GIMP vs Photoshop - How to Optimize Your Workflow - Chris Titus Tech
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Date: 2022-03-21
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Comments and reviews: 10
Kre-imir
I prefer the general design of GIMP over Photoshop, but there is one thing I REALLY miss in GIMP: non-destructive editing. GIMP has nothing like adjustment layers in Photoshop, not to mention smart objects. This makes GIMP inferior to Photoshop for anything that is even slightly complex, because it makes the workflow very cumbersome. But for simple edits, and for batch processing, GIMP is far superior, because almost any feature in it works better than in Photoshop. But everything is so destructive...
Now, non-destructive editing is planned for release 3.2 of GIMP, but that's still a long way in the future. Once that gets implemented (assuming it is done properly), I expect GIMP to slowly start replacing Photoshop even among the professionals, because, fundamentally, it is a better program.
Also, one should also not ignore Krita. While it is a specialised drawing/digital painting application, instead of a general purpose photo editing program like GIMP and Photoshop, it is truly wonderful and more than powerful enough for any simple edit like in this video. And it is more polished than GIMP, making for great user experience from the start.
Even in the current state of GIMP/Darktable/Krita, people who work with raster images should find the GNU/Linux ecosystem more than adequate. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for vector images, as there is nothing on GNU/Linux comparable to Illustrator or even Corel Draw.
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I prefer the general design of GIMP over Photoshop, but there is one thing I REALLY miss in GIMP: non-destructive editing. GIMP has nothing like adjustment layers in Photoshop, not to mention smart objects. This makes GIMP inferior to Photoshop for anything that is even slightly complex, because it makes the workflow very cumbersome. But for simple edits, and for batch processing, GIMP is far superior, because almost any feature in it works better than in Photoshop. But everything is so destructive...
Now, non-destructive editing is planned for release 3.2 of GIMP, but that's still a long way in the future. Once that gets implemented (assuming it is done properly), I expect GIMP to slowly start replacing Photoshop even among the professionals, because, fundamentally, it is a better program.
Also, one should also not ignore Krita. While it is a specialised drawing/digital painting application, instead of a general purpose photo editing program like GIMP and Photoshop, it is truly wonderful and more than powerful enough for any simple edit like in this video. And it is more polished than GIMP, making for great user experience from the start.
Even in the current state of GIMP/Darktable/Krita, people who work with raster images should find the GNU/Linux ecosystem more than adequate. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for vector images, as there is nothing on GNU/Linux comparable to Illustrator or even Corel Draw.
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Chris
I have nothing against GIMP but it seems impossible that it would be the superior software over Photoshop, i've never used GIMP before so my opinion isn't really valid but the two main things that stand out for me is that there's no way Adobe would be charging us a bomb for their softwares if things like GIMP are just as good or better, on the other hand if GIMP is so good then whoever run the company must be the nicest people in the world to dish it out for free without gaining some hefty profit from their users, I mean hats off to them but in this day and age generoucity like that is very uncommon so there must be a reason it's free!
The second thing that I wonder is how far over the limits GIMP can go, my photoshop edits are normally very complex and not even that if you've seen the Photoshop instagram page it's just filled with things that exceed the limits of skill and creativity, the posts are like a hybrid version of professionalism so that being said if you've seen those photos yourself then i'd wonder if GIMP has the resources and capabilities to create something like those? I know a lot of people who use GIMP and they all speak very highly of it but i've never seen anyone use it for something complex!
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I have nothing against GIMP but it seems impossible that it would be the superior software over Photoshop, i've never used GIMP before so my opinion isn't really valid but the two main things that stand out for me is that there's no way Adobe would be charging us a bomb for their softwares if things like GIMP are just as good or better, on the other hand if GIMP is so good then whoever run the company must be the nicest people in the world to dish it out for free without gaining some hefty profit from their users, I mean hats off to them but in this day and age generoucity like that is very uncommon so there must be a reason it's free!
The second thing that I wonder is how far over the limits GIMP can go, my photoshop edits are normally very complex and not even that if you've seen the Photoshop instagram page it's just filled with things that exceed the limits of skill and creativity, the posts are like a hybrid version of professionalism so that being said if you've seen those photos yourself then i'd wonder if GIMP has the resources and capabilities to create something like those? I know a lot of people who use GIMP and they all speak very highly of it but i've never seen anyone use it for something complex!
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Day
I just don't get what you were trying to illustrate here.
You suggest GIMP offers a more optimised workflow but offer no evidence. You didn't even do comparable treatments or explain what happened when you ran the 'save to JPG'. How was it named? does it overwrite the original? What was the compression setting?
I'm always looking for ways to speed up these more mundane jobs but Photoshop's recordable actions alone would have made this job s 20 second job. Plus in photoshop they are non-destructive effects which make them reusable.
So yeah, this was a very niche and clearly biased demo. I get you're not a designer and yeah, you needed your clickbait title but as a guy who came here looking for some fresh new way to get stuff done, the only thing i've learned is you need to go on a photoshop course. And I don't like photoshop.
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I just don't get what you were trying to illustrate here.
You suggest GIMP offers a more optimised workflow but offer no evidence. You didn't even do comparable treatments or explain what happened when you ran the 'save to JPG'. How was it named? does it overwrite the original? What was the compression setting?
I'm always looking for ways to speed up these more mundane jobs but Photoshop's recordable actions alone would have made this job s 20 second job. Plus in photoshop they are non-destructive effects which make them reusable.
So yeah, this was a very niche and clearly biased demo. I get you're not a designer and yeah, you needed your clickbait title but as a guy who came here looking for some fresh new way to get stuff done, the only thing i've learned is you need to go on a photoshop course. And I don't like photoshop.
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Slim
Put me in front of Photoshop I would not know where to start. Put me in front of GIMP and I can create all sorts of weird and wonderful stuff. GIMP or as it is soon to be known as Glimpse, is to my mind far superior to Photoshop if used properly and studied hard on. I'm not an expert with GIMP or with what I do, but the results I have seen people do with photography through GIMP are absolutely astounding. There is a You Tuber who does her photography work through GIMP and I cannot for the life of me remember her name, her photographs are just superb to begin with, let alone the final touches she puts on them through GIMP. Gimp if used correctly is in my opinion more powerful than Photoshop. Plus you don't need flash to run GIMP.
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Put me in front of Photoshop I would not know where to start. Put me in front of GIMP and I can create all sorts of weird and wonderful stuff. GIMP or as it is soon to be known as Glimpse, is to my mind far superior to Photoshop if used properly and studied hard on. I'm not an expert with GIMP or with what I do, but the results I have seen people do with photography through GIMP are absolutely astounding. There is a You Tuber who does her photography work through GIMP and I cannot for the life of me remember her name, her photographs are just superb to begin with, let alone the final touches she puts on them through GIMP. Gimp if used correctly is in my opinion more powerful than Photoshop. Plus you don't need flash to run GIMP.
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Norman
For the vast majority of users, Photoshop Elements is a good middle ground balance of tools and features. Unless you-re a professional photographer or graphic artist, Photoshop will be overkill. PSE combines the best of PS and Lightroom into a balanced, easy to use product. It can take years to master everything in PS even if the expense of it wasn-t an issue. Gimp is a solid open source answer to PS and while it doesn-t have everything PS does, it has plenty of tools and features to allow people to get work done. If non destructive processing is needed, the open source free answer to LR, darktable is an excellent companion to Gimp.
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For the vast majority of users, Photoshop Elements is a good middle ground balance of tools and features. Unless you-re a professional photographer or graphic artist, Photoshop will be overkill. PSE combines the best of PS and Lightroom into a balanced, easy to use product. It can take years to master everything in PS even if the expense of it wasn-t an issue. Gimp is a solid open source answer to PS and while it doesn-t have everything PS does, it has plenty of tools and features to allow people to get work done. If non destructive processing is needed, the open source free answer to LR, darktable is an excellent companion to Gimp.
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Sabko
Well, you can script in Photoshop too... jsx, vbs, or adobe script. And there are actions too, that are very easy to make (just record what you are doing). For example, I use jsx (it is basicly specific js - java script) for saving as psd, jpg Q9, Q10... png.
Photoshop is still miles ahead of GIMP, but GIMP is enough (or more than that) for most non professional users. There is no alternative to Photoshop, but GIMP is nearest thing.
I hope GIMP will be one day real alternative (or even better). Adobe products are probably the thing that keeps most graphic designers on Mac, and the rest on Windows...
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Well, you can script in Photoshop too... jsx, vbs, or adobe script. And there are actions too, that are very easy to make (just record what you are doing). For example, I use jsx (it is basicly specific js - java script) for saving as psd, jpg Q9, Q10... png.
Photoshop is still miles ahead of GIMP, but GIMP is enough (or more than that) for most non professional users. There is no alternative to Photoshop, but GIMP is nearest thing.
I hope GIMP will be one day real alternative (or even better). Adobe products are probably the thing that keeps most graphic designers on Mac, and the rest on Windows...
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bbthing68
My daughter was an early adopter of OpenOffice, both at home and at her first fashion design job. But she still used Photoshop instead of GIMP. I don't remember her exact issues with GIMP, but it had something to do with applying effects to a set of selected layers but not the non-selected layers. When she or her other open-source-advocate co-worker would ask about their issues with GIMP on newsgroups, the GIMP folks were rude and condescending. This was a shock to her, as she had always found Linux and OpenOffice people to be forthcoming and friendly when asked questions.
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My daughter was an early adopter of OpenOffice, both at home and at her first fashion design job. But she still used Photoshop instead of GIMP. I don't remember her exact issues with GIMP, but it had something to do with applying effects to a set of selected layers but not the non-selected layers. When she or her other open-source-advocate co-worker would ask about their issues with GIMP on newsgroups, the GIMP folks were rude and condescending. This was a shock to her, as she had always found Linux and OpenOffice people to be forthcoming and friendly when asked questions.
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Chris
That was the worst comparison ever!!
Sorry to put it out like that but it was...
You can do the exact same thing is PS without even leaving the blending options panel and with preview.
Save as png or jpeg? Just right click a folder or a layer or many layers and quick export them to a format of your choosing. You can even set defaults for each format in preferences.
The only really bad/buggy thing photoshop has is the text input/edit.
I'm not saying gimp is bad but it's definitely not better that Photoshop...
Especially for simple things like that...
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That was the worst comparison ever!!
Sorry to put it out like that but it was...
You can do the exact same thing is PS without even leaving the blending options panel and with preview.
Save as png or jpeg? Just right click a folder or a layer or many layers and quick export them to a format of your choosing. You can even set defaults for each format in preferences.
The only really bad/buggy thing photoshop has is the text input/edit.
I'm not saying gimp is bad but it's definitely not better that Photoshop...
Especially for simple things like that...
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JonGodcommadore65
Can't get used to gimp, I'm sure the tech is in place for it to be possible, probably UI issues.
Krita is sooooo close though (once you change to PS shortcuts in the settings) Honestly would love a graphic design layout scheme for krita at some point. So so close to being industry adopted,..and I prefer it for graphics tab painting work already.Blender of 2d art, it could be that good.
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Can't get used to gimp, I'm sure the tech is in place for it to be possible, probably UI issues.
Krita is sooooo close though (once you change to PS shortcuts in the settings) Honestly would love a graphic design layout scheme for krita at some point. So so close to being industry adopted,..and I prefer it for graphics tab painting work already.Blender of 2d art, it could be that good.
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mclang
You say the new layout is -far superior-?
You sir are wrong when you haphazardly generalize like that!
When you have more than one monitor, it is nice when you can move the tools into another monitor. I even like the old look when using single monitor, but that's probably because I got used to it way back.
But please, keep these coming, they have much good information.
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You say the new layout is -far superior-?
You sir are wrong when you haphazardly generalize like that!
When you have more than one monitor, it is nice when you can move the tools into another monitor. I even like the old look when using single monitor, but that's probably because I got used to it way back.
But please, keep these coming, they have much good information.
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