computer program (for improving decals)

[kurt]

I would like to take art work for older decals and enlarge them and clean things up (sharpen an improve crispness) then reduce to scale and print on decal paper (strictly for my own use.) What would be the best program to do this with, Photoshop, Corel Draw, Irfanview? I don't know the first thing about it, but I would like to try it.

Kurt

[steinerman]

Howdy Kurt,

There's a free open source photo editing program out there called 'Gimp" that will probably do most everything you're talking about. If you have $$$ burning a hole in your pocket, my personal reference is Corel PaintShop Pro. It's a full blown photo editor that can do almost everything Photoshop can - and it's only about $75 (It's also a lot easier to use!). As far as reducing and sharpening, Irfanview also does a great job, but I've never used it for anything else.

Photo editing software is mainly a matter of personal preference. They all do a good job - it's just which one you're familiar with and know how to use the best.

[blw]

I've used Photoshop, CorelDraw and the Gimp. I've retained Photoshop as a part of my photography efforts, specifically for pixel-level editing similar to what you're contemplating for decals. All three of them do as advertised, and I'll also add Photoshop Elements - which is a lot less money than full Photoshop. (Elements is around the same price as Corel Draw.) I personally have found the Gimp to be a bit like wrestling with a greased pig, but I don't normally lose arguments with computers and this was no exception - it just took longer to master. (And note that I tried this after I knew Photoshop, so I already had the basic ideas.)

The price of the Gimp is of course attractive.

Since you specified that you've no previous experience with this stuff, I'll add that there is an absolute avalanche of material explaining how to use Photoshop, and that mostly carries over to Elements as they are pretty similar. Both Corel Draw and Gimp are also common, but neither of them has anywhere NEAR the skill base. You can go to any bookstore and find 30-50 books on Photoshop or Elements, and maybe 5 on Corel - and you'll be lucky to find two on Gimp.

[MatthewB]

What he said.

MB