Is Photoshop Good For Photo Editing? (What You Should Know)
Which is the Best? @ MyThemeShop
Almost every photo we come across today is edited or personalized in some kind. Thanks to the numerous design and photo-editing tools available in the market today.
One popular photo-editing and graphic design tool is the Adobe Photoshop, which is touted by many as the “undisputed king” when it comes to professional photo editing. However, its professionalism comes at a price which is a huge factor, especially if you are on a budget.
Luckily, there are other innovative and free Photoshop alternatives. One of them is GIMP. In this article, we will look at the benefits of Photoshop vs GIMP.
Since, there is a lot of confusion to choose the best one from both, we will try to simplify the same for you by bringing you the exact facts and features by comparing the two platforms in detail.
What is Photoshop?
Photoshop is one of the most powerful graphics software for creatives developed by Adobe. The program’s functionality is encompassed in the all-inclusive spectrum of graphic related actions. These include image editing, animation, web design, digital drawing, and more.
Since the program is developed for professionals, it’s a little more complicated, especially for the new users. Fortunately, you do not need to master all its ins and outs. You can just master a few of its functions using which you can edit photos like a pro.
Photoshop comes with a plethora of tools, functions, and effects. It’s also easy to use, thanks to the intuitive and simple interface.
Photoshop Features
Allows cross-platform compatibility
CYMK mode
Comes with four healing tools
Allows stroke smoothing
Brush organization
Colour and luminance range masking
Comes with a curvature pen tool
You can copy and paste layers
Comes with collaboration tools
What is GIMP?
GIMP is the short form for GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is an open-source platform and is regarded as one of the most successful Photoshop alternatives.
The software comes for free and given that it’s open-source, it welcomes code adjustments from developers. The program is available for LINUX, Mac, and Windows.
It is perfect for graphics editors and is suited for both professional and home usage. It can perform basic photo editing tasks, illustrations, and color corrections for free.
GIMP features
Given that it’s open-source, you can write or alter the source code to allow you to add or create new plugins
Can read Photoshop PSD native files
Allows digital retouching
Only one healing tool
Allows users to customize the interface
Comes with a variety of painting tools
Has an open-sourcegraphics editor called Inkscape
Compatible with LINUX, UNIX, Mac, and Windows systems
GIMP vs Photoshop: System requirements
When deciding on which software to download and install, it’s natural to check how much space is bound to be consumed. This simply implies that the size of the software plays a vital role when it comes to its functionality and how fast it will process commands.
Photoshop is a big software in terms of download size and system requirements. For machines running on Windows, Photoshop requires 2GB RAM while GIMP requires only 256MB RAM or higher. Apart from this, you’ll need a 2GHz processor or faster for Photoshop while GIMP requires Intel Pentium IV or faster processor.
You can only run Photoshop on Windows and Mac systems, GIMP is available on LINUX, UNIX, Mac, and Windows
Photoshop vs GIMP – Basic Differences
Photoshop GIMP Not easy to use for beginners so you need to go through various tutorials. Simple software for newbies and professionals. It requires a lot of space for optimal performance. You need atleast 1GB of RAM in your computer. The program is very light and requires little buffering space. You only need 256MB RAM to run this program. It offers Pantone colors and does not support XCF files, which is GIMP’s native file format. You can read and edit Photoshop PSD files in GIMP. It’s not free and requires you to make monthly subscriptions in order to enjoy its features. It’s a free open source program and anybody can alter the source code. The program is designed for professionals. The program is designed for hobbyists and armatures as a Photoshop alternative. It’s thus ideal for users who are on a budget.
GIMP vs Photoshop: Which one is right for you?
On a budget – GIMP
Like other professional Adobe products, Photoshop comes at a cost. In the past, you had to pay a one-time licensing fee of $700 in order to use Photoshop. Luckily, the fees have been discounted over the years to as low as $20.99 a month. However, this expense can prove to be unjustifiable, especially if you are on a stretched budget or if you only use it occasionally.
Under such circumstances, you might want free pro-grade software and save up the money for other things. The better choice, in this case, is GIMP simply because it’s professional, free, and comes at a zero cost.
Edit images on the smartphone – Photoshop
If you are always on the move, a laptop or a desktop computer might not be a viable option. As such, you might want to consider a photo editing software that can be used on your smartphone.
Adobe offers a number of smartphone apps, including the Adobe Photoshop Express for photo editing and the Adobe Illustrator Draw for graphic design. The good thing about these apps is that all your work can be synced back to your computer via Adobe Cloud.
GIMP, on the other hand, is yet to offer an app that can be used on your smartphone. We are hoping that the developers will launch a smartphone version in the near future.
Speed and stability – GIMP
Developed with digital photography in mind, GIMP is not only fast, but it’s also stable. Apart from that, it allows you to remove any unnecessary tools from the mix, making it less likely to make mistakes that you’ll be unable to fix when working.
Photoshop, on the other hand, isn’t a tool for digital photography but rather design and illustration tool making it more complex and a bit more confusing for newbies. It also has numerous tools compared to GIMP, which means it takes up more space.
Space conscious – GIMP
Most designers and photography professionals use their laptops or desktops to work on their projects. While this is perfectly normal, the only problem is when you want to work with a huge program like Adobe Photoshop.
Not only does Adobe Photoshop require a huge download space, but it also requires a lot of room for rendering in order for you to be able to edit your images faster without overworking your computer.
Therefore, if you are limited on space, Photoshop may not be the right software for you. Fortunately, GIMP is smaller in size, downloads faster, and saves your hard drive and RAM space.
Need CYMK – Photoshop
With Photoshop, you can convert your images to CYMK, which is absolutely necessary when it comes to printing images. GIMP on the other hand, processes images using the RGB color profile, which is only good for web images.
Friendly user interface – Photoshop
Both GIMP and Photoshop are easy tools to use. However, as an industry-standard software, Photoshop feels less clunky, especially for experienced users. This is not to say that GIMP is not user-friendly. The fact that it comes with lesser tools makes it easy to customize and less intimidating for inexperienced users. The good thing about Photoshop is that it comes with numerous tutorials that you can use to master it.
Powerful tool – Photoshop
Both Photoshop and GIMP come pre-loaded with great image editing tools. However, when comparing Photoshop vs GIMP, it’s only fair to say that Photoshop is much more powerful than GIMP.
For example, Photoshop is more powerful when it comes to pixel manipulation and also comes with four separate healing tools. GIMP, on the other hand, comes with one healing tool whose function is to remove the odd spot, which is not enough for complex projects.
Faster batch processing – GIMP
If you prefer to process your images in batches, then GIMP is the software for you. Unlike Photoshop, which takes longer to process batch images, GIMP is much faster and can handle large files as well.
Handling RAW images- Photoshop
This is one area where Photoshop overlaps GIMP. Photoshop has the capacity to convert RAW images, thanks to the RAW editor that comes with it. Although you can also use RAW images in GIMP, you’ll need to install a separate plug-in. This can become a little confusing, especially if you are a new user.
Continuous development – Photoshop
Adobe is a big software company, and its dedicated team of programmers is always tweaking and upgrading the program. All you have to do is download and install the updates when they are available.
Apart from that, the company offers excellent customer service. GIMP, on the other hand, is an open-source, and it is free, which means updates may take longer to be available and may not be as frequent as in Photoshop.
What we like about Photoshop
It comes with a plethora of editing tools
Adobe suite compatibility allows the reading of files from tools such as Lightroom, Illustrator, and InDesign
Great online support and a vast community
Comes with tons of plug-ins, filters, and tools to smoothen your experience
What we dislike about Photoshop
Comes at a cost and can be expensive for most of the users
It’s believed that due to its cost, most beginners own pirated copies
Plug-ins don’t carry over with upgrades
What we like about GIMP
It’s completely free hence a better choice if you are on a budget
Comes with numerous tools similar to those on Photoshop
It is open-source hence you can alter the source code to fit your needs
It’s lightweight and compatible with almost all operating systems
What we dislike about GIMP
GIMP tools are not as polished as Photoshop
Comes with one healing brush tool
It’s a community-based tool hence less support
It takes a while to load on Windows systems
Wrapping Up
If you are a professional or novice editor, you need reliable and steadfast editing and designing program. While both Photoshop and GIMP can offer that, the decision on which program to use is solely based on your prowess and kind of project you are working on.
Pertaining to GIMP vs Photoshop; however, we feel that Photoshop is a better program than GIMP because it offers a much stronger pixel manipulation, which is crucial in editing and has more features. GIMP, on the other hand, is a better option if you need to do simple edits, and apart from that, it’s free, which is ideal, especially if you are on a tight budget.
Lastly, if you know Photoshop, you will be eligible to work across professional projects. In short, you can create a career just by getting to know the basics of Photoshop as it is a market standard for web design and image correction.
Best alternative to Adobe Photoshop in December 2022
The best Adobe Photoshop alternatives make it simple to edit photos and create professional art, whatever your budget.
There’s no denying that Adobe Photoshop is the industry-standard - after all, the word is as much a verb as a noun these days. Thanks to powerful features, and an intuitive, AI-powered workflow, the best photo editor on the market has become the go-to tool for designers and creatives.
That widespread popularity can make it tricky to find and choose the best alternatives to Adobe Photoshop. But the photo editing app isn’t free of criticism, with some users taking issue with its subscription plans and its interface, which can overwhelm novice users.
Luckily, whether you’re a professional artist, experienced editor, or a novice designer learning the craft, there is photo editing software that can deliver the same polished results without Creative Cloud subscriptions - and, in many cases, they’re even easier to use, with premium and free photo editor options.
We’ve tested the best Adobe Photoshop alternatives, to help you find the photo editor that best fits your budget. Workflow, and your creativity.
Want to escape Adobe elsewhere in your workflow? We’ve also tested out the best Lightroom alternatives and alternatives to Premiere Pro.
Today's best Photoshop deals
(opens in new tab) Adobe Photoshop (opens in new tab) is our pick for best photo editor overall. In our 5-star review, we hailed it as “the king of photo editors” with a solid set of new tools and AI features - although noting that its raw power may be overkill for some. An industry-standard, relied on by artists, content creators, and creatives, it's become the definitive photo editing app. The benchmark against which all other image editing tools are measured.
The best alternatives to Adobe Photoshop for 2022 in full
Why you can trust TechRadar Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.
(Image credit: GIMP)
1. GIMP Best Adobe Photoshop alternative overall Today's Best Deals VISIT SITE (opens in new tab) Reasons to buy + Huge number of features, easily extensible + Raw and PSD compatible + Free and open source Reasons to avoid - Complex interface and steep learning curve - No CMYK color mode (add-on available)
GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is a professional, open-source photography powerhouse that works on Linux, Windows, and macOS. So, it's both the best Adobe Photoshop alternative overall, and an excellent free alternative, too.
In our hands-on review, we called Gimp "our top pick for the best free photo editor, and comes with a huge array of professional-quality functions for fine-tuning snaps and creating your own artwork from scratch. "
GIMP boasts a huge number of features and functions that rival Photoshop. There’s also a huge community of developers and artists who have created a wide array of plugins, making this a highly adaptable program. If you desire a specific feature, there’s probably an add-on for it.
The interface is highly customizable, so you can pare things back or leverage multiple windows and toolbars as needed. For this reason, GIMP has a similarly steep learning curve as Photoshop, but once you’ve made your way through a few tutorials, it’s quite comfortable.
In our experience, GIMP was slightly less responsive and used a few more resources than its proprietary counterpart, but this can be easily forgiven on the basis that GIMP always has been and always will be free and open source.
Read our full Gimp review.
(Image credit: Pixlr)
2. Pixlr X Best free online Photoshop alternative Today's Best Deals VISIT SITE (opens in new tab) Reasons to buy + Layer support + Web-app, available from any browser + Clean design + Intuitive workflow experience Reasons to avoid - Missing some features (e.g., custom brushes) - Limited filetype compatibility (no PSD) - Online only
Pixlr is one of the best free Photoshop alternatives online - so it's available as a web app. During our review of the HTML 5 photo editing software, we said it's "so feature-packed, it gives desktop apps a serious run for their money."
The Pixlr interface is more spartan than either Photoshop or GIMP, but that’s not a bad thing. The workflow is streamlined and intuitive: you can drag-and-drop a photo from your computer or add a URL, and then get to work adjusting images with familiar one-click filters and sliders.
Given that it’s a web app, Pixlr has surprisingly robust layer support - one of the reasons why it's considered one of the best Photoshop alternatives. However, important features are still missing. Custom brushes, for example, are slated for development in the future but don’t exist yet.
Overall, Pixlr gives you a super clean and intuitive interface for basic to medium-complexity photo editing.
Read our full Pixlr X review.
(Image credit: Skylum)
3. Luminar AI Best budget Adobe Photoshop alternative Today's Best Deals View at Eneba US (opens in new tab) View at Amazon (opens in new tab) View at Skylum (opens in new tab) Reasons to buy + Leverages AI for impressive features + Available as standalone or Adobe/Apple plug-in + Sync AI edits across photos + Download new skies or upload your own Reasons to avoid - Can be heavy on system resources - No mobile version or web app
One of the best Adobe Photoshop alternatives without subscriptions is Luminar AI. It isn’t the cheapest option out there, but it’s a powerful photo editing software that leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning to help artists create amazing photos in just a few clicks.
In our Luminar AI review, we said the tool is "a terrific new option for photographers who know their images would benefit from some edits, but don't have the time or knowledge to make them happen."
Luminar is available as a standalone editor or a plug-in for Adobe products, so this is an alternative that you can actually use in tandem with Photoshop.
Its impressive features include instant AI sky replacement, AI portrait and skin enhancer, sunrays, advanced AI structure and lighting filters, a smart contrast tool for preserving color and texture, and object removal brushes, some of the best we’ve used.
The layout is clean and intuitive, with most functions available in the sidebar. Clicking on one brings up sliders for customizing effects, with advanced settings available. From start to finish, the Luminar photo editing workflow is smooth and speedy.
As for pricing, there are no subscriptions, just a one-off payment of around $40 /£35 / AU$60 for one PC.
Read our full Luminar AI review.
(Image credit: ACDSee)
4. ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate Best for intermediate photo editors Today's Best Deals View at ACDSee (opens in new tab) View at ACDSee (opens in new tab) Reasons to buy + Updates deliver great new features + AI tools + Stable software Reasons to avoid - PC only - May be daunting for beginners
ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate 2023 is an image manipulation tool that allows you to perform many functions you’d find in behemoths like Adobe Photoshop, but at a fraction of the cost.
When we tested out the software, we found a versatile alternative to Photoshop. It might not match every powerful feature in Adobe’s top tool, but it delivers most tools for most photo editors.
The latest features include AI-based tools such as ‘AI Actions’ which help you perform potentially time-consuming tasks such as blurring a background, or selecting an object, with just the click of a button. ‘AI Face Edit’ is interesting as it allows you to alter the face of a subject, and the end result is pretty impressive.
Monthly and annual subscriptions are available, bundling Photo Studio Ultimate alongside Gemstone Photo Editor, Luxea Video Editor , Video Converter Pro, and Photo Studio for Mac for $9 / £8 / $15AUD a month or $89 / £79 / $142AUD a year. You’ll get free updates and upgrades as long as your subscription remains active, are allowed up to five users per product, get 100GB of cloud storage, and have access to tutorials and workshops.
Alternatively, it can be yours outright for the one-off price of $150 / £132 / $239AUD. This includes a year of free updates and technical support.
Overall, a great Photoshop alternative for creating professional-looking content while working to a budget.
Read our full ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate review
(Image credit: Photos Pos)
5. Photos Pos Pro Best alternative to Adobe Photoshop for beginners Today's Best Deals VISIT SITE (opens in new tab) Reasons to buy + Customizable interface + Support for scripts, batch editing, and one-click editing tools + Raw and PSD compatible Reasons to avoid - Limited set of filters - Limited keyboard shortcuts
Ranked as one of the best Adobe Photoshop alternatives because it's just so feature-rich, Photo Pos Pro comes with tools for editing images, web design, and document creation.
In fact, we believe that "while this is certainly a powerful tool, it's a little quirky and takes a little while to get used to", in part because it offers twin-track interfaces: one for beginners, one for experts.
This customizable interface lets you select either Novice or Pro layouts. Both have their advantages and disadvantages, but essentially, the novice layout sacrifices power for usability, while the pro layout is feature-rich, albeit with a steep learning curve. Even if it’s not executed perfectly, this flexibility is commendable and practical.
While it lacks the deep customization that professional photographers rely on, it's still one of the best Adobe Photoshop alternatives for making adjustments to photos for presentations, marketing campaigns, or personal enjoyment.
With layers, masking, brushes, scripts, and batch editing, Photos Pos Pro is a feature-rich alternative to Photoshop.
Read our full Photo Pos Pro review.
(Image credit: Krita)
6. Krita Best Adobe Photoshop alternative for drawing Today's Best Deals VISIT SITE (opens in new tab) Reasons to buy + Excellent tablet support for drawing + Highly customizable brush engine + Vector and raster capabilities + Large community Reasons to avoid - Some photo editing features missing
Krita is open-source and free alternative to Adobe Photoshop, backed by a huge community of developers and talented artists who share artwork and methods. If you’re looking for an active user base that’s invested in discussing and sharing art, Krita is a great Photoshop alternative.
Beyond the community, Krita is an incredibly powerful photo editing software, with hundreds of brushes and a brush customization engine, vector and text capabilities for comic strips, a wrap-around mode for seamless repeating images and patterns, and a powerful resource manager for importing tools from other artists.
We found the interface intuitive and familiar, with minor functions like being able to scroll sliders with the trackpad and having helpful tooltips that let us know to find the right tool.
Krita isn't one of the best Adobe Photoshop alternatives for its photo editing tools. In fact, it's more of a drawing tool than a photo editor (and even made our list of best free drawing software). For that reason, certain features are missing: fewer photo filters, no automatic heal tool, etc. It does, however, support opening and saving PSD files.
Also, Krita has fantastic tablet support with custom sensitivity settings, so for artists looking to combine drawing and photos, it’s hard to beat.
How to choose the best Adobe Photoshop alternative for you
When deciding which alternative to Photoshop is best for you, first consider how much of your relevant image file you need to edit and change. If you’re just trying to make simple edits to an existing image file, you may find a free software program will suit you fine. However, if you plan to develop a file from scratch and/or plan to make a series of complicated edits using advanced photo-editing tools and filters, it may be better to aim for one of the higher range and more expensive programs on our list.
How we test the best alternatives to Adobe Photoshop
To test for the best Adobe Photoshop alternatives we first set up an account with the relevant software platform, whether as a download or as an online service. We then tested the service using a handful of images to see how the software could be used for the editing and development of each image. The aim was to push each software platform to see whether it could simply and easily not just edit a range of content types but also do so faithfully and consistently without introducing formatting issues or similar problems.
Get creative with the best drawing and painting software.
Is Photoshop Good For Photo Editing? (What You Should Know)
For many photographers, it’s not immediately clear if Photoshop is actually good for photo editing. Sure, it can cut out objects, do graphic design work, and even 3D model, but what about the humble photo editing adjustment? Is Photoshop really meant for regular color and brightness adjustments? In short, yes, but here’s why.
Photoshop is great for photo editing, offering photographers a wide array of color, exposure, and contrast adjustments. Unlike other editing software, Photoshop uses a layer-based workflow allowing maximum control over how and where your adjustments occur.
If you’re someone who uses other editing programs like Lightroom or Luminar, Photoshop may seem like an elusive and overwhelming program. To give you an exact idea of why Photoshop is good for photo editing, let’s break down everything it has to offer.
What Makes Photoshop Good For Photo Editing?
1. It Can Work With Multiple File Types
One of the most important things for editing software is its compatibility with different file types. Whether you captured a RAW image with your camera or downloaded a PSD online, Photoshop can handle it all. This makes it easy to work with just about any file you need. If you are ever in a situation where you want to add graphics to a project, this single feature adds a lot of value.
Here are all the file types compatible with Photoshop:
PSD
Photoshop 2.0 Format
Photoshop DCS 1.0 AND 2.0 Formats
Photoshop EPS Format
Photoshop RAW Format
DNG
BMP Format
Cineon Format
DICOM Format
GIF
HEIF/HEIC
IFF
JPEG Format
Large Document Format (PSB)
OpenEXR Format
PICT File
PICT Resource
Pixar Format
PNG
Portable Bit Map Format
Radiance Format
Scitex CT
TIFF
WBMP Format
This impressive list covers just about every image file you would ever find yourself working with. As you might have noticed, RAW files are not on this list. That is because Photoshop converts RAW files into TIFFs once opened in the main workspace. However, you can edit your RAW files in their original format using Camera Raw. This feature opens up automatically whenever you open a RAW photo in Photoshop.
I’ll discuss more on Camera Raw and its features later in this post.
If you want more information on all the supported file types, see this post.
2. It Has A Wide Array Of Adjustment Tools
A second reason Photoshop is great for photo editing is the vast array of adjustment tools it offers. From exposure, color, contrast, and more creative adjustments, there’s nothing you can’t do in Photoshop.
Unlike Lightroom, Photoshop uses something called adjustment layers to edit your images. These adjustment layers can be easily adjusted independently or mixed together for creative editing styles.
With most editing programs, you’re limited to a single slider for how your adjustments appear on your photos. With adjustment layers in Photoshop, you can not only control the base adjustment but add creative effects with layer blending modes, opacity adjustments, or layer filters.
Put simply; you have far more creative freedom with every adjustment tool compared to other photo editing software.
3. Every Adjustment Layer Uses Layer Masks
With every adjustment layer you create, there is something called a layer mask that’s automatically added to the layer. Layer masks serve a similar purpose as selective adjustments in Lightroom but with far more control.
Layer masks help control your layers and adjustments in a variety of ways, such as:
Where the layer/adjustment is visible
The transparency of your adjustments
The intensity of your adjustments as a whole or in part
Add gradients, brush strokes, or selection shapes to your masks
That way, rather than creating selective adjustments separate from the global adjustments, layer masks allow you to do both. They can be applied to any photo editing adjustment or image layer, depending on the effects you want.
Best of all, since layer masks can be activated at any time, you can refine any adjustment later on with ease.
4. It’s The Best Program For Object Removal
Although most editing programs offer some kind of spot removal tool, they all fail to comparison to what’s available in Photoshop. Whether you want to remove a simple blemish or an entire person from your photo, it’s all possible in this program.
In fact, these adjustments are so powerful that many photographers use Photoshop solely for object removal.
There are a few main spot removal tools found in Photoshop called:
The Clone Stamp Tool
The Spot Healing Brush Tool
The Healing Brush
The Patch Tool
The Content-Aware Move Tool
Each of these tools has slightly different uses for object removal. However, when used all together, you’re armed with the ultimate object removal arsenal available. Some of these tools are fully automatic, while others require manual sampling selections to clone out a particular area.
Compare this to something like Lightroom, which only has a spot removal tool that’s largely automated, and you’re going to have a much harder time removing objects.
With that said, for small spot removal adjustments like removing a blemish, you won’t notice a huge difference between the tools in Photoshop versus other programs. Where you will notice a difference is in larger object removal situations such as tattoos, logos, or entire people from a photo.
With so many powerful tools found in this program, it’s hands down the best editing program for removing objects from a photo. Just another reason why Photoshop is great for photo editing!
5. You Can Merge Multiple Photos
You’ll likely want to get more creative with your photo editing at some point along the way. A great way to do this is by merging different photos to create composites or improve the sky in your images.
This type of thing is not possible in Lightroom, but programs like Luminar offer many beginner-friendly tools to do just that. The difference between Photoshop and Luminar, however, is that Photoshop offers more manual control. When you’re dealing with AI-powered programs like Luminar, you forfeit a bit of that control.
In Photoshop, you can easily combine photos by creating selections and placing new elements anywhere you wish. In recent updates to the program, there are even automatic sky-replacement tools to get you results fast, even as a beginner.
In terms of regular photo editing, having the option to merge photos opens up a lot of doors. You can totally transform your images by adding new elements or experiment with graphic design elements. This may not be something every photographer looks for in editing software, but it’s always nice to have the option and allows room for creative growth!
The Basic Photo Editing Tools In Photoshop
Photoshop has a ton of different features that make it good for photo editing, but let’s stick to the basics regarding exposure and color adjustments!
Exposure Adjustments
– Camera Raw
Camera Raw is a tool inside Photoshop that almost looks like a mini Lightroom. Here you’ll find just about every basic image editing adjustment you could need to stylize a photo. In terms of exposure adjustments, Camera Raw offers all the typical sliders you’d expect.
Inside the Basic panel, you’ll find sliders to control the exposure, contrast, whites, highlights, shadows, and blacks. This way, you can easily control the overall brightness of your edit with ease.
You’ll only find the Tone Curve inside Camera Raw, which acts as another powerful tool for editing exposure or adding stylized contrast to your images.
Camera Raw will open by default whenever you open a RAW image into Photoshop, or it can be applied to individual layers as a filter. It’s an incredible tool for applying your base exposure adjustments or just brightening up a particular layer.
– Brightness/Contrast Adjustment Layer
The Brightness/Contrast Adjustment Layer is one of the most simple and intuitive ways to adjust the exposure of your photos. This adjustment offers two basic sliders called Brightness and Contrast.
Now it’s pretty self-explanatory what this tool does. The brightness slider will either lighten or darken your image, while the contrast slider will adjust the intensity of your shadows and highlights.
For quick exposure adjustments, this is a great tool for all experience levels!
– Exposure Adjustment Layer
The Exposure Adjustment Layer allows you to control the overall exposure of your photo, with some added sliders to edit the contrast. Inside this tool, you’ll find an Exposure slider, an Offset slider, and a Gamma Correction slider.
The Exposure slider is the most straightforward of the bunch. By dragging it up, you will brighten the photo, while dragging it down will darken.
The Offset slider controls the basepoint of your shadows and works well to create a matte look in your images. It can also be used to offset washed-out shadows if needed.
Lastly, the Gamma Correction slider controls the intensity of the mid-tones. This way, you can fine-tune your photo’s exposure and further stylize what would otherwise be a basic exposure adjustment.
– Curves Adjustment Layer
If you are familiar with the Tone Curve, the Curves Adjustment Layer will feel very familiar. This tool lets you control the brightness and contrast of your photo by adjusting a curve via anchor points. With this tool, you can target your adjustments to the shadows, mid-tones, or highlights and add some very unique effects to your edit.
You can also target the red, green, or blue color channels to add color effects with this tool.
– Levels Adjustment Layer
The Levels Adjustment does a lot of the same work as the Curves Adjustment, just with a slightly different interface. Rather than adding anchor points to a curve, you adjust the basepoints for shadows, mid-tones, and highlights.
The Levels adjustment offers another easy way to adjust exposure and contrast with just a few clicks.
Color Adjustments
– Camera Raw (Again)
Once again, Camera Raw comes into the discussion as it offers a few handy color editing tools. The two most useful are called the Color Mix Tool and the Color Grading Tool.
If you’re already familiar with Lightroom, then you may already be very familiar with these adjustments. The Color Mix is the equivalent of the HSL adjustment, while the Color Grading Tool is largely the same between Camera Raw and Lightroom.
You can easily control the hue, saturation, and luminance of multiple color ranges in your photo between these two adjustments. With the help of Color Grading, you can add further stylization to your edit by adding color tones to your shadows, mid-tones, or highlights.
I talk extensively about how you can use these two tools in my Photo Editing Unlocked course.
Overall, the color adjustments found in Camera Raw offer another great starting point for every photo you edit in Photoshop.
– Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer
The Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer works a lot like the HSL adjustment found in Lightroom. The difference, however, is that you can adjust the exact color hues you’re targeting in different channels. This is extremely useful if you want to add multiple adjustments to a single color range or isolate which tones of color are included.
The way this tool works is quite simple. You can pick a color channel to edit via the dropdown menu near the top of the tools dialogue box. With a color channel chose, simply adjust the Hue, Saturation, and Lightness sliders to refine how that color appears in the photo.
This is the best tool to quickly edit colors in Photoshop and help create a lot of amazing editing styles.
– Color Balance
The Color Balance Adjustment Layer is similar to the Color Grading adjustment found in other editing programs. The difference is that you have three sliders to help add varying colors to your photo rather than using a color wheel. You can further target where the colors are applied by going between the shadows, mid-tones, and highlights.
The Color Balance Adjustment Layer is a great tool for bringing together the colors in your images or helping to give your photo a particular feel.
– Vibrance Adjustment Layer
Just as the name would suggest, the Vibrance Adjustment Layer controls the vibrance and saturation of your colors. Using this adjustment layer, you can quickly boost your colors and make your entire photo appear more colorful.
– Selective Color Adjustment Layer
The Selective Color Adjustment Layer is one of the most versatile color editing tools found in Photoshop. By breaking down your image into a variety of color and exposure ranges, you can easily target a particular area to spice up with color.
Inside this tool are four sliders reading Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black. In a nutshell, you will add the listed color by setting a positive value while adding the opposite color with a negative value.
For example, you would add Cyan to the photo by dragging it up or add Red (the opposite color) by dragging it down.
As for the Black slider, dragging up will darken your photo/color range by adding black. Dragging down will lighten the same area by adding white.
Now you have a general idea of all the basic photo editing tools found in Photoshop. Although I could write an in-depth tutorial about each of these adjustment layers, this gives you a good idea of the options available. At this point, I’m sure you’re beginning to see why Photoshop can be a good tool for photo editing!
Is Photoshop Better Than Lightroom For Photo Editing?
Photoshop and Lightroom are both good for photo editing but serve different purposes. Lightroom is good for organizing large batches of images and applying basic editing adjustments. Photoshop performs better for applying advanced editing effects to a smaller number of images at a time.
It’s hard to compare two different programs when they are meant for different things. Adobe Lightroom is a complete photo editing program offering ways to catalog and organize images, batch edit, and export with ease.
Photoshop, on the other hand, doesn’t work as well with large numbers of photos. Instead, it’s best used for enhancing one image at a time. Rather than storing photos in a single catalog, each photo you work with in Photoshop is a new project. So you can begin to imagine how disorganized that can become after working with hundreds or thousands of photos.
Although Lightroom beats out Photoshop in terms of image sorting and efficiency, Photoshop still reigns supreme for editing adjustments. With more adjustment tools, selection methods, brush options, and creative filters, the skies the limit when editing in Photoshop. It’s simply easier to add more creative editing adjustments to your photos.
If you want to have the absolute best tools for editing photos but don’t care much about image organization in-program, Photoshop is a great option for photo editing.
However, if you prefer something a little more beginner-friendly, with space to organize and edit your images all at once, Lightroom is a better solution.
Luckily you don’t necessarily need to pick between one or the other. It’s actually cheaper to get Lightroom and Photoshop together than it is to get Photoshop by itself. With Adobe’s Photography Plan, you can get both programs for just $10/month or even test out their 7-day free trial!
Which Version Of Photoshop Is Best For Photo Editing?
The best version of Photoshop for photo editing is the most updated version released by Adobe. As a Creative Cloud subscriber, you’ll get automatic updates to Photoshop each time one becomes available. These updates provide program improvements and enhancements in a variety of photo editing tools helpful to photographers.
These major updates typically come around at the end of every year, often with a total overhaul of the program. In past updates, there have been new tools added, adjustment options tweaked, or more creative filter options.
Before Adobe switched to the subscription-based price model, you’d have to purchase the entire program again for these types of updates. Now you get all of these included with your monthly or yearly subscription to the Creative Cloud.
Is Photoshop Worth The Money?
Photoshop is worth the money for those wanting more control in their photo editing. By offering more advanced tools and adjustment layers, it’s easier to be more creative with your photography. Whether you need to edit a photo or work on a graphic design project, Photoshop offers an exceptional amount of tools considering its $10/month cost.
When you begin editing photos, Lightroom is often the first place people start. It’s easier to use, less overwhelming, and has most of the tools you need. The trouble is, as you improve as a photo editor and want to make more drastic adjustments, Photoshop becomes a necessary tool.
For example, if you need to remove something larger than a small dot in your frame, Lightroom’s spot removal tools become very limiting. With Photoshop, you can remove virtually anything from your photo since you have manual and automatic sampling control.
In other editing programs, it can be slightly more difficult to keep track of multiple selective adjustments. Since Photoshop is layer-based editing software, it’s far easier to track every adjustment and the layer masks you are using!
Now, if you decide you want to design a logo, create a graphic design, or make a banner for social media, Photoshop is once again the best tool for the job.
By providing so many options in the way you edit a photo (or add graphics to your photos), Photoshop is an essential tool for all photographers and absolutely worth the money.
Especially when combined with Lightroom for $10/month in the Photography Plan.
So now you can see why Photoshop is good for photo editing, especially when put alongside Lightroom. Photoshop is a very capable photo editing software with more powerful tools than any other program currently provides. Whether you only want to edit photos or create promotional materials for your business, Photoshop lets you do it all.
Happy editing!
– Brendan