harathedog

Anyone familiar with both? I'm used to Picasa and typically perform only minor PP.

Bob Yankle Loc: Burlington, NC

I've used both. PSP X9 is a more comprehensive Photo Editing package ...... it allows you to use Layers and Masks which LR does not.

Selkii Loc: Oakland, CA & Vancouver Island

I've used Paintshop Pro since its early JASC days. It was a decent substitute if you couldn't afford Photoshop. I'm somewhat of a software junky, so I've also used lots of other editing software. There is no question in my mind that LR on its own is the winner and, even though I am philosophically opposed to the subscription scenario, Adobe's LR/PSCC combo is the best.

Reinaldokool Loc: San Rafael, CA

They are quite different. PSP is more comparable to Photoshop and Gimp. LR is simply not in the same category. Many like it, but I've never found it useful. I don't use it, but did try Aftershot Pro. But again, it was just something to complicate matters.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Paint Shop Pro is tCorel's competition for Photo Shop.
The Corel competition for LR is AfterShot Pro3. Sometimes you get the one generation old version free when you buy PSP Ultimate, they change the freebies from time to time so check their web site.
I have used PSP in different variations since Corel bought it, I used Photo Paint (part of the Corel Draw Suite) before that.
I have PSP X8 and After Shot Pro 2. I haven't learned After Shot yet. But all the things I have read about it say it has one advantage over LR, it is supposed to be faster when editing RAW. I really need to donate a couple of days to working with it so I can really compare them.

If you are a registered Corel user they have a lot of free tutorials under the header "Learning" on their home page.

DWU2 Loc: Phoenix Arizona area

For $10/mo you could get both LR and full Photoshop via the Adobe Creative cloud platform. Recommended.

wendallb

I use Aftershot Pro 3 and Paintshop Pro and they both work very well. Never used Adobe stuff other then Photoshop elements and it works well also. Aftershot Pro 3 is very good and fast with raw photos. You can use plugins with Aftershot and Paintshop such as Topaz or NIK.

sailor2545 Loc: Victoria, BC

consider on one raw coming out in november...handles layers and faster than lightroom and is supposed to do more

pecohen Loc: Central Maine

Let me throw in a further complication to this question. How well do these different editing programs integrate with the Topaz collection?

I'm a long-time user of Paintshop Pro but I'm considering a switch to the Lightroom/Photoshop combination. Reading through the comments here I realized that a big motivation for me to make the change is that I find that using the Topaz filters in PSP seems a little clunky, often requiring several time-consuming operations that Topaz FXlab can do instantly with one mouse-click. For a while I've tried using Topaz photoFXlab for that phase of editing but that too has problems - notably that PSP cannot seem to read the .tif files generated by FXlab.

So my added request is some commentary about the convenience of using Topaz filters in Lightroom or in Photoshop.

Satman Loc: Indy

On1 Raw will run with LR or be independent.

Do not finalize the purchase and they will send you a 10% off coupon to help you decide

Looks great, next month November

vfjr

Hello all I am new to all of this. What software would you recommend for a total newbie?

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

They are totally different programs. One is a pixel editing program, the other a raw editing program. LR is the raw editor but may be used in conjunction with any pixel editing program.

Reinaldokool Loc: San Rafael, CA

Corel is very inexpensive, does 98% of everything Photoshop does. Has tons of video and plain tutorials, both official and user-generated.

Photoshop is expensive and is subject to Adobe's decisions. They often "upgrade" without asking--mostly little things but sometimes big ones. They have already indicated that they are going to increase the monthly fee. It is complex but it is also an "industry standard." There are hundreds of website with tutorials, some very good.

Gimp is free, does 99% of everything. It has a steeper learning curve but a very good program. It originated on Linux, I think, but is now available to other OSs.

I use PS because I'm too lazy to really learn a new program. If I didn't have 20 plus years of Photoshop and was just starting, I think I would go with Corel. (I must admit that I've used several Adobe products and have wound up hating the company. They are arrogant and their tech support is almost non-existent, unless you pay through the nose for it.)

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

Lightroom is a parametric editor/catalog0based digital asset manager/book and social media publishing/Geotagging/softproofing/printing program, PaintShop Pro is a pixel-level editor with layers/channels/color spaces/precision and customizable brushes, etc etc etc - it also browses files and folders.

Comparing the two is unreasonable since they do different things. You might think of LR as a more accurate version of your in-camera settings with broader and more precise adjustments, with the advantage that you can work with the camera's raw data and do it on one or a range of images quickly. In my opinion, as good as the results are from LR or any raw converter, I have yet to see one that can, on it's own, "finish" an image. In 99% of the images I see, they can be improved in a pixel editor.

Pixel editors on their own don't have the capability to edit raw files - all must use a raw converter to provide an image bit map - jpeg, tiff, psd, png, gif - for editing. But once you are editing a bitmapped image, pixel editors can do an infinite variety of enhancements and manipulations limited only by your imagination.

The short version is LR prepares images for initial viewing (proofs), and Paint Shop Pro is an image finishing application with nearly all the bells and whistles you might need.

Paul Buckhiester Loc: Columbus, GA USA