Alternative to Photoshop Elements??

Pixelmator is my tool of choice

yeah pixelmator would be the default recommendation.

it just had a price drop too: http://appshopper.com/mac/graphics-design/pixelmator

I have always been a huge Photoshop fan.

I bought Elements recently and absolutely love it. What were the bad reports you'd heard?

+1 For Pixelmator. Its the fastest graphics program out there. Much faster than Photoshop (not sure about Elements but regular Photoshop it is).

They have things I wish Photoshop had like real time gradients.

When I tried Pixelmator I just didn't care for it, but I'm blanking on the exact issue I had with it - I just remember being frustrated with it. I've used Photoshop Elements and that always ran fine for me, it just takes a long time to load up. Currently, if I need to do more editing than either Preview or iPhoto allows, I use Seashore. While not as powerful as Pixelmator or Elements, it could be an alternative if you're just looking to "jazz up" some of your photos. And it's free.

Maclovertoo said:

Thanks for the replies. I heard that Elements moves at a glacial pace and that the way it requires pics to be saved in its folder system is a nuisance.

Not true?

Click to expand...

Uh, no.

Elements does not move at a glacial pace at least not for me (mbp 2009). It's no slower than say, office.

As for file saves, sounds like you are confusing it with some other program such as Lightroom that has its own file storage. Elements allows you to save anywhere on the file system. You just open, pick a file, edit, save (or save-as) like usual.

You can download a trial from adobe to give it a whirl before dropping 80 bucks on it.

Maclovertoo said:

Thanks for the replies. I heard that Elements moves at a glacial pace and that the way it requires pics to be saved in its folder system is a nuisance.

Not true?

Click to expand...

If you reckon Photoshop proper does things slowly, this is an identical pace. I think it's quite impressive, though I havent worked with RAW as yet.

Regarding the File System, Photoshop Elements comes with an editor and a file organiser called Organiser. Organiser is an appalling piece of software. I dont know why people want to use any file viewer outside their normal file system. (eg. Finder. Mine is Path Finder)

So I do not use Organiser at all - in fact you dont need to install it.

But on it's own, the Photoshop Elements Editor is great.

Just to clarify, Photoshop Elements from the Mac App Store does not include Organizer, only the box version does.

http://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop-elements/kb/purchases-mac-app-store-faq.html

netslacker said:

Just to clarify, Photoshop Elements from the Mac App Store does not include Organizer, only the box version does.

Click to expand...

Yes. Yes. Good point. I bought it online directly from Adobe and paid about $50 more for that Organiser crap.

Mac App Store is a better way to buy this one.

I have version 9 and no performance issues on base MBP 2011. If you're patient, there are deals to be had for the boxed version 10. I just bought a copy for a friend on Amazon (sale was posted on 9to5 Mac) for $50 new a few weeks ago. Score!

Can Pixelmator apply filters to individual layers? I thought I read somewhere that it didn't.

Pharmscott said:

I have version 9 and no performance issues on base MBP 2011. If you're patient, there are deals to be had for the boxed version 10. I just bought a copy for a friend on Amazon (sale was posted on 9to5 Mac) for $50 new a few weeks ago. Score!

Click to expand...

Good point, I've seen Amazon and Newegg both have great deals on Elements every once in a while. Currently you can get the Elements combo (photoshop and premiere) on Amazon for 100.00. But I've also seen better pricing on just photoshop on either site before in the past.