Photos tell a story. They reveal a history. Perhaps your own, or perhaps a glimpse into the lives of others. They show a life lived, of laughter, love, war, pain. But when you press the button and capture that moment, was the shot perfect? Was the light right, did the background or foreground look as you’d have liked, or did someone step into your shot?
That’s why photo-editing software exists, to perfect.
But the vast number of photographers would much rather be behind the lens rather than in front of their computer editing their photos. And not everyone wants to tackle the complexities of Adobe’s Creative Suite. But what’s the alternative? Are there simpler, better, cheaper, easier options out there?
The quick answer is yes. The longer one is yes, but not necessarily all within the same package. We spoke with both amateur and professional photographers on what they saw as some of the best alternatives to Photoshop and discovered that whilst not all that well-known in the UK (although judging by their stand at the recent SWPP Show in London, they do have quite a following) onOne software came out as one of the clear winners. It’s certainly a lot simpler to use than Photoshop and in that sense, then it is quicker (assuming you’re a novice to both systems). In terms of pricing, well Adobe change their model constantly so it’s hard to keep up. But at the time of writing, they’re charging around £17 a month (around £204 a year) for a Photoshop subscription. onOne charge around £104 for their latest premium version of Perfect Photo Suite as a one-off yours-to-own download price. Although you can upgrade each year, it’s not really necessary.
It’s important to note that The Life Adventure doesn’t work commercially with onOne. Our research is our own and solely in the interest of our members. We liked onOne’s approach, it just impressed us. Like most photo editing software, they develop time-saving solutions for both professional and advanced amateur photographers, but their raison d’etre is to ensure you spend more of your time behind the camera taking pictures rather than in front of your computer editing them. That’s good. That’s what most of us want. You can get a free 30 day trial download of their software here. It’s worth checking out, and certainly if you want to follow parts of our first workshop just download it here. And if you want to take it a stage further and buy it, for every download of the workshop, we’ve negotiated a 20% discount for all The Life Adventure members.
More detail
‘Alternatives to Adobe Photoshop’ with Bob Campbell will be filmed live from our studio in London. It’s free to view live from our home page from 10.30am – 1.30pm on both Wed 4th & Thurs 5th February, just register to watch. Just as you would attend a live-in-person workshop, there will be breaks throughout the day to give you some time out. The live chat facility will also open up on the website at 10.30am, giving you the opportunity to pose questions throughout the 2 days. If you’d like to submit some of your work to the show’s presenter, Bob Campbell, simply email us at hello@learnshedlive.com with ‘Alternatives to Photoshop – Bob Campbell’ in the title, then tell us your name, attach one image and explain what you’d like to achieve with it. We will do our best to answer all submissions live on air during the 2 days.
What is live stream learning and why should you try it?
The Life Adventure is in launch phase. Live stream is a relatively new concept to the UK. It’s like watching live TV, you just view it online instead. It’s extremely engaging. It’s interactive too. So you’ll be able to ask questions and submit images in advance, to be discussed during the live show. So you’ll really feel involved. And if you love what you see, there’s the opportunity to buy any of the workshops to refer to again and again. Each download come with bonus material and each one helps us to fund our free education model. Alternatively, just watch the entire broadcast free of charge.