A Viable Substitute for Adobe Photoshop

By Pat Tyler, Computer Enthusiast

PaintShop Pro

Checking prices of my favorite image editing program Adobe Photoshop on the publisher's Web site and on Amazon I was stunned by what I learned. According to Adobe's Web site, nearly all their software is available only via the "Creative Cloud" for a monthly subscription fee of about $20. Amazon is selling the "Legacy Version" of the $700 program for $699. They state that the next version will be released only in the Creative Cloud! Those of us who are used to using high-end software, will soon have to explore other resources. This is the time to start looking.

Recently, I had reason to give Corel's PaintShop Pro a spin while prepping some travel photos for my Web site. The feature set of the $80 program is impressive. And, where appropriate, I found that the program remembers the settings you last used with the various tools, so that setting is available when the tool is opened. That's a huge convenience. And another thing I like about the program is that it uses your file system. For some reason that I can't fathom, some programs tuck you pictures away in places where you can't find them. And they insist on using only their own proprietary file formats, so that you work is unavailable to other programs that may be in your tool box.

Use this link To see the publisher's description of the program's feature set. The program comes in Ultimate and Standard versions, with an upgrade path from both. Also, for those with newer computers, the programs come in 64-bit versions. The product manual comes in Acrobat (pdf) format.

And getting the picture of where Adobe Photoshop is headed, PaintShop Pro will likely become more important for me as time goes on. This one gets a thumbs up from me, and it will stay in my tool box.

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