10 Photo Editing Programs (that aren't Photoshop)

corel paint shop does NOT support plug-ins like onone and alienskin and some other !

Nikon raws only? Are you saying that there are... OTHER cameras out there?

I've been using Capture NX2 + Nik Color Efex for long time. They are the best for Nikon Raw files. Of course, it can edit JPG and TIFF as well.

This combination is way more effective than PhotoShop. You don't have struggle selecting the area you want to apply your changes. Check it out you will be surprised by it.

It is not only for Nikon cameras HowaboutRAW, it can edit Tiff and Jpeg as well. There is quite a few non Nikon people that use it, the same as quite a lot of non Raw users use Lightroom or Aperture.

@stratplaya

Do you work for adobe??

There is NO spam in Gimp!!!

Gimp is open source software, what are you talking!

The future of Photoshop is as uncertain Mr. Stu
(or should we call you Mr Adobe?) Those who will subscribe to the cloud will soon feel the agony of the rising prices of their rented software.

Just a Photographer CaptureNX future is uncertain compared to Adobe or any other photo software for the simple reason it's manufacturer has been sold to Google. Google nor Nikon have given any news what is happening with it.

As far as monthly cost go it is very simple, if Adobe increase the prices a lot as soon as people get to the end of their 12 month subscriptions they will go elsewhere so that is a good enough reason for Adobe to be careful with any price increase. If your a pro photographer you will claim it back in full as a business expense anyway so it is not costing you anyway.

What a ridiculous statement about claiming it back as a business expense. In the end I will have to raise my prices and the consumer will be the one left in the cold.

If I increase my prices with nearly 200 percent (like adobe just did), then no customer would buy any pictures of me anymore -guaranteed!

If you are a pro photographer Just a Photographer you might want to talk to your accountant as they will explain how it works.

"Claim it back in full as a business expense"?

Stu, with no due respect...you're full of it. You don't get "all" of your money back from a business expense, that's just not how it works!

Depending on what you might make in a year, you'll recover only 15-30%. So maybe you are the one who needs to talk to an accountant. Or maybe just do your own taxes for once. Or at least read your own damned tax return from Turbo Tax before you file it.

Alternative Energy Photography not everyone lives in America. Also already read about some American photographers claiming it all back without a problem, saying it is easier to claim it all back than compared to where they can not always claim the whole cost of the upgrade back.

Stu 'Guess What'!
I just talked to my accountant. You know what he said?

In the end you will pay more and get less from Adobe.
The only one that gets better from this construction is Adobe...

Just a Photographer how would an accountant know what you get from Adobe? After all he is an accountant not a photographer or does your accountant do both? If he is not a photographer he will not be able to comment on the material worth of any product as he does not know about it. So he will not know if someone will 'get less from Adobe' or for that matter more.

Stu, you are wrong. Nik software was sold to Google. CaptureNX still belongs to Nikon and its updated whenever a new camera comes out.

@Stu

He knows about the financial side and you clearly have in total no idea what you are talking about. What others already said. You're just a troll.

Just a Photographer try reading my comment again as you are clearly missing my point, which is this... You said the accountant told you:

'In the end you will pay more and get less from Adobe.
The only one that gets better from this construction is Adobe...'

Or was that your comment? If it was it is not clear from your wording.

Also how it is other American based photographers are able to claim the full amount as a business expense and have been since the renting option came out?

madeinlisboa adding Raw support is another thing. The program as many are aware is developed by Nik for Nikon. There has been no news yet on it's future development.

Actually you might want to read this:

http://nikonrumors.com/2013/04/03/google-will-not-support-capture-nx.aspx/

" if Adobe increase the prices a lot as soon as people get to the end of their 12 month subscriptions they will go elsewhere so that is a good enough reason for Adobe to be careful with any price increase." Dream on Stu. If a 200% increase does not result in a 50% loss in user base, then it is a bargain for Adobe. And results in less strain on the servers. And subscribers are locked in.

GaryJP so you now think CC will be a success and so much a success that Adobe will want to increase the premiums by 200% to reduce their client base so it does not put such a strain on their servers. Interesting...

Didn't know you were such a masochist mr. Stu...
As soon as people will have to start voting with their wallets we will know the future of Adobe...

Just a Photographer with anything like this you will get a lot of angry people that say they will do this or that. A lot of the time an awful lot don't follow through. On top of that you have all the ones who say they are angry but then you discover they don't even use the software in the first place. Then you have the ones who are angry leave a comment of Adobe's Facebook page and then a day later post that they illegally downloaded the software anyway and have never paid for it. (There has been a few of those) Then you have the ones that discover when they investigate the competition it won't do all the things they need anyway. In the end of that you have the ones who remain that do actually switch to something else. That number will always be a lot lower than the original number who were not happy.

Where are all those angry posters that were on the original two threads because they are not on here discussing their options? Something like an 80% drop off already.

I think you are plain stupid to think that these people have accepted Adobe's choice. You must be really crazy to think that all those angry people who honestly bought their software in the past will just bite into a renting model.

Anyway I am not further going to discuss this issue with you anymore as you just like to suck and make people angry. You will soon find out anyway when your business model does not meet your expectations. That will be the point in time that your stock prices will really start to fall.

Stu is right this time. The anger is fading fast. You guys didn't really mean it when you said you'd leave your adobe huts.

Compliance is soon to come, and after that, full genuflection.

And then Stu will get his pay raise and he will be content in his righteousness and he will dwell in the house of the mud and he will live happily ever after.

So it will be.

OMG another Adobe employee tries to mingle into this discussion...
Have you ever taken a look at Facebook.com/adobe?

No such thing as people accepting Adobe's new policy and also your stock holders start to think different. Stock is down by some percentages since this 'great' idea came out of your CEO's hat.

Jiust Ignore the ADOPE drones!
PLEASE DO NOT FEED THE TROLLS
Is there a way to vote out these "people" ???
Darn!
Do I really have to go to another camera site ???
AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHH

Yet the share price is still up from the beginning of the year and and even higher than last year.

CyberAngel just because a lot of people do not see moving to Creative Cloud as a negative does not make them trolls. If just means they have a different opinion to yours which they are entitled to.

I am no troll and I am no Adobe shill or employee (but I think Stu might be).

I despise all subscription models, and I despise rental software.

But I must call it like I see it. This community cannot and will not maintain its anger long enough for Adobe to feel pain , and certainly will not cause Adobe to reconsider their policy for any meaningful length of time.

Prove me wrong. Please do! I will be happy to be wrong on this. But I'm not, and stock prices are not a good guage of this.

It's quite simple. The anger is not strong enough, not wide enough, and not deep enough to matter a whit. What we need here is anger on an ORDER OF MAGNITUDE of what it currently is. Right now this is merely a toddler's spat.

Own the anger. Make me FEEL it. If, as a bystander, I can start to feel widespread anger and firm resolve, then I will say Stu is wrong (he is of course, wrong in his thinking that Adobe's policy is a good thing).

I have just thrown down my gauntlet. Show me!

What you assume is anger is a rational business decision.

"Stu is right this time. The anger is fading fast." You are both wrong. Many have taken it to other venues, such as Adobe's own Facebook page and Forums. Some are now deciding that WHATEVER Adobe does it has screwed the pooch regarding trust. Others are already paying for and downloading alternatives to try. Once one has stated one will NOT rent software, it's time to wait and see what happens to Adobe and meanwhile make other plans. I have just bought three Adobe alternatives and the total bill does not amount to seven months of hiring Photoshop. I am also glad to put my money to supporting anyone BUT Adobe. Stu meanwhile seems to have his life savings in Adobe stock.

And with regard to MarcLee's point, I can tell you that even many large companies will look for alternatives to open-ended, unilaterally-changeable, subscription services that leave an entire company's files vulnerable at the whim of Adobe. Even if the art department wants it, the accounts department often will not.

Zen masters occasionally used to swat students with a wooden paddle at the appropriate time in the hope that the shock would provoke enlightenment. Regard Adobe's subscription model as that wooden paddle. This is what Adobe is. And the distrust spreads to ALL their products.

To GaryJP: I hope you are right.

But human will is weak. People still go to Rent-a-Center.

I hope you are right. But I'm still not planning to short ADBE stock just yet because I don't see earnings being hurt by the current spat.

We shall see, and it will be an interesting ride, I'm sure.

Adding Elements+ for $12 brings a lot of those features back though:

http://elementsplus.net

You will see a list on their website of all the features it adds and the list is long and for $12 cheap.

Adding the Elemental plugin for Lightroom which is donation software gives you similar integration with Ps Elements to what you would get with full Ps.

http://thephotogeek.com/lightroom/elemental/

You won't get 16 bit editing with all the features in Ps E but in the expert mode with these two plugins you get a lot more control.

I think the GIMP is the closest to Photoshop and if you are using Linux, far superior because under Linux you get plugins you don't get for the Windows version (from all you could want for photography to animation and video effects) and also you get the added benefit of speed. The problem with the GIMP is interface which is not that user friendly.

There's also PhotoLine and Serif Photo Plus

You can put Ubuntu on the same drive as Windows with no problem. Ubuntu simply sets itself up in its own directory and modifies startup such that you get a dual boot option which times out after10 secs. The default is to Windows but that can be altered if you wish. Ubuntu even reads your Internet connection details and automatically sets everything up for you. Excellent OS.
Putting another OS on your system might seem a bit daunting but is now very easy and can be done in a few minutes.

OR you could use virtualization and have you huge RAM (4x8GB) and Quad Core CPU divided by two Operating Systems at the same time!!

@HowaboutRAW

Does it really matter?

For if one uses a good "raw extracter" (horses for courses as they say), one can export to DNG and continue one's edits in Photoline, no?

And just as Photoline may not be a good "raw extractor", the products you mention aren't really that good at image manipulation are they?

So just get one of each; one good raw extractor and one good image manipulator, no?

Regards,
plevyadophy

plevyadophy if you have made adjustments to the Raw files in another brand of Raw converter for example Lightroom or Aperture etc etc and then export the file as a .dng Photoline will not recognise any of those adjustments at all. You would need to do the Raw conversion in the other program and then export the file as a Tiff or PSD file and open those up in Photoline.

Toermalijn Photo Ninja is far from the best. It lacks a huge amount of features found in ACR and Lightroom.

@Stu 5,

Oops!! Sorry, yes you are correct.

Silly me!!! :o(

I had in my mind the notion of a universal file format, and DNG came to my mind when what should have come to my mind is TIFF (as that is actually what I meant to say.......but unfornately, one can't edit after 14 minutes have elapsed).

So thanks for spotting the silly error.

Regards,
plevyadophy

@HowaboutRAW

DXO does support NX cameras now, with some of the remaining auto adjustments due in July. So maybe their actions are better than their tone.

HowaboutRAW, I'd wait until they have the auto optical corrections ready (they estimate July) if time is not too critical. That's the most impressive feature of DXO IMO.

Fact is dat Corel still refuses to properly support Mac OS X and they are looking into the cloud thingy too. Corel even has a subscription model too!

Be aware of how they can all of a sudden make the same shameless decision as Adobe did. Adobe nor Corel are to be trusted when it comes down to customer support.

@Just a Photographer

I think many software publishers are closely fallowing what Adobe did and depending on Adobe's success they will also implement a subscription pricing model. However at first it will be other companies like Adobe that have such a high market share that it amounts to a de facto monopoly/duopoly. It will be the ones that can leverage peoples dependency on their software in order to make the transition without loosing too many customers that make the move to subscription pricing first and get people to accept it as normal. My guess is the next software to go subscription only if Adobe has a fair amount of success will be the MS office suite that so many businesses, students, schools and individuals depend on daily for the ability to make a document and know it will be readable by whoever it is for. MS is already market testing it with their office 360.

@ Just. Even if Corel followed suit with with Adobe-style payment, it's so cheap it's not as if one is actually buying into Corel in a deep way; dump them, go onto Serif or something else, no big deal.

The shock/horror factor is for people who are paying and upgrading $$$$$$$$$$$ for years into Adobe then faced with the creative cloud fiasco.

I purchased Corel PSP X5 a few days ago and haven't been disappointed. Lightroom 5 or Elements 11 would have been my only consideration a month ago.

@NiallM

I think if Adboe made the price of just PS only $5-$10 a month there would have been a lot less outcry from long time customers and amateurs not making money with the software.

@By Josh152

Your analysis of where the market may head with regard to subscription services is a good one.

I note with particular interest your comments re MS Office.

I think far too many people, and Thom Hogan warns of this in his recent blog posts at ByThom.com, have relied on proprietory file formats that they have become prisoners to one vender. Thom Hogan, advises against having a workflow reliant upon Adobe Lightroom's cataloging feature (I never have) and I have never, and have always advised friends not to, had my word processing documents saved in a proprietory format since I moved from WordPerfect in the days of MS-DOS. My docs are always saved in the universal RTF (Rich Text Format) even if I get dire warnings from MS Word that saving in a non-Word format may lead to incompatibility with certain document features and the world may come to end. :o)

Corporations relying on a proprietory format. where a non-proprietory one exists, are plain silly.

@By Josh152 that is not what he said. Thom Hogan said on his blog:

A number of folk have questioned my workflow. I always save and rename raw files into a file structure heirarchy first. Then and only then do I import into Lightroom or Aperture. Why? Because I can find any file in my structure without relying upon a software product with a proprietary database that some day may no longer make it through a tech transition.

So basically what he is saying is he is using Lightroom but he knows how to find each file outside of Lightroom.

That is actually only common sense. It is quite simple. Import a shoot into a folder for that shoot. Then open up Lightoom and import the images without moving them. It is a good idea to get Lightoom to save .xmp files back into the same folder. That way you can open the Raws up with another Adobe product and see the changes or open the Raws in another brand of software and start from fresh with changes.

@Stu 5

That's just a long winded way of saying what I SUMMARIZED him as having said. :o)

In essense, as I said, he is NOT RELIANT on Lightroom's proprietary database; he uses it as an adjunct to his own system. So if Lightroom goes bust tomorrow, he won't be adversely affected because he can fall back on the underlying file structure which is of his own making.

I'm very impressed by Ubuntu - easy to install as a dual-boot and even has drivers for my ageing Epson 7600, something that Epson couldn't manage for Win 7 or 8.

bobbarber + gsum:

Ubuntu can't run my laptop's screen, perhaps this will change.

Well, clicking the check box, in Software manager, is pretty simple too; but let's not be assumptive. Perhaps he didn't understand, ufraw stands in the place of Camera Raw component; before Photoshop. 16-bit never was a problem for Gimp, with ufraw before it. I think ufraw is absolutely the best tool, for Raw, once you honestly read it's web page, and set to your camera(s). You see, it's different, and does not jump out at you, and its not for using it, without simply setting a camera profile. Many ufraw camera profiles are already down-loadable, and you can easily switch cameras, if you have several. You have to take a moment to read what all the sliders do. It's not like you need them all. Once you do that, and just the one time you then discover the REAL power, of ufraw. Click your Raw file, and it develops it to your chosen JPEG matching perfection, and/or better. It other words, it can be used to give weak colors, a Nikon, or Canon color look! In fact, you can effect ANY look.

I should point out, that the new Debian 7 (stable) is out, and that's what you should get. It has Gimp 2.8. This is the start of a 2 year (or when it ready) run, of easy stability. It's THE most comprehensive, and total system, one click upgrade system; within it's (free) tier release. You don't mix Debian "testing", and "unstable" release tiers, with "stable". You only use "stable" back-ports; if you really need a newer version, of a given app. That is, unless you are just testing; which is NOT to be your main production system. You can do a separate install.

Only with the initial Debian install; might you need assistance. It's easiest to use a spare hard drive, or better yet computer. Dual booting is slightly more complicated. Just DO NOT use your worse computer. Use your best; even if you have only one, and feel you must dual boot. You only need hard drive space. The point is, there is ZERO reason not to also run Debian....

Except, if you are not open minded, and trying to prove something negative. Really, if you are not willing to wade through the thick myths, and propaganda, and for like a year; then don't even bother. This is not trying to clone Windows, it's honestly much better. Sure, everything has it's pros, and cons; but the advantages far outweigh. I only state: It's the LEAST of evils. It's not like it isn't extremely (foundational design) complex; but Debian is the king, of taming all, total software system, complexities. It's better, faster, freer, more dynamically improving, and easier to upgrade, than anything. It runs on more stuff, and it scales forward, or backward to older hardware. But old hardware has it's limits, on anything. Debian frees up your funds to get faster hardware. People say they don't have time for change; but that's dumb. You really do not have the time; not to use Debian. However, you can start with Linux Mint, if you just want to see it. Mint requires less to do.

@ plevyadophy

hi yes and no. you can use many of your windows programs on linux directly wit wine or crossover office or just install virtualbox (free) and you can have windows inside linux it runbs great supports 3d acceleration. linux comes with millions of drivers insede the kernel don't forget that mac os is base on unix same as linux. the best waty to know if it works for you would be to run the live dvd or cd you do not even need to install it but of course it will be slow because you are running it from the dvd. I would sugest saty away from debian is not for beginners, try pclinuxOs.

plevyadophy

Try a dual boot system at first. Then you will see what you use more, Linux or Windows, and you can design your work flow around that system. I still have Windows installed on my computer, but these days I only use it every three months or so, if that.

You can partition a single hard drive and install Linux on one half, Windows on the other. This is especially feasible today with hard drives having so much storage space. You can also install Windows on one hard drive, Linux on another. It doesn't really matter.

Install Linux second. One of the last steps will be the installation searching for other installed operating systems. It will create a boot menu for you with all of your choices. You see this menu at startup and can choose Windows or Linux for a particular session.

Partition your current hard drive, if you're comfortable doing that, or buy a second hard drive. There will be a learning curve, but if you get through it, you'll be glad you did.

definitely i will be sending some money to GIMP project !!

Gimp is working towards using Gegl and Gegl used Babl image formats. (http://gegl.org/babl/). Its both 8, 16, 32 and floating point formats. Its extremely competent. Gimp has been working for a long time for this and I surely hope they will reach their goal soon.

plevyadophy

I agree. One thing I've been surprised at on this thread is the number of people that use Photoshop.

@bobbarber

Hi,

It doesn't surprise me at all. Folks will use only what they are aware of; if the photographic media give the impression that there ain't anything out there worth bothering with except Apple Aperture, Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop then those three products are what folks are going to aspire to.

The market is warped in favour of those three products partly because the photographic media has been woefully negligent over the years in highlighting alternative tools. Take for example "digital asset management (DAM)", I for one fail to understand why the free Google Picassa doesn't get more of a mention; the impression one gets from the photographic media is that one must use Lightroom for DAM and if one is not using Lightroom then one must be using a program that isn't really up to the job. So more people buy Lightroom and it then becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy that "serious photographers will use Lightroom for DAM".

Adobe does not keep the RAW plug in compatible with older Photoshop versions. Thats a way of forcing you to upgrade. Maybe OK before CC. But now? ...

Roland Karlsson it is only an issue if you get a new camera in the future that is not supported. Even then it is simple, you download the FREE dng converter.

KW Phua this is what Adobe said to DPR:

What support can CS6 users expect?

Barring something unforeseen from Apple and Microsoft, we plan to update Photoshop CS6 for the next Mac and Windows operating system releases. Once Camera Raw 8 is completed for Photoshop CC, we are going to release a version of it for CS6 that includes any new camera support but without any of the new CC tools and features.

I forgot to mention that all Topaz plugins work perfectly but some of the Nik/Google plugins don't. Not Mac compatible.

+1 for Sagelight. Its Bokeh function is nothing short of miraculous.

Thanks for the tip dblues will check it out.
Also don't forget to try out Photo Ninja; bit quirky at first but has potential.

HowaboutRAW what Just a Photographer was talking about was that Apple's computer range is the only computer brand on the market still showing real growth. Other brands such as Dell etc etc, are either static or in decline. He was not talking about how it made up Apple's total sales figures.

Lenovo in America is the other brand that in the most recent quarter results for shipments is showing growth. Although shipment figures don't give the full story.

HowabotRAW

Its clear that you are not into Apple. That on itself doesn't matter. Apple's Mac Computer growth over the last 6 years has been from about a userbase of 6 million people to over 60 million people using Macs in 2012.

Sure, thats still only a small fraction compared to the total PC industry, but you then forget that many (professional) creatives prefer Macs over Windows.

With that in mind it is still ridiculous that many companies refuses to create software for a growing platform that is prefered by so many creatives.

Just a Photographer:
I would love to see many, oh so many Windows applications on a Mac
BUT
how about porting all those iOS6 Apps into the WP8 ???
no? NO???
There you go..."this quartal, the next quarta"l -thinking is the king thing...