The Mac List

If you’re at all interested in image manipulation, Photoshop is a necessity.
It’s a very powerful program that can handle pretty much any image you throw at it.
For instance, if you happen to be in possession of one of those sort of pictures that looks like you could do with facial redness treatment. Stick it in Photoshop, and it can reduce it.
Maybe you would like to make your block of flats look like a nice array of overseas apartments - with the appropriate sources, this can be achieved.

Okay, so it’s not quite as cut and dry as I’m making it sound. Unfortunately, it won’t perform miracles without some user input. Photoshop can be an intimidating program to use at first. Fortunately though, the program comes with helpful tutorials and example files included to get you on the right track.
Photoshop is an expensive program to buy, and can leave a noticable dent in your bank account. However there are ways to get it a little bit cheaper. It’ll seem like some sort of crazy corporate treasure hunt, but if you’re willing to look hard, it is possible to buy an older second-hand version from someone like an Amazon marketplace seller for a low price, and then buy a brand new upgrade, and this works out cheaper in the long run. For example, just now I saw someone auctioning Photoshop 6 for the Mac on eBay for £8.00. For the sake of argument, let’s imagine no one else bids for it (I know, it’s a bit of a stretch, but stay with me). You get it for £8.00, then you get the CS3 upgrade. I found someone on eBay in the United States selling it for about £95.
So, for just a little bit north of £100 you could potentially save £470 against the cost of a full version from the official Adobe Store. Not bad, eh? You’ll be entering those photography competitions in no time at all!