Lets limit this thread to editing software, not raw converters. I realize there is considerable overlap, but I will do another thread dealing with just raw converters. Also, this is not an advertisement, just a discussion of what is out there and the costs and features of various programs to edit our photos.
There are a lot of photography related software packages out there. Some are fairly pricy, some free, lots in between. I’m going to use mainly Adobe products in this discussion since they are the most widely used and known. First, let’s get our terminology right. Strictly speaking, Photoshop is not a raw converter. A separate program called Adobe Camera Raw embedded in Photoshop launches when you open a raw file in Photoshop.
Photoshop is a graphics editor. It takes a digital file and is capable of doing an almost unimaginable amount of editing to it. It is an enormously capable program, has a steep and very long learning curve, and until 2012 was a very expensive program to buy at $600. What changed was, Adobe went to a subscription model for some of their products. As someone who has owned what is called a perpetual license for Photoshop since version 5, I was not happy with the move since it looked a lot more like a money grab than anything else. However as with most things there are pros and cons.
Previously, Photoshop was updated about every 15 months or so. The upgrades ranged from approximately $120 some years back, to $170 in the later ones. You could skip upgrades (and save some money) because the program you already had would still work, just minus the new features. You could buy a later upgrade and bring your version up to date without buying the skipped upgrade. Eventually Adobe required that updates not be skipped (no doubt partly for money reasons), but also because managing the software versions with multiple possibilities was difficult and expensive for Adobe. As you can see, at an average of $150 an update you were essentially buying the program over again in +/- five years. The new subscription model offers what is called “Photographers” pricing of Photoshop CC (Creative Cloud) and Lightroom for a $10 monthly subscription. There is no charge for upgrades and the program is continuously upgraded as new things are added with no waiting for new features. Thus, for less than the price of the upgrades, you can have Photoshop and Lightroom without the upfront $600. Can Adobe raise the price of the subscription in the future? Of course, just like all that we buy will eventually cost more, but after the furor that surrounded going to subscription, Adobe went to this pricing (the original was $20 a month) Realizing that there were tons of amateurs like us, out there, that were not using Photoshop to make a living and would probably abandon it’s use if the price was too high.
There is a good alternative to Photoshop CC in Photoshop Elements 14. Elements is not on a subscription basis and you buy a perpetual license. Right now (mid-December) Adobe has it on sale for $70, it’s normally $100. Elements could be called “Photoshop Light”. It has many of the features of Photoshop CC, but is missing quite a few as well. Truthfully, Elements would probably serve most of us very well for what many need here. Also, the learning curve for Elements is not nearly as steep. If I were to point out a weak area in Elements, it is somewhat limited in it’s ability to handle 16 bit files. It can do some things with a 16 bit files, just not all. For a comparison between CC and Elements look here: [
forums.adobe.com]
After Adobe, Corel Paint Shop Pro is probably the best second choice $55.
I’ve never worked with the other photo-editing programs out there other than perhaps a few minutes to briefly try them. I’m hoping others with experience in alternate programs will chime in. I realize there is overlap, but lets try to keep this to photo editors, we’ll cover raw converters in another thread.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/13/2015 01:21PM by jgunning.
