Photoshop is almost synonymous with photo and image editing. In fact, the term ‘photoshopped’ refers to an image being edited digitally. In the realm of digital image editing as well as creation of 2D graphics, this graphic program is the undisputed leader and king. Unfortunately, it is also not cheap. Luckily, there are more affordable alternatives out on the Market. If your main business or career is not in the area of graphic design, you probably do not need the full power of Photoshop but still need something familiar and good enough for occasional graphic works by yourself or your employees. Perhaps, you only want to make an occasional name card or a pamphlet.
A potential alternative to the King of Image Editor is Serif Photoplus. The newer versions of Serif Photoplus allows the user to work with the RAW file format. Unlike LDR (low-dynamic range) formats such as JPEG, RAW format is superior and important for high quality editing and tuning.
Serif Photoplus have supports for high dynamic range file format. High dynamic file format such as OpenEXR and HDR are the future of image file format. These formats are not readily supported by free image editors such as GIMP.
Additionally, Serif Photoplus can read and write PSD which is Photoshop’s own format. This allows for interchangeability of files and compatibility with Photoshop.
If you already know how to use Photoshop, Serif Photoplus will be generally user-friendly and easy to understand. This is because the workflow and tools are very similar. Thus, Photoshop users can easily convert to Serif Photoplus without much hassle and difficulty.
Photoplus does not have all the tools of Photoshop. However, it is much more affordable and contains the essential tools to do most graphic works. As of this writing there are no free trials for photoplus. However, there is a free Lite version of Photoplus which is available for download on the Serif website.
On this website, we will feature some tutorials to show you how easy it is to use Photoplus soon. One of the tutorial will be about how to create metallic effects. Click here for a tutorial on how Photoplus can be used to replace colours in an image.