texasdan78070 Loc: Texas Hill Country

Downloaded the Nik package not realizing it was add ons to PS. Photoshop has always confused me with the layers. I'm thinking that with the Nik collection, it will add more confusion for me, but I'm willing to give it a try. Went to download and it is selling the 3 year license and support for $17/year. The price is right, but what is the "cc" after PS? That's how little I know about PS. Thanks for any info you can give me.

Dan

PixelStan77 Loc: Vermont/Chicago

Dan CC stands for Creative Cloud. All new PS programs are on the cloud.

tradio Loc: Oxford, Ohio

Have you thought about Lightroom? The Nik collection works with it also and it may be a little easier to learn.

texasdan78070 Loc: Texas Hill Country

I should have known it was about the cloud!!

texasdan78070 Loc: Texas Hill Country

Have not, but if it's easier to use, I think I'll look into it. Thanks

tusketwedge Loc: Nova Scotia Canada

if your buying the subscription to cc it includes both photoshop and lightroom

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

Do not get confused about the "cloud" terminology. The Adobe CC package are programs you download and install on your computer like any other. The only thing in the cloud is Adobe, which will connect to your computer once a month to be sure you paid your bill and to let you know of any updates you should download.

I sympathize as it took me a long time to get the hang of layers. I don't learn that well from videos so had to get a book. Once you get it, though, a whole new world of possibilities opens up.

I use Lightroom for organizing, raw conversion and basic editing, but Photoshop for detailed editing. CC is a good value for me. Others may prefer standalone Lightroom and may add Photoshop Elements for their layering program. The Nik filters which are great work with any of those programs.

texasdan78070 Loc: Texas Hill Country

Thanks for the 411

texasdan78070 Loc: Texas Hill Country

More to ponder. Thanks for the insight.

orrie smith Loc: Kansas

if you go for the cc program, you will also get lightroom. you may want to try using it, a much smaller learning curve.

dynaquest1 Loc: Austin, Texas

AGREE!! Layers are freakin' magic! Once you master the concept (and you will....after doing a bit of research/training), that light bulb will blink on and will all make sense.

Try Lynda.com (video training) for a month @ $25.00/mo and you can learn way more than you will ever need about Photoshop. I think they still offer a 24/7 week of FREE training as an introduction. You have to give up a credit card number but they will remind you before your week is up to cancel if you don't want to be charged for your first month.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

That would be a really great price... $17 a year. I suspect it's $17 a month instead.... or $170 a year.

The Nik package is a plug-in for various image editing software, not just Photoshop. If I recall correctly, after you download and then go to install, it will detect what image editing software you have installed on your computer, then if there are more than one it will give you choice of which you wish to install the plug-ins to work with. I actually had to install it several times, for different software that I'm using.

The PS CC subscription almost certainly includes LR CC. I don't think Adobe is offering the CC versions separately. That's good because neither LR nor PS is truly a complete software without the other. LR is a catalog manager with "lite" image editing capabilities... while PS is a heavy duty image editor with "lite" catalog management built in.

Frankly, if you are confused by layers in PS, be prepared to be completely lost adding LR and then Nik on top of that!

Seriously, if you're lost with PS alone, you really might want to consider getting Photoshop Elements 14 instead. It's a perpetual subscription for about $80 right now, instead of a monthly subscription. It's also a "complete" software that borrows on both LR and PS for the functions that are most used... and perhaps most importantly Elements has three user-selectable interfaces: Beginner, Intermediate and Expert. You can choose the one you want to use and switch back and forth between them, if you wish.

Neither LR nor PS have any sort of user assistance built in. With them, you're sort of jumping right into the deepest end of the pool without your water wings and hoping you learn to swim. There are various LR and PS online tutorials, books and college classes, instead. LR is sort of Expert on steroids and PS is probably at least four times as complex. They can be learned, but you should plan to buy a thick book or two and take a couple classes, spend a month or two getting up to speed using LR... Then spend about a year's worth of college level books and classes learning to use PS really effectively.

Or just get Elements, instead. It might do all you ever actually need. And the Nik plug-ins will work with it, too (which is another book or two... or a series of online tutorials to learn to use, too... in addition to whatever primary image editing software you choose).

If you do go with Elements, you'll be learning the basics of PS an LR while using it, too. If later you decide you need either or both of the more advanced programs, you'll have already learned those basics with Elements. (BTW, Elements has "layers" too... but perhaps they will be easier to grasp in one or the other of it's user-interfaces).

rwilson1942 Loc: Houston, TX

Most of the NIK modules will also run as stand alone. I couldn't find them listed in aps on my PC but found them using explorer and ran a couple to be sure.

texasdan78070 Loc: Texas Hill Country

Thanks for the input. I had Elements on my computer until I crashed the OS and it didn't get put back. I worked a bit with it, but that layers thing came up and...well, I think I have a memory block when it comes to layers.
Thanks for the help and thanks to all for your input. I think you've given me a way to go, which I didn't have before. Picasa can do a tiny bit, but not enough to even help me with Elements or LR. Many thanks to all. I don't post much, but read daily (in UHH) and have picked up many small pieces here and there that have helped me. You guys (and gals) are very kind to this dumb @ss with your suggestions. I'm already gaining some gumption when it comes to layers.

texasdan78070 Loc: Texas Hill Country

Will definately take a look at them before I jump into anything. Appreciate your advice.