In the past I've used the Gimp http://www.gimp.org/ - it's a fully featured photo editor. Pretty close to photoshop in terms of capability. It's a lifesaver.

Price: free.

Yer welcome. :-)

Have a look at Krita, it is pretty powerful.

https://krita.org/

"What is Krita?

Krita is a FREE digital painting and illustration application.

Krita offers CMYK support, HDR painting, perspective grids, dockers, filters, painting assistants, and many other features you would expect."

Gave up on Photoshop for the same reason. Tried Paint.net, GIMP, trialled Xara Photo and Graphic Designer and was so impressed I bought it and would keep using it even if Photoshop came down to a reasonable price - whatever you look at, check how it handles text, seems to be a major flaw with the free programs.

I like to use a whole set of Serif software: PhotoPlus, DrawPlus, PagePlus. They often offer great discounts either on single software or on big packages.

I believe you are allowed two installs of CS6 as long as you don't use them at the same time.

The other feature I use all the time on Photoshop is the included Camera Raw. I'm not sure what features I would be missing with Elements vs the CS6 that I am using in Photoshop, but in Camera Raw, what is missing in Elements is the ability to use gradients. Gradients in Camera Raw are just so useful. For instance, let's say you are using a small flash on a group of people. The ground in front of the group and is really bright and the lighting trails off as you go further to the back and sides of the group. With the full CS6 version of Camera Raw, you can use ND gradients to correct both of these problems. With the extra dynamic range of Raw, it works so well that it almost isn't worth having multiple flashes. A few gradients and it looks perfect.

With Photoshop Elements, I would be missing these oh so valuable gradients. With another program I would be missing my much loved Camera Raw completely and would need to find another Raw photo editor in addition to the photo and text layers editor.

> I believe you are allowed two installs of CS6 as long as you don't use them at the same time.

That would solve my problem. I'll look again to see if I can do that.

You should definitely be able to install 2 copies of Adobe's CS6 software. In all of the major applications the help menu has an option to deactivate. So, if you previously had the software installed somewhere else (old computer) and forgot to deactivate it before scrapping the hard drive, you will have to call Adobe to explain that your old hard computer is no more. They will check to see if that computer hasn't checked in recently and then hopefully bump your license limit by one.

Technically you could probably even install CS6 on a dozen computers and as long as you deactivate each time you finish using it, you could move back and forth to any one of them. Registering every time you use the software would be a minor hassle, but I'm not aware of any limitation on the activation-deactivation frequency.

Adobe Lightroom pretty much duplicates all the functions of Camera Raw. It adds functions such as adjustment brushes, radial filters, red eye correction & cataloging. However, it doesn't do layers, masking, content aware fill, etc. available in full Photoshop. If all you need is the functions in Camera Raw, then Lightroom is a good alternative @ $140 from B&H (oft times it can be purchased cheaper in combination with another purchase).

...Jerry

I have CS6 on both my main workstation and laptop activated with no problems.

Depending on what depth of editing you are doing, the free paint.net may be good enough !

www.getpaint.net

geoff