4 Differences Between GIMP and PhotoShop that Matter

I’ve seen people ask What’s the difference between GIMP and PhotoShop”. Good question. The long answer is, well, long. The shorter answer is this post featuring four differences between GIMP and Photoshop that may matter to you.

Yes, GIMP is Free…

…and PhotoShop does cost a lot of money. GIMP is free because some distributors have decided to give it away. GIMP doesn’t have to be free, as is pointed out by Onus Probandy in the comments below. The GPL (GNU Public License) doesn’t prohibit sale of the program but it does ensure that you must have access to the source code no matter how you acquire it. It’s important to note that sale of GIMP doesn’t require any changes or added value, so you could be paying for something that’s already available for free.

PhotoShop on the other hand has a copyright that belongs to Adobe Systems Incorporated. This means they can (and pretty much always) charge for it. I can’t say I blame them, I want to make money too. But it can be hard to justify spending that kind of money to adjust your photos, especially when you’re just starting out.

GIMP is Also Open Source…

…which means it’s free in another sense too. Open Source means you have access to the Source Code that makes up the program. This is cool for a few reasons.

1. You’re free to look under the hood of the software and do some tinkering if you wish.

2. The community of GIMP users also contributes to it’s development. This means GIMP users get what they really need from the program.

3. If you’ve encountered a bug, you can fix it yourself rather than having to buy a new copy or pay for support. Or you could ask the large online GIMP user community to help you out. Support is not guaranteed though. Since this is free, sometimes you get what you pay for.

4. Because programmers know exactly how GIMP works, they often write their own free Plugins and Scripts to enhance it’s functionality.

Photoshop is not open source. They (Adobe and various software developers) can charge for upgrades and updates, support, Plugins and Add On’s, and anything else you might want. They don’t have to charge, but they can, so they often do.

Which brings us to…

Plugins Add On’s and Scripts

PhotoShop and GIMP have tons of awesome Add On’s. These are like mini programs that work inside PhotoShop or GIMP to give you more functions and options and automate lengthy edits. Have you used the one click white balance script that’s built into GIMP? There are scripts like that for all kinds of functions. I love one click wonders.

So here’s the difference. You can use PhotoShop Plugins in PhotoShop. You can use GIMP Plugins in GIMP. Sometimes you can use PhotoShop Plugins in GIMP but not always (often with the aid of other plugins) and I don’t know of any GIMP plugins that can be used in PhotoShop.

GIMP 2.6 supports 8bit Color…

…PhotoShop CS4 supports up to 32bit color in HDR mode and 16bit color in regular mode. The larger number means a larger range of colors can be used in an image. PhotoShop sounds like the winner in this one right? Technically, yes. But the naked eye can’t really tell the difference between 8 bit color and 16 bit color.

See?

The reason you would want a bigger range of colors is to give you more elbow room when editing.  A great explanation is at photoshopessentials.com.  The bottom line is that doing lots of editing with tools like Levels, Brightness and Contrast will eventually cause loss of image quality if you don’t have a ton of colors to work with.

This doesn’t mean editing with 8 bit color has to destroy your photos. If you take RAW photos do as much editing as you can in a RAW format with a RAW converter that supports 16 bit color (like UFRAW or your camera brand’s RAW converter). When editing in 8 bit mode tread lightly with your images and preserve an untouched Background Layer. If you go too far with editing and start to see loss of image quality, you can go back to the beginning  (the Background Layer) and make gentler edits.

The Bottom Line

GIMP is a great place to start learning photo editing. It gives you a lot more control over your images than more basic programs like iPhoto or flickr’s Picnick. But it’s not overkill. There are lots of ways to add to GIMP as your needs grow. You can even give back to the GIMP community by writing your own scripts and plugins (if you do that sort of thing). But if you know you will need 16bit color, a more defined update schedule, and guarantee support PhotoShop may be the right way to go.

Me? I use both. I started with GIMP and as my needs grew I (ahem.. my wonderful husband..) bought PhotoShop. There is lots of information available about the difference between GIMP and PhotoShop. Just make sure you’re looking at up-to-date information. With every new release of GIMP and new plugin for GIMP, the gap seems to close a little further.

Know about PhotoShop and GIMP already? Leave a comment to share the differences you think matter most.

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