I've gotten away from photography for a while. I guess it's been because my health has made it difficult for me to have the patience to "play around" with the pictures that I've taken.

I had been getting very discouraged about the results that I got when I printed out my edited pictures. They had a tendency to come out much darker than I saw them on my screen. I never figured out what the problem was, so I just stopped taking pictures. It could have been due to settings on my Canon 20D or in my printer settings. I

I really would like to get back into picture taking, so I've wondered if using PE8 would help correct my problem.

I've been thinking about purchasing PE8, since it's on special at Adobe until 11/30 for $60 or Staples for $50 after MIR.

I'm currently using the older version of iPhoto (v.6.0.6) which has a way to select another app for editing pictures. I presume that it should allow me to select PE8?

I've read a number of references to the fact that it's a difficult process to "save" your edit back into iPhoto. Can someone explain what they mean and explain the steps required for this? Is it really all that complicated?

No one has posted about whether it's worth using this app.

BTW, I bought CS2 several years ago, but I've never been able to understand it well enough to use it. It seemed pretty complicated to me. I had it installed on my G5, but never installed it on my MacPro because I had seen mentions that CS2 doesn't work well on an Intel Mac. Is this true? Will there really be a big issue because it's not a native Intel app.

Should I keep CS2 and use it on my MacPro? Don't forget that I'm not in any way, a "power user." Would I be better off if I don't use it and switch to PE8

Would I be able to sell CS2? Would anyone want it now that there are subsequent versions?

Thanks for your thoughts,

GeneL

My first question is how you're printing the photos. Are you using a home printer or one of the commercial printers? Home printers can add in an extra challenge, because it's usually necessary to get into color calibration - a subject I used to know quite a bit about but don't any more.

In thinking back to a slightly different life, I also remember hearing that other Mac users add a little piece of shareware called iPhoto Buddy to their digital arsenal. I believe it makes using an app like Elements easier to integrate with iPhoto.

I looked at iPhoto Buddy and didn't see any reference to using it in conjunction with PE???

I did think that my printing issue has something to do with the color settings, either on the camera or the printer or, perhaps, both. I just don't know how to straighten it out.

Suggestions?

It sounds like your issue is that your monitor is not properly calibrated. In order to make sure printed photos match what you see on your monitor, your monitor has to be properly calibrated. I use an i1 Display 2 to create a proper profile for my monitor:
[www.amazon.com]

If you're printing your own photos, you also want to make sure you have a proper printer profile for the photo paper you are using and the printer. Since I do photography professionally and I print my photos on a high end inkjet printer, I also own a printer profiler. (I use a ColorMunki Photo - approximately $400.) A profiler allows you to create custom profiles for each photo paper you use.

There are some real advantages in using Photoshop CS2 vs. Photoshop Elements 8 but the learning curve is much greater. I need the ability to create actions (scripts that run several operations automatically for you) and Photoshop Elements won't allow you to create them. (They can run actions if they are properly set up for PSE but they have to be created in the full version of Photoshop.)

That said, you can do great work in PSE. I used it for two years after I started doing photography professionally again. I moved up to CS3 because I needed the more advanced features it offers.

Michael

GeneL, remove variables.

Shoot a bunch of frames and take the card in, as-is, to get it printed. Wal-Mart, Costco, wherever. Or upload to somewhere else if there's an online printer that looks interesting. Don't erase the card yet.

How do the prints look compared to how they look when viewed on the camera? On your monitor? If the monitor is way off, it's either not adjusted, defective or obsolete (worn out.)

If the monitor looks good but your at-home prints don't, printer profiles, software etc. will then consume your time.

Note: at this stage we're assuming that your shots, unedited from the camera and printed elsewhere, generally look pretty good, assuming good lighting or proper technique. If they don't, you can't really proceed without a little Photography 101.

Next, if you want to tweak, consider working "up' from the Canon software. It'll be limited in terms of what it can adjust compared to some other choices, but that software knows about your jpegs or raw files, so it's a useful baseline. And if you happen to have a Canon printer/Canon paper and use all-Canon software everywhere in the chain it can remove pretty much ALL of the myriad variables related to ColorSync, printer profiles, paper profiles yada yada for printing.

But really, Costco, Adorama and more print great, and usually on BETTER paper than you can buy and you don't have to futz around. Get it how you want it in the computer and if you're confident it's setup OK send your JPEGs with orders for them NOT to "autocorrect."

Back when you got your 20D that's not how the world was. Back then, quality inkjet prints were good and uploaded or Wal-Mart type prints were often suspect. But now, minilabs have improved tremendously, and in my opinion to the point where the "savings" of printing at home isn't worth the hassle and (often) lower quality.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/25/2009 11:31PM by deckeda.

deckeda, there's some interesting thoughts in your post. I do have a Canon ip8500 printer, which was the top of the line "consumer" photo printer at the time I purchased it. I also have a Huey Pro for my monitor's color correction, but I'm not sure that I've used it correctly because the monitor doesn't look quite right to me.

The problem is that in the past I may have screwed up a preference setting on either the camera or the printer or for the monitor and I just don't know where and how to reset everything to default, including the color profile that is somewhere in my printer preferences.

This is all very frustrating, especially since I've had a number of health issues (lack of sleep for one) that make it difficult for me to focus on something that requires such an intense bout of troubleshooting.

As far as printing through a 3rd party, I can see your point, but I would like the freedom of being able to run off acceptable prints in any size whenever I need to. In the past I had been able to produce some very decent prints. I'd be thrilled if I could just figure out where the problem resides and then learn how to fix it.

Anyway, thanks for your suggestions.

Have a great Thanksgiving!

GeneL

magicmikey, this is a perfect illustration of how much my lack of sleep is affecting me. I completely overlooked your post at first. I'll have to wait until Friday to come back and digest what you wrote.

Thank you for taking the time to send me your suggestions.

Best wishes for a great Thanksgiving,

GeneL