The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #122979 Message #3214085
Posted By: MikeL2
28-Aug-11 - 03:02 PM
Thread Name: Tech: Alternatives to Adobe Photoshop
Subject: RE: Tech: Alternatives to Adobe Photoshop
Hi Will
I have used many photo and movie processing programs over the years.
Some time ago I was using Photoshop CS2 to 5 but I realised how expensive they were when I had no money coming in from using them these days.
So I invested in Photoshop Elements 7 but have upgraded to 9. I find for what I want this is very good indeed. I use layers and masks and though they are not as extensive as in CS5 they are fairly easy to use and do the job.
I also have Paintshop Pro Photo X3. I don't use it very much but there are one or two things that I find that it does better( easier) than Photoshop. But they are very similar in results but different to use.
On the movie side it is a similar story. I can't justify the cost of "big" Premiere so I have opted for Priemiere Elements 9.
This is not so good good and very slow even though I have a very powerful machine.
Much better I find is Sony Vegas Movie Studio 10 Platinum. It is a longer learning curve after having used Photoshop for years but once you get the hang of it you can get some good results. Like Premiere you can use multi tracks as layers and they both allow up to at least 10 tracks !!!
I also have Corel (paintshop pro) Video Studio X3Pro but I have hardly used it - but it looks as if the results are similar to the other two.
They all allow a fairly extensive audio management too which I find very useful.
I am sure with your expertise and experience you would find them very easy to use - I think that you might find that after a while you would be able to get around most of the things you did with "big" Photoshop.
Best of luck.
Cheers
Mike