Photoshop CC and Lightroom CC alternatives?

[bobhays]

I was wondering what people would suggest as non-pirate alternatives for photoshop and lightroom CC. I don't want to pay a monthly subscription for a tool that I'm not going to use all the time. What do you guys recommend?

 

Photoshop CC Alternatives:

• Photoshop Elements - $99 (Comes with Premiere Elements
• GIMP - Free
• Any suggestions?

 

Lightroom CC Alternatives:

• RawTherapee - Free
• DarkTable - Free
• Any suggestions?

Do you guys have any suggestions for other options or reasons why you would choose one over the other?

[LyondellBasell]

7 hours ago, bobhays said:

I was wondering what people would suggest as non-pirate alternatives for photoshop and lightroom CC. I don't want to pay a monthly subscription for a tool that I'm not going to use all the time. What do you guys recommend?

 

Photoshop CC Alternatives:

• Photoshop Elements - $99 (Comes with Premiere Elements
• GIMP - Free
• Any suggestions?

 

Lightroom CC Alternatives:

• RawTherapee - Free
• DarkTable - Free
• Any suggestions?

Do you guys have any suggestions for other options or reasons why you would choose one over the other?

Photopea is a free, online alternative to Photoshop. Unless you need alot of the deeper features that PS offers, I'd feel reasonably confident recommending it.

 

As for Lightroom, this may be a step in the wrong direction but Capture One Pro is very advanced, has full camera raw support, and lets you shoot tethered. You can use the trial version and decide if you'd like to pony up for the real deal. No subscription.

[IAmAndre]

You should look into Inkscape too

[YellowJersey]

I've been using Capture One and I quite like it, moreso than I ever liked Lightroom. On the photoshop front, I just bought Affinity Photo and so far I'm liking it, though I need to relearn how to do some things. A big plus for Affinity is that it'll take most Photoshop plugins. I use the Nik plugins a lot, and having them work on Affinity was a major factor in me making the switch, especially after adobe decided to be a dick about my bought and paid for CS5 license after 7 years.

 

 Neither of them are by subscription. Capture One is pricey, though. Fortunately, I shoot Sony and they have a discounted version locked to Sony cameras.

 Matt Granger (youtube) has been sponsored by Capture One for some of his recent videos and he offers a coupon code to save some money when buying Capture One.

[Compassionate Homicide]

I've often pondered similar things. The photo community was, and still is, quite displeased that Adobe took to this subscription crap.

 

I've been using LR6 for a while now. If I had to recommend an alternative that works equally as well, DxO PhotoLab. I trialed their software about 2 years ago. It's works just as good, but the change in interface will take some use to adjusting to.

 

The one thing I always loved about LR, was the lens profile adjustments. I'm still p****d that they went to this subscription cloud crap.

 

As a side note, you can still buy a standalone copy of LR6, just don't expect much in the way of updates. -

https://helpx.adobe.com/download-install/using/download-install-single-app-Lightroom-6.html

 

 

[YellowJersey]

18 hours ago, Compassionate Homicide said:

I've often pondered similar things. The photo community was, and still is, quite displeased that Adobe took to this subscription crap.

 

I've been using LR6 for a while now. If I had to recommend an alternative that works equally as well, DxO PhotoLab. I trialed their software about 2 years ago. It's works just as good, but the change in interface will take some use to adjusting to.

 

The one thing I always loved about LR, was the lens profile adjustments. I'm still p****d that they went to this subscription cloud crap.

 

As a side note, you can still buy a standalone copy of LR6, just don't expect much in the way of updates. -

https://helpx.adobe.com/download-install/using/download-install-single-app-Lightroom-6.html

 

 

DxO had a promotion a few years ago where you could download an older version for free. If you've got an older camera, it might make sense to keep an eye on their website. I tried it out and it's pretty good. I'd say it's about on par with Capture One for most purposes, though there are probably some more special features in one or the other that may sway one's decision. I primarily use Capture One these days and am trying to get used to Affinity Photo as a photoshop replacement after Adobe killed my CS5 license.

[Compassionate Homicide]

Thanks, I'll look into that! I have a 60D currently. Well, I have a an XSi and a 10D (might be a 20, I hardly take it out) as well, but those are my "don't care if they die" cameras for things like bad weather, rough stuff. Never tried Capture One and will check that out as well.

 

Hows the workflow of Cap1 compared to DxO and LR?

[SeraphicWings]

4 hours ago, Compassionate Homicide said:

Thanks, I'll look into that! I have a 60D currently. Well, I have a an XSi and a 10D (might be a 20, I hardly take it out) as well, but those are my "don't care if they die" cameras for things like bad weather, rough stuff. Never tried Capture One and will check that out as well.

 

Hows the workflow of Cap1 compared to DxO and LR?

Too bad that you use 60D, if you use a Sony camera you can get Capture One Express, which is free and has all the "core" feature you need

 

When I first use C1 I thought it would be difficult but no, practically it is the same thing if you know the basics of post-production (C1 has a workspace called "Migration" for people jumping ship from LR).

 

And the best about C1? Its RAW Converter. Adobe's RAW Converter makes all of the RAWs from my Sony A7III looks greenish, skin color fell completely off, not to mention: slow import, poor detail on photos. C1's RAW Converter provides much more accurate, true-to-life color on my Sony RAW, plus performance is very good

[PixelPol]

Hello everyone,

Sorry if this is a 15 days old thread , but thought I could contribute, as is my bread and butter (not photography by any means, but image editing in general), I work with 2D/3D graphics since decades and am always putting a lot of attention to new things, trying them (just for my own sake) and all that. There are quite nice alternatives, today. I hope is fine if I put a list here, actually in my personal order of preference, for what they provide you with, how complete and good they are : 

 

1 - Affinity Photo. Has been mentioned above, yep, is really good. Not yet a full Photoshop replacement, but is getting very near, specially latest customer betas (I have both Photo and Designer purchased since long ago). UI is very similar to Photoshop's, and in what is different, is actually very intuitive to learn. It can become easily your work horse for anything 2D. Other big advantages :  You count on a very similarly functional (not a toy) version of both (Photo and Designer) for the iPad. Extremely useful to carry work on the move, sharing SAME files. Affinity Publisher is incoming, a kind of InDesign/Quark Xpress yet this one is the tool to be farther from the established tools, of the bunch. At first years, Publisher will be more of a kind of beta, useful for not very demanding professionals. Still, the 3 applications give you a suite for DTP, vectors/design/illustration, publishing and Photography. Not bad (is around 50 euros each...No subscription, and free updates between entire numbers (1.x....till 2.x. They make a lot of versions in the middle, with new features and all). Being a suite, is interesting for a studio having to fill many seats. Or for a personal/freelance use getting the best bang for the buck and still at professional level. You can open RAW files and edit them, but is not fast processing them as would be a very specific RAW editing tool. You can also purchase Mac or Windows versions. Or both, ofc.

 

2 - PaintShop Pro. This one is really old, but has been keeping updating from time to time, and being quite an easy to learn, good to use application for photo editing. This one would get one of my best recommendations for an easy UI. It has a system for the UI panels that is genius. Is very friendly and has depth. It used to come with a great gif animation tool, Animation Shop, really well done. Not much more to say, but just that: it's a very nice software. Only one thing... I read once in a forum, that there's certain issue with their internal sRGB profile (through which all images are processed). So, I'd check the status of that previous to anything, in their forums, as is quite an important matter. It surely is fixed already.  https://www.paintshoppro.com/es/products/paintshop-pro/

 

3 - PhotoLine. I dislike the UI, quite (outdated, not too friendly, still, easier than Gimp's). Yet though...in some aspects is way more powerful than the two other above, in very technical matters that most photographers or over all many-fields 2D people wont notice. But there are important bits that are not essential, or even noticed by the average Joe, but are really interesting for a professional use. So, this one is good, too. It always makes my number 3 in my personal list because it has certain features you don't even find in Photoshop. Is indeed a good idea so to have it, even if your main tool is other, as a great technical helper.  https://www.pl32.com

 

Now, the following ones following are some I have not deeply used, only occasionally , but offer a good deal for the price and feature set and good quality for production, together with some other advantages :

 

4 -  ACDsee Photo Studio. Quite much into the RAW editing, it seems. but is not a RAW editor, but a photo editing application.  I've heard good things from this, I used it quite when it was only an asset manager. It was kind of the one able to open better certain high end native formats.  https://www.acdsee.com/en/products/photo-studio-ultimate

 

5 - Photoshop Elements. It's good and nice, but is not a Photoshop trimmed down. It feels like a different thing. And too limited for my taste (Affinity Photo's or PaintShop Pro's feature set is quite wider). You get  a lot more for half of the price with Affinity Photo. Plus, I don't fully trust on this not getting into the CC subscription pack at some point... ( I don't have to put the URL of this one, right? Not that I wished.... ) 

I intentionally don't put Gimp on the list, because, while I think is much better and deeper than most people think (I've used it for years) a lot of people get stuck in the UI. If you are used to hard UIs, I'd say, give it a try. It has in its favor an immense depth, for the cost of absolutely nothing, free. I like it, but I don't typically find people thinking the same. I've used harder UIs, maybe is due to that. Most people has the image in their mind of an application stuck in its progress for 6 years, but recently has caught new impulse, and now is progressing at good pace.

 

Summarizing : Affinity Photo, Paintshop Pro or PhotoLine, those are my best recommendations. As you seem to deal quite with RAWs, I'd say, try as well ACDsee Photo Studio, as I have heard it deals well with RAWs. Affinity Photo is only 10 days trial, and because is quite a good piece of software, I'd advice not to test all at once if that is going to remove time of testing Photo. A fast test can carry also to a wrong impression, and it'd be a pitty. Paintshop Pro is a joy in terms of interface. It has no support of CMYK mode, but most photographers wont care about that. PhotoLine supports about everything on earth, and allows you do very advanced technical things, but it depends on what you need for your workflow. If it is all about RAWs, might be a good idea to try ACDsee Photo Studio. And super obviously, RAWTherapee and DarkTable.

Plus, each one's preference for an UI is always different. I think the  best bet is to try them all, see how it goes.

 

Wasn't asked, but if looking in general for alternatives, I'd have a look at Davinci Resolve as a video editor, and now Fusion is integrated inside it, a kind of After Effects (just WAY less resources hungry). You have a very generous free version (wont edit full 4k for free), so, you can test it endlessly previous to purchase. The permanent license is 300 bucks, but you get a real lot for that, as the package is quite serious. From other company, you have also Hitfilm Express, which is free, again, the Pro is where things gets interesting (it's quite into effects stuff). There's quite some hype about Davinci, imo quite logically, and also about Hitfilm,. but I think the latter is because is much more intuitive to learn, while I believe Davinci is more powerful. A probably easier to learn video editor, yet quite capable, for those not going for very advanced editing, could be Sony Vegas. I used this one a lot at certain company, is nice, behaves well.

 

For some basic audio editing, you don't go wrong with Audacity (free)  https://www.audacityteam.org . I've even created/edited game FX loops with that one.

 

I hope that was somewhat helpful.

 

Salute! 

 

 

[jones177]

Hi

 

Thanks

 

 

 

 

[Sebastian Kurpiel]

If you don't mind spending an extra $60, Luminar is a close copy of Lightroom. Apparently, it's what Trey Ratcliff is using at the moment.

[Richard1]

Thanks for sharing! I’d also like to recommend you image enhancer it may help you to solve your problem. Luminar offers a variety of options to enhance any photo to your liking. Do you want to edit an image so that it’s more dynamic, with boosted colour and detail? Or maybe you’d like your photo to be more dark and mysterious? Whatever the case, Luminar offers the ability to quickly enhance the overall picture with eye-catching “presets” — or to have more specific control of different photo-editing details, using “filters”.