Originally posted by rvandenbrink It's looking like my cameras will be film, but after film processing the rest of the darkroom will be digital. I'm debating between GIMP (free) and the Adobe suite (definitely NOT free).
A question for those who've trodden this path before - - is there anything that I can't do in GIMP ????
You can dig around and find a bunch of free or nearly free software that does some stuff well, but not other stuff, which means constantly saving files in one program, then opening them in another one because the software you are using are one trick ponies, which means learning several different programs with different interfaces.
If this is fine with you, then knock yourself out downloading a dozen free programs and enjoy learning how each of them works.
Or, you can seek out one software suite that is competent at taking computer files and making them into pictures.
I happen to like Photoshop. It does pretty much everything competently, and one only needs to learn how to use one program. It's also not terribly expensive. I think I'm paying under Can$15.00/month for the combined Photoshop/Lightroom suite.
I want my hobby to be enjoyable, and part of that is not having to fart around with half a dozen different programs.