Corel PaintShop Pro Users: I am thinking about moving from PhotoShop Elements to Corel PaintShop Pro. If you are PaintShop Pro user, please let me know your thoughts about it. I'm not...

photoman022 Loc: Manchester CT USA

I am thinking about moving from PhotoShop Elements to Corel PaintShop Pro. If you are PaintShop Pro user, please let me know your thoughts about it. I'm not interested in other programs, just PaintShop Pro. Thank you.

wayne barnett Loc: Grants Pass, Oregon

Depending on what you want to do it seems to work OK. I use it but I am not a heavy hitter when it comes to PP. Most of what I do is a bit of color balance, exposure adjustment and cropping. Will handle both raw and jpeg.

Bill_de Loc: US

photoman022 wrote:

I am thinking about moving from PhotoShop Elements to Corel PaintShop Pro. If you are PaintShop Pro user, please let me know your thoughts about it. I'm not interested in other programs, just PaintShop Pro. Thank you.

PSP will do pretty much anything Adobe Photo Shop will do, and a lot more than Elements. The tools and menus will look a little different than Elements, but the first time you use a tool a short tutorial will pop up. You can turn this feature off right away, or have it continue to pop up until you are comfortable without it.

It is also a pretty good bargain. I have 2018 loaded right now, and the update to 2019 is being offered for $40.

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mallen1330 Loc: Chicago western suburbs

photoman022 wrote:

I am thinking about moving from PhotoShop Elements to Corel PaintShop Pro. If you are PaintShop Pro user, please let me know your thoughts about it. I'm not interested in other programs, just PaintShop Pro. Thank you.

I've used PSP for many years -- before Corel bought it from JASC. It has all the functions and tools I need for my real estate and architecture photo business, layers, masking, clone tool, easy to use lens and perspective correction and more. One nice function is "Local Tonemapping" that helps with dynamic range. It supports plug-ins like Photoshop does, such as the Topaz suite. I upgrade every three years or so -- saving a ton of $$ over PS's subscription model.

Stardust Loc: Central Illinois

I started with PaintShop from the days of JASC and have never changed. Besides doing everything I need to process my photos (although not a believer in changing my photos to the point they are beyond original recognition) I like the fact (a) I only pay once for the software, and (b) upgrades are usually very cheap - using PS Pro 2018 right now and being offered 2019 for $22 special. Like any software, it will have a learning curve but I can't tell you whether it is hard or easy to learn because been upgrading every 2-3 years for probably 20 years or so.

wendallb

I have both programs and both are good software. I almost never use Photoshop elements just because I am more familiar with Painthsop Pro. I also use Corel aftershot pro as it has a good catalog system. If you upgrade Paintshop Pro it is normally very cheap to upgrade.

GibsonGuy Loc: Danbury, CT

Count me in as a PSP user (long time). Does all I need it to do and, once you get used to the workflow, pretty intuitive. I upgraded to the latest version (PSP Pro 2019) and each iteration has been worth it to me to stay abreast of the latest versions.

ssiretire Loc: Warsaw, KY

I am not a professional photographer but have been using PSP since the Jasc days. Love it. It fits my needs. The more I use it the more I learn about it so the more helpful it is.

bobmcculloch Loc: NYC, NY

photoman022 wrote:

I am thinking about moving from PhotoShop Elements to Corel PaintShop Pro. If you are PaintShop Pro user, please let me know your thoughts about it. I'm not interested in other programs, just PaintShop Pro. Thank you.

I made that decision way back, I recently found my X3 disks, never looked back, PSP seems to be the most intuitive software I've used, Bob.

Daroadar Loc: Lees Summit Missouri

I love it! Like others have said you will experience a learning curve. Once you past that it will do everything other photo editing software will do. It works!

StanMac Loc: Tennessee

When my old PC went belly-up, along with my PS Elements (6, if I remember correctly - I lost the disc in a move), I decided to try PaintShop Pro on my new PC. I found that if you plan on doing any restoration on gray-scale scanned B&W images, PaintShop Pro’s clone and healing tools do not work - the cloned pixels are not consistent with the pixels sampled. One has to scan in color to get expected results. Referring the issue to Corel, I got the response that it was a known issue with the software. For most, this is probably not a big issue but just be aware of it if you plan on doing substantial photo restoration on B&W images and don’t want to store the larger color scans that will be required.

Stan

russelray Loc: La Mesa CA

photoman022 wrote:

I am thinking about moving from PhotoShop Elements to Corel PaintShop Pro. If you are PaintShop Pro user, please let me know your thoughts about it. I'm not interested in other programs, just PaintShop Pro. Thank you.

I rank it the #2 digital photo editing program, right behind Photoshop. #3 is Photo-Paint, #4 Topaz, #5 Lightroom, #6 Photoshop Elements.
I have to keep up with all of them in my own business enterprise because I don't know what Client is going to walk in with a question about what program. I also have tons of other programs, like OpticsPro, LandscapePro, Photomatix, Watercolor Studio......... The Top 2 can do everything that I was doing in a combination of programs: Illustrator, Indesign, Corel Draw, Filmora, etc., so I pretty well stay current on those two. The next four are lacking in some form or fashion — video editing, masks, etc. After the Top 6, everything is a specialized program that I don't use very often.

cliodiver

Be warned that loading plugins through their program can be problematic. The biggest problem comes with tech support. Very poor. Have to make appointment and they do not keep it. When requesting refund sent to sites that did not work. Thank God for PayPal. Corel is the biggest joke.

DHooch

I had PhotoShop Elements up to version 12. I always had issues understanding how to do certain things, especially working with text and layers.

Corel had a special on its full version of PaintShop Pro X9, so I took the plunge. It included Painter Elements along with ParticleShop and Perfect Clear plugins. PaintShop Pro was so intuitive that I was able to do things I couldn't understand how to do using my PhotoShop Elements. I love the software and never have problems with it, nor with the plugins. I use the old, free NIK plugins, also.

Since my initial purchase of PaintShop Pro, I have upgraded to each new version. I have the current 2019 version. The software was so successful for me that I ended up purchasing the full version of Corel Painter and all of the brushes for both Painter and PaintShop Pro. I even purchased a Wacom graphics tablet to make editing more efficient, over using a mouse.

Bottom line: what do you have to lose? Try PaintShop Pro. You might like it as much as I do.

DebAnn Loc: Toronto

I have used PaintShop Pro since it was owned by Jasc and I like it very much. I always get the upgrades. Occasionally I use Photoshop for a particular task but my go-to program will always be PaintShop Pro. It's intuitive and easy to use. Like any program, you'll need to spend some time learning about all the bells and whistles.

photoman022 wrote:

I am thinking about moving from PhotoShop Elements to Corel PaintShop Pro. If you are PaintShop Pro user, please let me know your thoughts about it. I'm not interested in other programs, just PaintShop Pro. Thank you.