Desperation: Someone recommend a photo editing tool!
Considering that I edit photos for a living, you'd think I'd already figured this out, but... Sadly, no.
Here's the core problem:
I hate Photoshop. No, really. I hate it. I hate Adobe's UI, for one, and the thing is a giant, memory-sucking behemoth that takes about 10 minutes to load on anything other than the computer equivalent of a Testarossa. Even Elements doesn't solve that problem.
For hardcore image and design work, of course that's the industry standard. But when you're just doing day-to-day grind stuff? It's like using a commercial kitchen to make a tuna sandwich.
Unfortunately, because it's so popular with said hardcore designers, it's basically wiped out the market for any and all other photo editors.
The Company's efforts this direction have been sadly lacking. Paint, always a standby for grunt work, just doesn't really work with photos in any useful way. Live Photo Gallery is missing some key elements and has some features that are actually bugs, IMHO. And Picture Manager has some fatal flaws, and won't do any creative work.
My favorite tool, Photo Draw, ceased production 10 years ago and won't run on Win 7, so I can't go back to it. Also, it's old enough now that it can't handle newer formats anyway. Word and Publisher and all those other bits have some photo editing options, but they're really designed for docs, not photos.
So... I'm screwed. I find myself having to do one thing in one program, and then switch over to something else to do the other stuff I want to do, and that is a giant pain in the ass.
File management:
--Handles all major image formats
--Doesn't automatically save changes to the original file before you've told it to (I'm looking at you, Photo Gallery. ARGH.)
--Doesn't require exporting to save the damned file (a simple "save as," please.)
--Easy file conversion, either in batch (before editing), or through save as.
--Batch editing for simple tasks (For instance, selecting multiple files and resizing them all to 300 px W--with auto adjusting aspect ratios.)
--Batch renaming (probably the one thing I truly love about Picture Manager.)
UI:
--Easy zooming within the workspace
--Ruler options--pixels, inches, etc.
--Grid options
--Simple icon strip for common tasks (user-definable would be great, but not necessary)
--Item group locking/unlocking
Basic editing:
--Cropping: Manual handles plus set template options (aspect ratio, specific size, etc.)
--Resizing: Manual handles and specific number (inches, pixels, percent) changes. MUST allow for turning off aspect ratio locking
--Brightness, sharpness, tint control, etc. All the basics to make it look pritty.
Creative editing:
--Cutouts (including edge finders), background changes, layering, easy text overlays (MUST have easy editing of text boxes)
--Edge changes: Frames, feathering, etc.
--Simple filters/effects: Greyscale and tones, film grain, antiquing, basic distortions, etc.
--"Word art" text manipulations: Something beyond just changing font, color and edge/stroke
Anyone know of anything that will do all this that also is simple, streamlined and loads fast? Or am I stuck wrestling the Photoshop Beast of Traal?
ETA: Thinking about this more closely...
I really do like Picture Manager in a lot of ways. It has just about everything I want,
-No way to turn off aspect ratio locking for resizing/no grabber tool for manual resizing
-No sharpness adjustment
-No easy way to batch open (i.e., selecting a range in a folder, then doing an "open with")
-No rulers/grids
If they were to build some sort of "creative" add-on package for it to do the rest of the stuff I want (adding text, filters, backgrounds, etc.) it might do the trick.
Here's the core problem:
I hate Photoshop. No, really. I hate it. I hate Adobe's UI, for one, and the thing is a giant, memory-sucking behemoth that takes about 10 minutes to load on anything other than the computer equivalent of a Testarossa. Even Elements doesn't solve that problem.
For hardcore image and design work, of course that's the industry standard. But when you're just doing day-to-day grind stuff? It's like using a commercial kitchen to make a tuna sandwich.
Unfortunately, because it's so popular with said hardcore designers, it's basically wiped out the market for any and all other photo editors.
The Company's efforts this direction have been sadly lacking. Paint, always a standby for grunt work, just doesn't really work with photos in any useful way. Live Photo Gallery is missing some key elements and has some features that are actually bugs, IMHO. And Picture Manager has some fatal flaws, and won't do any creative work.
My favorite tool, Photo Draw, ceased production 10 years ago and won't run on Win 7, so I can't go back to it. Also, it's old enough now that it can't handle newer formats anyway. Word and Publisher and all those other bits have some photo editing options, but they're really designed for docs, not photos.
So... I'm screwed. I find myself having to do one thing in one program, and then switch over to something else to do the other stuff I want to do, and that is a giant pain in the ass.
File management:
--Handles all major image formats
--Doesn't automatically save changes to the original file before you've told it to (I'm looking at you, Photo Gallery. ARGH.)
--Doesn't require exporting to save the damned file (a simple "save as," please.)
--Easy file conversion, either in batch (before editing), or through save as.
--Batch editing for simple tasks (For instance, selecting multiple files and resizing them all to 300 px W--with auto adjusting aspect ratios.)
--Batch renaming (probably the one thing I truly love about Picture Manager.)
UI:
--Easy zooming within the workspace
--Ruler options--pixels, inches, etc.
--Grid options
--Simple icon strip for common tasks (user-definable would be great, but not necessary)
--Item group locking/unlocking
Basic editing:
--Cropping: Manual handles plus set template options (aspect ratio, specific size, etc.)
--Resizing: Manual handles and specific number (inches, pixels, percent) changes. MUST allow for turning off aspect ratio locking
--Brightness, sharpness, tint control, etc. All the basics to make it look pritty.
Creative editing:
--Cutouts (including edge finders), background changes, layering, easy text overlays (MUST have easy editing of text boxes)
--Edge changes: Frames, feathering, etc.
--Simple filters/effects: Greyscale and tones, film grain, antiquing, basic distortions, etc.
--"Word art" text manipulations: Something beyond just changing font, color and edge/stroke
Anyone know of anything that will do all this that also is simple, streamlined and loads fast? Or am I stuck wrestling the Photoshop Beast of Traal?
ETA: Thinking about this more closely...
I really do like Picture Manager in a lot of ways. It has just about everything I want,
-No way to turn off aspect ratio locking for resizing/no grabber tool for manual resizing
-No sharpness adjustment
-No easy way to batch open (i.e., selecting a range in a folder, then doing an "open with")
-No rulers/grids
If they were to build some sort of "creative" add-on package for it to do the rest of the stuff I want (adding text, filters, backgrounds, etc.) it might do the trick.