Photoshop elements

Sncjw

Hi all 

I am torn if yo get photoshop elements 2021 at the price of 69.99. I have tried the free trial of the 2020 version and I loved that I could restore and also colorise old photos. I am an amateur photographer and always wanted photoshop. I did but the photoshop suite a few years ago but I found it difficult to use. I found the elements alot easier to use as you can let it do it and or learn how to do it yourself.

I have a graphics tablet on the way too to help my phoyoediting. 


So is this a good price as amazon has it on a limited time deal. I am aware that elements is a one time purchase whete as photoshop is a purchase you need to make every year

Neil_Jones

If you learn some other software like Gimp or Paint.net, you may not need to buy anything depending on what you do with the software:

https://expertphotography.com/gimp-vs-photoshop/

coffeehound

For info, the 2020 version (for PC with emailed key) hit a low of £89.00 in black friday-monday week last year, so that does look  a decent deal.  I guess only you know whether it's worth that to you for the amount of extra functionality that you can't find in inexpensive or free alternatives

Farway

Elements is useful but I suspect you will soon find it's limitations

I'm also amateur photographer and have used many editing programmes, including PS CS.

My I suggest you try, free, Luminar 3? https://ccm.net/download/download-25290-luminar-3

It is free, but paid V4, and recently released AI are available

All have extensive You Tube following & tutorials, but L3 is a quick fix style that can be adjusted as you wish

cymruchris

Curry’s pc world business have the Adobe photography package of lightroom and full photoshop for £89.99 for a years key (including all updates as they happen) - you can also get a couple of pounds back if you use topcashback. For an amateur photographer that wants to expand knowledge, keep a track of images, and get into editing - it’s a good package. (Usually it’s £10 a month from Adobe - so a saving of £30) 

Le_Kirk

PSE is great to learn the basics of Photoshop and you will be happy with it as a new user.  Since you don't know any of the facilities that "big boys/girls" photoshop has, you won't miss any of them.   Learn on PSE 2021 before deciding to upgrade.  I didn't like the idea of having to pay monthly so found a company selling Photoshop CS6 and was happy with that until I had a phone call from Adobe telling me it was a pirated version and that the company that I bought from were being taken to court in USA - still waiting outcome of that case - and if I wanted to continue using the software I would have to pay monthly!  I did negotiate a discount and worked out that paying an amount per month worked out as cheap as replacing the programme with the latest bought outright version every couple of years.  Since Adobe do not sell the bought outright versions anymore, I settled with my monthly.  Enjoy learning with PSE and enjoy also that price.  When you are fully conversant with PSE upgrade to Photoshop 2021.  The bonus of paying monthly that I did not realise at the time is that you get Lightroom, Bridge and a couple of website type programs.  I do not work for Adobe!

fenlander_uk

Farway said:

My I suggest you try, free, Luminar 3? https://ccm.net/download/download-25290-luminar-3

It is free, but paid V4, and recently released AI are available

There no longer appear to be any working links to d/l version 3. The link you give ends up at a version 4 d/l page and all independent links I've tried fail for one reason or another.

Uptown_Boy

fenlander_uk said:

Farway said:

My I suggest you try, free, Luminar 3? https://ccm.net/download/download-25290-luminar-3

It is free, but paid V4, and recently released AI are available

There no longer appear to be any working links to d/l version 3. The link you give ends up at a version 4 d/l page and all independent links I've tried fail for one reason or another.

Is this a working link? Seems to be to me.

https://download.cnet.com/Luminar-3/3001-2192_4-78010993.html

Edit: The installer downloads but when I try to run it I get a message about Internet connectivity - I suspect that the link it is trying to use to get the package no longer works.

This one seems to work (direct link to an EXE file) https://downloads.skylum.com/luminar/win/win_installer/Luminar3_Setup.exe ... I'm running the installer just now; I'll update if it all goes OK.
Edit 2: it seems to be a trial version  

Farway

Uptown_Boy said:

fenlander_uk said:

Farway said:

My I suggest you try, free, Luminar 3? https://ccm.net/download/download-25290-luminar-3

It is free, but paid V4, and recently released AI are available

There no longer appear to be any working links to d/l version 3. The link you give ends up at a version 4 d/l page and all independent links I've tried fail for one reason or another.

Is this a working link? Seems to be to me.

https://download.cnet.com/Luminar-3/3001-2192_4-78010993.html

Edit: The installer downloads but when I try to run it I get a message about Internet connectivity - I suspect that the link it is trying to use to get the package no longer works.

This one seems to work (direct link to an EXE file) https://downloads.skylum.com/luminar/win/win_installer/Luminar3_Setup.exe ... I'm running the installer just now; I'll update if it all goes OK.
Edit 2: it seems to be a trial version  

Sorry for any confusion, I never tried downloading because I already have Luminar installed

This link, Oct 2020 seems to work, scroll down landing page for the details of how, seems you get a code from Luminar to activate

https://www.techno360.in/luminar-free-full-version-lightroom-alternative/

fenlander_uk

Yes, that link worked, though I began to lose count of how many times I had to enter my email address. However, as soon as I tried to edit an image I was told that the application requires OpenGL 3.3 and I should update my graphics drivers. No editing was possible. As 3.3 is an obsolete version of OpenGL, I'm not going to proceed any further. I suppose that's a logical drawback of trying to use free, obsolete versions of software.

Uninstalled pronto.

It's always difficult to assess the OP's real requirement in these cases. I've used PS Elements for years and it does all I want it to do. I tried full PS, but it was way more than I needed. In fact, for most simple fixes - straightening, cropping, sharpening, levels, resizing etc, I find that the editing options in Faststone Image Viewer are sufficient, quick and simple. I only resort to Elements about 10% of the time. So, if the OP is essentially a holiday snapper who just wants to tidy up his images - and who doesn't? - he could do worse than to start with Faststone. If he wants to do some serious manipulation, he'll need to look for something more powerful. I could mention GIMP (someone always has to mention GIMP): it's powerful but I truly hate using that program!