GIMP for stock-quality photos?

[ski_adk]

I recently lost my old old version of Photoshop in a HD failure and I'm debating between buying Photoshop and using GIMP. I've done a little bit of stock work through iStock and want to make sure I can continue producing images that are stock and print quality. Can I achieve this with GIMP or should I stop being cheap and just plop down the bills for PS?

[mtcham]

For stock images (no expert here but I don't think submissions should be worked over very hard), Gimp would probably work fine but has it's limitations especially in noise reduction and cataloging. Lightroom 3 might be a good alternative, the student/teacher edition is reasonbly priced.