Photoshop...is that my only choice?

[Flora]

I hope I'm not chastised for asking this question, but does anyone use any other editing software besides Photoshop?? I is so pricey, curious if there was anything else out there for someone who doesn't want to spend quite that much?!

 

[Big Mike]

Photoshop Elements will do most of what Photoshop can do, in terms of photo editing. And it's much more reasonably priced.

GIMP is a freeware program that you can download. Many people use it for basic photo editing.

There are countless other programs for doing basic things to your digital images. Just about every digital camera comes with some sort of software, not to mention what is included with either the Windows or Mac OS.

 

[Josh66]

The GIMP is free, it's not too bad.

Paint Shop Pro is supposed to be pretty good too, though I've never used it before. I think it's comparable in price to Photshop Elements (which is also good).

I just downloaded Paint.net, but I haven't really gotten to mess around with it yet - it's free too, but I hear it's not as good as Gimp, but a little easier to use.

 

[mrodgers]

Paint Shop Pro is supposed to be pretty good too, though I've never used it before. I think it's comparable in price to Photshop Elements (which is also good).

I'll vouch for PaintShop Pro as an alternative for Photoshop. It is pretty inexpensive, $50-70? I have PaintShop Pro 8 and have used it for years. I didn't do much photographically on it, rather I did graphics for gaming (sim racing paint schemes to be exact).

The tools are the same as Photoshop, but are just a bit different to work with. Levels for example, are not as easy as in Photoshop. But everything from levels, curves, noise reduction, sharpening, layers as well as your other graphical stuff is there. All the tools and features as far as I can tell, just slightly behind Photoshop in the ease of using them at far less cost.

I am comparing PSP8 though. I don't know where the current PSP version is at.

 

[Chris of Arabia]

Another vote for Elements here. I got a licence as part of a course and it is is more than adequate for the majority of a photographers needs.

 

[Alpha]

Paint Shop Pro.

 

[Flora]

All are great suggestions, Paint Shop Pro and Elments are both very reasonable and more in my $ range, thanks a ton!

 

[Miaow]

I've been using an older version of Ulead PhotoImpact - Though I dont think the version I have can do a lot of what PhotoShop can actually do.

 

[patrickt]

I've used Picture Window Pro, Elements, Bibble, Rawshooter, and now I'm using Lightroom. I've had brief test with some others. Most vendors have an option for a trial run at no cost and for most of them the trial version is the full version.

Download some and give them a whirl.

 

[SrBiscuit]

if you are a student, or know any, you can find fantastic deals on photoshop.
try journeyed.com...the savings are big.
i dont know any other programs, so im inclined to push you towards the adobe family

 

[deanimator]

I think the Photoshop culture is here to stay...and we can´t fight it!
...Well, you can try, but the truth is it does everything pretty well...and once you´ve learned how to use it, you can´t beat it. Honestly, no-one can really say they have mastered everything it can do either. I´ve used Elements for several years now...upgrading from time to time, and I still don´t use all its features. It´s great learning too...check youtube for heaps of short tutorials and tricks.
Best $50 I ever spent (except for when I got drunk with Susi...:blushing

ADDITIONAL SOFTWARE:
...with XP you have to get the image resizer. Go to
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx install...right-click any picture and select the size you want...no program to actually open. Free. Not available (yet) for Vista.
...irfanview. Just packed with interesting resize, reformat, labelling, etc, power. Free http://www.irfanview.com/
...Helicon Filter. Tons of editing options, and with a very nice workflow. A very nice way to deal with brightness and color problems (before and after preview is cool), and lens distortions, perspective corrections. Very few photographers seem to know this one. There´s a free and a pro version. http://www.heliconsoft.com/

 

[Overread]

The big advantage of using photoshop - elements or the full version - is that there is a lot of material written about using it and many guides are based around it - though it is important to note that these guides can be applied to other programs its just easier

Also there is a range of addons you can get for elements which add things which you get in the full package - one of the most usefull is this
http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/pselements/qt/layermasktool.htm
the layer mask and is definatly worth adding - only takes a moment

 

[fstopusa]

Here are some of the photo editor and organizers that I use currently. A couple of these were not mentioned. They all have strengths and weaknesses.

PhotoShop - Can do just about anything, but is expensive, hard to learn, and some simple fixes can be done easier in other programs. I use this probably 90% of the time.
ACDSee - Does a decent job and not too expensive. Does a great job at batch renaming and organizing a large number of files.
Picasa - Easy to use, free, does some nice quickie enhancements, doesn't mess up the original file.

 

[TCimages]

Paintshop Pro !!!!!!!

Save your money!

 

[ANDS!]

Same thing with any other mainstream software - since there is such a HUGE install base its really difficult to get "stuck" as someone will have an answer for the question. Is it worth the money, depends on what you use it for.

I recommend it, especially if you can finagle a student discount.