When not Photoshop then what ... ?

[Matus Kalisky]

Hello, first of all - I do not want to start flaming around Adobe and their policies. I do not have the need. But eligibility of my CS3 is fading, so to say, and paying around 800€ for a new version is out of question unfortunately. I am not looking for a free of charge solution - if I could get CS5 for 200€ or 300€ I would, but I am not a student anymore.

So - what I would like to hear is what kind of photo editing software (other than Photoshop) do you use and, importantly what features are you missing (relative to Photoshop) and what is your work around.

Tools I used most in CS3 are: Layers and masks, dust spotting, dodging, burning, batch processing, cloning, lens corrections (remove distortions and adjusting converging lines), noise suppression, color corrections, levels, curves, conversions to BW (via channel mixer), toning, 16 bit processing, stitching to panoramas, HDR (just a little, I am not happy how the CS3 does this).

Oh, and I am an OS-X user.

[Sevo]

What is wrong with sticking with CS3? Graphic artists and the like may need the latest version to be compatible with whatever their clients throw at them, but any CS version has more features than a photographer really requires.

[Brian Ellis]

Have you considered Photoshop Elements? I don't use it myself but I have friends who do and it seems to work well for them. While Photoshop has become something of a standard, I doubt that most photographers actually use more than a relatively small portion of its features and capabilities.

[Brent Long]

What is wrong with sticking with CS3? Graphic artists and the like may need the latest version to be compatible with whatever their clients throw at them, but any CS version has more features than a photographer really requires.

I'm still on CS. I think a potential problem is that it will become more and more difficult to keep older versions running with newer and newer OS and hardware. Compatibility issues will push you to newer versions faster than a lack of capability.

[Matus Kalisky]

I'm still on CS. I think a potential problem is that it will become more and more difficult to keep older versions running with newer and newer OS and hardware. Compatibility issues will push you to newer versions faster than a lack of capability.

That is also my concern (I am actually fine with CS3). I am still on OS-X 10.5 (Leopard) and consider moving to Snow Leopard (my scanner would probably not yet work with Lion and I have heard less than encouraging comments on it) and as I do not have any installation CD (it was a net install from University) I may be left without any usable software.

A few more questions:
- What features are missing in Photoshop Elements?
- Which other programs are capable of reading .PSD format?

[Frank Petronio]

I agree that Adobe has turned into a lousy company that dominates the creative app market. I've looked around and unfortunately there isn't anything that really allows you the fluidity, professionalism, and image quality of a Lightroom-Photoshop-InDesign workflow. All the alternatives compromise one or more aspects....

I would gladly drop $500 on a good alternative in a heartbeat.

In the meantime, I think it is worth it to suck it up and take it. It is like QuarkXpress in the 1990s, it was awful software with a awful upgrade cycle ($100 for a worthless "compatibility" upgrade every nine months or your older files couldn't be read by your dutiful client's newer version).

[Ben Syverson]

CS3 is Universal, so it should be fine in Snow Leopard and Lion. I don't know what scanner you're using, but unless you have a drum scanner, VueScan is the only scanning program you'll ever need.

Pixelmator opens PSD files, and some people really like it. Unfortunately, it can't handle really giant files such as 4x5 and 8x10 scans.

[Brent Long]

Matus, just to be clear, you are not upgrade eligible, right? Are you sure there is no inexpensive way for you to get it?

[Sevo]

- What features are missing in Photoshop Elements?
- Which other programs are capable of reading .PSD format?

Photoshop Elements isn't actually missing that many features you might need for straightforward photography. But the last version I received bundled with some camera or scanner was restricted to a RGB colour model and could barely cope with 120MB files - that will be critical for large format work, unless the latest version has been improved...

If all you need is PSD reading and straightforward photo correction, Lightroom might be good enough.

In any case, if you want to get PE or Lightroom, these are significantly discounted this weekend - in Germany 40% down at Adobe store, and even cheaper (presumably by saving some of the ridiculously high Irish VAT) at http://www.edv-buchversand.de/adobe.

[Matus Kalisky]

- Frank -
Somebody had to spoil my hopes, I know Of course I will try to keep using Photoshop, but it may well happen that in few months I will not so I started to look for possible alternatives. I make no income from photography (not enough time to make the effort at least for some occasional stuff, it is not easy as far as I have read around). I may be lucky in the future, but now it would not be an option to buy full CS(X).

- Ben -
I am mainly concerned for the case if I would need to re-install the CS3 - that I can not do.

I use the Microtek F1 with SilverFast Studio. But Vuescan would be an option I guess.

- Brent -
No, unfortunately not. And honestly I would hesitate to get a cracked version (always possible as we know). Somehow does not feel right.

- Sevo -
I will have a look at Elements - maybe there is a trial version to try out. I am trying to avoid working on files larger than 100 - 200 MB (for 4x5 I mostly use a scaled down "slaves" for most adjustments and only go back to full size with adjustment layers)

Actually - concerning large files - what is the deal with handling them? Is 100MB a large file today?

Can Lightroom use layers?