Photoshop is it worth it

[White Fly Swater]

I've judst had an email from adobe with an offer for photoshop at half price (£284.94) Is it worth it? I am currently running Elements 6

comments appreciated

Bob

[AndyKH]

Depends if you can afford it i suppose, if it's spare change so to speak i'd say it's worth it. That is if you want to spend the next 6months of your life stuck in a room slowly becoming more and more obsessed with the damn thing!

[stigmundfreud]

no it isnt worth it unless you are making your living from it. it has great features which can be tested under a very long term trial wink wink

or become a student and get it at student prices

[4hero]

I would say it was an essential tool, just like a lens or tripod or something. Couldn't live without mine

[chris.mapey]

May be worth having a look at Paint Shop Pro instead.

I have Photoshop CS2 and PSP X2 and invariably use Paint Shop Pro more - it cost me about £30 as a download from the Corel site (use the US option and pay in dollars - it helps)

Chris

[RobDickinson]

Photoshop is the best tool for individual image work, is a stunning piece of software, you do need to know how to use it though , if your not going to take the time and effort get something else mebe lightroom.

[cirks]

I was going to ask the same question having also been given the offer to buy at £284. Since Lightroom is nearly £200 is the 84 worth it? Also, the only thing that Elements doesn't give that I would like is some more control over curves and other B&W beneficial stuff etc (I know V6 of Elements provides more than my V5). What would those of you that do use CS3 that have moved from Elements find to be the main useful differences? I definately wouldn't be using multimedia functionality

Rather weirdly, the upgrade price from Elements to CS3 is £480 rather than the buying the full version without upgrading of £284

[GnuBee]

cirks said:

I was going to ask the same question having also been given the offer to buy at £284. Since Lightroom is nearly £200 is the 84 worth it? Also, the only thing that Elements doesn't give that I would like is some more control over curves and other B&W beneficial stuff etc (I know V6 of Elements provides more than my V5). What would those of you that do use CS3 that have moved from Elements find to be the main useful differences? I definately wouldn't be using multimedia functionality

Rather weirdly, the upgrade price from Elements to CS3 is £480 rather than the buying the full version without upgrading of £284

Lightroom and Photoshop are 2 different products catering to different requirements with some cross-over.

If you want more control over curves, intuitive black and white conversion optimisation and a bunch of tooling around cataloging your images then Lightroom is your friend.

If you want to heavily modify your images e.g. retouch them, create digital composites or original artwork then Photoshop CS is your friend.

As to whether Photoshop "is worth it" - yes it is, even at full retail it's worth it as is Lightroom.

[Simpo Two]

I use CS2 and the Transform and Lens correction filters are very useful, as is Channel Mixer for BW. I don't know if the other apps you mentioned do that.

[GnuBee]

Simpo Two said:

I use CS2 and the Transform and Lens correction filters are very useful, as is Channel Mixer for BW. I don't know if the other apps you mentioned do that.

Lightroom does...

Tuned black and white conversions are "easy" to do, certainly a more immediate method than say for example dual HSL adjustment layers with one desaturating and the other apply a color filter effect.

[richad027]

For most photographers Lightroom will do all the the things you want to do in a very efficient way, its worth every penny it costs. If you want to heavily edit images/create digital images then photoshop is your tool and again it is worth the money, if you have the time to learn how to use it. To my mind only professional graphic designers and the like really need it.

I still have a copy of version 5 but don't us it now as lightroom does all the work I really want to make the most of my photographs.

Richard.

[cirks]

quite useful article here about what Lightroom does etc....
http://photoshopsupport.com/tutorials/mark-galer/a...

[911newbie]

Can I give a left field suggestion of RawTherapee and Gimp (+UFRaw) which are open source and therfore free ?

I've been using them for a few months and I've not found anything that I wanted to do that I couldn't. (But then again maybe that's cos I'm rubbish and don't know enough..)

Chris