{"id":1938,"date":"2021-03-12T13:03:49","date_gmt":"2021-03-12T13:03:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.todayreels.com\/?p=1938"},"modified":"2021-03-12T13:03:49","modified_gmt":"2021-03-12T13:03:49","slug":"how-much-does-photoshop-cost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.todayreels.com\/how-much-does-photoshop-cost\/","title":{"rendered":"How Much Does Photoshop Cost?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The free downloadable Photoshop clone<\/strong><\/p>\n

Photo editing is DEFINITELY expensive software, but that doesn’t mean you should look for a free Photoshop download. To shame! But before you turn red and feel guilty, I’m here to tell you that there actually IS a free downloadable version of this popular image manipulation software. That’s right, 100% free!<\/p>\n

Why contribute to piracy when there is absolutely no need?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Photoshop is great software<\/a> (otherwise millions wouldn’t use it). This company has built a rock-solid flagship product and deserves to charge top dollar for it. Congratulations to them for living the American dream. But it’s your fault if you’re really trying to get a free download. You’ve heard it before, but it’s true. As piracy becomes more and more undeniable, software companies will have to raise their prices. And the vicious cycle will continue. I know you want to do the right thing, but the price is too high. I will not lie; I have used unethical means to obtain software that I did not want to shell out large amounts of money for. But if I was slapped and found out that I can be honest and download a program that essentially does the same thing for free (legally), I would choose free and straight at all times.<\/p>\n

Here’s your slap in the face<\/strong><\/p>\n

Be fair and free. In fact, there is a free downloadable Adobe Photoshop twin. It’s called GIMP.<\/strong><\/p>\n

GIMP is a full-featured Photoshop clone created by software developers who don’t want to charge a penny for it! (Licensed under GPL)<\/p>\n

Don’t rush and search GIMP just yet.<\/strong><\/p>\n

GIMP’s default interface, unsurprisingly, doesn’t exactly look like Photoshop. Not good if you are used to Photoshop interface, right? Don’t worry; there is a way to change that. All you have to do is download a GIMPshop program that places a mask over the original GIMP program to make it look and feel more like Adobe Photoshop.<\/p>\n

I love Photoshop, although it is expensive and difficult to learn. Should you love it? Should you buy it?<\/p>\n

Let’s first consider the cost.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Photoshop CS5 Extended retails for 699.99 pounds (for a new version without an update). If you have an older version, you can upgrade for 199.00 pounds. A smaller version of the software called Photoshop Elements is available for 79.00 pounds. Please note that these are retail prices. You may be able to find discounts, or you may qualify for an educational copy.<\/p>\n

The price is not trivial, especially when you consider that there are free software products that do many of the same tasks that Photoshop allows.<\/p>\n

Second, let’s consider the learning curve, which is a huge drawback.<\/strong><\/p>\n

To learn Photoshop well enough to become your default photo editing program, you have to spend a lot of time learning it. You can easily spend 80 hours watching videos, reading articles, and playing with the software only to find that there is still a lot you don’t know about the tool. This can be considered good or bad, but I consider it an indication of how powerful the tool is.<\/p>\n

So with the cost and high learning curve in mind, should you buy Photoshop or even Photoshop Elements?<\/p>\n

Before making this decision, determine what you need. The following is a list of basic photo editing tools that most photo editing programs will do, even free ones.<\/p>\n