Adobe Photoshop cc 2018
Love it or hate it, Photoshop sets the ludicrously high standard for the rest in this test (PC/MAC) from £9.98/$9.99 per month
So 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 photomanipulation, though that’s the photographer’s responsibility, not the software’s. Perhaps more importantly for photographers, it was Adobe’s decision to make it a subscription-only product.
This means the only way to get Photoshop now is to subscribe to one of Adobe’s subscription-based Photography Plans, which many object to on principle, even though it’s dramatically cheaper than the old ‘perpetual licence’ version (which still brought an upgrade cost every couple of years).
However, Photoshop is slick, powerful and constantly improving. Its support for selections, masks and layers is unmatched, making it the tool of choice for complex composite images. That being said it’s not just for photographers, but artists, illustrators, designers, videographers and motion graphics designers too.
Performance
Despite its reputation for complexity, Photoshop actually offers a very clean, slick interface. The 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 since Lightroom is included in the same Photography Plans as Photoshop, that’s not an issue. 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 of image editing.