Photoshop Elements?

[Gromit]

Hi all,

I'm after some good, but relatively simple, photo-editing software and it would appear that Elements might be worth investing in for under 60 quid? Using a Mac, I do have iPhoto as part of OSX but only really use it for cropping images, turning stuff into monochrome etc.

I would like to have a play with something a bit more sophisticated though, hence thinking Elements might suit. Of course I'm open to suggestions of other software too.

Ta muchly.

 

[rockmeister]

yup elements is good. Better is Lightroom, but more costly ofc.

 

[Gromit]

yup elements is good. Better is Lightroom, but more costly ofc.

Thanks for the suggestion, John - LR seems to be available for around 80 quid so that's not too bad. Having a quick look at what it does, you're right, it looks like it would be more suitable for my needs.

 

[HectorHughMunro]

Have you tried Picasa? It's free. Not even close to Lightroom though. Elements is as good as photoshop a couple of generations ago - I sometimes use it.

 

[Mark Grant]

Lightroom is great but check you are buying the latest version as lightroom 5 was recently released.

£80 looks a bit low for 5 ?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Adobe-Photoshop-Lightroom-Mac-PC/dp/B00CLD7Y4O/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1372169632&sr=8-3&keywords=lightroom

The learning curve with lightroom is a bit steeper than elements

 

[Sumdumgi]

Just for completeness (and the fact you use a Mac) don't ignore Aperture. You can share your libraries between Aperture and iPhoto and of course it offers greater facilities but a familiar layout. It's around £55 from the App Store. There are tutorial videos on the Apple site which are very good and the Aperture Forum has some very helpful and technically capable members. I have Elements 9 too which is fine for my occasional use but Aperture and the Nik Plugins satisfies 99% of my needs. Lightroom is very good of course and thus far is not included in Adobe's rush towards Cloud based software as it has done with Photoshop. The Nik Plugins can also be used with Elements, Aperture, Lightroom and of course Photoshop. http://www.niksoftware.com/nikcollection/en/intro.html

 

[Gromit]

Thanks fellas.

Mark - just looked again, my bad, LR5 is indeed a smidge more than 80 quid. <oops>

I'll check our Aperture aswell.

 

[Jason P]

Richard, I use Aperture for photo organisation but if you want a great photoshop substitute then Pixelmator is really good for the £10 or thereabouts it cost me. Very comprehensive, does 90% of what CS3 will do and interesting development plans in the pipeline, and lots of pros are using it now Adobe has gone all 'cloudy'...

 

[Gromit]

Thanks Jason - will definitely check that out. For a tenner there's nowt to lose.

 

[macvisual]

--

 

[chrisB]

Capture One Express 6 is a similar program to Lightroom. It is sold as a stand alone product for $99. But here is where it get's very interesting. Right now, you can get it for free.

FREE

Now I don't know how long this deal will last, but if you need something to do some editing, and you can't afford Lightroom - which I believe is the best solution out there - then you need to download this right away!

It is not really being advertised, and I don't know how long you will be able to do this before someone catches on.

Click this link to download. In the shopping cart, use coupon code DCM2013 and the price changes to $0.00.

Click this link for a page of tutorials on how to use it.

LINKS here:

http://www.phototips.biz/2013/07/get-capture-on-pro-for-free.html

 

[macvisual]

---

 

[chrisB]

Great link Chris, I'll check that out later, appreciated.... Can you access both j-peg & raw with that editing suite ?

Yeap! You can!

Capture one is the only program that can claim to do it better that photoshop!

 

[AmDismal]

Gimp is free, and actually not bad. Worth installing to see if you like it...

 

[fordy]

top thread because I have the exact same needs. I've taken many many pics in the last two years but just had no time to do any processing. Everything is in iPhoto for convenience but reading around that may not have been the wisest decision.

Where I'd got to last night after a few hours googling was that I need to answer the following questions. "Should I dig myself out of the iPhoto lock-in sooner rather than later and run with Elements?" or "Should I stick with the excellent integration of Apple products and plop for Aperture?" The Adobe offering worries because even though Elements hasn't gone cloud yet, they've made it clear what there business model is going forward.

I'll check out some of these other alternatives mentioned for sure! Cheers.

 

[chrisB]

Aperture is very very good.

I think it's very cheap too.

 

[mikehit]

top thread because I have the exact same needs. I've taken many many pics in the last two years but just had no time to do any processing. Everything is in iPhoto for convenience but reading around that may not have been the wisest decision.Where I'd got to last night after a few hours googling was that I need to answer the following questions. "Should I dig myself out of the iPhoto lock-in sooner rather than later and run with Elements?" or "Should I stick with the excellent integration of Apple products and plop for Aperture?" The Adobe offering worries because even though Elements hasn't gone cloud yet, they've made it clear what there business model is going forward.

I'll check out some of these other alternatives mentioned for sure! Cheers.

If you buy PSE now, it will still work even if (and that is a big 'if') Elements goes Cloud as well. But Elements is so cheap it is hard to see how a subscription model would work: the monthly fee would be outweighed by administration charges. I would not worry about it.

I am not saying don't try other programs, but IMO that is a pretty weak reason for not trying Elements.

 

[fordy]

Capture One Express 6 is a similar program to Lightroom. It is sold as a stand alone product for $99. But here is where it get's very interesting. Right now, you can get it for free.FREE

Now I don't know how long this deal will last, but if you need something to do some editing, and you can't afford Lightroom - which I believe is the best solution out there - then you need to download this right away!

It is not really being advertised, and I don't know how long you will be able to do this before someone catches on.

Click this link to download. In the shopping cart, use coupon code DCM2013 and the price changes to $0.00.

Click this link for a page of tutorials on how to use it.

LINKS here:

http://www.phototips.biz/2013/07/get-capture-on-pro-for-free.html

Yep, the coupon code still works. Very quick to get a license number :^

Struggling to download the software though. Servers are probably very very busy

 

[belloire]

hi Gromit. i've got a boxed copy of Elements 9 and a book to go with it if you'd like it. it has win and mac discs, and whilst it's been installed and registered i think i can unregister it.