Photoshop alternative

Discussions
1

Hello everyone. I can’t get out for photography as much anymore. But I am still paying for an adobe subscription. Can anyone recommend a good alternative either a good free software or a one time purchase? Right now I am thinking photoshop elements.

2

Brian, PS Elements will be your best bet, I think, since you’re already familiar with PS.

Give it a try before you deactivate your Adobe subscription, just in case Elements is lacking features you truly need.

I just looked up CorelDraw. It’s more expensive than Adobe, so that’s out.

<Minor Rant: Adobe increased their Photographers Plan from $9.99 to $14.99/month not long ago. The only apps I use are ACR and PS, but there’s not really a less expensive and full-featured editor, so I’m kina stuck paying more</End Minor Rant>

I hope you can find something that works for you!
-P

3

I would look at Affinity, it’s a very close clone of Photoshop, and just this week, they made the product completely free, except for the AI tools.

For a free Lightroom alternative, I would look at darktable or RawTherapee.

For one-time purchases, I would consider LuminarNeo.

FYI, Photoshop Elements is no longer buy it once and own it forever; it’s a three-year license for $149.

4

Thanks Preston. I am still undecided.

5

Thanks David. I will check it out.

6

Affinity is now free.

7

Hi Brian,

I started using Adobe products, mainly Photoshop and InDesign, decades ago. Then Affinity Photo came along and I decided to give it a try. It was so refreshing to be part of something new. Affinity Photo steadily got better and certainly had all the capabilities I needed. Now all three of the Affinity products are packaged into a single piece of software which is free. My latest posting to NPN used the new Affinity. In my opinion, it’s astonishing software and the price is right.

8

Thank you Russel. I will give it a try.

9

Hi Gary, Thank you. I will give it a try.

10

I had been using a very old version of Photoshop for greater than ten years. It got to the point where anytime I wanted to learn how to do something, there was nothing online (YouTube, etc.) that would be applicable to the old version of Photoshop. Since then, I paid for the yearly subscription of Photoshop and Lightroom and I can say that YouTube and searching the internet to learn “how to do this or that” is a game changer. I have learned so much from the communities on various sites that it really changed my post processing and management of photographs for the better. My point… whatever you decide to do, make sure there is a communitiy supporting the tool - one that will support your needs to grow as a photographer.