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Jun 22, 2017 07:49:10   #
leftj Loc: Texas
 
kfoo wrote:
I am considering purchasing a post production software. I have a Mac with i Photo, is ok. I would like to know if the Adobe Photoshop, at $9.99 a month is a good choice? How complicated it the learning curve on Photoshop. Comments would be greatly appreciated.


I am using Luminar which is designed specifically for Apple (although a Windows version will be available very soon). It functions as a plugin for Photos.

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Jun 22, 2017 07:52:18   #
peterwbarber
 
Before you sign up to pay a periodic fee for software, look around for a program you can purchase. Three years ago before Photoshop became a rent software, I bought it outright from Adobe. It is up graded regularly and I do not have to continue to pay for it. The idea of renting software only separates you from your money. Even an older version of a software will give years of service.

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Jun 22, 2017 07:58:30   #
DavidPine Loc: Fredericksburg, TX
 
Yes. Photoshop/Lightroom for $9.99 a month is a great deal. Photoshop is clearly the software choice simply because it is the best in the world. There are thousands of free tutorials on YouTube.
kfoo wrote:
I am considering purchasing a post production software. I have a Mac with i Photo, is ok. I would like to know if the Adobe Photoshop, at $9.99 a month is a good choice? How complicated it the learning curve on Photoshop. Comments would be greatly appreciated.

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Jun 22, 2017 08:07:09   #
truckster Loc: Tampa Bay Area
 
leftj wrote:
I am using Luminar which is designed specifically for Apple (although a Windows version will be available very soon). It functions as a plugin for Photos.


As a hobbyist, not long ago I asked this same question. Not wanting to have to go through the learning curve for Photoshop I settled on Luminar. you might want to check it out alongside On1 and Affinity.

https://macphun.com/luminar

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Jun 22, 2017 08:12:42   #
Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.
 
kfoo wrote:
I am considering purchasing a post production software. I have a Mac with i Photo, is ok. I would like to know if the Adobe Photoshop, at $9.99 a month is a good choice? How complicated it the learning curve on Photoshop. Comments would be greatly appreciated.


The $9.99 a month is for every month forever. About $120 a year, year after year.
Give Macphun Luminar and Affinity Photo a look.

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Jun 22, 2017 08:46:22   #
jackpinoh Loc: Kettering, OH 45419
 
sa
kfoo wrote:
I am considering purchasing a post production software. I have a Mac with i Photo, is ok. I would like to know if the Adobe Photoshop, at $9.99 a month is a good choice? How complicated it the learning curve on Photoshop. Comments would be greatly appreciated.

Unless you are willing to devote a "lot" of time learning Photoshop, you will probably be better off with Photoshop Elements 15. It is on sale through today.
http://www.adobe.com/products/elements-family.html
Luminar would be a good option except it is painfully slow.

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Jun 22, 2017 08:48:02   #
wapiti Loc: round rock, texas
 
Gene51 wrote:
I'm going on year 18 with Photoshop and I feel like I have barely cracked the surface. You can learn Lightroom's editing function in a weekend. The Library module is a little harder, but manageable.

All kidding aside, you don't have to know everything about PS to be able to use it to improve and enhance your images. It's one of those software packages that reveals itself in stages. Think of it as peeling the layers of an onion. My statement about it's learning curve, while written with tongue in cheek, does have some truth to it. Different people use PS for different things - to create graphics, animation, edit video, combine images into composites, retouching, restoration, as a replacement for the wet darkroom - the list is pretty endless. The good thing is that you are not likely to ever outgrow it. There will always be something new you can do with it that you didn't know you could do the previous day.

To shorten your learning curve, I suggest you join a local photo club, where you can find others who are more familiar with post processing and are willing to share.

Yes, to your question - PS/LR is the best and least expensive well-supported pair of applications in the world of post processing. And I am not an Adobe Fan-Boy. I've just used, and in many cases, continue to use other applications - but none are as rich and complete as PS/LR.

I have used Raw Therapee, Capture One, DXO Optics Pro, Faststone Image Viewer, On1 Raw, Corel PhotoPaint, PhotoLine, and a variety of plugins like NIk, Topaz, and On1 10. These are all pretty good, but none are as complete.
I'm going on year 18 with Photoshop and I feel lik... (show quote)



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Jun 22, 2017 09:27:54   #
pithydoug Loc: Catskill Mountains, NY
 
kfoo wrote:
I am considering purchasing a post production software. I have a Mac with i Photo, is ok. I would like to know if the Adobe Photoshop, at $9.99 a month is a good choice? How complicated it the learning curve on Photoshop. Comments would be greatly appreciated.


Yes to the package. Start with Lightroom. it is a lot easier than PS and can do about 90-100% of your editing. Then slowly ease into PS for those functions that are missing from LR such as layers. LR has a powerful catalog system and is non-distructive. From LR you can edit in PS and the result comes back into LR. They coexist perfectly. I addition there are other packages such as NIK, etc that canb also be used from LR.

There are other packages out there but the LR/PS is the gold standard.

And contrary to what others will say $10 a month is dirt cheap for the pair.

let the war begin.

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Jun 22, 2017 09:42:58   #
smartn
 
If you shoot film like I do take a look at SilverFast from Germany, its a great program to use with a good scanner like an Epson V700

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Jun 22, 2017 09:44:58   #
Wanderer2 Loc: Colorado Rocky Mountains
 
[quote=jerryc41]Photoshop is the top of the heap in terms of power, learning difficulty, and cost. There are lots of excellent alternatives for free or at a reasonable price.

Jerry do you mean Photoshop is the most difficult or the least difficult to learn? I'm just not certain what top of the heap means regarding learning difficulty.

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Jun 22, 2017 09:44:58   #
bkyser Loc: Fly over country in Indiana
 
I'm a photoshopm CC guy, and agree with all the positives. However, if you try GIMP (free) it does most of the same things, layers, cloning, spot removal, etc. You may find that it's all you need.

I can write CC off on my taxes, and the constant upgrades are great (when they aren't an upgrade that causes problems, but those are few and far between, and they always fix them)

Before CC, I purchased lightroom every year for more than the annual subscription, I also upgraded photoshop every 2 years for about $1000. For those that condemn paying $120 a year, good for them, but it saves me money. If I retired from photography tomorrow, I would probably still stay with CC. If I had never used photoshop, and didn't charge for my work, I might have started with GIMP and stayed there. So.....it never hurts to try something free, with a lot of Youtube tutorials, then decide if you need any more "horsepower" A lot of the tutorials you learn with GIMP will also work with Photoshop, so it wouldn't be wasted learning time.

Good luck with whatever you choose. Just have fun with it, and don't let it stress you out. Make the learning process fun, and it won't feel like work.

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Jun 22, 2017 10:12:26   #
Fotoartist Loc: Detroit, Michigan
 
I am a confirmed Nikon user. If I had to do it all over I would have bought a Nikon 40 years ago instead of a Miranda as my first camera. Why not start with Photoshop now?

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Jun 22, 2017 10:12:54   #
rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona
 
Since you have a Mac, there's a great editing program from Hasselblad called Phocus. It's free and powerful.
http://www.hasselblad.com/software/phocus

Another good one is Light Zone, also free.
http://lightzoneproject.org/
--Bob
kfoo wrote:
I am considering purchasing a post production software. I have a Mac with i Photo, is ok. I would like to know if the Adobe Photoshop, at $9.99 a month is a good choice? How complicated it the learning curve on Photoshop. Comments would be greatly appreciated.

Reply
Jun 22, 2017 10:24:42   #
cyclespeed Loc: Calgary, Alberta Canada
 
For me, if I have a potential jewel of a photo I may launch PS and spend the time to perfect the image. This is getting to be less and less of my experiences. For the most part now I run keepers through Luminar. It just released "Neptune version" with AI, Artificial intelligence, a free update, and my limited use tells me this is great. I'd sooner be taking photos or living life otherwise than stuck staring at a computer screen. As many have said $15.00 Cdn per month ad infinitum is cash I can use in a more rewarding way than filling Adobe's coffers.

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Jun 22, 2017 10:35:58   #
Reinaldokool Loc: San Rafael, CA
 
kfoo wrote:
I am considering purchasing a post production software. I have a Mac with i Photo, is ok. I would like to know if the Adobe Photoshop, at $9.99 a month is a good choice? How complicated it the learning curve on Photoshop. Comments would be greatly appreciated.


For a vast number of people, their first thoughts will be that one or Lightroom. After about 20 years, I have found a much better alternative, Affinity Photo. Fairly easy learning curve. Has almost every tool in PS, but some better. The price is $50, but free to try and you own it rather than being a hostage.

There is also Gimp, which is in the same powerful level. Gimp has a very different user interface, but many like it--and it is free.

Affinity Photo is amazingly bugfree, (Every program has a few bugs, even Photoshop, after all these years.) I have never had one show up but I have read about someone who did.

One of AP's strengths is that it insists on working with layers. This is great for many reasons, but most new users of PS or others don't take the trouble to learn and wind up with a lesser result.

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