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How much money is photoshop?

B

Brainless24

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 6, 2013
30
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How much money is Photoshop? I've recently bought a new Macbook for graphic design and am planning on being a professional graphic designer. I will need Photoshop or illustrator. How much are they? I've searched everywhere and can't find an answer... (How much are they individually not together, unless if it comes with a special better deal)

Now if the price is high please tell me some good SAFE alternates, I need these alternates to be SAFE and NOT slow down my laptop or give me a virus. Now I know if I am going pro I will eventually need to get the Photoshop and illustrator official but I am in 10th grade and think I can wait a year or two before I make the BIG purchase.

:apple:
 
Brainless24 said:
How much money is Photoshop? I've recently bought a new Macbook for graphic design and am planning on being a professional graphic designer. I will need Photoshop or illustrator. How much are they? I've searched everywhere and can't find an answer... (How much are they individually not together, unless if it comes with a special better deal)

Now if the price is high please tell me some good SAFE alternates, I need these alternates to be SAFE and NOT slow down my laptop or give me a virus. Now I know if I am going pro I will eventually need to get the Photoshop and illustrator official but I am in 10th grade and think I can wait a year or two before I make the BIG purchase.

:apple:
Click to expand...

For college you can DEFINITELY get a education discount and for Highschool on got a discount (albeit less than a college edu discount)...also my school offered Photoshop CS5 to all the photo students along with Autodesk software for students in the proper classes...I'd look into that. Download Photoshop CS6 or CC and do the 30 day trial to learn. With Photoshop CC its now a monthly cost..I believe its like 14.99 or 30 a month for Photoshop + Lightroom or something like that. Either way its now affordable more than ever with Adobe's monthly cloud program. I don't know much about Photoshop CC since I only have Photoshop CS6 and After Effects CS5.5 but others on here definitely can expand.
 
nateo200 said:
For college you can DEFINITELY get a education discount and for Highschool on got a discount (albeit less than a college edu discount)...also my school offered Photoshop CS5 to all the photo students along with Autodesk software for students in the proper classes...I'd look into that. Download Photoshop CS6 or CC and do the 30 day trial to learn. With Photoshop CC its now a monthly cost..I believe its like 14.99 or 30 a month for Photoshop + Lightroom or something like that. Either way its now affordable more than ever with Adobe's monthly cloud program. I don't know much about Photoshop CC since I only have Photoshop CS6 and After Effects CS5.5 but others on here definitely can expand.
Click to expand...

Yeah my school uses CS6 and I was thinking of transferring to this school for CG and I think they offer it. But if I don't go there I guess I'll be waiting until I get a job to buy it.

Anyone know any GOOD AND SAFE nock off programs like photoshop and illustrator but free that WILL NOT SLOW DOWN MY LAPTOP? I know of Gimp, is that good?
 
For students, the entire creative cloud suite is $19.99 a month. For a single app license without the educational discount it is $20 a month.
 
Brainless24 said:
How much money is Photoshop? I've recently bought a new Macbook for graphic design and am planning on being a professional graphic designer. I will need Photoshop or illustrator. How much are they? I've searched everywhere and can't find an answer... (How much are they individually not together, unless if it comes with a special better deal)

Now if the price is high please tell me some good SAFE alternates, I need these alternates to be SAFE and NOT slow down my laptop or give me a virus. Now I know if I am going pro I will eventually need to get the Photoshop and illustrator official but I am in 10th grade and think I can wait a year or two before I make the BIG purchase.

:apple:
Click to expand...



First #1, buying software will NOT make you an artist.

#2 You looked "everywhere" what about the Adobe website?
The price for students is $20 per month. ($240 per year)
http://www.adobe.com/products/discount-software-coupons.edu.html?promoid=KHQFR

"Viruses"? You must running Windows on your Mac. Don't do that.

If you like free software from photo editing and vector drawing on the Mac try these
http://www.gimp.org/downloads/
http://inkscape.org

Gimp is a good competitor to Photoshop. It has most of what you need. And Inkscape is a good free alternative to illustrator.

----------
Brainless24 said:
Anyone know any GOOD AND SAFE nock off programs like photoshop and illustrator but free that WILL NOT SLOW DOWN MY LAPTOP? I know of Gimp, is that good?
Click to expand...

Yes. The only complaint about Gimp I hear is that is is not an EXACT clone of Photoshop. The people who make Gimp say this is a Good Thing and intensional.

Inkscape is very full featured.

If you are in the 10th grade your best plan at this time is to create LOTS of materials and develop a good portfolio. One thing many people forget to do is to expand their range. Learn to draw in styles you don't do now. In a few years when you are trying to get into an art program at some university and showing your portfolio no one whats to see 1,000 variation of the same thing. They want to see a wide range of work in different media and different styles. Work on the computer but also in physical media and in different genre.
 
You aren't going to get a piece of software that's the same quality of Photoshop or Illustrator for really, really cheap. They've been developed over years and that's why they work (reasonably) well and cost a lot.

That being said, check out Pixelmator and Sketch as potential Photoshop and Illustrator replacements. They're not nearly as polished as the Adobe apps but they work and they're cheap (you can get them both for somewhere around 80 bucks, maybe less if Pixelmator is on sale). Inkscape is another option for an Illustrator replacement as mentioned.
 
ChrisA said:
If you are in the 10th grade your best plan at this time is to create LOTS of materials and develop a good portfolio. One thing many people forget to do is to expand their range. Learn to draw in styles you don't do now. In a few years when you are trying to get into an art program at some university and showing your portfolio no one whats to see 1,000 variation of the same thing. They want to see a wide range of work in different media and different styles. Work on the computer but also in physical media and in different genre.
Click to expand...

THIS! This will make or brake you! Software does not make you an artist! I had Photoshop on my computer and even solid Photoshop experience years before I ever truly utilized it for something good, same goes for AE and FCP...my school offered it but I didnt take advantage of it really at the time since I had other focuses..BUT your in 10th grade so just start spitting out content as fast as you can, you will go very far with allot of good content, I cant tell you how many friends got into amazing schools from their work and the ones that were really good never focused on the software they used and when you gave them something like Photoshop to work it was like you gave a starving man a sandwich, and they just took it and went nuts. I know people who did more in MSPaint than I could do in AE AND Photoshop at the time! Always remember your computer, your software, they are tools. Be versatile too! I want to be a cinematographer but thats a HARD task obviously its an insane job to just want without work so I am learning how to edit video since if I get offered low level jobs I will need to do my own editing, I'm also learning visual effects as well as sound mixing because if I get an offer thats more video editing than shooting I don't want to turn it down even if I prefer shooting over editing because if I do a good job thats one more thing under my belt I can tell people and it gets me closer. Its part of networking and networking is EVERYTHING.
 
fig said:
You aren't going to get a piece of software that's the same quality of Photoshop or Illustrator for really, really cheap. They've been developed over years and that's why they work (reasonably) well and cost a lot.
Click to expand...

I'd argue that Inkscape is as good as the above product.

If you don't like Gimp (it's the bigger and best of the free image editors) the buy Adobe Photoshop Elements. Elements can do almost everything PS can, well at least in terms of what a photographer needs.

But again the software hardly matters. The difference between a commercial artist and a fine artist is that the commercial guy is TOLD what style to work in and what colts to use and where to leave blank space for text and may have to work in a genre he does not really like. In other words you work for a paying customer or boss. So what they look for is a person with very wide skills who can do anything.

Session musicians are that way too. They just do whatever the producer wants so if he needs the work he has "a, I can do that.." So the trick is to be able to say "I can do that."

ok one more tip on cheap/free software: Wacom tablets. You are going to need a Wacom tablet and some version come bundled with free software. Sometimes the software is worth the cost of the product. I got PS (full version) that way a long time ago.
 
Yeah, Photoshop is expensive, there is a cut down version available called Photoshop elements, which is much cheaper... :)
 
ChrisA said:
I'd argue that Inkscape is as good as the above product.
Click to expand...

It very well may be, I've grabbed the demo but haven't really tried it out yet. Generally speaking, however, you get what pay for :)

I agree with your other points though, you can do a whole with something really simple like Pixelmator. There's also Sketch which is looking really interesting.
 
Probably the cheapest good Photoshop is PS LE 5.0. You'll be surprise how little the difference is with the latest PS CC!
It should be a bargain on Ebay. You need to run it under Windows though. The Mac version is System 9 I believe.

And ouch! Those student licences are expensive right now! Here in the Netherlands, you could buy full CS 5.5 for 20-something € as a student.
 
All Adobe programs cost far more than they're actually worth.
 
Jim Campbell said:
Unless you're working in a colour-managed CMYK environment, in which case Adobe largely has you over a barrel. As they know only too well.

Cheers

Jim
Click to expand...

What really surprises me is that it is taking so long for other devs to include CMYK support in their own apps. Is it really that complicated?
 
Adobe Photoshop Elements 11 or 12 for the Mac, pretty cheap and gives you a heads up for using PS later on
 
Good Adobe alternatives for these who seek cheaper software:

Bitmap graphics editors:
- Pixelmator
- Photoline
- GraphicConverter
- GIMP

Vector graphics editors:
- iDraw
- Sketch
- Inkscape

DTP applications:
- VivaDesigner
- iCalamus
- Scribus (opensource)
 
Pakaku said:
What really surprises me is that it is taking so long for other devs to include CMYK support in their own apps. Is it really that complicated?
Click to expand...

Not complicated, just not as much demand as you would expect... the print world is shrinking, so devs are focusing their new features on screen, ebooks, interactive PDF. Even at Adobe. Look at most of the new features of indesign and illustrator...
 
GIMP is no Photoshop. But its the closest you will get for no money. I use it , I used to hate the GUI because they used multiple windows, now the GUI can work inside a single window and they have improved it here and there. It also works flawlessly with my Wacom Intuos 4m. Eraser works, tilt works, buttons on tablet work. GIMP is extremely powerful and it mimics most of the features of Photoshop.

I also have Inkscape and Blender. All of them free and open source. I am a big fan of open source.

Inkscape is for vector graphics . I have not used neither Illustrator or Inkscape as much. I am not a vector artists. So I cannot vouch for it as I can for GIMP and Blender. But I have not heard many complains for it so I assume its good enough for the average needs of a vector artists.

Lastly there is Blender for 3d graphics. For Blender I can vouch. Blender can really compete with all the top 3d apps that cost thousands of euros/dollars. Its extremely powerful for 3d graphics and animation. However blender can be used for pretty much anything, including 2d, vector graphics, video editor , you name it. Its compositor uses a node system and its extremely power and of course fully scriptable via python. It has become extremely powerful but be warned there is like a universe of knowledge inside it. Its the type of software that will take you years to learn and decades to truly master. But you can do amazing things with it.

So generally speaking you can do wonders with open source nowdays :)

GIMP -> http://www.gimp.org/
Inkscape -> http://www.inkscape.org/en/
Blender -> http://www.blender.org/

The good news is that the skills you pick up with using these apps will be easy to carry to other apps as well. The general workflow remains the same, is the small parts, the details that are different from application to application. The biggest part of your knowledge stays the same.
 
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If you *really* need Photoshop at a pinch and don't want to pay anything, this is how to get legal Photoshop CS2 (and the rest of CS2) for free from the Adobe website! I wouldn't really recommend it, but hey! free stuff! It's for Windows or Mac (PowerPC) - so unfortunately, you might not get it to work... :(
 
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Adobe CS6 Design Standard (students): Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign -- $450

Or you can sign your rights away and get creative cloud for $20 a month.

Alternatively you might be able to download CS2 for free from the Adobe website. Not sure they still have those download links up.

The other alternative is to do what 99% of high school students would do...
 
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