Hi friends! I'm hoping you all can help me. My Photoshop program is OLD (I'm talking, geriatric). It's a CS4 version and I have been using it for the entirety of my scrapbooking life (16 + years eek). So, the other day I got some brushes and it wouldn't let me load them. I can't remember the error message but the impression was, it can't be uploaded because of my geriatric PS, (there have been a couple of other issues too) which leads me to my question. As much as I love scrapbooking I can't bring myself to pay the subscription for the Creative Cloud Photoshop. $30AU per month is a bit much when there are so many books out there I need to buy ....... so I am looking at PSE 23 which is much more affordable and only $146AU to own outright (more books yay). BUT ....... I wanted to know if they are hugely different from each other and if you think I'm going to struggle shifting my creative process from my CS4 to PSE? Do any of you have experience with both? Honestly, I'm thinking of just going for the 30 free trial to test it out and then I can buy it from there (easy peasy) but would love it if I could get some advice/tips/tricks from any of you wonderfully scrappy people who have used it before. Thanks as always xx
I don't know about PSE. But I saw lots of videos during the pandemic on Youtube of professional digital artists and photographers switching from Photoshop to Affinity due to it being a single payment, rather than a subscription. They say the learning curve is okay. If you use styles or actions a lot, then those won't import into to Affinity though. Otherwise it might be worth you getting a 30 day free trial.
@amandac personally I think you should be ok... (I don't have the new version but I had pscc and pse15 ... since getting my new laptop I only have pscc.. still thinking of adding PSE 23 to it since I still do some tutorials etc) the only issue I see is there is limitation to not being able to not set up a workspace... most is hard docked (ie layer panel etc to the right.. also some of your action may not work (It allows for actions but some instructions of actions may not work in PSE), but I think you would do fine. Some things you may not be able to do like you could in CS4 like blending panel in styles etc as it is limited in PSE but for the most part you should be good... also check on a plug in called PSE+ which you can get for a low amount and it opens up PSE a bit more for the user https://elementsplus.net/ I never got it, but I know others have and liked it, so you may want to look at that too to see what it opens up for PSE23 ... I will be interested in what others suggest to you.. the learning curve is nothing going from CS4 to PSE .. you just may get a little frustrated as you may have done things in CS4 that you don't have as much flexibility in PSE, and there are other things that may be faster and simpler in PSE than you did it in CS4. Either way, Amanda, enjoy! I know you cannot create or adjust actions in PSE.
I with you Amanda, I'm still rocking PS CS5 from about 12 years ago. I don't know what I'll do if that program ever stops working for me, but I would probably be doing what you're doing and switch to PSE. I can't justify the monthly subscription fee either. My question for those who do use PSE, can you do the text inside a shape in PSE? Like I frequently use the pen tool to create shapes and then add text inside those shapes. I would REALLY miss that ability. I also wonder about the ability to separate a shadow on a separate layer and warp that... is that something you can do in PSE?
This will be a very interesting thread for me to read. I have recently pondered going back to PSE after having been using full Photoshop since 2016, because I just don't use PS/LR a lot anymore. I don't mind the subscription. I would even pay $20/month if I had to and was still using Lightroom and Photoshop a lot; I'm only paying $10/month. I don't remember exactly how it happened, but I might vaguely recall them offering that price point when I started to cancel it several years ago (or I'm mixing up the experience with Audible, who definitely kept me going a bit longer a couple of times when I tried to cancel). Anyway, I actually found a video on YouTube about PSE that made me feel like I want to stick with full Photoshop a while longer. I'll come back to this thread and maybe share more thoughts. I have to get going to a dentist appointment.
It really depends on what features you use. Definitely do the free trial. The workspace is going to be different and, at least to me, PS has always felt more intuitive than PSE. I can’t imagine going back. I fought the subscription for a while, but justified it because of easy transfer of photos using Lightroom, which I’ve also used for ages as my photo library.
Yes you can do text in a shape and re create a seperate layer for the shadow there is a work around for that as well as Leah (mommyish) has a PSE action that separates the shadow for you.. easy work around is apply shadow then you go into the style to adjust it and move the shadow far away from the object . Then click okay. Add a blank layer in the layer panel. Then on that layer with the shadow away from the object use the selection tool and put a selection around the shadow and do the cut and then paste the shadow into the blank layer.. now the shadow is on a separate layer in PSE. Mommyish action: https://the-lilypad.com/store/search.php?mode=search&substring=Separate+shadow+action&including=all&by_title=on&by_descr=on&by_sku=on&categoryid=&search_in_subcategories=on&manufacturers[0]=154&price_min=0&price_max=60&by_fulldescr=on&by_shortdescr=on
$10/month is the photo package.. PSCC + LR.. i figured to me PSCC subscription is worth it to me for 33 cents a day roughly, and i really don’t use LR..plus i like always having the up to date. new things adobe changes to on the photographer plan https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud...raphy plan!12395943995!118478147976&mv=search
Oh thanks for the tip Angela, I will have a look at Affinity too. Some great tips here thanks Christa! I appreciate your help!! Great question Karen, I would be lost without the ability to warp the shadow layer (it's my favourite thing to do!) and definitely text in shapes! I look forward to hearing your thoughts Michele! I have to admit if it was only $10 a month I would dive into CC! Thanks for the feedback Lisa, I will definitely bare that in mind! Thanks everyone for the advice!! I'm going to give the free trial a go and see how I feel about it then!
Friends, I got the free trial all set up and I loaded up my favourite styles, brushes and actions and scrapped my first page and I have to say ..... I don't hate it! I think I am going to buy it when the trial ends. It is a bit different and is a little more rigid in its capabilities than Photoshop but it seems to be able to do the things I want so I'm happy Thanks for your help and advice!
Just wondering why you would be paying $30 AU for the PSCC subcription Amanda, I have been subscribing for years and I only pay $14.29 AU a month? I used PSE for years and then changed over to PSCC and have never looked back but I use a lot of plug-ins and actions so I don't think I could ever go back to PSE. Hope it all works out for you sweets! xx
Honestly, it was the first amount that came up when I googled CC subscriptions and at the time I didn't delve into it more. But after looking at some of the answers here, I poked around some more and found the CC Photography package for $14.29 AU a month. The $30 per month is just for the Photoshop package, which makes no sense to me!. By that stage I had already installed the PSE trial so I thought what the heck, lets see how it goes. I have a month to make my mind up and I will either shift over to CC (because $14.29 is much more affordable than I originally thought) or I will keep PSE. I'm trying to do lots of things in PSE to see if can hold up to what I like to do with scrapping.
ahhh, okay. I think the ONLY thing that really annoys me about PSCC is when they update and you sometimes lose the stuff you have installed like Styles etc. and the workplace returns to the default. But I have learned how to get around those now so that isn't a biggie anymore. I think with any program there are always things you will personally like or dislike so you need to be happy with what you want to use it for.
I've subscribed to PSCC since 2016 and only remember one time an update messed up my workspace, so don't worry about that. Glad to hear you're liking PSE. I'm not inclined to switch back to it right now, but may someday.
Thanks for asking this as I've been wondering the very same thing. I'm another on CS5 and know it probably won't work forever, lol. I saw an ad for Elements, which is what I first started with, and was wondering what it was like these days. I'd love to hear your thoughts once you've used it for a bit. Thanks!
I was just swinging by to say that PSCC and LR have much cheaper plans but it looks like others beat me to it. I am not a subscription lover but photography and scrapbooking are my main hobby and PS does constantly upgrade their product so it is worth it to me to pay the $10 USD/mo. It works out to about the same as it was to purchase an annual upgrade back in the day.
I still say PSCC is well worth the Photographer plan 33 cents a day.. a little more in Au.... you will always have up to date program. i use PSE for tutorial purposes but since I got the new laptop in May i never bothered getting the new version of PSE.. one day maybe just to gave but i love PSCC .. good luck everyone with whatever you decide!
