Digital Scrapbooking Newbie Question

[jenk99]

I'm really interested in getting started with digital scrapbooking. I especially want to do our family's last trip to WDW before we embark on our next vacation this Dec 2007.

I have tried (unsuccessfully ) to download the free trial of photoshop elements 5 onto my computer. I tried to put it on my husband's computer (Windows 2000) but he doesn't have a lot of memory. I have Windows ME and I really doubt it will work.

Does anyone recommend a substitute photo editing program that uses layers? I'm not looking to do anything too fancy. I just want to download some Disney themed layouts and put in my pictures. I can use Picasa for editing the photos--I just need somewhere to build my pages.

I'm completely new to this and on a very limited budget. Is there any hope for me to be able to start digiscrapping???

Any help, advice or suggestions are greatly appreciated!!!

 

[bensenc]

I'm really interested in getting started with digital scrapbooking. I especially want to do our family's last trip to WDW before we embark on our next vacation this Dec 2007.

I have tried (unsuccessfully ) to download the free trial of photoshop elements 5 onto my computer. I tried to put it on my husband's computer (Windows 2000) but he doesn't have a lot of memory. I have Windows ME and I really doubt it will work.

Does anyone recommend a substitute photo editing program that uses layers? I'm not looking to do anything too fancy. I just want to download some Disney themed layouts and put in my pictures. I can use Picasa for editing the photos--I just need somewhere to build my pages.

I'm completely new to this and on a very limited budget. Is there any hope for me to be able to start digiscrapping???

Any help, advice or suggestions are greatly appreciated!!!

Hi,
Photoshop Elements does require a fair amount of memory.

I'm using ACDSee Photo Editor & really like it! It does everything that Photoshop Elements does except it doesn't drag down your computer. It's far more userfriendly and easier to learn.

My sister & I have written tutorials for getting started and we keep adding new ones. We also have a website with a forum where you can ask questions & get help! You can also download a 30 day trial to see if you like it. It's $69.99, but you can buy ACDSee Photo Manager (an organizing software with it) or $79.99 as a bundle.

Here are some links:
Information on ACDSee Photo Editor
Tutorials for Photo Editor
Examples of pages made in Photo Editor


Forum at DigiScrapInfo.com

 

[jenk99]

I appreciate your reply. Do you know if you can use this software with Windows ME?

I was able to download Paintshop Plus onto my husband's computer, but once I opened it up and took a look at it I realized that I have absolutely NO IDEA what I'm doing!

So now I'm thinking that I really do need an easier program!! Anyone else have another recommendation that is different from Photoshop and Paintshop Plus? The key feature that I want is for it to have the ability to use page elements and layouts that I download from other sources (Disney themed).

Any other suggestions are GREATLY appreciated!!

 

[bensenc]

we do have tutorials for the basics

But in looking at amazon - it doesn't look like it will run on ME.

Look thru this one
http://www.digiscrapinfo.com/dsiwiki/ACDSee_Photo_Editor_First_Layout

 

[Fran98765]

Any layered graphics program will work. Photoshop (expensive), Photoshop Elements (more resonable) and Paint Shop Pro (fairly cheap, especially if you get version X) are the top 3. Others use Digital Image Pro or the older versions like Picture It. Yes the newer programs have more capabilities, but you can still make beautiful layouts with the older programs. The main drawback to using less popular software is that you will find it hard to find tutorials helping you learn new techniques.

Sites with tutorials:
www.scrapgirls.com
www.digitalscrapbookplace.com
www.scrapbookelements.com
www.scrapbook-bytes.com

Most forums have sections for each of the popular software, so you can ask people about their software there and get opinions from a lot more digital users. Over 90% of the scrappers on this forum do paper scrapping.

I use Paint Shop Pro X myself and love it. I have read reviews on the new version XI and that it is worse then X, and you can get X really cheap due to XI being out now, so that's something to look into. I got mine shortly before XI came out and with a rebate, it ended up being like $25. I've heard of people finding it online for $20 now.

 

[Faerie]

I think the problem you're going to run into is that A) Most software isn't made for ME anymore as it's an obselete operating system. b) Most computers old enough to be running ME don't have the processor and/or memory to run something like photoshop. My laptop is just over a year old and I just upgraded to a gig of RAM to make my Paint Shop Pro run more smoothly.

 

[BrerMama]

I'd get an older version of PSE. I used 2.0 for years and it worked just fine. I'm still using 3 and don't plan to upgrade any time soon.

 

[mlamarredesigns]

Hi:
Your best is to pick up psp version 8 for $5.95 on Ebay. It will work great on ME. It is a full version similar to photoshop.
Maggie