Alternative to Photoshop
The other day I posted at this forum asking about free word processors and learned of Open Office and Libre...had I not learned of Libre, Open Office would suffice. For years I have used Photoshop CS...
Forum Discussion
I use Photoshop Lightroom (nominally $150) for my cataloging, RAW processing, and light duty editing. As a PS user, it might be worth your while to try it (30 days free) to see if it does enough. I try to do as much as possible in Lightroom because it leaves original RAW files untouched, storing only change instructions, unless you choose to export to something else.
Most Lightroom users who need to do more than what Lightroom does will take the image into Photoshop CS. You can designate alternative editors (PS Elements is often used) but the transition is not always as seamless, might involve an export, even an export to another format, which may or may not be a raw format.
I came to Lightroom (3 trial, then 4) from Photoshop Elements (three versions in succession). There was adaptation from Elements to PS ways of doing things, but not to the extent there is going to a photo editor or image processing system totally outside the PS family.
Most Lightroom users who need to do more than what Lightroom does will take the image into Photoshop CS. You can designate alternative editors (PS Elements is often used) but the transition is not always as seamless, might involve an export, even an export to another format, which may or may not be a raw format.
I came to Lightroom (3 trial, then 4) from Photoshop Elements (three versions in succession). There was adaptation from Elements to PS ways of doing things, but not to the extent there is going to a photo editor or image processing system totally outside the PS family.
