[Tony Belding]

I would just point out that we do have an alternative, and The GIMP is not that bad since it went to the single-window interface.

[Rondec]

I guess the question is how often you use Photoshop and how often you would normally update it. Adobe's plan is to milk users, who wouldn't normally upgrade every time there is a new release to pay regular installments as though they would.

From a personal standpoint, I use Lightroom and upgrade every other release (at most) and use Photoshop Elements and upgrade every third or fourth release (at most). This is quite a bit cheaper than a CC license, as I end up paying 50 to 60 dollars for Elements upgrade every three to four years and 80 dollars for lightroom over the same period of time.

For power users, there is no question that CC is a good deal. I'm just not sure that most hobby-ists really need to be forking out 10 dollars a month to Adobe.

[atupdate]

Another upgrade path would be Paint Shop Pro (Version X4 for me). You can get the latest version (X7) on Amazon for for less than $60, version X6 for less than $50 and version X5 (newer than mine) for less than $25.

Amazon.com: paint shop pro: Software

PSP has all the tools photoshop has but some operate differently. Although there aren't as many web-based tutorials available for PSP, most of the tutorials for Photoshop can be translated into PSP. PSP also accepts almost all of the plug-ins for Photoshop.

Applied a gradient background to this image



B&W Conversion and cloned out some stuff in the background in this image



Combined 5 exposures in this image.



A little masking and shifting of Hue in this image.



All I can say is that PSP has the tools at a pretty reasonable price.

Tim

[Vitalii]

Thanks !

Any idea about the size of the (Photoshop) software to be installed on the PC?

hah, if you´re worrying about programm size, then you probably you could go with any other alternative solution%) i mean if you+re Saving 300-500 PP tiffs, 1 GB big collages to print A2-A0, it totaly pays off. if you need just a raw converter with basic tools and not much layer work - well there are cheaper ways.)

like Atupdate pointed. btw. really nice and clean images.)

[Wired]

There is so much power in photoshop, and even as a hobbyist the temptation to try out those tools and learn them from a really good source (like phlearn.com) is very inviting. I never understood how much you can do in that program until I started watching phlearn on a regular basis... nor how bloody easy it is.

For that alone, even if there are cheaper options out there, a $10 a month licence is a small amount for the amount you get out of it. If you find after a year that you really didn't use photoshop all that much, your only out a little extra over the Lightroom purchase. Re-evaluate your options and go with what works best for you.

Photoshop isn't for everyone, and you can do a lot with Lightroom alone. I can't do what I do without both however. That and NIK Color.

[jpzk]

Thanks to all again for the feedback ...

I see there are alternatives, which is good.
Not sure if I will ever try yet another software (being used to Photoshop) but maybe Lightroom (on its own) would do the trick too.
Whatever way I choose, I'll need to clean up the SSD before doing that.

JP

[realitarian]

I would just point out that we do have an alternative, and The GIMP is not that bad since it went to the single-window interface.

Tony,

I have GIMP on my ubuntu desktop as well, and would like to get into post-processing. In your experience, how does GIMP compare to the big boys (Photoshop, Lightroom, etc)? Any key features you would be missing out on?
(Photography is a hobby for me, not a profession - so I suppose I don't need the all the high end features especially those related to processing with a higher throughput). It is also hard to beat the value proposition of GIMP for me - free vs. $10/month.

Additionally, can you recommend some good sources to really learn GIMP? I have only used it in the past to convert image formats and combine two images into one - really basic stuff. I know I barely scratched the surface here. There are so many menu options on there that I have no clue what they do.

Cheers!

[jatrax]

For power users, there is no question that CC is a good deal. I'm just not sure that most hobby-ists really need to be forking out 10 dollars a month to Adobe.

I would agree with this. There are plenty of alternatives including the GIMP that will do what needs done. That said the CC subscription is worth it to me. I usually base value on how many hours per week/month I use something. A new tablet that I use 2 or 3 hours a day is worth a lot. A new lens that I use for 10 minutes a month? Maybe not so much. I use Lightroom an average of 30 hours per week and PS maybe 5 hours. So for me the CC subscription is an excellent value.

I have GIMP on my ubuntu desktop as well, and would like to get into post-processing. In your experience, how does GIMP compare to the big boys (Photoshop, Lightroom, etc)? Any key features you would be missing out on? (Photography is a hobby for me, not a profession - so I suppose I don't need the all the high end features especially those related to processing with a higher throughput). It is also hard to beat the value proposition of GIMP for me - free vs. $10/month.

I used GIMP for several years and it can do everything needed although I found the user interface somewhat convoluted. And remember, photographers use maybe 10% of Photoshop anyway. Lightroom is for photographers, Photoshop is for graphics professionals.

GIMP can easily replace Photoshop, it cannot replace Lightroom. Most discussions such as this focus on the image processing, which IMHO, is a distant secondary consideration to image organization, keywording and search & retrieval. If you cannot find it 10 years later it matters little how well processed it is.

[magkelly]

I found the user interface somewhat convoluted. And remember, photographers use maybe 10% of Photoshop anyway. Lightroom is for photographers, Photoshop is for graphics professionals.

GIMP can easily replace Photoshop, it cannot replace Lightroom. Most discussions such as this focus on the image processing, which IMHO, is a distant secondary consideration to image organization, keywording and search & retrieval. If you cannot find it 10 years later it matters little how well processed it is.

I totally disagree with this. I can and do live without LR. Never did warm up to it, but I cannot do without Photoshop CS6. As a working photographer I use Photoshop all the time, and extensively. I don't like the whole subscription thing. I had a free copy when it first came out. I have a pal who is an Adobe employee. He got me set up with CC for a year but I totally hated it. They're supposed to only check your license once a month? Uhuh. My Photoshop CC was constantly calling home, nearly every time I used it. I could see it doing it with my firewall. It might have been checking the license or doing something else like checking for updates, I don't know but I don't care. It was just too annoying. I went back to CS6. I do other work, design things in PS too but 85% of the work I do in Photoshop is related to my photography. It wasn't originally made for graphics design and that. There's a reason it's called Photoshop. It has evolved to doing all that but Photoshop was and is a photographer's application.

[vonBaloney]

They're supposed to only check your license once a month? Uhuh.

It only NEEDS to connect every 30 days in order to keep working, so you don't have to be online all the time. But if you are online, it is going to check for updates, etc quite often...no need to "watch it" doing so though.

[Tony Belding]

GIMP can easily replace Photoshop, it cannot replace Lightroom. Most discussions such as this focus on the image processing, which IMHO, is a distant secondary consideration to image organization, keywording and search & retrieval.

This. Apple kicked off this genre of software with Aperture, and it was brilliant. Adobe then created Lightroom as their spin on the subject. With Aperture now abandoned, there aren't many alternatives to Lightroom for organizing a photo library and workflow.

There is a program on Linux systems called Darktable. (It's available for other platforms but, like The GIMP, it's native to Linux.) It seems to be an attempt at an Aperture or Lightroom type of program. I've dabbled with Darktable a couple of times, but it seemed awkward, limited and counter-intuitive (especially running it on a Mac), and there's limited help available -- mainly in the form of Youtube tutorials. I'm not sure it's ready for prime time. It's free, though, so there's no harm in giving it a spin.

I grabbed a program off the Mac App Store called iSmartPhoto. It's a photo browser that seems to include many of the management tools of Aperture or Lightroom, but without any editing or adjustments. Library management is its thing, but it also lets me select a photo and then open it with any one of a whole list of other programs -- any program Mac OS X recognizes as accepting that type of file. So... I could use iSmartPhoto to manage the library and then call on The GIMP, or Acorn, or CameraBag 2 (which is quite good) for editing and adjustments.

Bottom line: It's possible to live without Lightroom, but you have to beat the bushes and find a set of programs on your chosen platform to perform its various tasks. There is no other convenient package that does everything it does.

[GUB]

GIMP can easily replace Photoshop, it cannot replace Lightroom.

I have never used Lightroom but isn't Digikam the open source alternative?
I use it on linux to sort my library of 50000 to 100000 images.
It is great. Does tags , stars etc.
There is a windows build.

[jatrax]

I have never used Lightroom but isn't Digikam the open source alternative?

I've heard of Darktable but not Digikam. Post a link, there seems to be a lot of good information in this thread might as well add this.

[GUB]

https://www.digikam.org/about
I use Digikam primarily to handle my archives and leave developing Raws to Darktable and final editing to Gimp.
But Digikam has its own Raw converter and editing capabilities.

[mee]

Photoshop Elements is quite powerful these days. PSE plus Lightroom is a rather nice setup. Another one to consider.

Please be aware that if you go the CC route it is NOT 10 dollars a month, but rather is 120 dollars per year since you are on the hook for a 12 month contract -- there is no month-to-month service, they just tout it as 10 dollars per month to make it seem cheaper by charging you 10 per month towards your 120 owed.