Photoshop Alternatives

I love Photoshop.  I’ve been using Photoshop for 14 years now.  I admit it, I’m a Photoshopaholic.

Photoshop is a funny thing in churches.  First of all is the cardiac exercise when pastors and and administrators fall out on the floor twitching when they  see the price tag of $699.00.   Next, it seems to be a craved badge of honor to say you have Photoshop on your computer especially when the bragger has no clue how to use it.  And of course there are those who think a happy cloud will fly over their head and all their design dreams will come try by installing Photoshop.   It’s um funny, hilarious, entertaining to see a person who has never touched the program, ready to conquer the world, take one look of defeat at the interface and immediately quit.  Ok, so I’m just having fun here, but Photoshop really is a quirky subject in churches.

The raging event engines of churches have to have design fuel and we need the latest and greatest version of Photoshop to design, or do we?  This crazy preconception that in order to make great art you have to have a full-blown version of Photoshop is rampant.  I get asked so many times by church workers how to get a copy of Photoshop thinking that it’s the magic tool that will cause creativity to flow.   Driven by this silly notion that you have to have a $700 program to accomplish the task, volunteers and support staff are usually left to their own devices to pirate a copy of Photoshop if the finance ministry says there is no budget.

I am against pirated software.  That’s why I am a firm believer in open source software.  It’s free, you get free upgrades, and there usually is a support community built around a good software.  There is no need to steal Photoshop these days.   You can do everything you need to do using a few cheaper and free alternatives.

• Photoshop Elements - If you are dying to have Photoshop, pick up a copy of PSE. The cost is 10-15% of what the full-fledged version costs.  PSE sports many of the awesome features of Photoshop like layers, filters, masking, and much more.  It is much more user friendly than the full version.  So, if you aren’t familiar with design, this is the product for you.  It has a huge community out there.  You can search for PSE tutorials and a ton will come up.  Grab a copy here: http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshopelwin/
• Gimp – This is an open source version of Photoshop.  If you run on a Mac, you probably will be annoyed (like my friend Ryan Loyd who voiced this over lunch last week) at Gimps gimpy window interface.  It’s not so bad on a Windows machine.  There are tons of tutorials out there to learn Gimp, and the best part is it is free. http://gimp.org/
• Pixelator – MAC ONLY – This is a great full-featured photo editing/design program for $59.00.  I checked out their beta version last year and I loved using the program.  Their sleek design will make you feel like a design ninja the moment you click File>New  http://www.pixelmator.com/
• Photoshop Online - This is a simple version of Photoshop that can be accessed online.  It’s completely free to use and has some basic features.  http://photoshop.com
• Piknik – Another free online photo editing application with some awesome effects, fonts, and many more great features.  You can purchase a year’s premium subscription for a mere $25 bucks.  http://www.picnik.com
• Aviary – This is a great suite of online photo editing applications.  The Phoenix image editor is amazing and sports layers, filters, layer blending modes,  and much more.  This is about as close to the basic Photoshop functions as you can get.  The best part is it’s FREE!  http://aviary.com/
• Paint.NET - This is a free Windows based software that sports Photoshop-like features.  I’ve never personally used this, but it appears to be liked on the net.  You can check out screen shots and download a free copy at: http://www.getpaint.net/features.html
• Educational Discounts – If your church has a private school, take advantage of deep discounts provided by Adobe.  You can ask for these discounts at local retailers, however the best way is through the internet.  I personally have used JourneyEd for all my software needs at church.  Since I designed for our school, it fell under the usage agreement.  Check out all the software at: http://www.journeyed.com You can also view Adobe’s educational price list here: http://www.adobe.com/education/purchasing/education_pricing.html
• Ebay – When people upgrade to newer versions, they sell their older versions on eBay.  Do a search for CS3 or CS2 to find a good price for the whole creative suite.  Be careful to only bid on items that have actual photos of the product.  There are unscrupulous sellers that will sell you a pirated copy.  Make sure the deal is legit.  I saw a copy of the entire CS3 suite for $250.00 today.

Well, that about wraps it up for now.  There are great ways to get around dropping $700 buckaroos on PSCS4.  The creativity is in you, not the program.  If you don’t have the budget for a legal copy, let your creativity ooze through these cheaper tools and make some awesome stuff for your church.