For as long as I have been involved in digital photography, and probably even longer, there has been a LOT of hype about Adobe Photoshop. Don’t get me wrong it’s fantastic, I love it and I use it all the time. But the truth is Photoshop is NOT for everyone. Not everyone is actively creating digital art. Not everyone is wanting to spend hours and hours trying to figure out seemingly complex tasks for basic photo editing. So here are three reasons to stop thinking about Photoshop.
Photoshop can be difficult & time consuming
If you already use Photoshop regularly, terrific, but this article really isn’t for you. If you get sweaty palms and butterflies in your stomach thinking about what tool does what, where it is how to use it. You keep thinking you MUST learn HOW to use it, it’s keeping you up at night — here’s the good news you DON’T need it. Before the hate mail starts … I’m not saying Photoshop is bad, I love it. But there are easier, quicker, simpler and even more affordable tools out there for simple photo editing.
There are so many alternatives to Photoshop
If all you are after is a quick, efficient photo editing system and don’t want to spend hours editing the good news is there are so many great alternatives for you. Luminar AI, Luminar NEO, Capture One 22, Adobe Lightroom, just to name a few. They all have pros and cons (and price points) so it’s worth chatting to a few fellow photographers and watching a few online videos and tutorials to decide what is right for you.
The truth is you don’t need Photoshop to edit photos
There I said it! The simple overwhelming truth — you DON’T NEED Photoshop to edit photos. To be honest you don’t even really need it to create digital art these days. Grab an iPad and Procreate and get totally creative, or what about Daz Studio? But that’s all beside the point. If you JUST want to edit photos, you can save yourself a whole lot of headaches and skip it. Find an alternative that works for you and you’re budget and learn that piece of software and learn it well. There are loads of tutorials on Photofocus on all sorts of editing software. So relax — you can stop thinking about Photoshop now.
As an art student, I took 4 Photoshop classes in college, and had 2 teachers – neither was a photographer (graphics artists/designers). I realised that most users of PS are not photographers, which is why it is such an immense and bewildering program. I now mainly use photography-oriented programs but still use PS when I need complex masks, complex object removal, and things like using gradients, LUTs and plugins on layers. The photography oriented programs aren’t quite up to PS level in those areas (yet).
Thats so true Bart, I also came from a graphics background before I got into digital photography, at first I understood PS better than many editing programs. I think PS still has a place but more in the realm of advanced photo artistry or digital art and graphics. Hence the article, if you just want to edit photos, simply and quickly there are software programs better suited.
Whatever Photoshop does that light room can do, I Lightroom does better—Scott Kelby
In some regards yes. I still think PS clone and heal tools are far superior. But for the average photographer, it is manageable