PS Creative Suite Version 2 is available for free.
I'd say go use that for a couple of weeks, then decide if you need to upgrade. Frankly, there's very little difference between CS2 and the most recent release.
First, if you are not familiar with Ps, it is a really big learning curve. But you can short-cut that a bit using tutorials. honestly, CS6 is a great product. If you can still pick up the perpetual license, I'd say go for it. Going forward, realize that you won't be upgrading, because it's all subscription based :-P
As far as Lr playing nice with Ps, yes, it does. A lot of folks use the Edit in > Photoshop functionality in Lr. I don't. I import, cull, do my global and (limited) spot corrections, then export. I do this on a per-project basis. I then fire up Ps, and so what I need to the images for that project.
More and more these days, I'm finding that my basic editing needs are met well by Lr, but of course there are still applications where Ps is indispensable.
I don't know about the current versions of elements, but I outgrew elements awhile ago. It's a stripped down version, and they stripped too much out. I'd go ps6 -- no question. It's like a computer. When I buy a computer, I buy as much power as I can afford, because then I can keep it for quite awhile and have the power I need. Don't short yourself.
I suspect having my entire Nik suite available would be nice, rather than in LR where its edit > export > edit > export as you move through different Nik modules.
I suspect having my entire Nik suite available would be nice, rather than in LR where its edit > export > edit > export as you move through different Nik modules.
Quite correct. And LR will continue to be available as a stand-alone program, whilst Photoshop is going cloud-only from this point forward. If you want to OWN Photoshop, now's your last chance.
Lightroom and elements get you most of the way there, but once you have photoshop you will suffer if you don't have some of the fine tuning that is only doable in that program.
However since my old laptop died, and Adobe has changed their business to a subscription only sales model, they have cut support for their enduring licence to the point that I have spent hours trying to activate my existing licences on my new computer, and have had no help whatsoever. My existing licences can not be applied to my new rig, so I am limping by on 30 day trial licences as I try to get Adobe to recognize their obligation to support the licences they have sold me in the past, but they have no intention to support anything but the Creative Cloud in the future.
I think it is clear that the future is either pay them on a monthly basis or find another software provider to work with.
I have hopes now that NIK has been bought by Google that they might come up with something more robust than Picasa, but in the meantime I think I will be going back to Capture One and just abandon Adobe completely since it seems clear that they will only support the folks who can pay a serious monthly fee.
I have hopes now that NIK has been bought by Google that they might come up with something more robust than Picasa, but in the meantime I think I will be going back to Capture One and just abandon Adobe completely since it seems clear that they will only support the folks who can pay a serious monthly fee.
Not that clear. If you have an existing CS3 or higher license, they will commit to giving you PSCC and LRCC in perpetuity for $9.99 a month. I don't think that's a deal-breaker. I'm sure I average around that much or more on upgrades... But you gotta close the deal before, I think, the end of December.
And yes, that's correct. They actually SPECIFICALLY say that photographers who do this now will never have their price raised. And they sent me a survey after I installed, asking me about my PS and LR habits and what I needed by way of support, and at the end they specifically asked me if I was aware that they had committed to not raising my prices, ever...
at the end they specifically asked me if I was aware that they had committed to not raising my prices, ever...
"as long as the sun shines, as long as the mountains stand, and as long as the rivers run"?
I prefer to control what software I run and what updates I install. Using windows is bad enough with the constant updating clogging up my hard drive. The notion of allowing Adobe to make whatever "improvements" they like to the software I have learned does not thrill me. updating filters and plugins every few years when I upgraded or bought a new computer was bad enough, but having that fun every random update is not my idea of fun. And frankly Adobe is a great product, but I no longer think they want to keep the hobbyist photographer as a customer. It is now much easier to simply illegally download the latest Photoshop by torrent than it is to deal with Adobe.
So from what I've read...I would first have to buy CS/6 then join the "CC"? (I have Elements 10) or do I just stick with Elements at this point since I'm not able to "upgrade to CS/??"
And Gerry...where did you get your discount...I can't find that one...."linky...linky"
So from what I've read...I would first have to buy CS/6 then join the "CC"? (I have Elements 10) or do I just stick with Elements at this point since I'm not able to "upgrade to CS/??"
And Gerry...where did you get your discount...I can't find that one...."linky...linky"
No. You can buy CS6 outright now and eschew the cloud for the forseeable future.
PS Creative Suite Version 2 is available for free.
I'd say go use that for a couple of weeks, then decide if you need to upgrade. Frankly, there's very little difference between CS2 and the most recent release.
The free version is not running on all platforms. Tried on my wife MacBook pro
