jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Some alternatives

http://digital-photography-school.com/a-beginners-guide-to-choosing-the-right-post-production-software/
http://www.digitalcameraworld.com/2015/03/23/best-photo-editing-software-photoshop-cc-and-7-photoshop-alternatives-tested/1/
http://www.redmondpie.com/best-adobe-photoshop-alternatives-for-windows-and-mac-list/

Free -

http://fieldguide.gizmodo.com/the-best-photoshop-alternatives-that-are-totally-free-5974500
http://lightzoneproject.org/

gwong1 Loc: Tampa, FL

From another UHH user Searcher. http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/user-page?upnum=1124

lalezo Loc: Gainesville, FL

I have used and strongly recommend ACDSee ... iit is very user friendly and easy to navigate ... the one Iam now using is ACDSee Ultimate Pro 9 ... and in addition it is much less expensive ... it has done all I need. You can enter their website and download a trial. Good Luck !

Lloyd

lalezo Loc: Gainesville, FL

I recommend ACDSee Ultimate Pro 9 ... try a free download and you'll be convinced ...

Lloyd

Carl D Loc: Albemarle, NC.

Affinity is what I now use. Canceled my PSCC subscription earlier this week and uninstalled it as well. Affinity is very intuitive. There are many video tutorials as well. I don't think you would be sorry. It's $49 one time to download.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Take the time to learn something - the quality of your results will correspond to your effort.

JCam Loc: MD Eastern Shore

Why "...other than Photoshop or Elements..."? I think all photo editing software programs have some learning curves, if they are worth learning, and none I've seen are particularly intuitive.

I used Picassa when it first came out for simple editing and moved on to Picassa 2. When I found it too limiting, about four years ago, I bought PSE 10 and made the transition without too much difficulty and am now using PSE14. I would suggest you get a manual on whatever program you decide you want, and for a first time user probably not one of the "For....Dummies" series; they make the assumption that you have had previous experience with the program and get far deeper "into the weeds" than you will ever need.

PSE 14 has now been out for about 1 1/2 years; I suspect that a new version may come out soon in which case you will probably be able to get PSE14 for about $39.00, and it will probably do 80% of what the full blown and more difficult Photoshop will cost.

BboH Loc: s of 2/21, Ellicott City, MD

Look at DxO's Elite. works easily and it detects what camera and lens you used and then downloads those characteristics into the program. Really have no way of knowing whether or not this is useful, but...

chapjohn Loc: Tigard, Oregon

Look at Capture One and Zoner Photo Studio.

Reinaldokool Loc: San Rafael, CA

Corel Paint Shop Pro is pretty easy to begin using. Of course, anything that will compete with PS will have more capability than you can master in a year. In fact, even PSE can only be touched in a year.

Another great option is GIMP. GIMP began life in the Unix/Linux world. So the user interface is very different from what we are used to. However, it is right up with PS in capability.

Both Corel and Gimp have lots of Youtube HowTo videos available.

llouie

I just purchased ON 1 On sale for 89.99 and when the new version with Raw comes out I get that for free.

abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois

Unfortunately, you are right. I say unfortunately because I see so many pictures here that are kind of ok but with a bit more post-processing, can be made a lot better. Missed opportunities. The poster should have shared his background and goals with us.

abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois

Good question. Many good answers so far. I am a very big fan of Corel and I am sure many of the other programs mentioned are also good. The wide selection will drive you crazy and take a lot of time to learn and compare. That will be a full-time job for months. Good luck.

Whether you like it or not, Adobe is the gold standard. Not necessarily the easiest or best. That is like beauty being in the eyes of the beholder. I am going to assume that you are a hobbyist wanting to keep it simple. If so, my advice is that if you stay with Adobe, start with Lightroom. Most people do over 90% of their editing in it. I suspect that you will do all of your editing in it and probably not need PS for a very long time. Furthermore, Julieann Kost at tv.adobe.com is perhaps the very best teacher for it. Look at her videos first and if you like what you see, try LR but be patient. Very few programs are completely intuitive and you do have to invest time and energy to learn any program. The other advantage to Adobe is that people have posted more videos for their products than for the others. Hard to not find help.

Good luck.

llouie

Thanks I just purchased ON 1 from suggestions from replies from my post

John_F Loc: Minneapolis, MN

Which Photoshop alternative is largely defined by what you want to do. If it is just fixing color casts or doing some sharpening and a few other fairly nominal tasks, then most of the suggestions so far will probably work for you. But if fairly major image work is needed, then Photoshop would be a must. The above all other skills you will need to master is that of making selection - here hand-on-mouse and eye-on-screen coordination is a must and takes practice even if you get into Wacom tools.