Paintshop Pro/Aftershot Pro 2

Hey everyone,

Do any of you use Corel Paintshop Pro and/or Aftershot Pro 2? At my level I can't justify switching to Lightroom/Photoshop. If so do you use it out of the box or do you use addons.

Thanks

HP Garcia

I have used Paint Shop Pro for many years, but am not a sophisticated user. I use it mostly for contrast, exposure, and color-balance adjustment. It works well for me and doesn't cost too much.

I've used Paintshop Pro since Jasc PSP 9. It is a decent program, and I do use it occasionally. Currently I use LR with OnOne PPS 9. Most of my PP is done in LR, followed by OnOne for the more detailed work that can not be done in LR.

FWIW, I find PSP sluggish. I've always hated the "proofing" it does after every little slider movement.

I've always used it out of the box. The only "add-ons" I've used were the bonus plug-ins that came with the program. I think currently they offer Perfectly Clear, and Real Illusion Face Filter with the Ultimate version. Unless you think you would really use those, I'd just stick with "vanilla' / plain version.

I've used Paintshop Pro for many years - long before Corel bought the program. I currently use PSP X6 (sixteen) and it does everything I've ever wanted to do.

I also have Photoshop CS4 but I've never used it much because PSP has all the same functions that I want and I'm much faster with it than with CS4.

-js

I feel stupid to admit this, but I am still using Jasc's PSP ver 7.14, which can still do 75% of what I'd be doing in PS, if I had PS. I think that version might date back to about 2000.

I usually watch how to video with PS and try to recreate them using PSP.

I have nearly the same question, but can I use Aftershot Pro (or PSP) to organize/manage my photos?

I did the free trial of Paintshop and didn't really like it. It's slow, and I found the interface somewhat clunky. I was also thinking of trying to save a bit of money, but in the end decided it's better to spring for something I liked better (Lightroom) than save money and be stuck with something I wasn't that fond of. Now that I have Lightroom I still mostly use DPP, go figure.....

Lyn2011 wrote in post #17520725
I have nearly the same question, but can I use Aftershot Pro (or PSP) to organize/manage my photos?

I'm not sure about ASP, but PSP does do similar to LR for Management. I've yet to use it since LR is much much better, and waaaay faster.

I was a die-hard user of PSP since back in the Jasc days, faithfully upgrading to each new version as it came out hoping it would get better. That is until this last one which was very buggy & so sluggish I gave up. That and the fact that AfterShot Pro couldn't compete with DPP coupled with the lack of support from Corel is what did it for me.

I've gone over to LR/PS CC and haven't looked back.

I use ASP to do my Organization. You can do a catalog and add key words.

Thanks for all advice. Maybe I try Aftershot Pro first. Lightroom seems to be a very big (MB's) program, and not so easy to use.
For RAW files I use DPP and I'm happy with it.

The only negative I see with ASP is it doesn't embed watermarks.

Lyn2011 wrote in post #17520725
I have nearly the same question, but can I use Aftershot Pro (or PSP) to organize/manage my photos?

I started using Paintshop Pro while still by JASC , and transitioned to the Corel version over the years. As LR has had a cataloging and organization capability, all I really needed was a pixel-level editor analogous to the original Photoshop (before ACR added RAW, and before Bridge offered basic data management). So earlier versions of PSP fit the bill for me.

Later versions of PSP grew increasingly sophisticated, and added capabilities... PSP 14, for example, help file says,
"After you transfer your photos to your computer (by using Windows or the software for your camera), you can import your photos into Corel PaintShop Pro. You import photos by browsing to folders. The photos in the folders are then cataloged automatically in a database. This makes it easy to find, edit, and update the information for your photos. "
PSP does also have another way to access folders without putting them into the PSP catalog. Since I use LR, I prefer this second method of accessing images to edit them at the individual pixel level using features not supported by my RAW convertor with its limited brush edits.

I found the cataloging in PSP 14 to be cumbersome and it often seemed intrusive and would 'get in my way'. I almost abandoned PSP due to its 'database' and how it seemed to be increasingly bloatware. But PSP 16 64-bit seems much better on my Win7 64-bit computer, seems not to be so intrusive to the way I want to use it.

Thanks Wilt. That PSP automatically catalogues doesn't sound good to me. The main task I would like is tagging my photos, so that it's easy to find them: when I want to see bird or flower pics again, or photos from a special holiday. I did a workshop PSE 10 and liked the way it organizes. But once you start with PSE, you have to update every couple of years, same with LR, and they are not cheap (here in AUS).