Do you use Photoshop or something else?

I am intrigued as to whether members use Photoshop or something else? I tried Photoshop but found it anything but intuitive, it was, and remains, massively over specified for my needs. I would also like to know whether you use Photoshop professionally, on the basis that a professional photographer may have a different set of software requirements.

These are what I currently use, along with an old version of Portrait Pro.Pricing for the latest version has changed, and I have not looked into what is different.

I also have Canon software for an R8 and for a Pro 300 printer.

I'm am not currently taking pictures, but intend to resume soon, with whatever is rhe latest Phoyoshop Elements and Premier Elements.

BAK

GeoffRG said:

I am intrigued as to whether members use Photoshop or something else? I tried Photoshop but found it anything but intuitive,

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Very little about any software is actually intuitive until you learn how to use it. Then it seems intuitive.

GeoffRG said:

it was, and remains, massively over specified for my needs.

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Many, many Photoshop users only ever work with small portions of it.

But to answer the question, I use a very old version of Photoshop along with several other photo editors and related software. They all had a learning curve, and I still don't use all the capabilities of any of them.

GeoffRG said:

I would also like to know whether you use Photoshop professionally, on the basis that a professional photographer may have a different set of software requirements.

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The words 'professional' and 'amateur' both cover a wide range of photographic activities and commitments, so a pro doesn't necessarily have any different requirements from Photoshop compared to an amateur.

GIMP, more than I need but it's free and suits my purposes. I don't shoot raw so that's not a concern of mine (I believe shooting raw implies the person can't take a decent picture to begin with (a joke of course, but some heads will explode))

I had PS when I was employed (we had a cloud subscription). I used Illustrator a lot and PS rarely.

For my photos I use: Affinity Photo, DxO PL8, Topaz Photo AI.

For generic raster edits I use Paintshop Pro v5.1

I migrated from Photoshop Elements to Lightroom about a decade ago. I find Lightroom (now Lightroom Classic) much more user intuitive.

In the past I used Canon DPP, Nikon NX, Silkypix, Affinity, Snapseed and Topaz Photo AI. I find Photos/Raw Power simple and most efficient, accomplishing all I need for combined DAM/Editing tasks without putting a heavy GPU drain on my aging (2020) iMac.

I use FastStone for almost all my photography work-- I shoot JPEG only and it does everything I need, I'm also a cartoonist and editor and use an ancient copy of Paintshop Pro to lay out, correct and edit graphics, and Procreate on an iPad for digital drawing and corrections. All of these can be used to work with photographs too; there's no real practical distinction. A jpeg is a jpeg and a tiff is a tiff. I often crop and resize art with FastStone.

Every year, I promise myself to move away from PSP and onto the GIMP, but it never gets very far. If the ancient copy should fail, I would imagine I would do it double quick.

GeoffRG said:

I am intrigued as to whether members use Photoshop or something else?

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Photoshop

GeoffRG said:

I tried Photoshop but found it anything but intuitive,

Click to expand...

Few things are intuitive before one knows how to use them.

GeoffRG said:

it was, and remains, massively over specified for my needs.

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Since it covers many, many use cases it is over specified for most people. But it will work for just about anybody.

Hobbyist here.

I do have Photoshop, because it comes with Lightroom, but whenever I've tried to learn it, I found it overwhelming.

So I have:

DxO Photolab, for the quality of its lens corrections, demosaicing, and noise reduction

Lightroom Classic, for pretty much everything else that was shot in raw, and some older jpegs.

Topaz PhotoAI for scanned slides, and some older photos shot in jpeg

I also have Affinity Photo which I bought as an "easier" Photoshop, but Lightroom has advanced so much I now never need it.

Plus a few odds and sods, for niche jobs

I used Photoshop until my ancient version (CS5) wouldn't install on the new Win11 computers. At that point I switched to PS Elements '24, which is still more than I actually need or use. For RAW conversion I use Canon's own software, DPP, which generally does almost everything I need or want.

I have both Lightroom and Photoshop, as well as some Topaz products. I almost never venture into Photoshop and really wouldn’t have it except it’s part of the subscription bundle I have.

I’m not really sure exactly how old a software Photoshop is, but when my wife and I bought a business in 1991 it came with an early version of Photoshop so that’s 34 years ago……. and from what I can discern, the navigation hasn’t changed much since, just gotten more complicated.

GeoffRG said:

I am intrigued as to whether members use Photoshop or something else? I tried Photoshop but found it anything but intuitive, it was, and remains, massively over specified for my needs. I would also like to know whether you use Photoshop professionally, on the basis that a professional photographer may have a different set of software requirements.

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On my Mac: Nikon NX Studio (raw processing) and Affinity Photo 2 (raw processing sometimes and pixel level editing with layers). Apple Photos does well for quick processing of raw files for supported cameras as well as jpegs.

I used to use Adobe Photoshop Elements but no longer.

On my iPad: Affinity Photo (raw and jpeg), Apple Photos (raw and jpeg), Photomator (raw and jpeg), Snapseed (raw and jpeg)

On my iPhone: Apple Photos (raw and jpeg), Photometer (raw and jpeg), Snapseed (raw and jpeg)

I don't find any application truly intuitive. There are some things that can be done in both Apple Photos and Snapseed and Photomator that are not obvious with casual used. For example. both Photomator and Snapseed support simple masking and layers.

With any program, repeated use leads to the commonly used capabilities becoming second nature. Doesn't matter whether it is photo editing software, word processor, software development environment, project tracking tools, etc.

How do I choose which app to use at any time? It just depends on what I want to accomplish in my output. For quick turnaround to post on the web or text or email someone, or even 4x6 prints, I often use Apple Photos or Snapseed. For creating output for larger prints it is Affinity Photo in combination with NX Studio.

These days I use PS to edit screen captures. Draw circles around and lines pointing to important parts. :-D It comes with the Adobe Plan so it's there.

I grew up on PS. Started about 2006. Advanced masking in Lightroom Classic was added a few years ago (LrC 11) so I have not sent a file to PS since.

I did buy Affinity v1 but have never used it. It's my part of my post Adobe backup plan, if that ever happens.

GeoffRG said:

I am intrigued as to whether members use Photoshop or something else? I tried Photoshop but found it anything but intuitive, it was, and remains, massively over specified for my needs. I would also like to know whether you use Photoshop professionally, on the basis that a professional photographer may have a different set of software requirements.

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I have used Photoshop for many many years. It is basically all I know, but even with my years of using Photoshop, I only know about 70% of what it is capable of doing. It is complex software, that is ever changing.

But, with that said, I have found nothing comparable. The closest, (imo) is Affinity Photo, and many people here LOVE Affinity Photo. But, I have just stuck with Photoshop.

I also use Topaz Labs Sharpen Ai software as a plugin for Sharpening. I can see the day where I will buy and use Topaz Labs newest software, Topaz Photo Ai.

I am NOT a Professional Photographer, but I do take tons of photos per year, and I truly enjoy Post Processing work. Just what I like to do.



--
Major Jack
"You are welcome to retouch any photograph I post in these forums without prior consent from me". Have fun, and play as you wish.

I use Photoshop for pixel editing.

I use DxO PhotoLab v8 for raw conversion.

I use Topaz PhotoAI for upscaling, denoise and difficult sharpening challenges.

I use EasyHDR for HDR merges.

I use PTgui Pro for panoramas.

I have Photoshop, but mostly use only Lightroom for most things these days.

Raw development and most photo editing in DxO PhotoLab Elite (very few images need any other tools)

Pixel editing in Affinity Photo (seldom needed these days, unless I want to composite images)

Occasional photo enhancement in Topaz Photo AI and Gigapixel AI

Also own Luminar Neo, but never use it any more (it promises much more than it delivers).

Latest versions of all of them.

Photoshop only. I've been using it for a little over 25 years, so I'm very comfortable with it. I do some commercial editing jobs as a freelance sideline. (I'm not a photographer; just an editor.) I've never even tried Lightroom, because PS does everything I need to do.

--
Harwood

I have used Photoshop and Lightroom/Lightroom Classic from before the time of Lightroom V1 when one had to pay $150 for the raw converter plugin.

Especially now that LrC has such great masking, I only go to PS for these things:

1. Removal Tool - far better than LrC

2. Compositing - combining images/changing heads on people

3. Adding type to an image.

4. Generative fill to expand the PS image area.

5. And, I used to design wedding albums (using PS canvas template) for a professional wedding photographer friend of mine.