Cheaper editions of and alternatives to PS

<p>Hi, I'm a keen amateur photographer and normally either reject an image entirely or use it with only colour correction, spot removal and some levels adjustments. Lightroom 3 does all of those things for me. However, in a minority of cases I could use something more sophisticated:</p>

<ul>

<li>Cloning out wires etc. in ways that Lightroom can't quite deal with.</li>

<li>Perspective adjustments</li>

<li>Stitching (though currently I don't do this at all)</li>

</ul>

<p>I use Lightroom for 100% of my imported images and estimate that I would use a more featureful editor on maybe 1% of my images. My gut feeling then is that paying 2x the cost of Lightroom for a tool I would use so rarely seems wasteful. While the power of the software perhaps justifies its *cost*, I'm talking about its *value* to me.</p>

<p>I would have no problem using an older version of Photoshop, since I guess my needs are simple. Would that yield a genuinely signficant cost reduction? (I'm not eligible for any volume or educational deals). Failing this, what alternatives should I consider?</p>

<p>(Currently I use GIMP on either Linux or Mac OS X, though I find GIMP cumbersome to use. Also the extensive community infrastructure present for PS is pretty much absent for GIMP. I have a modest preference for choosing a tool which can deal with 16-bit-depth images, too.).</p>

 

<p>I am still using Photoshop CS3, and it honestly does everything I need from it. It has the added advantage of running well still on my G4 iBook as well as my Intel desktop machine.<br>

The trouble with finding a substitute for Photoshop is that the program is so powerful and so capable that it is really hard to even match it in capabilities. There seem to be a half dozen ways of doing anything, depending on how you prefer to have your work flow proceed.<br>

In my case, I've been using Photoshop back to version 2.5, so I'm clearly imprinted on it, as well. I have normally upgraded about every other upgrade, so will probably be doing the latest version once the dust settles a little (I have never found it to be any advantage to be the first adopter of a new version--not that there have been major problems like some companies I could name, but still...).</p>

<p>Otherwise, I don't know of anything other than GIMP myself, and I'm so used to Photoshop that everything else is uncomfortable for me.</p>

<p>This is whe I usually suggest downloading a trial copy of Corel's "Draw" package ... just so you can play with PhotoPaint, which is one of the included apps. The entire package is aimed at professional graphics people, so there are lots of tools aimed at vector graphics, vectorizing bitmaps, dealing with layout/design ... but the paint-oriented bitmap editor handles sophisticated layer/mask-based image editing with great sophistication. Certainly it can tackle the jobs you mentioned, and much more, and is photographer friendly.<br /><br />Corel's products are a sort of underdog in this market, but the good news is that they're priced as the sleepers they are. If you have the disk space for a trial install, you might want to give it a try. </p>

<p>Photoshop Elements is what I use. I've done all 3 things you mentioned with PSE 8. I bought it on Amazon at way under $100, when there was a sale and a rebate going. The stitching feature is improved over earlier versions.</p>

<p>I agree with Ron. I use PSE 6 exclusively, and it does everything I need (so far). I'll try to upload a before / after image. By no means am I submitting this as an example of perfect post-processing. It will just give you an idea of what can be done with PSE.</p>

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<p>Here is the processed image:</p>

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<p>I understand the GIMP developers are working on 16-bit-per-channel support.</p>

<p>Also check out the following programs<br>

<strong>Lightzone</strong> from Light Crafts: my favorite program for B&W image editing with its zone mapping tool which allows individual adjustments to 16 zone levels in an image (works with color too).<br>

<strong>Picture Window Pro</strong> from Digital Light and Color: very much a photographic orientation. Developed by Jonathan Sachs the Lotus developer. Newest ver. 5.0 has an automatic self-masking image adjustment feature that works with two or 3 masks (shadow, midtone, & hightlights).</p>

<p> </p>

<p>David, it sounds like you're suggesting tools that overlap with Lightroom, which I already use. Or are there specific features of the tools you mention that aren't redundant against Lightroom's features?</p>

<p>If using Windows, you can use Paint .net. Freeware, plus 64-bit support. Works on all versions of Windows which has the .Net Framework installed. Not a bad package considering its price. Lots and lots of plugins available also. <a href="http://www.getpaint.net/index.html">http://www.getpaint.net/index.html</a></p>

<p>I also find GIMP cumbersome and stopped using it.</p>

<p>If you want to do 98% of what you say, then Lightroom or Aperture will do that, including some local adjustments. Or if you, just want to clone out some wires, then I guess elements would be dandy and inexpensive.<br>

If you want to really work locally on an image and want to use extensive layers, than there's really no substitute for PS. However, you can get by very well with CS3. Why CS3? Because its the least expensive version that will do everything you would probably ever dream of and lets you work in 16 bit. CS2 only has very limited capability in 16 bit.</p>

<p>James,<br>

I forgot to add to my post that I do not use any adobe products after they shut me out of upgrading my PS7.<br>

When CS came out I saw no real advantage to it or its successor. When CS3 cam out and I tried to upgrade, they told me I would have to pay FULL PRICE because I had missed two consecutive upgrades. I was an original beta tester for Lightroom...but by the time ver1 came out I had already built my work flow around Lightzone which is far better for my kind of B&W work (film scanned for digital repro).<br>

Lightzone and PWPro cost me $180...I see no reason to give adobe another dollar.</p>