Non-Subscription Alternative to Photoshop Elements?

William Baroo · Sep 10, 2023

I decided to start taking photos again, and now I need to edit them. I have been using Befunky.com for a long time for things like cropping, but now I want to be able to do a little more. Years ago, I liked Photoshop Elements, but reviewers say the current version does very little and serves as a way to drive you to subscribing to something more expensive.

Is there a better alternative for a hobbyist who has zero interest in subscriptions and clouds? I want to be able to crop, adjust lighting and contrast, increase and decrease saturation, and so on. Nothing really complicated.

I don't want a giant learning curve. I don't want to install Linux or learn how to operate programs from the keyboard or anything weird like that. I don't work from a phone or tablet, either.

Jeff15 · Sep 10, 2023

I have been using Photoshop Elements for many years with no problems...

cgw · Sep 10, 2023

Agree. I use Elements+Nik plug-ins on my travel laptop.No regrets or complaints. Just be aware there are piles of online tutorials showing how to get the most from the program.

William Baroo · Sep 10, 2023

The problem is that your versions of Elements are no longer available. Now you have to subscribe and pay a fortune.

cgw · Sep 10, 2023

William Baroo said:
The problem is that your versions of Elements are no longer available. Now you have to subscribe and pay a fortune.

Think you need to actually read about the 2023 version--as always no subscription...

William Baroo · Sep 10, 2023

cgw said:
Think you need to actually read about the 2023 version--as always no subscription...

Okay, I went back to look this over, and it looks like I made an assumption. I figured that if you were getting good performance from Photoshop Elements, you were using an earlier version, because people say Elements 2023 is stripped-down and not very good compared to earlier versions of the same program. So you're using Elements 2023 and you're happy with it?

Jeff said he had been using it for "many years," so I assumed he was not using the current version.

cgw · Sep 10, 2023

"...because people say Elements 2023 is stripped-down and not very good compared to earlier versions of the same program."

Seriously? Who? Where? Ever reckon why Adobe would de-feature a best-selling program to supposedly herd customers to a non-existent "subscription"equivalent? Download a trial version and see if it delivers what you want...Otherwise, you're just spinning your wheels.

Ozzie_Traveller · Sep 10, 2023

G'day William

Like others here I have used PS-E for a decade or more starting with version 5 .... now its dated as 'version 2023'
As a product it has 1001 features of which I use "about 20" -- ie: it has far more stuff inside it than I will ever use. However I am also looking at alternatives, as PS-E gives me the (diarrhea) in a B-I-G- way via its really awful menu settings.

Using a laptop, the screen is very horizontal, and every time I click onto a menu icon, I lose 1/3 of the lower screen as it displays unwanted (to me) options that that particular icon can possibly do. If I am doing some recurring editing of an image, when I reuse the tool from a moment ago, does it remember what I was using? -No- it starts all over again and I temporarily lose 1/3 of my image all over again. It really S-U-K-S

I have downloaded a try-before-you-buy product called FastStone and I am very impressed with it. I had a 30-day free trial before paying $20 for a life-long usage of it.

PS-E is likely to be dumped fairly soon

Hope this helps
Phil

AlanKlein · Sep 11, 2023

You might consider getting Adobe Premier Elements video program that is a companion to Photoshop Elements both at a reduced charge. Then you can make video slide shows and also add any video movie clips that you might take as well.
Like this.

Lottie · Sep 11, 2023

You could try Luminar Neo. It has a buy now option or a monthly subscription. I used Luminar for quite a time but then stopped when I switched from Windows to a Mac because it was so glitchy on the Mac. But the new Neo seems to be working flawlessly.

William Baroo · Sep 11, 2023

Thanks for the help. I found the trial version of Elements, and it doesn't look anything like as bad as reviewers said it was. I'll be fiddling with it for the next month.

I will also take a look at Faststone.

Ozzie_Traveller · Sep 16, 2023

G'day William

I was mentioning the other day as to how PS Elements on-screen toolbar icon sub-menus were driving me nutz!

Here's two examples. Bear in mind that I am using a laptop (and there's nothing unusual about that around the world of photographers) but it's the horizontal screen that loses so much of the image every time "THAT DAMN TOOL OPTIONS" opens up to display the options =every= time it's opened, even when you're doing the same task time and again.
ie: carefully cloning a part of the image, repeating your tasks in a slightly different part of the image, you lose it all to that damn toolbar options sub-screen

One second you have the full image on-screen, then you click a toolbar and lose one-third of the screen, click the close-button at the right-hand-side and go back to your image .... time and time and time again! The image changes size as it jumps around--it really is a damn nuisance and PS-E (for me) is soon going into the bin

1)-

2)-

Hope this helps
Phil

smoke665 · Sep 16, 2023

If you never plan to get into advanced editing Elements will work fine. For a more advanced level, look at Affinity, or Corel Paintshop. I've been on the Adobe subscription for a few years now and have no plans to change. For the price of a McDonald's meal (Which I don't need), once a month I get the latest, greatest software, with all the updates automatically.

Hardus Nameous · Sep 16, 2023

I use RawTherapee, it's completely free.
I only do basic editing and it's (from what I've read) an alternative to Adobe Lightroom.
There's no user manual so you have to play around with it; but there are a few tutorials on YouTube.

AlanKlein · Sep 16, 2023

smoke665 said:
If you never plan to get into advanced editing Elements will work fine. For more a more advanced level, look at Affinity, or Corel Paintshop. I've been on the Adobe subscription for a few years now and have no plans to change. For the price of a McDonald's meal (Which I don't need), once a month I get the latest, greatest software, with all the updates automatically.

Subscription models are sneaky and vastly profitable for the issuer. It's like compound interest. Years ago, AT&T probably started it all by charging around $2 a month to rent their home phone instrument hanging on the wall. People never paid attention until AT&T was broken apart by the US government because it was a monopoly. Then everyone noticed that their $2 a month equaled $480 after twenty years of use. $480 for an old, decrepit, non-descript black, dial phone hanging on the wall. So, $10 a month for Adobe subscription for ten years equals $1200 about what a nice new digital camera costs. That's what I was paying Comcast for their internet line modem/router per month. Returned it to them and bought my own and saved $800 over the last ten years since I moved here.