Need advice for purchasing a new editing software

[kgreen]

I have use Adobe Photoshop Elements for a very long time. The version I have now is Elements 6, so it's pretty old, & I know there are upgrades to this. However I'm thinking about upgrading to either Adobe Photoshop, or Light room, but I'm not sure where to go from here. On the Adobe website it's talking a lot about creative cloud, if I understand correctly you get all the tools but for a monthly subscription. I'd rather buy it out right & not pay monthly. Can someone please guide me in the right direction, what software should I go with. Pretty confused at the moment. What do you find works the best for you?

 

[mamaCta]

If you don't want to spend the money on full Photoshop (if it's still available) or the monthly fee, I would just get the updated version of Elements. It really is a good program for those that use it for personal photos.

 

[kgreen]

If you don't want to spend the money on full Photoshop (if it's still available) or the monthly fee, I would just get the updated version of Elements. It really is a good program for those that use it for personal photos.

After more reading, the way I understand it, they won't be selling adobe Photoshop as a boxed set anymore. It will go completely by subscription only through creative cloud? I have given thought about upgrading to Elements 11, but I'm still not giving up the idea of Light room as an option too. The monthly subscription of $40.00+ for Photoshop is not going to work.

 

[mamaCta]

I think you get access to the whole or most of the Adobe suite for the $40/m.

Even if you can find a boxed CS6 somewhere, it is in the $600-700 range, without including Lightroom.

 

[photo_chick]

Right now the only way to get a current version of Photoshop is to get the Creative Cloud. CS6 is already outdated. That may change in the future since so many people have complained about CC. But with CC you do keep your software current without paying extra.

I have a Creative Cloud subscription. Have for about a year now. For me it's been very cost effective. I use multiple Adobe products on both Windows and Mac platforms so it's way cheaper than buying all of that outright.

Lightroom is not an upgrade for Photoshop Elements. Elements is editing software, a home user version of Photoshop. Lightroom is image management and processing software. There is some overlap between the two but they really fill different needs.

Download the free trials and see which one fits your needs.

 

[cisobe]

It really depends on how much processing you do to your images. If you do a lot of post processing, digital artwork, photo manipulation etc, the Photoshop is the way to go. Adobe seems to be separating their professional software from their consumer software. Creative cloud really only makes sense for people who use more than one of adobes programs on a regular basis. For the person who occasionally uses Photoshop, it doesn't make sense to pay à monthly subscription for something you don't use regularly. With that said, a full copy of Photoshop may be overkill.

Photoshop elements does 90% of the things most people need. Its been getting a lot of the enhancements full Photoshop has been getting such as content aware fill. Its relatively cheap too.

I lucked out, I got in on a Photoshop cs6 light room 4 combo for $350 right after cs6 was released. I use light room for most of my post processing and to help keep my photos organized. After getting light room, I use Photoshop a lot less.

 

[havoc315]

A full subscription to CreativeCloud is far more than most people need.

In addition to Elements, there are other editing options that are cheaper than CreativeCloud.

Lightroom is a great product -- Great for photo organization, fantastic for RAW file processing, and sufficient for lots of basic editing. (cropping, blemish removal, red-eye correction). For me, it can handle most of my regular editing needs if I'm not doing anything very advanced.

There is also Paint Shop Pro --- much of the power of full Photoshop, but closer in pricing to Elements. I find it a bit slow and clunky, but it does have a lot of power.

I've moved away from PSP to more specialized software --- Topaz and OnOne both make individual products for individual tasks.
OnOne has very good portrait software for fixing portraits -- smoothing skin, sharpening the eyes, etc.
I also like OnOne's layer/masking software.
Topaz adjust is excellent for applying HDR-like effects. And Topaz DeNoise is very good noise removal, though I had been using a free trial. I'll probably just stick with Lightroom's own pretty good noise removal. (I was using Topaz DeNoise for some very noisy dark ISO 6400 shots, but Lightroom usually suffices).

 

[kgreen]

Thanks for all the help! I think I'll purchase the upgrade to Photoshop Elements, & look into adding lightroom later if the need calls for it. Since I've used Elements all along, I know the basics, & it shouldn't be much to learn any new features they may have added. Thanks again, you all are great!

 

[kgreen]

I had used a trial of Topaz, & really liked it! I found myself doing the majority of editing in Topaz, & only a few extras in Elements. But that could be because it was new to me, & I really liked the editing choices. I was able to access it right from Elements as a plug in. Do you know if you can access Lightroom while in Elements as well, or is it a separate application?

 

[photo_chick]

A full subscription to CreativeCloud is far more than most people need.

This is why they have the $19.99 subscription for just Photoshop. Which, when you add up the contractual commitment length is still less than retail price for Photoshop. There's also a discount for CS6 owners.

It's not the right solution for everyone, but it is actually not a bad deal if you want Photoshop CC.

Also Photoshop CC has implemented some new tools that are making additional software like Topaz a bit unnecessary. I have the Topaz bundle and haven't touched it much since the last big CC update when they added the new sharpening tools. I stopped using DeNoise with CS6.

 

[photo_chick]

I had used a trial of Topaz, & really liked it! I found myself doing the majority of editing in Topaz, & only a few extras in Elements. But that could be because it was new to me, & I really liked the editing choices. I was able to access it right from Elements as a plug in. Do you know if you can access Lightroom while in Elements as well, or is it a separate application?

They're separate applications but most computers won't have any problems having both open at the same time. I keep Lightroom and PS open and toggle back and forth between the two. They play very well together.

Elements also has Adobe Camera RAW that comes as a plug in, which is the same processing engine that Lightroom uses.

 

[kgreen]

They're separate applications but most computers won't have any problems having both open at the same time. I keep Lightroom and PS open and toggle back and forth between the two. They play very well together.

Elements also has Adobe Camera RAW that comes as a plug in, which is the same processing engine that Lightroom uses.

Okay, Thanks Photo_chick! Makes sense

 

[networktek]

i would have to go with Photoshop. there is so much more that you can do over elements but if Photoshop is out of your budget than elements is a good second choice.

 

[MICKEY88]

I had used a trial of Topaz, & really liked it! I found myself doing the majority of editing in Topaz, & only a few extras in Elements. But that could be because it was new to me, & I really liked the editing choices. I was able to access it right from Elements as a plug in. Do you know if you can access Lightroom while in Elements as well, or is it a separate application?

I use lightroom, paint shop pro,portrait professional and have the topaz bundle.
I import my files into lightroom, make batch adjustments to exposure white balance etc if neccessary, then if I want to use one of the other programs I can access them thru lightroom, save my changes and go back into lightroom, I then have a copy with lightroom adjustments and a copy with the other program adjustments... it is very nice being able to do that

 

[kgreen]

I use lightroom, paint shop pro,portrait professional and have the topaz bundle.
I import my files into lightroom, make batch adjustments to exposure white balance etc if neccessary, then if I want to use one of the other programs I can access them thru lightroom, save my changes and go back into lightroom, I then have a copy with lightroom adjustments and a copy with the other program adjustments... it is very nice being able to do that

That is nice! Thanks for the tip.