows photographers to simply tweak their images to get the finest quality for viewing and printing. I do not need all of the "special effect" capabilities of PSP11 and probably do not use one-tenth of the program. Surely there are a multitude of amateur photographers out there, like me, who want the same. Kudos to what you have developed this far; at least it's not the monster that PSP11 has become. I DO really like your text tool and your curves adjustment, but I would certainly miss the crop to size and print layout that PSP11 provides. And the RAW conversion plugin doesn't provide Breezebroswer flexibility or results. Best regards.

[Myrddin]

You do know that PDN can crop to size, don't you? Simply select with the rectangle select tool, then hit Crtl + Shift + X, and that will crop the entire canvas down to the size of your selection. For printing, unfortunately we're stuck with the present one at the moment until a new interface arrives; this is explained in the Popular Feature Request thread sticky'd on the General Discussion page.

As for improved RAW capabilities, this is also explained on the Popular Feature Request page, take a look here for all the information:

http://paintdotnet.12.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?t=3455

[wulfowitz]

Thanks for the comments. What I meant by "crop to size" is that, in PSP11, you can, as an example, select a 4x6 (or many other sizes) rectangle, place it on the photo, and then move, stretch or shrink it as desired and still get a photo or the selected size. Previous versions of PSP did not offer this. I think it's the most useful crop tool ever made!

[Myrddin]

So it's like having preset crop sizes? I think this has been mentioned before, there is a work around for this by making your rectangle select the size of, say, 4x3 inch then holding shift while resizing the selection as this will keep its ratio intact.

As for having actual presets where you can place it over the image, I'm not sure if it's in the works or not. There will be specific function layers on the way, such as text or masks, so maybe something like preset cropping will be included. But this is just guess work so take it with a pinch of salt.

[wulfowitz]

Preset crop...exactly. And I failed to mention that you can flip the rectangle from horizontal to vertical, which is also very handy. Let's say you have a photo of a small flower at the center of your photo (mine come off the camera something like 14x21 inches) and you want a 4x6 inch print of the flower, up close. The preset crop allows you to do this with a couple of clicks, in a couple of seconds. And, if it looks better oriented vertically, one click makes that change. The Gimp comes close with its crop tool, where you click at the upper left corner of your rectangle and a box opens that lets you insert the length and width you want, then clicking "crop" finishes the task. But it's still not as quick and easy as the preset crop tool. Regards from Omaha, Nebraska USA!

[Myrddin]

And, if it looks better oriented vertically, one click makes that change.

Again, there's a workaround for this too. With your selection active and the using the Move Selection Tool () just right click outside of the selection, hold and turn (this goes for when using the Move Pixels Tool as well ()). On the bottom there is a information bar which tells you live at what angle the current selection is.

Or you could just select is going vertical rather than horizontal .

But like I've said before, I'm not sure if something of the like is in development, so workarounds like these could become redundant in the next version or in four versions time.

[wulfowitz]

If you don't mind my asking, where do you find all of these work arounds? I've browsed through the help files, but there must be more information out there someplace that I'm missing. In that regard, it would be nice if a printed help file was available, as it is for The Gimp and other programs. Thanks once again.

[Crazy Man Dan]

Most of these workarounds were things forum users came up with some time ago and posted here. The only problem is finding them again...

[Myrddin]

As for the help file, I have both a .pdf and a .doc format of the current help file. Now, with permission from Rick, CMD or BB I would be more than happy to send it you either in a private message or here on this topic.

[wulfowitz]

I would be most grateful for a pdf help file that I can print. Is there something I have to do in order to authorize use of my email address? Thanks!

[Myrddin]

There isn't, but I'd still like something from either a moderator or Rick just be on the safe side.

I know it says I can distribute documents from PDN freely, but I'd just like to have something anyway. If they reply yes, then I'll send a link to the file in PM and all you need to do is open it like mail.

[Crazy Man Dan]

Well, I wouldn't see a problem with it, but Rick is technically the copyright holder on all documentation.

I believe, though, that the help files are also released under the same license rights as the program and source code, allowing modification and redistribution of the mod copy.

[Myrddin]

Thankyou CMD.

wulfowitz, you will be receiving a PM in a few ticks, just follow the link and click download.

[wulfowitz]

Thanks to both of you, CMD and Myrddin!

[Myrddin]

No problem at all.