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here: <http://asktimgrey.com/>
Chuck Norcutt
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Today's Question: With Adobe Photoshop going to a subscription-based
system, perhaps it is time for me to consider switching to Photoshop
Elements. Can you give your thoughts on the direction Adobe is going?
Also, what are the key capabilities that a photographer might be giving
up by dropping down from the full version of Photoshop to Elements?
Tim's Answer: I've heard from more than a few photographers who are
unhappy about the new approach Adobe is taking in terms of how you pay
for Photoshop. In fact, I've written an indepth article for my Pixology
digital magazine that addresses these issues. In an effort to help
photographers stay more informed about the issues affecting them, I'll
be making this single article available for free to all photographers,
regardless of whether they have subscribed to Pixology. I will let you
know early next week in another edition of the Ask Tim Grey eNewsletter
when that article is available.
As a result of the changes to the Photoshop licensing structure, which
stand to significantly increase the cost of Photoshop for photographers,
many are considering a switch to Photoshop Elements. Therefore, many
photographers (such as the one who posed today's question) are
considering a switch to Elements.
It is important to keep in mind that Photoshop CS6 includes a
"perpetual" license, so if you have purchased a copy of Photoshop CS6
you can continue using that software indefinitely. Of course, there's no
guarantee Adobe will update Photoshop CS6 with additional RAW file
format support, or that it will continue running on future computer
platforms. So there is some risk involved there. However, I would
recommend that you make sure to keep a copy (and a backup copy) of
whatever prior version of Photoshop you already own a copy of, as well
as the serial number and other details you may need to install the
software later.
Assuming you want to pursue a path that involves software with a
perpetual license, and that includes the ability to upgrade to newer
versions of the software, Photoshop Elements is a good choice. There of
course isn't a guarantee that Adobe won't switch to a subscription model
for Photoshop Elemetns as well, but I think the risk of this is
relatively low.
Quite honestly, there isn't too much you're missing out on by using
Photoshop Elements versus the "full" version of Photoshop. I would
suggest that the biggest drawback of Elements compared to Photoshop is
that the Elements Editor offers very little support for 16-bit per
channel images, meaning you'll perform most of your editing work in
8-bit per channel mode. This is mostly an issue in terms of the risk of
posterization if you need to apply strong adjustments to an image.
Generally though this won't be a significant concern under normal
circumstances.
Elements also lacks some of the more powerful capabilities of Photoshop,
such as the Curves adjustment. It doesn't feature the power of the
"full" version of Adobe Camera Raw found in Photoshop. It doesn't allow
you to access channels directly. And the tools for optimizing selections
and layer masks aren't as powerful. But for most photographers, what
Elements does offer is probably more than enough.
>From my perspective, a great solution that balances cost and power is
Lightroom and Elements. You can access the full power of Adobe Camera
Raw in the Develop module of Lightroom, and then you can utilize
Photoshop Elements for more powerful image cleanup, creating composite
images, and more.
There are also great third-party software tools that enable other great
features that supplement those found (or not found) in Elements. For
example, if you like to capture and assemble high dynamic range (HDR)
images you can use HDR Efex Pro from the Nik Collection to great effect.
And if you enter timgrey in the Coupon Code during checkout, you can get
a 15% discount off the already very low price of $149 for the full Nik
Collection, which you can find here:
http://www.niksoftware.com/nikcollection/usa/intro.html
In short, I think Photoshop Elements represents an excellent (and much
lower priced) alternative to Photoshop. While Photoshop is certainly
more powerful than Elements, if you want to keep your costs lower with
software that still includes a perpetual license, I wouldn't have any
hesitation to use Elements. Even more importantly, you can download a
free trial version of Photoshop Elements to try it out for yourself. The
free trial download can be found on the Adobe website here:
http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/tdrc/index.cfm?product=photoshop_elements
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