Alternative to Photoshop for correction?

[banana]

Please forgive me if this sounds naive, but I'm new to both UW photography and SCUBA. I rented an UW digital camera and took some pics on a dive in Belize. Afterwards, the owner of the dive shop showed me this tool in Photoshop that corrects the color. Problem is, I don't have Photoshop (I have a mac, so I use iPhoto).

Anyone know of an alternative program or a function in iPhoto that does the same thing?

Thanks and sorry for what is probably a silly question.

 

[Cacia]

Download Picasa, a free program by Google. Try fill-light, "I am feeling lucky" and the crop tool.

 

[justleesa]

Nice plumeria avatar

Sorry I don't know anything about mac (isn't there a version of PS or PS elements available for mac?)

 

[CompuDude]

Please forgive me if this sounds naive, but I'm new to both UW photography and SCUBA. I rented an UW digital camera and took some pics on a dive in Belize. Afterwards, the owner of the dive shop showed me this tool in Photoshop that corrects the color. Problem is, I don't have Photoshop (I have a mac, so I use iPhoto).

Anyone know of an alternative program or a function in iPhoto that does the same thing?

Thanks and sorry for what is probably a silly question.

You should be able to tweak color curves, as long as you have the current version of iPhoto. I can't recall if they have at least some raw support now, however... were you working on raw files, or just trying to tweak some JPGs?

My mac is at home right now, so I can't help too much more off the top of my head, since I usually use Photoshop on my Mac for anything remotely complex. There are a couple of alternatives to Photshop out there, but PS is still the big daddy everyone defers to. If you can't afford the full version, Elements is quite capable for most tweaks these days, and costs under $100.

If you absolutely need something free, you might try GIMP. It's funky, but it has some features.

 

[CompuDude]

Download Picasa, a free program by Google. Try fill-light, "I am feeling lucky" and the crop tool.

No Mac version, at this point.

 

[justleesa]

Elements is quite capable for most tweaks these days, and costs under $100.

I thought so

 

[banana]

Thanks for the replies. I have windows at work, so I'm thinking I'll try Picasa and see how that goes. If that doesn't work, I'll try Elements or maybe GIMP. Great suggestions.

I can spare 100, but 600 bones for PS is a bit much for me right now.

Thanks again!

Cheers,
banana

 

[Diver Dennis]

Elements would do all you want for about $89. I don't know but I think that he might have been using the white balance eyedropper in Levels.

 

[ChrisA]

...I don't have Photoshop (I have a mac, so I use iPhoto).
Anyone know of an alternative program or a function in iPhoto that does the same thing?

iPhoto's color correction is primitive and simple. You could get a copy of Photoshop Elements fr about $80 but you could also try "Gimp". it has features about like Photoshop but it's a free program. ("Free" in both senses of the word.) See www.gimp.org for details

Also Adobe lets you download and try out Photoshop and Elements for a 30 day eveluation. This may be all you need (but you will be "hooked" and you'll buy it.)

Adobe has another new product you can try for free too: "Light room" is made to solve the problem of evaluating, sorting and corecting large numbers of digital photos. It's in Beta test now and is free for now.

Photoshop, PS Elements and Gimp will all work inside iPhoto as your "default image editor" or you can use these programs stand alone and continbue to use iPhoto's built-in editor. Lightroom is kind of a competitor to iPhoto as it Apple's own "Aperture".

I would recommend either PSE or Gimp. Try them both and decide. If you do decide to buy PSE. Don't buy it. Buy a Wacom Graphics tablet and notice that PSE is bundled with it. Kind of like getting a tablet for free.

The Mac is the primary platform for graphic arts and photography. While Macs only have about 4% of the general market they have the majority of the profesoinal arts market.

 

[Ishie]

What about a mac version of Paint Shop Pro? I have both PSP and PS and I really like PSP for simplicity, particularly the much maligned lighting/contrast.