Sunday, August 16, 2009

Photoscape

Software piracy is rampant in Malaysia. Everyone just wants to have the best software. (Well, sort of.) Among photographers, the most popular companions are Photoshop CS and Photoshop Lightroom.

There are, however, some readers of this blog who reside in other countries, such as Kikey in UK and Zhu in Canada. Among those in Malaysia, Mei Ting is one who insists on genuine software.

I recently discovered a free photo editing software called Photoscape. Obviously, it is not as feature-rich as the expensive software from Adobe, but it is a decent alternative. Let’s see what we can do with Photoscape…

This is a picture of Changi Airport’s Budget Terminal in Singapore. I was in a rush when taking this picture and didn’t hold the camera horizontal. Or maybe I had weak hands…


I open this picture in Photoscape, and rotate it counter-clockwise by 2º. Now it looks much better…


Finally, I added some text to the picture. Here is the final result…


21 comments:

  1. I'm guilty of using pirated softwares too. LOL :P But I don't use Photoshop. I only use Office to edit my photo. I'm so low-class. LOL :D

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  2. picasa also can do that but after that the picture will become bad quality. I notice that Photoscape did a very good job. might search more info abt it. thanks for sharing.

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  3. Using Picasa at the moment, thanks for the information of the free Photoscape...

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  4. Tekkaus
    Office? -_-"

    kikey
    Welcome back!

    Grass
    You're welcomed!

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  5. Thanks for the tutorial! And thanks for mentioning about me..hehhe. I will try out Photoscape.

    I had problems with getting my horizons straight particularly with landscape shots. I finally purchased a spirit level bubble for my camera and tested it out. Finally, I learned to get my horizons straight. Or else fix it with Photoscape.

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  6. cool ~
    i usually use MS picture to rotate my pic ^_^

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  7. im using photoscape too, along with picasa and ps :D

    and im a cheapo for using pirated version =.=

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  8. im using photoscape too, along with picasa and ps :D

    and im a cheapo for using pirated version =.=

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  9. hmmm, nice freeware woh, let me go and download that.. currently i'm using the most native applications to do my so-called photo-editing.. like MS Word and Paint only.. hope this Photoscape will be helpful :p

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  10. Pirates have families too.

    If we don't support them, who will feed their wives and kids? =(

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  11. Mei Ting
    It's always better to get the picture right in the first place rather than correcting it in software.

    迷迭香
    Can MS Picture rotate by 2 degree?

    annant
    Haha...

    SK
    Photoscape definitely can do more than MS Word and Paint.

    Shingo
    I can't say anything about the pirates...

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  12. True. Otherwise, we have to spend countless hours on front of the computer instead of shooting away.

    That's why I bought the spirit level bubble. But I still prefer shooting in RAW as you have more control over the end results.

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  13. Useful software. Thanks for sharing it.

    LOL at Shingo's comment.

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  14. 用慣PHOTOSHOP
    不想試別的 ><

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  15. Amazingly I don't even know how to use Photoshop!

    Let me try this Photoscape : )

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  16. I use Photoshop, features rich! Anyone tried http://www.gimp.org/ before? Free.

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  17. i am missing blogging too..

    luckily, i am come back London in one piece :P hehe..

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  18. Mei Ting
    Maybe I should give spirit level bubble a try too.

    Happysurfer
    You're welcome.

    龙猫
    I have to admit that Photoshop is still the king.

    foongpc
    I wouldn't say using photo editing software is a must...

    Neo
    Yes, I tried Gimp before, but later gave up.

    kikey
    :)

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  19. It's a recommended tool unless of course if your camera has the grid that helps to make sure your horizontals straight.

    You can purchase it at www.shashinki.com.

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  20. Guilty too! I think software piracy is just about in every country.

    I tend to use free online tools when I travel (such as Picasa) because I don't have my laptop. They do the trick.

    Softwares that came with my camera are good too. Most people who use Photoshop use it for basic correcting anyway.

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