Adobe Photoshop CC 2018
From £9.98/$9.99 per month
photoshop Sets the high Standard for the Rest
Why would anyone hate what’s widely regarded as the world’s best photo-editing software? One reason is that it’s become associated with underhand or unhealthy photo-manipulation, though that’s the photographer’s choice, not the software’s. Perhaps more importantly for some, it was Adobe’s decision to make it subscription-only.
This means you can only get Photoshop now by subscribing to one of Adobe’s subscriptionbased Photography Plans, which many object to on principle, even though it’s cheaper than the old ‘perpetual licence’ version (which brought an upgrade cost every few years).
Controversy aside, Photoshop is slick, powerful and always improving. Its support for selections, masks and layers is unmatched, making it the tool of choice for complex composite images. It’s also a tool for everyone: artists, illustrators, designers, videographers and motion graphics designers.
Performance
Despite its reputation for complexity, Photoshop offers a clean, slick interface. There are no ‘novice’ modes, but the tools panel does offer fly-out animations that show you how the tools work and what they do. There are no image browsing or cataloguing tools in Photoshop itself, but Lightroom is included in the Photography Plans along with Photoshop. Raw conversions are taken care of by Adobe Camera Raw – which is so powerful it’s practically an image-editor in its own right. On its own, Photoshop is powerful but limited; with Adobe Lightroom it’s half of an unbeatable double-act.