We tested 4 photo editing alternatives to Photoshop

1

Adobe Photoshop

A while back we tested out 5 alternatives to Adobe Illustrator, the world’s most popular vector graphics software application, and found out that some of them were actually…fine! Which gave us an idea. Why don’t we do the same thing with 4 alternatives to Adobe Photoshop, the world’s most popular photo editing software application, plus Adobe Photoshop itself?!

#Graphic Design Software #Image Editing #Digital Drawing And Painting 2 user reviews

2

Acorn

Acorn is only available on Mac, so if you’re a Windows user who wants to use Acorn you’re either going to be £1000 lighter in the wallet department, or bang out of luck. Max found the interface outdated, resembling a OSX Tiger era UI, but CPU usage is managed brilliantly resulting in a smooth, responsive experience with no curser lag or rendering delays. 7/10

#Image Editing #Graphic Design Software #Digital Drawing And Painting 20 social mentions

3

Pixelmator

Next up was Pixelmator, a slick OSX app with a pleasingly unslick $29.99 price point. To test Pixelmator we gave Max a copy of the Stone Roses’ eponymously titled 1989 album ‘The Stone Roses‘. With it’s distinctive cover art by Roses’ guitarist John Squire, ‘The Stone Roses’ should pose a worthy challenge to Pixelmator.

#Art Tools #Illustrations #Image Editing

4

GIMP

The GIMP project was started in 1995, around the same time as the Gay Dad project. It didn’t take long until the band found themselves on the front cover of esteemed music mag NME. GIMP, on the other hand, has probably been deployed less frequently on the cover of major magazine titles – as an open-source equivalent to Photoshop, it lacks the Adobe product’s power and slick interface. The project has matured over time, however, unlike Gay Dad who imploded after their underwhelming second album Transmission.

#Photo Editing #Graphic Design Software #Digital Drawing And Painting 59 social mentions

5

Affinity Photo

Unlike some of the albums featured, none of these software packages were a disaster. GIMP suffered from performance issues, but is impressively featured for a free software package. Affinity Photo is a real Photoshop contender, Acorn’s dated UI masks a powerful app, and Pixelmator is quick and easy to use. If you have the budget, though, Photoshop is still the best of the bunch.

#Photos & Graphics #Photo Editing #Image Editing 34 social mentions