Linux

I don't know what you heard about me

It's the motherduckin G I M P

I'm so glad I started using Linux before getting used too much to something that doesn't support it. (If you have the time to try out different things, give Krita a shot)

My need for the Adobe CC Suite professionally is what keeps me from switching to Linux as a daily driver (currently on macOS). If I could get the latest version running reliably on Linux, I’d love to switch.

I’ve tried the alternatives, and they’re just not good enough for me. I really wish Adobe would port their stuff to Linux.

I recently went through a process of trying out all the options for photo processing on linux. I dont do drawing, just raw Nikon files for processing, so I have a slightly different set of criteria.

Darktable and RawThreapee produce reasonable results, but the UI's are a mess and far far too complicated. They're on the right track, but I felt like I was being asked to enter every parameter in to a complex API function with no idea what anything meant. For some people they're probably fine, but you really don't have to look far before the complexity is in your face and you're just entering random numbers and crossing your fingers.

Nikon Studio NX in Wine is dog slow. Better in a windows VM on linux, but the results aren't great.

GIMP isn't targeted at raw photo editing.

Photolab in a windows VM is slow but excellent otherwise.

I ended up creating a dual boot windows setup and buying Photolab 7 Elite. I didn't want to set up a windows disk as I'd been free of it for maybe 7 years now, but for this use case it's definitely justified imho. The fact Photolab isn't subscription based means its better than Lightroom. The noise reduction algorithms are outstanding, the workflow is nice and not tied to a database or a weird import process. The controls are logical and easy to use. And it reads the camera and lens used for each photo and applies the correct corrections to tour image automatically.

So not what I wanted to end up with as a solution, but the results are so good its a no brainer in the end.

For PS your only options are:

• run an ancient version of PS on Wine
• Subscribe to creative cloud and run PS online-only web version which has 80% of the features
• Use Photopea which has 95% of the features but it's online only
• Use GIMP (horrible UX/UI but it's offline and has 90% of the features)
• Use Krita (not the same, but some features are there)

I went with CC PS web, since I work for a company that requires the use of PS.

I can't even get the stability I need out of it on Windows.

Using CS2 and works fine.

It probably is possible to pirate an old version of photoshop and get it running under wine. Like other commenters have noted Krita and Gimp are becoming more viable all of the time.

My photo editing skills are too novice level to notice missing features in the linux alternatives but I'm sure they exist. Although part of me does wonder if some of the barrier to people adopting these is that they are photoshop "power users" who do a lot based on muscle memory... maybe the features aren't all missing but the interface is just too different to feel "complete".