Looking for a good Photography editing software.

January 4, 2008 4:13 PM

Looking for a good Photography editing software.

My PC was stolen a few months back. I had the latest version of Photoshop on that PC and when I went to Adobe I was told that there was "no record" of me ever purchasing or registering the product, and after multiple conversations with multiple individuals at Adobe, I gave up -- they win.

Obviously I would never stoop to the level on illegally downloading this software, though I am looking for options. I'm becoming more and more of a serious photographer, so cheap-o editing programs won't be sufficient.

1. How can I go about attaining a legal (discounted or second-hand) version of Photoshop (doesn't have to be the latest version).

2. What free or discounted services (like Picnik or Paint.net) might you suggest?

posted by bamassippi to computers & internet (19 comments total)

As far as free alternatives go, check the list at Open Source Alternative. You can also find replacements for other popular off-the-self software applications there.
posted by burnmp3s at 4:23 PM on January 4, 2008 [1 favorite]

Where did the version on your last PC come from?
posted by bonaldi at 4:26 PM on January 4, 2008

Photoshop Elements is often sufficient, and a lot cheaper.
posted by smackfu at 4:29 PM on January 4, 2008

GimpShop is a fairly good open source representation of Photoshop. It's Gimp that looks like Photoshop. I've used it since graduating from college when I lost free access to sweet sweet Photoshop.
posted by odi.et.amo at 4:32 PM on January 4, 2008

Would a student discount be applicable to you?
posted by desjardins at 4:37 PM on January 4, 2008

I'm facing the same issue myself but for different reasons.

In addition to the Gimp, there is Pixel, Ulead PhotoImpact, Corel Photo.. Photosomething. They all stink, unfortunately. Pixel is an amazing technical triumph but hasn't reached 1.0 yet. Ulead and Corel's offerings are much better than they used to be (with layers, shapes HDR creation, etc) but are still a far cry from Photoshop.

I'm considering taking a class at the local community college if it will get me a student rate.
posted by chairface at 4:46 PM on January 4, 2008

Seconding the Gimp suggestion. Several of my friends also use PaintShop Pro, which is considerably cheaper than Photoshop.

If you're in school, or have a friend who is, you might be able to get them to buy Photoshop for you with their educational discount. Even better, do you know anyone who has recently graduated with an art degree? Sometimes art programs require people who just want to work in meatspace media to learn the computer-aided side of things, and they might have a copy of Photoshop they had to buy that they will never use again.

Might want to also call around to the stores in your area that sell used software and ask them to hold Photoshop for you if someone trades it in.

If you do freelance work, you might be able to convince a client to shell out for Real Photoshop for an important project... or if you have a good association with a graphic design-publishing-etc. company, they may give you one of their Photoshop licenses to avoid the hassle of conversion.

I got my personal copy through work... it was worth it to them to buy Photoshop for my laptop so that I could work from home.
posted by Gianna at 4:48 PM on January 4, 2008

@bonaldi : Where did the version on your last PC come from?


Legally from Follet bookstores.
posted by bamassippi at 4:48 PM on January 4, 2008

I'm not familiar with them, but can't you call them and talk about proof of purchase or similar?I know that if I had shelled out actual money for Photoshop having to use the gimp would enrage me. Don't give up on finding that licence!
posted by bonaldi at 4:58 PM on January 4, 2008

If you're in school, or have a friend who is, you might be able to get them to buy Photoshop for you with their educational discount. Even better, do you know anyone who has recently graduated with an art degree? Sometimes art programs require people who just want to work in meatspace media to learn the computer-aided side of things, and they might have a copy of Photoshop they had to buy that they will never use again.

This is still almost certainly illegal. My license agreement for my student-discount software specified that the license was only for MY computer(s) and I could not resell or give it away.
posted by desjardins at 4:58 PM on January 4, 2008

While you’re searching, consider downloading the trial version of PS. When I did this recently, it came along with Bridge and Camera Raw 4. When the 30-day limit broke PS, it did NOT break Bridge/CRaw; they continued to work with no problems or warnings for months until I was ready to get the suite. I don’t know if this was a fluke or SOP, but it’s worth a try to see if it works for you, too. You can do a LOT with CRaw even without selections or layers. They also come with Elements, which you can also download as a trial...
posted by dpcoffin at 5:28 PM on January 4, 2008

If you purchased the original copy, you should be able to give your serial# to Adobe for media replacement.
posted by rhizome at 6:06 PM on January 4, 2008

Picasa is basic but very good. It works with raw now, which is awesome. And it's free.

Lightroom is much cheaper than photoshop, and it's pretty awesome to work with. You can do most everything except layers and masks and stuff. It's pretty sweet. You don't need to do a ton of PS afterwards, so you might be able to get by with it and gimp.
posted by sully75 at 6:08 PM on January 4, 2008

You might try using Adobe Lightroom instead of Photoshop. I've been using it recently and have found that it's much better for photo editing. You can download a free trial at Adobe and see if it will work for what you're doing. If you're already familiar with Photoshop, you'll find it very intuitive and it retails for about half of what Photoshop costs.
posted by Thin Lizzy at 6:31 PM on January 4, 2008

On non-preview. What sully75 said.
posted by Thin Lizzy at 6:32 PM on January 4, 2008

PhotoFlitre comes in a free a paid. It's a very good "lightweight" editor. Otherwise Paint.Net is pretty cool.

Of course if you are a professional or serious hobbyist then these programmes will be far too basic.
posted by chairish at 9:02 AM on January 5, 2008

I second Photofiltre and Paint.Net. Also, XNView.
posted by tra at 8:40 PM on January 5, 2008

When I switched from PC to Mac I had to abandon my quasi-legal Photoshop install. After some research, I went with Lightroom instead. It's still expensive, but much less so than Photoshop. I was a reasonably advanced Photoshop user but I appreciate the absence of some of those features in Lightroom. There's less temptation to wildly overprocess or introduce fakery into my pictures, and I feel that the professionalism of my output has gone up as a result.

Also the workflow in Lightroom is wonderful. It takes so much less time than all the manual steps I did in Photoshop, and so I'm more likely to take pictures -- the best way to improve.
posted by nev at 10:06 AM on January 6, 2008

FWIW, I pretty much only use Photoshop for heavy retouching now. I do 90% of my work in Lightroom, convert from RAW, and then retouch in PS.

I'm sure you know this but pretty much anything other than PS is a joke if you are even somewhat serious.

If I were you I would just download it. I know this is legally questionable, but you paid for it. No developers are going to starve, and it's not your fault their support people can't get their crap together.
posted by bradbane at 10:06 AM on January 6, 2008