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Which software to use
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Dec 25, 2016 13:23:37   #
Rob Almeda Loc: Gaithersburg, Maryland
 
I would recommend Affinity Photo compared to Potoshop Element. I have both but the Affinity Photo is not far behind the Full Photoshop.

ChiefEW wrote:
Would you recommend purchasing Photoshop elements or downloading and renting the full Photoshop program?

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Dec 25, 2016 13:34:13   #
Bill_de Loc: US
 
The question everybody needs to ask themselves is whether or not they want/need the most up to date feature in whatever software they use. Photoshop is a fantastic piece of software that I've been using since version 3.0. I upgraded every two or three versions until CS5 and then stopped. It still does everything I want and by using the DNG converter supports my newest camera, a D500.

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Dec 25, 2016 13:39:24   #
Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States
 
Bill_de wrote:
The question everybody needs to ask themselves is whether or not they want/need the most up to date feature in whatever software they use. Photoshop is a fantastic piece of software that I've been using since version 3.0. I upgraded every two or three versions until CS5 and then stopped. It still does everything I want and by using the DNG converter supports my newest camera, a D500.

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Dec 25, 2016 14:18:58   #
Mary Kate Loc: NYC
 
ChiefEW wrote:
Would you recommend purchasing Photoshop elements or downloading and renting the full Photoshop program?


PS and LR. Do the monthly deal.

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Dec 25, 2016 14:52:34   #
burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC
 
ChiefEW wrote:
Would you recommend purchasing Photoshop elements or downloading and renting the full Photoshop program?


How serious are you?

Best would be the Lightroom and Photoshop CC bundle. Or, the standalone Lightroom plus Elements.

Elements is 8-bit only, though.

Lightroom is a head scratcher for many, but is designed for cull editing, rating, adjusting, printing, and posting images. Photoshop is for retouching, pixel-level editing, layering, masking, text...

Most serious photographers can do 80% or more of their work in Lightroom.

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Dec 25, 2016 15:22:10   #
David in Dallas Loc: Dallas, Texas, USA
 
Edia wrote:
Why bother with Adobe altogether? I use paintshop pro ultimate that does everything that PS does for the same price as PSE. It does 16 bit layers and uses most of the addins of PS. It has a much easier interface and learning curve than PS.
I used Paintshop Pro for a long time, but then discovered that it was removing the GPS data from the EXIF that I'd made the effort to put there, and that there was no way to stop it from doing that. On my trips I typically process the GPS information every evening, but the image processing is done when I get back home, so this was very troubling to me. On the recommendation of friends I bought LR4; when I upgraded computers I went to LRCC.

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Dec 25, 2016 17:23:55   #
amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA
 
ChiefEW wrote:
Would you recommend purchasing Photoshop elements or downloading and renting the full Photoshop program?


If you are new to image editing, I would highly recommend starting with Elements. It's got much more support for new users, than either Lightroom or Photoshop.

Elements is also designed as a stand-alone software. Neither Photoshop nor Lightroom is truly complete without the other. Some folks find one or the other does all the need (LR for organizing, cataloging and light editing large numbers of images. PS for extensive editing, but mostly just the occasional, individual image. Elements has some of both... it borrows on various key functions of both LR and PS.

Elements gives you a choice of three user interfaces: Beginner, Intermediate and Expert.

Lightroom and Photoshop don't have these options or any real built in "help". With them you should plan to buy a few books and spend some months learning to use them, maybe take some classes. Photoshop, in particular, might take a year's worth of college level courses and text books to learn to use really well.

The one "shortcoming" of Elements is that it's an 8-bit program. While you can convert higher bit-count RAW files, ultimately you can only save an 8-bit file such as a JPEG. This is actually all that most people ever need. It's fine for printing on photo quality inkjets at home and even required by a lot of printing services. 8-bits also are the largest you'll ever want to share online in any way.

Photoshop and Lightroom are 16-bit capable.... for example files such as TIFFs can be made with them. But those are generally only needed for commercial applications and by pro photographers. Rarely actually needed by most photographers.

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Dec 25, 2016 20:54:12   #
LorrieLynn Loc: Bridgeville, CA
 
amfoto1 wrote:
If you are new to image editing, I would highly recommend starting with Elements. It's got much more support for new users, than either Lightroom or Photoshop.

Elements is also designed as a stand-alone software. Neither Photoshop nor Lightroom is truly complete without the other. Some folks find one or the other does all the need (LR for organizing, cataloging and light editing large numbers of images. PS for extensive editing, but mostly just the occasional, individual image. Elements has some of both... it borrows on various key functions of both LR and PS.

Elements gives you a choice of three user interfaces: Beginner, Intermediate and Expert.

Lightroom and Photoshop don't have these options or any real built in "help". With them you should plan to buy a few books and spend some months learning to use them, maybe take some classes. Photoshop, in particular, might take a year's worth of college level courses and text books to learn to use really well.

The one "shortcoming" of Elements is that it's an 8-bit program. While you can convert higher bit-count RAW files, ultimately you can only save an 8-bit file such as a JPEG. This is actually all that most people ever need. It's fine for printing on photo quality inkjets at home and even required by a lot of printing services. 8-bits also are the largest you'll ever want to share online in any way.

Photoshop and Lightroom are 16-bit capable.... for example files such as TIFFs can be made with them. But those are generally only needed for commercial applications and by pro photographers. Rarely actually needed by most photographers.
If you are new to image editing, I would highly re... (show quote)

I know very little about post processing so I may not be understanding all of this correctly but I have an old version of Elements, 6.0, which does allow me to save a file as a TIFF. I don't think I've ever processed any RAW files with it though. Am I totally misunderstanding? I'm wanting to do more with my photos but I think I'll keep playing with this old version for awhile until I feel like it's not doing what I need.

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Dec 25, 2016 20:56:49   #
Bill_de Loc: US
 
LorrieLynn wrote:
I know very little about post processing so I may not be understanding all of this correctly but I have an old version of Elements, 6.0, which does allow me to save a file as a TIFF. I don't think I've ever processed any RAW files with it though. Am I totally misunderstanding? I'm wanting to do more with my photos but I think I'll keep playing with this old version for awhile until I feel like it's not doing what I need.


Smart!

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Dec 26, 2016 01:32:21   #
Racmanaz Loc: Sunny Tucson!
 
Reinaldokool wrote:
Neither. I recommend abandoning Photoshop and trying Affinity Photo. I have been a hard sell, but am falling in love after many years of a terrible marriage with Adobe. https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/


I have to agree with you on Affinity, I purchased this software the day it became available for Windows. I would also recommend ACDsee Pro 10 for photo management and basic editing as a companion with Affinity photo.

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Dec 26, 2016 04:12:28   #
lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA
 
Longshadow wrote:
One of my editors was updated in 2012, after about six or so years of use of the original install. Since it and Elements 14 do what I need, I have no reason to keep up-grading. I compared Elements 14 and 15 to see what is new in 15. There's nothing in 15 that I HAVE to have - pass.


I use The Full Photoshop CS6 that I purchased just be for they went subscription for the CC versions. One thing that keeps me away from PSE is I do sometimes use some of the more advanced tools and techniques of CS6, and I do work in 16-bit mode and even 32-bit mode that today are not available to PSE.

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Dec 27, 2016 00:32:00   #
Collie lover Loc: St. Louis, MO
 
ChiefEW wrote:
Would you recommend purchasing Photoshop elements or downloading and renting the full Photoshop program?


Try the latest version of Corel PaintShop Pro.

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Dec 27, 2016 15:29:26   #
David in Dallas Loc: Dallas, Texas, USA
 
Collie lover wrote:
Try the latest version of Corel PaintShop Pro.
Does it still remove GPS from the EXIF?

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Dec 31, 2016 14:17:38   #
David Taylor
 
Totally agree with Racmanaz.

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Dec 31, 2016 16:21:45   #
btbg
 
Photoshop and Lightroom are the industry standard. No point in starting with elements if you are eventually going to go to photoshop.

Elements is fine until you decide that you need to work with layers, then you are going to have to go to photoshop anyway. Why not start with the best in the first place?

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