How to Get Photoshop for the Same Price as a Pair of Shoes

On many occasions I’ve read blogs talking about photo editing, and the bloggers getting a little despondent when they talk about how they “can’t afford” Photoshop.

If I were to suggest that you forgo that pair of new shoes this month to buy Photoshop instead, would you be interested? If yes, then read on…

Basically there’s more than one type of Photoshop: the main one is the type used by professional photographers and industries that require advanced techniques (think magazine publication). It costs A LOT – we’re talking healthy three-figure sums, depending on what version you get (ouch).

But did you know about Adobe’s other, much cheaper, version: Photoshop Elements? It’s perfect for bloggers, as sometimes we want to get creative with our image manipulation. We also need red eye reduction, brightness and contrast, cropping, colour cast, adding text… the list goes on. I use Photoshop Elements to edit all images on my blog, create mirror images, and to create the leading images from my PhotoTips Friday posts (like the one above).

The price? A LOT less than £100 for Photoshop Elements 2020 at Amazon.co.uk (price/link updated 28/11/2019). Keep an eye on the price as it sometimes gets reduced a lot for events like Black Friday.

And don’t worry about not knowing how to use it; I am (almost) entirely self-taught, and I’m now pretty proficient at creating images, like the one at the top and the one to pin (below) in about 15 minutes. It will come with practice, and don’t be afraid to experiment. If you’re already running a blog, you should be quite good at picking up techniques and working out how to make programs do what you want them to do.

I’ll admit that yes, it’s still a fair bit to shell out – you can get free editing software online like PicMonkey or Pixlr – but I used to think being able to afford Photoshop was like being able to afford Louboutins. But if you’re the kind of girl (like me) that buys Asos shoes, not Louboutins, then you might want to consider Elements.

Has this changed your mind at all about Photoshop? Let me know!