Paint Shop Pro 9.0..... ANYONE????

[am_pitbull_terrier]

I see tons of people using Photoshop, Does ANYONE use Paint Shop? I have a few questions and all I ever see is Photoshop. PLEAESE HELP:(

[Jack W.]

I use PSP 9. Try to help if I can.
There's also a very good user group for it.
You can get the links from the Corel site:
http://support.corel.com/scripts/rightnow.cfg/php.exe/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=754345

[ejwebb]

PSP really is a great program but I stopped upgrading at version 7. I tried versions 8&9 but never saw the need to upgrade. Some of the advanced tools they tout - like the noise filter and RAW conversion just did not do it for me. And PSP does not support color management which is a major issue if you are serious about printing your photos.

I now use PSE 3 which I upgraded to for $50 from the version 2 that came with my camera and I am very happy with it. Most of its limitations can be overcome with free downloads to add functions like curves and masks and the RAW converter is great.

I think PSP is just a little behind the times now but maybe they will catch up in future versions. The link provided above is a great resource - post any questions there and I am sure they will be answered. I used to frequent the forum a lot before moving on to PSE.

[cyclone]

I have PSP 7.0. It actually has things like mask and curves that elements does not;)

Do you need help with something (I'm not sure I can help or not) or just want to see if there are others out there?

Cyclone

[JSolie]

I have PSP9, been using it for some time. Having hooked RSE up for processing RAW images, and getting my color management issue fixed (everything was magenta!), I'd be hard pressed right now to justify moving to PSE or PSCS2.

So...whatcha trying to get PaintShop to do? :D

-- John

[mkh]

ejweb - where di you find the upgrade for $50? I want to upgrade but have only been able to find it at full price.

[ejwebb]

PSE 3 was $89 on Amazon with a $20 Adobe upgrade rebate and a $20 Amazon rebate a few months ago. Might not be able to find the same deal now.

I agree that PSP has curves and masks and PSE does not - but these functions can be added with free downloads. Check out these sites:

http://member.melbpc.org.au/~pshipley/Download.htm
http://www.earthboundlight.com/phot...nts-curves.html
http://www.earthboundlight.com/phot...management.html (http://www.earthboundlight.com/phototips/elements-color-management.html)

[am_pitbull_terrier]

Thanks for the replies, here are my questions.

I wanted to know about background eraser and masking.
As far as the eraser, I want to do some portrait shots and remove the background. I know I can click and drag to erase, but that is a total pain. Is there anyway to erase all of the blue background at once? (I'm using a chromakey blue background)

And masking, how do I just mask off a part of a photo things like keeping something color in a B&W conversion.

Sorry to bother you all with such basic questions, but I'm new to photo software.
Also I DID try the help in Paint Shop for days before posting this :)

Thanks again for your help.

[JSolie]

Thanks for the replies, here are my questions.

I wanted to know about background eraser and masking.
As far as the eraser, I want to do some portrait shots and remove the background. I know I can click and drag to erase, but that is a total pain. Is there anyway to erase all of the blue background at once? (I'm using a chromakey blue background)
Like with PS, there's several ways to do things. I've had problems with the background eraser, either it eats into what I want to keep, or leaves too many artifacts around what I'm trying to isolate. I've found it's faster for me to use the lasso tool while holding down SHIFT (to add to the selection) or CTRL to remove from the selection. After scrolling around and selecting what I want to isolage, most of the hard work is done.

If I wanted to delete the background on a portrait, I'd lasso-select the subject, then do the Selections->Invert menu option to select the area around the subject. After that, pressing the DELETE key clears the selection and you see the background magically disappear to be replaced by whatever your background color is over in the material picker.

And masking, how do I just mask off a part of a photo things like keeping something color in a B&W conversion.
Ah! Start with going to Layers->Duplicate. Select top layer in Layer pallet (probably called "copy of background" at this point). Type a CTRL-A to select the entire contents of this layer. In the script drop down, choose "Grayscale in place" and run it. The current layer is now in black and white. You can clear the selection by typing CTRL-D.

If you don't have the "Grayscale in place" script, you can achieve the same thing with Adjust->Color Balance->Channel Mixer, and make sure that the Monochrome checkbox is set and that the drop down for Output Channel reads "grey." You can then move the red/green/blue & contract sliders all over the place to make some of the strangest black and white you've ever seen, all the way from very light to super dark...lots of control here.

Now that you have a black and white layer sitting on top of a color layer, right click on the layer called "copy of background," and pick "New Mask Layer->Show All. Two new sub-layers will appear...one called "Mask - copy of background," the other "copy of background."

Click on the one called "Mask - copy of background." You'll notice that the material picker has gone to grayscale. This is good. On the tool pallet (where there's the zoom, straighten, crop, etc), select Paint Brush. You're now ready to start painting and erasing where you want the bottom layer to show through.

Normal painting with a left click let's the bottom layer show through. Right clicking (which paints with the background color) covers up the lower levels. It's harder to explain than it is to do :) You can zoom in, and adjust the size and shape of the paint tool.

If you want to see how your mask is doing, turn off the bottom layer by clicking on the "eyeball" next to the layer called "Background." I've done this many times to fine tune a mask. The "eyeball" is a toggle, so you can show or hide the layer as need be.

Anyway, it's getting late, and I'm starting to ramble. Hopefully this won't innundate you. There are several tutorials in the Learning Center on Jasc's web site (or at least there were--haven't been there in a while, so I'm not sure what Corel left).

Feel free to post any other questions or PM me...I may not be the best at slapping PSP around, but I can usually get it to do something close to what I'd like.

-- John

[Goofup]

PSP9 is a pretty neat program. Trying to find tutorials, etc, on the web is tough- because they pretty much put them all in one place! Here's The Link to thousands of PSP tutorials on how to do anything you might ever want to do: http://www.psplinks.com/

Also, the web forums are pretty dead. Everyone has moved to the Corel Newsgroup, and it's pretty lively. Go here: http://support.corel.com/scripts/rightnow.cfg/php.exe/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=754345, then click on the Paint Shop Pro 9 link.

Here's some more links:
http://campratty.com/Resources/linda/sort1.html
http://www.putertutor.net/paint/psplinks.htm
http://www.khiba.com/PSP/acompindex.htm
http://www.pspiz.net/

[am_pitbull_terrier]

Thany you sooooo much JSolie & Goofup. And thanks again to everyone who helped me out here. Thats why the is the BEST photography site on the net.... Well, that, and it's all about Canon ;)

[JSolie]

Pitbull, glad I could help. Goofup, thanks for the links...I had several PSP related bookmarks that I can't seem to find, and those links will go towards helping rebuild that.

-- John