Pixtus - Photography Forum, Photographers, Photo Tips

a.loredo · **photoshop vs ? -** 08-23-2007, 11:03 AM

Is there any other program avilable in replace of photoshop thats a little more cheaper but just as sufficient....any help would be appriciated.

Hogleg 44 · 08-23-2007, 11:17 AM

Assuming you mean PSCS2 or 3...What about PS Elements?

markfh · 08-23-2007, 11:18 AM

I have PS CS3, Paint Shop Photo 11 and Gimp. The also-rans will do some of what PS will do but there is no equal to it. Paint Shop is cheap and Gimp is free so for low budgets they'll work in a pinch.

There is PS Elements as well that isn't too expensive but it isn't like the full blown PS.

johnastovall · 08-23-2007, 11:19 AM

Lightroom or Capture One LE if you just want to process raws.

a.loredo · 08-23-2007, 11:23 AM

thanks for the info it helps put me in the right direction.....

ngoduyviet · 08-23-2007, 01:21 PM

GIMP is free as it is open-sourced.

kenw · 08-23-2007, 08:17 PM

paintshop pro does RAW, layers, scripts, and darn near everythign you will ever need to do.

a.loredo · 08-23-2007, 08:49 PM

how is photoshop elements 5.0 would that be a good alternative for PSCS 2

Comanche · 08-23-2007, 08:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by a.loredo

how is photoshop elements 5.0 would that be a good alternative for PSCS 2

I think it is an excellent program. There are few things you can't do in Elements that can be done in PhotoShop. Layers, curves, levels - all that stuff - and a lot of PS plug-ins work as well. Many times, I find some cool processing method somebody uses in PS, and I just do the same in Elements 5. True, its $100, but I think its worth it easily.

Oh yeah - if you ever want to in the future, it does RAW as well.

HDKat · 08-23-2007, 08:53 PM

I use Elements 5 and I have yet to come up against something I can't, but want to do. I usually google techniques and fit them into Elements. I am no pro PPer, but it fits my needs to a T.

a.loredo · 08-23-2007, 09:27 PM

I figure i go with something thats decent and afordable til i get the hang of it before really ditching out the $$$$$.

Duffy Pratt · 08-23-2007, 11:39 PM

Paintshop is probably the nearest competitor.

Elements is Photoshop Lite, and there are some things you can't do in it (although its perfectly possible to get fine results with it on almost everything).

Lightroom is possible if you are only interested in making global adjustments. It does not give the ability to work on just a portion of a picture. It's highly regarded for bulk RAW processing.

I dont know much about GIMP, but there are open source programs that are miraculous, so it might be worth a look.

For the most part, the basic types of moves have been defined by PS, and are mimiced by the other software packages. This seems to be the case about Paintshop Pro for example. And I know that there are people who use the alternative packages who are very happy about what they do. The main disadvantage that I can see is that probably every "how to" article on photo correction assumes some version of PS or Elements.

Duffy