Photopea.com makes Photoshop dispensable

As many educators are looking to find innovative ways to teach students during this new era of "distance learning" one of the questions I had to ask myself was:

"How will I continue to teach our photography students if they don't have access to the software or hardware they need at home?"

If you can afford special software like Adobe Photoshop more power to you. But for the rest of us who can't, fear not, there are alternatives out there.

I'm sure most professional photographers would agree, Photoshop is an essential tool of the trade.
While I have enjoyed using Adobe Products in the past, working on the Adobe Cloud has been a pain.

First of all, photography is already an expensive career/hobby to begin with. I believe Adobe preys on this fact to charge an arm and a leg for it's product, resulting in this art becoming even less accessible to the average person.

Photopea.com is an advanced photo editing software much like Photoshop, except it's free.

Yep, it's free.

You can edit your photos online and export them as a .psd .jpg and .png and more.

Bellow I have listed some pros and cons of using this relatively new software alternative.

Pros

• It's free.
Note: An ad free version can be purchased if desired. Distributor account options are also available.

• The interference will look very familiar to Photoshop users. In fact, it could be mistaken for the long-lost twin of Adobe Photoshop.

• Highly accessible. You can run it on the browser itself or install the app on your device.
• Files can be exported in multiple file extensions including: .jpg, .png, .psd, raw, .tiff, .gif, .raw to name a few.

• Did I mention it doesn't cost a dime?

Cons

• It requires you to have an internet connection.
Note: Once loaded onto your device you can disconnect from the internet and continue using it offline.

• It's in the early stages of development so you may have to put up with a few bugs while they work to fix them.

• It may be lacking in some of the most advance features like customizing your workspace and printing.
• The interface may not support certain raw file types.
• You have to put up with ads.

• It's reliability in a professional setting is yet to be determined.

While this free alternative may take a wee bit of playing around and some getting use to, it's better than paying for a software you can't afford.

Although Adobe has been a longtime pioneer of the industry, it doesn't have to own you or you it.

Other great alternatives for essential photo and video editing software include:
DaVinci Resolve for video editing instead of Adobe Premier.
Photo Mechanic instead of Adobe Bridge.

Visit each website to learn more.